Organisational Behaviour Thiccie Flashcards
To get High Distinctions
Define OB.
The study of what people think, feel and do in and around organisations
Define Work Design.
The content of tasks, activities and responsibility in a job and now those, tasks, activities and responsibilities are organised
Define Specific Management.
A set of principles and practices stressing job simplification and specialization
List the 4 Principles of Scientific Management.
- Replace rule of thumb with the scientific method
- Select, train, teach and develop your personnel
- Strict division of labour: “managers plan the work workers work the plan”
- Compensation is based on work output
List the positives (4) and negatives (5) of the Scientific Method.
Positives: • Less time changing activities • Lower training costs • Job mastered quickly • Better person–job matching
Negatives: • Loss of control • Repetitive, boring tasks • Meaningless, monotonous work • High job dissatisfaction • Little or no opportunity to develop and acquire new skills
Explain the Job Characteristic Model (STTAT)
- Skill variety - The opportunity to do a variety of job activities using various skills and talents.
- Task identity – The extent to which a job involves doing a complete piece of work, from beginning to end.
- Task significance – The impact that a job has on other people.
- Autonomy – The freedom to schedule one’s own work activities and decide work procedures.
- Feedback – Information about the effectiveness of one’s work performance.
Explain Work Re-Design (Job Rotation)
- Periodically moving workers from one specialised job to another
- Exposes employees to new knowledge, skills and perspectives
- Useful if high degree of physical demand or a high degree of repetitive tasks that can become extremely tedious.
- Increases organisational adaptivity and flexibility
Explain Work Re-Design (Job Enlargement)
- Increasing the number of tasks performed by a worker to add greater variety to activities, thus reducing monotony
- Horizontal restructuring method (More tasks at the same responsibility)
- Increased work flexibility
Explain Work Re-Design (Job Enrichment)
• Assigning additional responsibility and authority to an employee’s tasks
• Vertical restructuring method (Same task but more responsibility)
• Enrichment methods
o Granting additional authority to employees in their activities
o Giving a person a complete, natural unit of work
o Introducing new and more difficult tasks not previously handled
What are the three types of work re-design?
- Job Rotation
- Job Enrichment
- Job Enlargement
How do you make jobs more pro-socially motivating?
• Connect employees with the beneficiaries of their work
o Meet beneficiaries firsthand
• Allows employees to see that their actions affect a real, live person, and that their jobs have tangible consequences.
• Customers or clients more emotionally vivid leads employees to consider the effects of their actions more.
• Allow employees to easily take the perspective of beneficiaries higher commitment.
• Example
o Call centre, low morale, high turnover
o 5-minute conversation with university scholarship recipients
o Increased productivity and motivation
What are the three categories for the consequences of distress?
- Physiological
- Psychological
- Behavioural
Define Stress
An adaptive response to a situation that is perceived as challenging or threatening to the person’s wellbeing
Explain the Job Demand-Control Model
• Best known model
• Emphasises two aspects:
o Level of strain (demands)
Aspects of the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological effort
time pressure, emotional labour, workload
o Decision latitude (control)
The freedom an employee has to control and organise his own work.
What are the three levels of OB?
- Individual level
- Group level
- Organisational level
Name three behavioural sciences studied in OB.
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Sociology
- Anthropology
Give three dot points regarding Taylorism (1910s)
- Taylor believed that man’s worth depended on his level of productivity
- Obsessed about increasing the level of output
- People should specialise in jobs for maximum productivity
- The period didn’t last long
List three subjective measures.
• By researcher o Over/Covert • By Other o Supervisor or co-workers report • By Participant o Self-report o May be favoured
What was the Hawthorne Effect?
• Hawthorne Effect: When people know they are being watched they will naturally increase their productivity
What is poly-motivation?
• Discovered poly-motivation
o Not just financially driven
o People are complex
o Social, emotional and other intangibles are important to individuals
What is knowledge by intuition?
- Intuition is defined as the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.
- Intuition is not always correct
- Subject to bias and errors
- Cannot solve complicated problems
What is knowledge by experience?
- Intuition is defined as the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.
- Intuition is not always correct
- Subject to bias and errors
- Cannot solve complicated problems
What is knowledge by tradition?
• Traditions… o Differ between cultures o Change over time o Can be manipulated • Tradition truisms (folk wisdom) can be contradictory o “Out of sight, out of mind” o “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”
What is knowledge by listening to authoritative sources?
- Authorities are not always well informed
* Which authority do you support?
What is casual benchmarking?
• Doing what others seem to be doing
• United Airlines mimicked Southwest Airlines approach
o Not successful due to cultural differences
• Instead conduct your own research and derive your own methods
What is critical thinking?
- Ask questions
- Examine available evidence (do your own research)
- Avoid oversimplifying
- Avoid emotional reasoning
What is evidence based management?
- Using data changes the power dynamic
- People often don’t want to hear the truth (don’t like their beliefs to be challenged)
- People don’t believe the evidence
What is empirical research?
Based on the careful study of data:
• Learn the mechanisms of behaviour without relying on common sense/introspection
• Cannot base OB on folk wisdom or personal beliefs
• Must have testable hypotheses
What is a theory?
• Set of propositions that describe inter-relationships among several concepts
• Generic but needs to be testable
• 2 types of possible relationships
o Correlation
o Causation
• For example: Fatty, greasy foods are linked to obesity and poor health
What is a hypothesis?
- A specific, testable statement explaining the condition under which something occurs.
- Derived from a theory
- For example: Eating McDonalds for a month will lead to weight gain and increased levels of cholesterol
What is experimental design?
• The researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable.
• Determining if X caused Y- Requirements
o The variables are related
o Temporal order, cause must precede effect (can’t measure at the same time)
o Eliminate alternate explanations
o Requires control groups (placebo)
o Time consuming
What is Quasi-Experimental design?
• Participants are not assigned randomly to conditions
• Naturally occurring groups or pre-existing teams used
• For example
o Different leadership styles
• More common but less concrete
What are cross-sectional designs?
- All data collected at once
- Most common in OB
- Often done with surveys
- Cannot determine causality- no temporal separation
- Cheap and efficient
- Alternative explanations (variables) are not eliminated
What is Agreeableness?
• A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative
Explain Correlation Coefficients
• Sign (+/-) indicates the direction of the relationship o Positive (+) ‘A’ increases, ‘B’ increases ‘A’ decreases, ‘B’ decreases o Negative (-) ‘A’ increases, ‘B’ decreases ‘A’ decreases, ‘B’ increases • Magnitude (0 – 1) o 1.00 or -1.00 = perfect relationship o 0.0 = no relationship at all o 0.80 or -0.70 = strong relationship o 0.15 or -0.09 = weak relationship
Define Moderation
Moderation means one variable qualifies the relationship between the other variables
• One variable indicates the circumstances under which the relationship between the other variables exists
Explain mediation (explanatory mechanism)
- A mediator is a variable or construct that facilitates the relationship between the 2 variables
- Below: Rumination is the mediator between stress and depression
Define Individual Differences
• Each person is different, one’s identity is defined by a combination of traits and characteristics
Define Personality
• Relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that characterise a person, along with the psychological processes behind those characteristics
What are personality traits
• Traits are distinguishing personal characteristics
• Relatively stable
• How an individual reacts to and interacts with others
• Difficult to measure
o Not reliable
o Not accurate
Where does personality originate?
Nature: Genetics
Nurture: Life experiences, relatively fixed by age 30
What does OCEAN Stand for?
Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
What is a proactive personality?
- Tendency to engage in proactive behaviour
- Initiative
- Related to job performance and career success
What is Conscientiousness?
- Tendency to plan and be self-disciplined
* Planned rather that spontaneous
What is extraversion?
• Tendency to enjoy human interaction
What is Agreeableness?
• A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative
What is Neuroticism?
- A tendency towards negative moods
* Experience unpleasant emotions easily
Describe Shwartz’s value model
- Openness to Change (Motivation to pursue innovative ways)
- Conservation (motivation to preserve status quo)
- Self-enhancement (motivated by self-interest)
- Self-transcendence (motivation to promote welfare of others)
Values oppose each other
- Openness to change opposes conservation
-Self-enhancement opposes self-transcendence
What is the HEXACO Personaliy model?
- Honesty/Humility
- Emotionality (Neuroticism)
- Extroversion
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
- Openness to Experience
What is the dark triad of personality?
Machiavellianism • Pragmatic • Maintains emotional distance • Believes ends can justify means Narcissism • Arrogant • High sense of self importance • Requires excessive admiration Psychopathy • Lack of concern for others • Lack of guilt or remorse • Lack of empathy
What is the Myer-Briggs Type Inventory
• Most widely used • 100 questions • 4 main categories • 16 different personalities • Problems: o Not consistent o Predictive validity- no solid evidence o Construct validity- lack of empirical evidence o Incomplete- leaves out important traits (neuroticism)
Identify and explain 4 situational factors
• Clarity o Cues are available and clear o Not ambiguous • Consistency o Cues all point in the same direction • Constraints o How much freedom is there to act as one wishes? • Consequences o Are there consequences of not acting according to the norms?
What are core self-evaluations?
Core self-evaluations
• Views about one’s capabilities, competence and self-worth
o Sense of worthiness
• The effect you have on the environment or vice versa
• Critical predictor of performance (stronger than the big 5)
• Too much is bad
o Over confident
What is self-monitoring?
Self-monitoring
• One’s ability to adjust to external situational factors
• Better performance and more likely to be promoted
• Adaptive and more mobile
o Less committed to the organisation
What is a proactive personality?
- Tendency to engage in proactive behaviour
- Initiative
- Related to job performance and career success
What are Hindrance Stressors?
- Constrain / interfere with and individual’s work achievement
- Do not tend to be associated with potential gains for the individual
- Role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, job insecurity, and daily hassles
What are Challenge Stressors?
- Demands or circumstances that, although potentially stressful, have associated potential gains for individuals
- Time pressure, work complexity
What is Psychological Harassment?
- One of the fastest growing sources of workplace stress
- Repeated and hostile comments, actions and gestures that affect an employee’s dignity or integrity
- Workplace bullying, sexual harassment
What is Work Overload?
- Working long hours
- Exacerbated by technology, consumerism and globalisation
- Undermines work-life balance and psychological detachment
List ways to manage stress.
- Job redesign
- Flexible worktime
- Job Sharing
- Child care support
- Transfer
- Holidays / Personal leave
- Recovery /Detachment
List 3 alternative work arrangements.
- Flexible work time
- Job Sharing
- Telecommuting
List the advantages (5) and disadvantages (1) of flexible work time.
Advantages • Reduced absenteeism • Increased productivity • Reduced overtime expenses • Reduced hostility toward management • Increased responsibility for employees
Disadvantages
• Not applicable for all workers
List the advantages (3) and disadvantages (3) of job sharing
Advantages
• Increases flexibility and can increase motivation and satisfaction
• Declining in use
• Can be difficult to find compatible pairs of employees
Disadvantages
• Administrative costs
• Training costs
• Staffing issues
List the advantages (4) and disadvantages (4) of telecommuting
Advantages • Larger labor pool • Higher productivity • Improved morale • Reduced office-space costs
Disadvantages
(Employer)
• Less direct supervision of employees.
• Difficult to coordinate teamwork.
• Difficult to evaluate non-quantitative performance.
Employee)
• May not be noticed for his or her efforts.
Define Employee Involvement.
A participative process that uses employees’ input to increase their commitment to the organization’s success.
What is self-concept?
• Complexity
o Number and distinctiveness of the roles or identities that you perceive about yourself
o You have multiple self-views
• Consistency
o Extent to which you exhibit similar personalities or values across multiple selves
• Clarity
o Extent to which you are clearly and confidently defined
• All are assumed to facilitate leader development and help leaders better adjust to cultural settings
Explain Representative Management
• Workers are represented by a small group of employees who actively participate in decision making.
• Almost every country in Western Europe requires representative participation.
• The two most common forms:
o Works councils [nominated/elected]
o Board representatives
• The overall influence of representative participation seems to be minimal!
What are the 4 aspects of self-evaluation?
Self-Esteem
• Extent to which people like, respect and are satisfied with themselves
• High Esteem - Less influenced, more persistent and logical
Self-Efficacy
• Belief in one’s ability, motivation, role perceptions and situation to complete a task successfully
Locus of Control
• General belief about personal control over life events
• Internal v External factors
Emotional Stability
• Tendency to be confident, secure and steady
• Opposite of neuroticism
Explain hygiene factors (Herzberg)
• Job Context • Presence causes low dissatisfaction, absence causes high dissatisfaction • Examples o Salary o Benefits o Working conditions o Supervision
Explain Adam’s Equity Theory
Employees are motivated by a desire to be treated fairly
Perception of equity stems from a comparison of the inputs one invests in a job and the outcomes one receives in comparison with the inputs and outcomes of another person or group.
Explain Compensation (Pay)
Setting someone’s pay is a complex process that entails balancing
• Internal Equity
o The worth of the job to the organisation
o Usually established through a technical process called job evaluation
• External Equity
o The external competitiveness of an organisation’s pay relative to pay elsewhere in its industry
o Usually established through pay surveys
Explain Variable Pay Programs (Price-Rate Plans)
• A pure plan provides no base salary and pays the employee only for what he or she produces.
o Fruit picking, pay is determined by the volume picked
• Not a feasible approach for many jobs.
• The main concern for both individual and team piece-rate workers is financial risk
o Modified: Base hourly wage + a piece-rate differential
Explain Variable Pay Programs (Merit-Based Plans)
• Merit-based pay plans pay for individual performance based on performance appraisal ratings.
• Relationship between performance and rewards.
• Limitations
o Based on performance appraisals
These must be accurate
o Merit pool fluctuates
Based on economic conditions
o Union resistance
Advocate for seniority-based pay where all employees get the same increases
Explain Variable Pay Programs (Bonuses)
• An annual bonus is a significant component of total compensation for many jobs.
• Increasingly include lower-ranking employees.
• Bonuses reward employees for recent performance rather than historical performance (advantage over merit-based pay)
• Drawbacks:
o Employees’ pay is more vulnerable to cuts
o When bonuses are a large percentage of total pay
o Employees may just take bonuses for granted
Explain Variable Pay Programs (Profit Sharing)
• Organization-wide programs that distribute compensation based on some established formula centered around a company’s profitability.
• Appear to have positive effects on employee attitudes at the organizational level.
o Employees have a feeling of psychological ownership.
What are 4 Variable Pay Programs?
- Price Rate Plans
- Merit Based Plans
- Bonuses
- Profit Sharing
Explain Flexible Benefits
• Allow each employee to choose the compensation package
• Recall the “Valence” dimension of the Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
• Flexible benefits individualise rewards
o They replace the ‘one-benefit-plan-fits-all’ programs
Explain Employee Recognition Programs
• Important work rewards can be both intrinsic and extrinsic.
• Rewards
o Intrinsic in the form of employee recognition programs
o Extrinsic in the form of compensation systems.
• Some studies suggest:
o Financial motivators work in the short term
o Non-financial motivators work in the long term
Define Decision Making
Identifying and choosing alternative solutions that lead to a desired end result
Explain Decision Making
- Decision making is a conscious process of making choices among one or more alternatives, with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs.
- A problem is defined when there is a gap between an actual and a desired situation
List 4 characteristics of a decision maker
• Decision makers: o are objective o have complete information o consider all possible alternatives & their consequences o select the optimal solution
Define Homo Economicus
People can gather and process information without costs and are perfectly logical with only one criterion: economic gain.
What are the problems with the rational choice paradigm
- Rarely possible to consider all alternatives
- Impractical to consider all consequences
- Estimation process costs time & effort
- Information is rarely complete & accurate
- Lack mental capacity
Explain non-rational decision making (Simon Normative Model)
• Bounded rationality: constraints that restrict rational decision making
o We construct simplified models that do not capture the complexity of a problem
• Satisficing: choosing a solution that meets a minimum standard of acceptance
o Finding solutions that are good enough
• Intuition is possibly the least rational way to make decisions
• As a result
o People don’t always follow logical steps when making decisions
o We use shortcuts when judging others
What are Heuristics
Mental Shortcuts: for coming to a conclusion or decision
Rule of Thumb: people use to make decisions and judgments quickly and efficiently
List 8 biases in decision making
- Overconfidence
- Anchoring bias
- Confirmation bias
- Availability heuristic
- Escalation of commitment
- Randomness error
- Risk aversion
- Hindsight bias
What is overconfidence bias?
o The tendency to be overconfident about estimates or forecasts
What is anchoring bias?
o Occurs when decision makers are influenced by the first information received about a decision
What is confirmation bias?
o Tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices or to discount info that contradicts past judgements
What is availability heuristic bias?
o Tendency to base decisions on information that is readily available in memory
What is escalation of commitment bias?
o Tendency to stick to an ineffective course of action even when the cost of continuing outweighs expected benefit
o Main causes of escalation:
Self-justification (reducing dissonance: decision couldn’t be bad, just a question of time)
Prospect theory effect (More dissatisfaction from losing rather than breaking even)
Gamblers fallacy (Getting close!)
Consistency norm (I’m not a quitter!)
Closing costs (cost of ending project)
o How to avoid escalation:
Encourage continuous experimentation with reframing the problem.
Set specific goals for the project in advance
Place emphasis on how decisions are made and not on their outcomes
Separate initial and subsequent decision making.
What is randomness error bias?
o Tendency of individuals to see patterns in random data/events
o Superstition
What is risk aversion bias?
o Tendency to prefer sure gain of moderate amount over a riskier outcome
o Even if the riskier outcome might have a higher expected pay-off
Hindsight bias?
o Tendency to believe falsely, after an outcome of an event is known, that one would have accurately predicted that outcome
o Reading answers before answering the question
Define emotional contagion
Emotions expressed by one person are ‘caught’ by another.
• Can occur on both conscious and sub conscious levels
• Mimic emotional states
• Primitive explanation- yawning shows empathy
What are values and what do they tell us?
• Values are stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences, actions and behaviours • Values tell us what is o Right or Wrong o Good or bad o Moral or Immoral
What is the difference between personality and values?
Personality Traits 1. What we tend to do 2. Do not oppose each other 3. More innate (nature) (50% genetic) Values 1. What we ought to do 2. Are opposed to another 3. Formed through socialisation (experiences)
What are terminal values?
o Desirable end states of existence o Ultimate long-term goals o For example An exciting life Equality Freedom Happiness Self-respect Friendship
What are instrumental values?
o Preferable modes of behaviour o Means of achieving one’s terminal values o For example Cheerful Helpfulness Respect Creativity Responsible
Describe Shwartz’s value model
- Openness to Change (Motivation to pursue innovative ways)
- Conservation (motivation to preserve status quo)
- Self-enhancement (motivated by self-interest)
- Self-transcendence (motivation to promote welfare of others)
Values oppose each other
- Openness to change opposes conservation
-Self-enhancement opposes self-transcendence
What is the personality-job fit theory
• 6 personality types 1. Realistic 2. Investigative 3. Artistic 4. Social 5. Enterprising 6. Conventional • Satisfaction and turnover intentions depend on fit between personality and job
What is person-organisation fit
• People are attracted to and selected by organisations that match their values
• Value congruence: similarity between person and organisation value hierarchy. Values are congruent when hierarchies are similar.
o Leads to:
Greater job satisfaction
Loyalty
Citizenship (going above and beyond what is expected) behaviours
Lower stress and turnover intentions.
• Value-based management helps in ambiguous situations and guides how decision should be made
What is value congruence?
• Values are stable so select people accordingly
• Value incongruence may be beneficial
o Diverse values result in different perspectives
o Better decision making
• Too much congruence creates a “corporate cult”
o Undermine creativity and flexibility
What are generation values?
- 3-4 generations in the work force
* Values are formed through socialisation and thus people view the world based on different experiences
What are cultural values?
• Values differ between countries and cultures • MNC’s must consider this • Hofstede’s Value Dimensions o Power Distance o Individualism/Collectivism o Masculinity/Femininity o Uncertainty Avoidance o Long-term/Short-term Orientation
Define power distance?
• The degree to which people in a culture accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally
Define individualism
• Individualism is the degree to which people in a culture prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups
Define Collectivism
• Collectivism emphasizes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups in which they are a part to look after them and protect them
Define masculinity and femininity
- Masculinity is the degree to which values such as the acquisition of money and material goods prevail
- Femininity is the degree to which people value relationships and show sensitivity and concern for others
Define Uncertainty avoidance
• The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations
Define long and short-term orientation
- Long-term orientations look to the future and value thrift and persistence
- Short-term orientation values the here and now; they accept change more readily and don’t see commitments as impediments to change
Describe the affective events theory
- This is the new view (traditionally job satisfaction is seen as an attitude)
- Structure, causes, and consequences of affective experiences at work
Describe the process of perception
- Selection
- Salience: Degree to which something attracts our attention
- Unusual events
- Selective Perception: We pay attention to what we are familiar with or what is important
- Organisation
- Structuring the information selected into a coherent pattern
- Interpretation
- Schemas: Expectations that we hold about people/events
- Attributions: Explaining other’s behaviours
o Internal (personality/character)
o External (environment/situation)
What are the three components of perception
Perceiver
• Past experiences can lead to expectations
• Interests/values lead to us focusing on certain pieces of information
Situation
• Tells you if the target’s behaviour is acceptable/appropriate
• It can blur the characteristics of the target or make some of them stand out more
Target
• Ambiguous targets are more susceptible to interpretation and distortion
• The perceiver tries to resolve ambiguities (fill in the gaps)
• Less elements results in ambiguous targets
What is your personal self?
- Characteristics/traits that define you
- Relies on interpersonal comparison
- Motive of protecting and enhancing personal image
What is your relational self?
- Characteristics or traits that are shared with your relationship partner
o Define your role or position in that relationship - Personalized bonds of attachment
- For example
o Parent and child relationship
o Student and teacher relationship
o Motive of protecting the significant other and maintaining the relationship.
What is your collective self?
- Characteristics or traits that differentiate in-group members from members of relevant out-groups.
- Impersonal bonds, derived from common identification with a group
- Relies on intergroup comparison processes
- Motive to protecting the group you belong to
What is the process of self-evaluation?
Self-Assessment
• Desire to have accurate information about oneself
• Once you know yourself you can set realistic goals
• Foundation to grow and change
Self-Enhancement
• Drive to promote or perceive a positive self-view
• Better mental and physical health
• Inflates personal causation
• Blames situation for mistakes
Self-Verification
• Motivation to confirm and maintain our pre-existing self-concept
• Stabilises our self-concept
• People prefer feedback consistent with their self-concept
• Information is selected that is consistent with our self-concept
What are the 4 aspects of self-evaluation?
Self-Esteem
• Extent to which people like, respect and are satisfied with themselves
• High Esteem - Less influenced, more persistent and logical
Self-Efficacy
• Belief in one’s ability, motivation, role perceptions and situation to complete a task successfully
Locus of Control
• General belief about personal control over life events
• Internal v External factors
Emotional Stability
• Tendency to be confident, secure and steady
• Opposite of neuroticism
What are schemas?
Schemas: Mental representations we use to organise our knowledge.
• Help us process information through attention and memory
• Tend to notice and accept things that fit into our existing schemas
• Ambiguous information will be interpreted within the confines of the existing schemas
• Contradicting information will confuse us
What is attribution theory?
Attribution Theory: Suggests that when we observe an individual’s behaviour, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused.
• Internally caused: behaviours under the control of the individual
• Externally caused: behaviours seen as a result of outside causes- that is behaviour due to the situation
What is distinctiveness?
- If Franky only laughs at this comedian, the distinctiveness is high.
- If Franky laughs at everything, then distinctiveness is low.
What is consensus?
- If everyone in the audience is laughing, the consensus is high.
- If only Franky is laughing consensus is low.
What is consistency?
- If Franky always laughs at this comedian, the consistency is high.
- If Franky rarely laughs at this comedian, then consistency is low.
What is fundamental attribution error?
Tendency to overemphasize dispositional causes for behavior at the expense of situational explanations when judging the behavior of others.
Self-serving bias?
Tendency to take credit for successes and to deny responsibility for failures.
• Succeed: make dispositional attributions.
• Fail: make situational attributions.
• For example, school marks
What is the actor-observer effect?
Tendency for actors and observers to focus on different causes for behaviour.
• Actors make more situational attributions.
• Observers make more dispositional attributions.
What is selective perception?
Any characteristic that makes a person/object/event stand out increases the probability it will be perceived.
• Primacy: Opinions based on first impressions
• Recency: Most recent information dominates perceptions
• Start/End of lecture or Job Interview
Describe the false-consensus effect?
Overestimate similarity with other beliefs or traits of our own
• Political views
What is group polarization?
- The exaggeration through group discussion of initial tendencies in the thinking of group members
- Groups often produce more extreme views and decisions that individual members would on their own
- Common example is when people are rioting.
Describe the contrast effect
- We don’t evaluate a person in isolation
* Our reaction to one person is influenced by others we have recently encountered
What are stereotypes?
• Judging someone based on our perception of the group to which he or she belongs
• Occurs because of:
o Categorical thinking
o Innate drive to anticipate behaviours
• How we stereotype:
o Categorize people into groups
o Homogenisation is assigning traits to someone due to the group traits
o Differentiation is assigning less favourable attributes to other groups
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
Your own expectations lead to outcomes
- Have a stereotype (Schema or expectation)
- Act in a way consistent with that belief
- The other person creates stereotypical behaviour because of your actions
• Occurs with teaching o Positive behaviour → Good student performance → Good teacher expectation • Pygmalion Effect: o High expectations → High performance • Golem Effect: o Low expectations → Poor performance • Galatea Effect: o High self-expectations → High performance
Define affect
A generic term that encompasses a broad range of feelings that people experience
Describe emotions
Intense feelings that are directed at someone or something
- Caused by a specific event
- Very brief (seconds or minutes)
- Specific and numerous in nature (many specific emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, surprise)
- Usually accompanied by distinct facial expressions
- Action oriented in nature (create action tendency)
Define and describe moods
Feelings that tend to be less intense and longer-lasting than emotions and often lack a contextual context (in the middle between trait and state)
- Cause is often general and unclear
- Last longer than emotions (hours or days)
- More general (two main dimensions – positive affect and negative affect – that are comprised of multiple specific emotions)
- Generally, not indicated by distinct expressions
- Cognitive in nature
What are the 6 universal emotions?
Sadness, Anger, Happiness, Disgust, Surprise, Fear
Give 5 sources of emotions and moods?
• Personality
o Moods and emotions have a trait component
o Affect intensity: is a stable individual difference characteristic defined in terms of the typical strength of an individual’s responsiveness
• Age
o Older people experience less negative emotions
• Gender
o Women tend to be more emotionally expressive
o Women feel emotions more intensely
o Women have longer lasting moods
• Stress
o High levels of stress can worsen moods
• Sleep
o Poor sleep quality has a negative effect on emotions
• Social Activities
o Physical, informal and dining increases positive moods
• Exercise
o Does somewhat improve mood
o Biological explanation- endorphins, hormone for happiness
o Works well for depressed people
• Weather
o Impacts on sleepiness and tiredness (natural sunlight)
o Effects the extent to which you feel negative affect
o Low neuroticism leads to a smaller impact
• Time of Day
o Mood improves throughout the day
o In the morning mood is most negative
• Day of the Week
o Sundays most cultures seem the happiest
o Monday shows a lower level of happiness
What is the positivity offset?
When nothing is going on we tend to experience a mildly positive mood, rather than a neutral one.
What is the asymmetry effect?
People think about events that triggered strong negative emotions about 5 times longer than they think about events that triggered strong positive emotions.
o More tuned to negative emotions
o Primitive perspective- ignoring a negative effect is more harmful
Identify 4 effects of positive emotions
• Broaden attention, thinking-style and your action potential
o More likely to interact socially
• Build durable personal psychological capital (i.e. physical, intellectual and social resources)
• Undo lingering effects of negative emotions;
• Increase resilience
• Boost your immune system
• Create an upward spiral towards growth, & enhanced emotional & physical wellbeing
• Provide a threshold for human flourishing
How can a manager intrinsically motivate others
• Make them feel competent o Train them o Set challenging goals • Make them feel autonomous o Make it interesting o Give them options • Make them feel related o Create opportunities for interactions o Team work
What is surface acting?
o Hiding one’s feelings and foregoing emotional expressions in response to display rules
What is deep acting?
o Trying to modify one’s true feelings based on display rules
Define emotional dissonance
The psychological tension experienced when the emotions people are required to display are different from the emotions experienced at that moment.
• People who:
o Find it difficult to display expected emotions accurately
o Hide true emotions
• Conflict between true and required emotions
Define emotional contagion
Emotions expressed by one person are ‘caught’ by another.
• Can occur on both conscious and sub conscious levels
• Mimic emotional states
• Primitive explanation- yawning shows empathy
What are the 4 individual differences in decision making?
- Personality
- Gender
- Mental Ability
- Emotions
What are ethical decisions?
- A focus on utilitarianism promotes efficiency and productivity, but can sideline the rights of some individuals, particularly those with minority representation.
- Use of rights protects individuals from injury and is consistent with freedom and privacy but can create a legalistic environment that hinders productivity and efficiency.
- A focus on justice protects the interests of the under-represented and less powerful but can encourage a sense of entitlement that reduces risk taking, innovation and productivity.
Define creativity
The production of novel and useful ideas
How is survey feedback used for organisational development?
• Use of questionnaires to identify discrepancies among member perceptions • Survey on: o Decision making o Communication effectiveness o Job satisfaction o Climate • Data redistributed to employees o Identify problems o Clarify issues o Encourage discussion
What is convergent thinking?
- Straightforward problem solving using existing knowledge, rules, procedures
- Uses logic
Define novel ideas
o Are unique compared to other ideas currently available
Define useful (goal appropriate) ideas
o Have the potential to add value in either the short or long term
Explain the three creative outcomes.
• Fluency o # of ideas generated • Flexibility o # of categories of ideas referenced • Originality o the production of ideas that are unique from all other ideas
Explain the difference between creativity and innovation
- Creativity is the process (or the outcome of this process) of forming something (e.g., solution, idea) that is novel and useful.
- Innovation is the implementation or production of something new (e.g., product, service).
- “Creativity is about coming up with the big idea. Innovation is about executing the idea — converting the idea into a successful business.”
Creativity is not…
• Art
o You can be creative in every domain (not just art)
• Intelligence
o Intelligence contributes to creativity
o Although above modestly high IQ’s, there is no significant relationship between intelligence and creativity.
• Good
o Novel and goal-appropriate (useful) behaviors can be evil and destructive
What are the 4 characteristics of creative people?
- Independent imagination
- Knowledge and experience
- Persistence
- Cognitive and practical intelligence
Define a team
- Groups of two or more people
- Exist to fulfill a purpose
- Mutually accountable for achieving common goals
- Interdependent – interact and influence each other
- Perceive themselves as a social entity
What are the difference between work groups and work teams
Work groups
- Share information (goal)
- Neutral synergy
- Individual accountability
- Random and varied skills
Work teams
- Collective performance (goal)
- Positive synergy
- Individual and mutual accountability
- Complementary skills
Explain functional teams
A group of employees in teh same functional department (i.e. marketing or R&D) who have a common objective
Explains cross-functional teams
A group of employees from different functional departments that are brought together
Explain problem solving teams
Teams were typically composed of 5-12 employees from the same department
Explain self-managed teams
Relatively autonomous teams whose members share or rotate leadership positions and are mutually responsible
Explain virtual teams
Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve common
Explain multi-team systems
Collections of two or more interdependent teams that share a super ordinate goal- they are a team of teams
What are the 5 stages of group development (Tuckman)
- Forming
- Storming
- Norming
- Performing
- Adjourning
Identify and explain the 4 contextual factors that affect team effectiveness
o Adequate resources
Teams rely on resources outside the group to sustain it
A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its job effectively
o Leadership and structure
Teams can’t function if they can’t agree on who is to do what
There are some exceptions like Self-Managed Teams
Important in multi-team systems
o Climate of trust
Trust each other and exhibit trust in their leaders
More willing to take risks and are more willing to commit to their leader’s goals and decisions
o Performance evaluation and reward systems
Individual performance may not be recognised in teams
Should reward individuals and groups
Identify and explain the 6 composition factors that affect team effectiveness
o Abilities of members Skills and training o Personality Agreeableness (too much is detrimental) Conscientiousness Achievement-orientation Mixture of introvert and extrovert o Allocating roles o Diversity/Cultural differences Educational background Race/Sex are mostly unrelated to performance Age has no effect o Size of teams Ideally 5-9 o Member preferences
Identify and explain the 8 process factors that affect team effectiveness
o Common purpose
analysing the team’s mission
developing goals to achieve that mission
creating strategies for achieving the goals
o Specific goals
Successful teams translate their common purpose into SMART goals
o Team efficacy
Effective teams have confidence in themselves and believe they can succeed
Increase by training, mentoring, raising expectancies
o Team identity
Your collective self contains characteristics or traits that differentiate in-group members from members of relevant out-groups.
o Team cohesion
the degree to which the members of a group desire to remain in the group
Is how resistant the group is to disrupting influences
o Mental models
organized mental representations of the key elements within a team’s environment that team members share
o Conflict levels
Task-based: cognitive conflict related to the task
Relationship-based: socio-emotional conflict because of interpersonal disagreement
Multiple points of view can be incorporated
Relationship conflict is detrimental almost under any circumstances.
o Social loafing
Team collective effort tends to decrease as the size of the team increases.
Perceived inequity of effort: others are inept, so you reduce your work
Solutions: Upgrade task importance, reward individuals and check team norms
List 4 advantages and disadvantages of teams
Advantages • Task more meaningful • Better connection with client needs • Diverse teams make better decisions • Increase member commitment, motivation and engagement
Disadvantages
• Higher task requirements
• Teams do not always produce better outcomes
• Distribute leader’s personal accountability
• Process losses
What are the advantages of group decision making?
• Groups generate more ideas.
• Groups are more vigilant (better evaluation).
• Better Acceptance and Commitment:
o People wish to be involved in a decision that will affect them.
o People will better understand a decision in which they participate.
o People will be more committed to a decision in which they invested personal time and energy.
What are the disadvantages of group decision making?
• Time
o Groups do not work quickly or efficiently.
• Conflict
o Group members have personal axes to grind or their own resources to protect.
• Domination
o An individual or coalition can adversely dominate the group.
• Groupthink
o The capacity for group pressure to damage the mental efficiency.
o The norm for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative course of action
• Group Polarization
o Tendency for groups to make risky or conservative decisions
What are the causes of group think?
• Causes:
o Cohesiveness (strong norms, high conformity)
o Isolation (less accessible outside information)
o Illusion of infallibility & Moral superiority (No questioning, not making any mistakes)
o Pressure to conform to group norms
o Pushy-Leader
o Gatekeepers who keep information from group members
What are the consequences of group think?
o Incomplete examination of alternatives (people remain silent)
o Failure to examine the risks involved.
o Poor information search & sharing
How do you minimise group think?
- Group leader encourages thoughtfulness/criticism
- Refrains from expressing own opinion and views until group has considered all alternatives
- Encourages group members to gather information from outside people
- Assigns devil’s advocate (This person should find what’s wrong)
- Holds second meeting for important decisions
What is group polarization?
- The exaggeration through group discussion of initial tendencies in the thinking of group members
- Groups often produce more extreme views and decisions that individual members would on their own
- Common example is when people are rioting.
Describe how emotions are relevant in OB
• Decision Making
o Positive emotions enhance problem solving skills
• Creativity
o Activated moods make people more flexible
• Motivation
o Positive emotions enhance self-efficacy
• Leadership
o Emotional contagion
o Creates optimism and enthusiasm
• Negotiation
o Negative emotions impair negotiator performance
• Work-Family Conflict
o Emotional spill over
• CWB (Counterproductive work behaviour)
o Anger/Frustration may lead to blaming and distort perception
• Safety
o Negative emotions associated with workplace injury
What is emotional intelligence?
The ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others.
What is the appraisal and expression of emotion in the self?
Being aware both of their mood and of their thoughts concerning that mood
• Emotional Appraisal:
o The ability to accurately identify another’s emotions
o Closely linked to empathy
• Emotional Expression:
o The ability to re-experience these emotions oneself
Describe the regulation of emotion in the self and others
- Refers to the ability to be able to monitor and evaluate one’s mood and then acting to change one’s mood
- Repair unpleasant moods while maintaining pleasant ones
- Includes also the ability to alter the affective reactions of others (e.g., the ability to calm distressing emotions in other individuals)
What are the advantages of emotional intelligence?
Biologically based Superior negotiating Leadership effectiveness Life Satisfaction Lower insecurity + depression
What are the disadvantages of emotional intelligence?
Vague construct
Low predictive power
Susceptible to faking
What are attitudes?
Evaluative statements or judgments.
• Either favourable or unfavourable - concerning objects, people, or events.
• They reflect how you feel about something.
What are the three components of attitudes?
- Cognitive (Evaluation)
o A description of belief in the way things are
o Supervisor gave a raise to someone who deserved it less - Affective (Feeling)
o The emotional or feeling part
o This makes me angry - Behavioural (Action)
o The intention to behave in a certain way towards others
o I’m looking for another position. I filed a complaint about the supervisor
What are the social and organisational attitudes?
- Evaluate: varying along a good and bad dimension
- Acquired through experience (work, family, religion, culture)
- There is a behavioural predisposition (Distinct from behavioural intention)
What is fishbein and ajzen’s theory of reasoned action?
Attitude towards behaviour
• Based on Subjective Expected Utility approach
o A function of beliefs about what the act will lead to weighted by the evaluations of those outcomes
Subjective Norms
• Beliefs about what others want you to do weighted by motivations to comply with those persons.
o Note here links to both cross-cultural psychology and individual differences
Define cognitive dissonance
any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behaviours and attitudes.
• Attitudes may also follow behaviour
• Inconsistency is uncomfortable and causes tension.
• People alter attitudes or behaviours to reduce this inconsistency.
Describe job satisfaction
A person’s evaluation of his or her job and work context.
• A collection of attitudes about specific facets of the job and work context.
• Happy workers are more productive
• Overall satisfaction is the sum of all facet satisfactions
How do you measure job satisfaction?
• Global satisfaction: Looks at job satisfaction overall
• Facet satisfaction: Looks at different elements or facets
• JDI (Job Descriptive Index)
o Facet approach
Supervisor
Co-workers
Pay
Promotions
Work itself
• MSQ (Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire)
Describe Herzberg’s two-factor theory
• Job Satisfaction is qualitatively different from Job Dissatisfaction.
• Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction are different dimensions.
• Examples:
o high in satisfaction and low in dissatisfaction (most desirable)
o low in satisfaction and high in dissatisfaction (least desirable)
Describe job dissatisfaction
Occurs when hygiene needs are not met
• Influenced by Hygiene Factors (Job context)
o Base salaries
o Benefits
o Working conditions
• Improving hygiene decreases job dissatisfaction
• Meeting hygiene needs only makes you NOT DISSATISFIED (neutral).
Describe job satisfaction
Occurs when motivator needs are met
• Influenced by motivator factors (Job content)
o Achievement
o Recognition
o Responsibility
• Improving motivator factors improves job satisfaction
• Not meeting them leads to NOT SATISFIED, which is not dissatisfaction but neutral.
Describe the affective events theory
- This is the new view (traditionally job satisfaction is seen as an attitude)
- Structure, causes, and consequences of affective experiences at work
Explain brainstorming as a decision making technique
o Group sits around a table and one member describes the problem or opportunity
o Group members share their own ideas in a free and open manner
o No critical evaluation of the ideas
o Group members come up with as many ideas as possible and “piggy-back” on the ideas of others;
o One-member records ideas for later evaluation
Explain nominal group technique as a decision making technique
o Group members sit around a table
o One member of the group describes the problem or opportunity.
o Members come up with ideas and write them down on a piece of paper.
o Members present the ideas and list them
o Ideas are discussed one by one: members raise questions and objections, and critically evaluate each idea.
o Each member privately ranks all alternatives from most preferred to least preferred
o The alternative with the highest ranking is chosen
Explain Delphi technique as a decision making technique
o Group members never meet face to face.
o Advice of experts sought through written communication.
o Leader describes the problem and asks others to complete and return a questionnaire.
o Leader compiles the responses and sends a summary of them to all group members + any additional questions that need to be answered.
o Process is repeated as many times as needed to reach a consensus.
Define leadership
The ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness of the organisations of which they are members
Explain the difference between a manager and a leader
Manager
- Impersonal attitude towards vision & goals
- Implements the vision
- Controls processes, oversees day to day operations identifies & solves problems, monitors results
- Low-risk decisions
- Accepts status quo
Leader
- Passionate about vision & goals
- Develops the vision
- Motivates and inspires, energises employees
- High-risk decisions
- Challenges status quo
Define the trait paradigm
Constitutes the foundation for the field of leadership studies. Idea of the ‘great man’
Explain the behavioural paradigm
• Focuses on leader behaviour and leadership styles
o Trait paradigm shared a similar idea
• Drives from
o Behaviours as an outcome of personality traits
o Styles a combination of traits, skills and behaviors
• Research of the three schools
Explain the 3 basic leadership styles (IOWA)
• Autocratic (directive)
o Leader orders “what, when, why, & how” of task
o Followers do not question
• Democratic (participative)
o Followers can help leaders to make decisions in the name of the group
o Followers are not so different than leaders
• Laissez-Faire (delegative)
o Leaders do not interfere with decisions made by followers
o Followers do what they really think is best
What are the 2 dimensions of leader beahviour (Michigan)
• Employee orientation
o Leader emphasizes interpersonal relations
o Takes personal interest in the needs of employees
o Treats followers as unique, meets their personal needs
o Higher group productivity and satisfaction
• Task orientation
o Leader emphasizes technical aspects of work
o Followers are merely the tools for completing the work
What are the 2 dimensions of leadership behaviour (Ohio)
• Consideration
o Trust and respect for group members’ ideas and feelings
o Friendly & approachable
o Followers participate in decision making
• Initiating Structure
o Leader defines the role of followers
o Followers do not question how things got structured
o Leader maintains performance standards
o Scheduling & planning tasks
• High-High leaders resulted in high task performance and satisfaction
• Situational factors play an important role
Define contingency models
Contingency leadership theories try to explain the suitable leadership style depending on leaders, followers and the situation
Explain Fiedler’s Model
• The effect on performance is related to the situational factors
o Leader-member relationship (mutual trust and respect)
o Task structure (clearly defined tasks)
o Leader’s position power (authority)
Explain the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
• Leaders have ‘favourites’
• Create in-group and out-group
o In-group subordinates
High performance ratings, trust, better supervision, more autonomy and responsibility less turnover and greater job satisfaction
o Out-group subordinates
o Withdrawn members with negative work attitudes, given basic responsibilities and few rewards
What are the 3 stages of the leader-member exchange (LMX)
3 Stages
o Role taking
Leader ‘tests’ members skills, talents and motivation
o Role making
Leader learns who is trustworthy and who isn’t and begins sorting employees into groups (in-group vs out-group)
o Routinisation
In-group members maintain great relationship with leader and form a cohesive team. Out-group members learn to distrust the leader and show signs of withdrawal
Define transactional leadership
Leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements
Explain transactional leadership tactics
• Contingent reward
o Contracts exchange of rewards for effort
o Promises rewards for good performance
o Recognises accomplishments
• Management by Exception (Active)
o Actively monitor people’s behavior to avoid deviance. Punish when deviant.
• Management by Exception (Passive)
o Intervenes only if standards are not met
o Wait for deviance to occur before taking corrective measures.
• Laissez-faire
o Abdicates responsibilities
o Avoids making decisions
Define transformational leadership
Leaders who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests and who can have a profound and extraordinary effect on followers
Explain transformational leadership
• Idealised influence
o Perceived as capable, persistent and determined.
o Convey admiration, respect and trust.
o Makes followers want to identify with the leader and emulate him/her.
• Inspirational motivation
o Display enthusiasm and unfailing optimism.
o Create team spirit.
o Communicate expectations about follower behaviour and commitment to goals.
o Challenging, persuasive, meaningful, understandable vision.
• Individualised Consideration
o Acknowledge individual differences and attend to individual needs.
o Create learning opportunities.
o Supportive climate with direct contact (good listener).
o Delegate and show trust in followers.
o Provide followers with support, mentoring, and coaching.
• Intellectual Stimulation
o They question assumptions, reframe problems and approach old situations in new ways.
o Encourage creativity.
o Allow mistakes.
o Pushes followers to use their skills and abilities.
What are the outcomes (6) of transformational leadership?
- Higher productivity & organisational effectiveness
- Higher morale and job satisfaction
- Higher creativity
- Lower turnover
- Lower absenteeism
- Greater organisational adaptability
Define Charisma
• Compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others
Explain Max Weber’s Conceptualisation of Charisma
• The follower accepts this course of action not because of its rational likelihood of success but because of an effective belief in the extraordinary qualities of the leader
List the 4 behavioural attitudes of charismatic leaders
- Dissatisfaction with the status quo
- Compelling in their vision
- Uses unconventional strategies
- Has a realistic assessment of the resources needed to make the change
Explain ethical and authenitc leadership
• Personalized charismatic/pseudo-transformational leadership:
o Personal dominance and authoritarian behavior.
o Self-aggrandizing, exploitative, manipulative, self-interested.
• Socialized charismatic/transformational leadership:
o Legitimate authority, egalitarian, empowering others
o Serving collective interests, altruistic
What are 7 practices of ethical leadership
Fairness
-Do not practice favouritism, treat others in a way that is right and equal, make principled and fair choices
Power Sharing
-Allow followers a say in decision making and listen to their ideas and concerns
Role Clarification
-Clarify responsibilities, expectations and performance goals
People Orientated
-Care about, respect and support followers
Integrity
-Consistence of words and acts and keeping promises
Ethical guidance
-Communicate about ethics, explain ethical rules, promote and reward ethical conduct
Concern for Sustainability
-Care about the environment and stimulate recycling
What does ELVN Stand for?
Exit Voice Loyalty Neglect Retaliate
What is organisational commitment?
• Normative Commitment: feeling of obligation to stay with the organisation
o Values, family, co-workers
• Continuance Commitment: calculative attachment to an organisation
o Status, financial
• Affective Commitment: emotional attachment to, involvement in, and identification with an organisation
o More strongly related to performance
What is job involvement?
o The degree to which a person identifies psychologically with their job, actively participates in it and considers their perceived performance level important to self-worth
What is employee engagement?
o An individual’s involvement and satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for, the work he or she does
Describe psychological empowerment
o Employees’ belief in the degree to which they affect their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job and their perceived autonomy in their work
Describe perceived organisational support
o The degree to which employees believe the organisation values their contribution and cares about their well-being
Define motivation
The processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
There is a tendency to think of job performance as a combination of ability and motivation
Job performance
• f (ability, motivation)
• ‘can do’ ‘will do’
Describe Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• You must satisfy needs at the bottom before you ascend
• The first 4 needs are deficit needs
o Tension-reduction process
o Behave to reduce tension and frustration
• Self-Actualisation
o Can’t be fulfilled
o Not everyone reaches this point
• Concepts are difficult to operationalize
Describe Theory X and Theory Y
• Theory X assumes that employees: o Dislike work o Lack ambition o Avoid responsibility o And must be directed and coerced to perform
• Theory Y assumes that employees: o Like work o Seek responsibility o Capable of making decisions o Exercise self-direction and self-control
• Evidence
o No good research then/now
o Evidence that a theory X approach can damage well-being
Describe Herzberg’s Two-factor theory
• Grouped the physical and safety needs together to get hygiene needs
o Frustration focus: Meeting them leads to less “dissatisfaction”.
o But doesn’t lead to “satisfaction”.
• Grouped the social, esteem and self-actualization needs together to get motivator needs
o Satisfaction focus: Meeting them leads to more “satisfaction”.
o No hierarchy of needs, just two dimensions.
Describe Mclelland’s Achievement motivation theory
Motivation is a function of the desire for fulfillment of 3 needs:
• Need for Achievement
o The need to succeed
o Unconscious concern for excellence in accomplishments
o Goal-orientated
o Performs well in competitive situations
• Need for Power
o The need to exert control over others
o Unconscious concern for influencing others
o Characteristics of dominance, self-confidence and high energy
o Naturally controls the situation, influences and controls others and enjoys competition
o Negative correlation with affiliation
o Personalised:
Using power to advance personal interest/status
o Socialised:
Using power to help others
• Need for Affiliation
o The need to be liked and accepted by others
o Unconscious concern for developing, maintaining, and restoring close personal relationships
o More sensitive and empathetic
o May make poor decisions in an effort to please others
Describe Skinner’s Operant Learning Theory
- Learning that takes place when the learner recognizes the connection between a behaviour and its consequences
- Behaviour becomes a function of its consequences
What are the consequences of behaviour?
• Positive reinforcement
o Administering positive consequences to workers who perform desired behaviours
o Give bonuses or praise performance
o Most intuitive
• Negative reinforcement
o Removing negative consequences when workers perform
o If you aren’t wearing your hardhat you must complete a lengthy report
• Extinction
o Removing what is currently reinforcing the behaviour
o Stop laughing at someone’s inappropriate jokes
• Punishment
o Administering negative consequences
o Getting fired for not doing work band talking on their mobile
What is OB Modification
• The systematic application of the principles of operant conditioning for teaching and managing organizational behaviours
• Behaviour must be measurable
o Expensive to closely monitor
What is Vroom’s Expectancy (VIE) Theory
Assumes that employees are rational and that their behaviour is guided by a cost-benefit analysis of a course of action.
• Assumes humans are smarter than animals and can understand the consequences/rewards
What are the three components of VIE Theory
• Expectancy (E → P)
o Perceived relationship between effort and performance (regarding an outcome).
o They are capable of performing their work
o Correlation 0 - 1
• Instrumentality (P → O)
o Perceived relationship between performance and outcome.
o Their efforts will result in a certain outcome.
o Correlation 0 - 1
• Valence
o Degree to which an outcome is desirable to an individual.
o The payoffs for doing their work are worthwhile.
o Usually scored as –10 (very undesirable) to +10 (very desirable) with 0 indicating no preference.
What are the actions to increase each aspect of VIE theory
ncrease Expectancy (E → P)
o Develops employee skills and experience
o Provide role clarity
o Self-efficacy beliefs
• Increase Instrumentality (P → O)
o Measure performance accurately
o Increase rewards with desired outcomes
o Explain the link between performance and outcomes
• Increase Valence of Outcomes
o Ensure reward is valued
o Minimise counter valent outcomes
What is goal setting theory
Goals tell an employee what needs to be done and how much effort is needed.
Evidence Suggests:
• Specific goals increase performance.
• Difficult goals, when accepted, result in higher performance than do easy goals.
• Feedback leads to higher performance than does non-feedback.
What are 4 characteristics of specific goals
• Clear: non-ambiguous (e.g., I want to be a better person vs. I want to help animals in need)
• Precise: exact level of achievement (e.g., I want to help animals get adopted)
• Concrete: accurate means for achieving (e.g., I will volunteer for an animal shelter)
• Measurable: can assess progress (e.g., I will volunteer once a week for 3 hours).
Feedback: Needed to compare current performance to desired performance.
Commitment: Accepting the goal and be willing to achieve it. How to?
• Participate in goal setting (or self-set them).
• Make sure the goal and its outcome are valued.
What are SMARTER goals
- Specific what, how, where, when and with whom the task needs to be accomplished
- Measurable how much, how well, at what cost
- Achievable challenging, yet accepted (E–to–P)
- Relevant within employee’s control
- Time-framed due date and when assessed
- Exciting employee commitment, not just compliance
- Reviewed feedback and recognition on goal progress and accomplishment
Give 5 Mistakes in applying goals
- Establishing too many goals
- Not requiring a plan for how and when goals will be achieved
- Failing to push for significant improvements for fear that people are already overwhelmed
- Not assigning clear one-person accountability for each key goal
- Signalling an unspoken “if you possibly can” “do the best you can”
- Framing goals in ways that may not be definable or measurable
What are the limits of goal setting
• Specific and difficult goals do not lead to high motivation/performance when:
o Employees lack skills
o Difficult to set goals on creativity
Describe self-efficacy theory
Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.
Beliefs greatly affect motivation
How does one increase self-efficacy?
• Enactive Mastery
o Gaining relevant experience with the task or job
• Vicarious Modelling
o Becoming more confident because you see someone else doing the task
• Verbal Persuasion
o Occurring when a person is more confident because someone convinces him that (s)he has the skills
• Arousal
o Leads to an energized state, driving a person to complete the task
Define Adams’ Equity Theory
Perception of equity stem from a comparison of the inputs one invests in a job and the outcomes one receives in comparison with the inputs and outcomes of another person or group. Inequity creates tension
Define Distributive justice
- Fairness of outcomes received in exchange for work done.
* Employees are motivated by a desire to be treated fairly
How is equity linked to motivation?
- When equity is perceived (things are fair), employees will be more focused and more motivated
- If equity is not achieved, motivation will be to fix the inequity balance
Describe procedural justice
- Fairness of the process that led to receiving those outcomes. e.g., performance evaluation
- Consistency of procedures across time and people.
- Use of “objective criteria” or accurate information in performance evaluation
- Participation and voice (Two-way communication, and appeals process).
- Inform employees: access to information, explain decisions
What is self-determination theory?
extent to which an individual’s behaviour is self-motivated and self-determined
• People like to have control over their actions.
• People seek ways to achieve competence and positive connections to others.
• Intrinsic motivation
o The satisfaction of basic psychological needs
Autonomy: feeling that you chose to do the task because you wanted to (no pressure)
Competence: feeling that you can master the task (self-efficacy)
Relatedness: feeling connect to other people (meaningful relationship, part of a community, not alienated)
o These needs are innate and universal
o Satisfying these needs fosters one’s mental health and well-being.
• Problem with extrinsic motivation
o Rewards can reduce intrinsic motivation (because they sometimes make people feel less autonomous)
How can a manager intrinsically motivate others
• Make them feel competent o Train them o Set challenging goals • Make them feel autonomous o Make it interesting o Give them options • Make them feel related o Create opportunities for interactions o Team work
What is organisational change?
• A company’s process of transition from its current state to some desired future state.
o Change in strategy
o Re-structuring
o Culture re-definition
o Introduction of new technologies and/or working methods
Why is organisational change required?
- Changing workforce (people require more autonomy; job rotation has been implemented)
- Technology (lecture capture system)
- Global competition (Companies must compete on a global level)
- Economic shocks (GFC 2008)
- Politics
How does a change in management occur?
• Core elements
o Organisational assessment
Identify current state of the situation
o Development planning
Gain a clear picture of the desired future state
o Change management
Close the gap between current and desired state
Describe Lewin’s force field analysis model
- Unfreezing the status quo
- Movement to a desired state
- Refreezing the new change and make it permanent
- Driving vs restraining forces
Why is there resistance to change?
- Negative valence (perception) of change
- Change is threatening
- Fear of the unknown
- Breaking routines
- Incongruent team dynamics & organisational systems
How is resistance to change overcome
- Prevention: selection & recruitment
- Education and communication
- Participation
- Trust, support and commitment
- Learning / training
- Stress management
- Negotiation
- Coercion
Describe organisational development
• Ongoing systematic process of implementing organisational change • Collection of change interventions to improve organisational effectiveness and employee well-being • Underlying values: o Respect for people o Trust and support o Power equalisation o Confrontation o Participation
What are some outcomes of ethical leadership?
• Perceived ethical leadership positively related to: o Leader effectiveness o Team and organizational commitment o Trust o Job satisfaction
Explain servent leadership
• The view that leaders serve followers; leaders help employees fulfil their needs and are coaches, stewards and facilitators of employee development:
o do not view leadership as a position of power
o Show sensitivity to others’ personal concerns
o Servanthood: Serve others first, even when self-sacrifice is required
o Uniquely predicts citizenship, core performance and org. commitment above and beyond transformational leadership
Define power
Capacity of Person A to influence Person B to do something they would otherwise not do
Explain Dependence
- I can exert power/influence over someone to the extent that I possess something that the other person values, desires or depends on
- The greater B’s dependency on A, the more power A has over B
- Importance (Can exert influence if you are important to a company, engineers-NASA)
- Scarcity (If plentiful it won’t increase your power)
- Non-substitutability (Greater influence if there are less viable substitutes)
Explain the difference between leadership and power
Leadership:
Goals of leaders and followers somewhat congruent
Downward influence
Focused on style
Power
No congruence required
Downward, upward, lateral influence
Focused on tactics to gain compliance
What are the 6 elements of organisational structure
- Work specialisation
- Departmentalisation
- Chain of command
- Span of control
- Centralisation / Decentralisation
- Formalisation
Explain Coercive Power (Position)
o A power base that is dependent on fear
o Application of threat
o Negative reinforcement
Explain Reward Power (Position)
o Compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards that other view as valuable
o Opposite of Coercive power
o Positive reinforcement
Explain Information Power (Position)
o Possessing knowledge that others need or want
o Knowledge is power
o Access to vital information
Explain Expert Power (Person)
o Influence based on special skills or knowledge
o Experts get paid more money and have a larger say in business decisions
Explain Referent Power (Person)
o Influence based on identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits
o Desire to please those who we like/admire/respect
o Celebrity endorsements
Explain Connection Power (Person)
o Using influential people to help persuade others
o “It’s Not What You Know. It’s Who You Know”
List the 4 consequences of Power
- Emotions
- Social behaviour
- Social Attention
- Social Cognition
Explain Emotions as a consequence of power
o Elevated power will be associated with the increased experience and expression of positive mood.
o Power has a positive impact on your mood and affect
o Less power results in fear, embarrassment and guilt
o Sense of power: Amusement, desire, enthusiasm, happiness, love
Explain Social Behaviour as a consequence of power
o Elevated Power Increases the Likelihood of approach-orientated behaviour
o Elevated power should increase the performance of simple approach behaviors
entering the social space of others
initiating physical contact [touching behavior]
o Low-power individuals are more likely to abide by social norms
o Low power individuals are less likely to express their own ideas.
Explain Social Attention as a consequence of power
o Elevated Power Increases the Sensitivity to Rewards
Powerful people quicker to detect opportunities for material rewards
Other as a mean to own ends
o Reduced Power Increases the Sensitivity to Threat and punishment
People with less power are more likely to interpret ambiguous events as more threatening
Serves as a means to others’ ends
Explain Social Cognition as a consequence of power
o High power individuals will be:
More prone to stereotype others
Less likely to attend to individuation information in making judgements about others
Judge others’ attitudes, interests and positions
o Low power individuals concentrate their gaze more on others (particularly of elevated status)
List the 10 power tactics
• Legitimacy
o Relying on your authority position to or saying that a request accords with organisational rules/policies to enforce compliance
• Ingratiation
o Using flattery, praise, or friendly behaviour prior to making a request
• Rational Persuasion
o Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to show that the request is reasonable
• Assertiveness
o Use of demands, threats, or intimidation to convince someone to comply with a request or to support a proposal.
• Personal Appeal
o Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty
• Consultation
o Increasing the target’s support by involving him or her in deciding how you will accomplish your plan
• Exchange
o Rewarding the target with benefits or favours in exchange for following a request
• Inspirational Appeal
o Developing emotional commitment by appealing to a target’s values, needs, hopes and aspirations.
• Coalition
o Using the aid or support of others to persuade the target
• Blocking
o The person threatens to stop working with others, stop being friendly with others, engages in a work slow-down.
Explain Obedience as a form of power
• Change in behavior in response to direct request from an authority figure (Milgram’s research)
• Increasing obedience:
o More difficult to resist the orders from an authority figure if they are close by
o Milgram’s experimenter wore a laboratory coat (a symbol of scientific expertise) which gave him a high status
• Decreasing obedience:
o The presence of others who are seen to disobey the authority figure reduces the level of obedience to 10%.
o The experiment was moved to a set of run down offices rather than Yale University.
o Obedience dropped to 47.5%.
Explain Conformity as a form of power
- We desire to be one of the group and avoid being visibly different
- Group norms can press us towards conformity
- Employees can be tempted to adjust their beliefs in response to group pressure, so as to achieve consensus.
- To fix this, assign a devil’s advocate
Explain Organisational Politics
- Variety of activities aimed at influencing the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organisation.
- Form of intentional enhancement of self-interest
- Examples: blaming others, spreading rumours, leaking confidential information, lobbying etc.
Explain the antecedents of Organisational Politics
o Individual factors
Self-monitoring, Internal locus of control, need for power, Machiavellianism, likelihood of success
o Organisational factors
Scarcity of resources, individual and group competition, low trust, role ambiguity, promotion opportunities, subjective performance appraisal criteria
Explain the Consequences of Organisational Politics
o ‘Politically astute’ employees get higher performance evaluations; larger salary increases and more promotions than ‘politically inept’
o General responses to organisational politics
o - performance, job satisfaction
o + anxiety, turnover
Explain Impression Management
• Process by which individuals attempt to control the impressions that others form of them
o Ingratiation, self-promotion
o Especially influential in interviews
o Performance appraisals: ingratiation increases it, self-promotion tends to backfire
Explain Conflict
• A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has been negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect
• Conflict happens when two or more people perceive that their individual goals are mutually exclusive; accomplishing one’s goal keeps another’s from being achieved
• It is a perception
o If no one is aware it exists, it is generally agreed that it doesn’t exist
Explain Organisational Conflict
• Self-interested struggle that arises when goal-directed behaviour of one person or group blocks the goal-directed behaviour of another person or group.
List the 5 sources of organisational conflict
• Differentiation
o Differences in functional orientation, incompatible goals, status inconsistencies
• Task relationships
o Overlapping authority, task interdependencies and incompatible evaluation systems
• Scarcity of resources
• Ambiguous rules
• Poor communication
What are two types of conflict?
• Functional
o Conflict supports the goal of the group
• Dysfunctional
o Conflict hinders group performance
Explain functional conflict
- Critical evaluation of ideas
- Goals held in common are pursued
- Open and predictable
- Accurate representation of own needs
- Time devoted to finding solutions to problems and utilizing logical processes
- Ideas are given consideration based on merit
Explain dysfunctional conflict
- Evaluation focused on the behaviour and personality of other members
- Personal goals pursued
- Secretive and unpredictable
- Personal needs disguised
- Time devoted to non-rational and irrational arguments
- Evaluation of ideas based on bad stereotype of the other
What are the 3 main categories of conflict
• Relationship Conflict
o Focuses on interpersonal relationships
o Almost always dysfunctional
o Increases personality clashes and decreases mutual understanding
o Very exhausting to individuals
• Task Conflict
o relates to the content and goals of the work
o Moderate conflict is optimal
o Individuals who are open to experience are better able to turn conflict into performance
• Process Conflict
o is about how the work gets done
o Delegation and roles
o Often devolves into relationship conflict
What are the loci of conflict?
- Dyadic conflict is conflict between two people
- Intragroup conflict occurs within a group or team
- Intergroup conflict is conflict between groups or teams
- Intraindividual conflict is conflict within a person
Explain the avoiding conflict style
Involves:
• Passively ignoring the conflict rather than resolve it
• Becoming unassertive and uncooperative
• Refusing to take a stance or escaping conflict by mentally withdrawing or physically leaving
Used when • The conflict is trivial • You’ve got too much to lose • No time to solve it • Hard to control emotions for both of sides
Explain the accomodating conflict style
Involves:
• Passively giving up in to the other party
• Becoming unassertive but cooperative
Used when:
• Maintaining the relationship outweighs all other considerations
• Time is limited
Explain the competing conflict style
Involves:
• Using aggressive behavior to get his/her own way
• Becoming uncooperative and aggressive
• Using authority, threatening, intimidating and calling for majority rule
Used when:
• Unpopular action must be taken on important issues.
• Commitment by others to proposed action is not crucial to its implementation
• Maintaining the relationship is not critical
• It’s urgent to be resolved
Explain the compromising conflict style
Involves:
• Through being assertive and give-and-take decisions
Used when:
• In presence of complex and critical issues – no simple and clear solution.
• Parties do have equal power and seek for different solutions.
• Temporary solution
• Short time
Explain the collaborating conflict style
Involves: • Jointly resolving the solution with the best solution agreeable to everyone • Also called as problem-solving style • Becoming assertive and cooperative • Based on open and honest information
Used when:
• An important issue requires optimal solution
• group goals come before self-interest
• time is available
What are the constructive outcomes of conflict?
- improves the quality of decisions
- stimulates creativity and innovation
- encourages interest and curiosity
- provides the medium through which problems can be aired and tensions released
- fosters an environment of self-evaluation and change
What are the destructive outcomes of conflict?
- breeds discontent
- reduces group effectiveness
- threatens the group’s survival
Define negotiating
• A process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree upon the exchange rate for them.
Explain how distributing and integrative bargaining differ
Goal Motivation Focus Interests Information sharing Duration of relationship
Define organisational structure
- The manner in which work is formally divided, grouped and coordinated in an organisation
- Reporting relationships (organisational chart), Job design, Information flow, Work standards & rules, Team dynamics, Power relationships
What are the 6 elements of organisational structure
- Work specialisation
- Departmentalisation
- Chain of command
- Span of control
- Centralisation / Decentralisation
- Formalisation
What is process consultation?
• Outside consultant assists management to identify processes that need improvement
Describe team building
- High interaction activities to increase trust, cohesion and performance in teams
- Goal setting
- Interpersonal relation development
- Team process analysis
Outline intergroup development
- Resolve conflict
- Change of attitudes, perceptions, stereotypes
- Creation of overarching identity
What is appreciative inquiry?
- Focused on identifying and building on the strengths of an organisation
- 4 step process: discovery, dreaming, design, destiny
Define organisational culture
- A system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organisations from other organisations
- shared ways of thinking and doing things (mental programming) in a social group
What are the 7 primary characteristics of culture, according to O’Reilly
- Innovation and risk-taking
- Attention to detail
- Outcome orientation
- People orientation
- Team orientation
- Aggresiveness
- Stability
What are 4 key types of culture
- Clan
- Adhocracy
- Market
- Hierarchy
Identify the elements of strong cultures
• The core values are intensely held and widely shared o drive commitment and motivation o set clear direction o spur pursuit of excellence o assign responsibility and empowerment • Less need for detailed policies and procedures (formalization) • Reduced employee turnover • “The way things are done around here”
Identify the elements associated with weak cultures
• The core values are not clearly defined, communicated or widely accepted by those working for the organisation
o Lead to inconsistent behaviour of people in the organisation
o Lead to political games or status quo
• Greater need for detailed policies and procedures
• Don’t know “the way things are done around here”
What are the 4 steps of merging organisational cultures?
- Assimilation
- Deculturation
- Integration
- Separation
How can you improve socialisation within an organisation?
• Improve socialisation through:
o Realistic job preview (RJP) - A balance of positive and negative information about the job and work context
o Socialisation agents:
Supervisors – technical information, performance feedback, job duties
Coworkers – ideal when accessible, role models, tolerant, and supportive
Describe artifacts
- Observable symbols and signs of culture
- Physical structures, ceremonies, language, stories
- Maintain and transmit organisation’s culture
- Need many artefacts to accurately decipher a company’s culture
Describe stories
• Social prescriptions of desired (undesired) behaviour
• Provide a realistic human side to expectations
• Most effective stories and legends:
o Describe real people
o Are assumed to be true
o Are known throughout the organisation
o Are prescriptive
Describe rituals and superstitions
• Rituals o Programmed routines o (how visitors are greeted) • Ceremonies o Planned activities for an audience o (award ceremonies) • Organisational Language o Words used to address people, describe customers o Phrases and special vocabulary as cultural symbols o Language also found in subcultures
Describe Symbols
• Building structure – may shape and reflect culture o Office design conveys cultural meaning o Furniture, office size, wall hangings o Symbols & language o Logos
Explain Work Specialisation
• How work is divided into different tasks (division of labour),
• Jobs can vary in how specialised they are depending on
o Degree of knowledge/skills
o How many tasks are included
• Weber’s Ideal Bureaucracy
o A model for turning employees with no more than average abilities into rational decision makers serving the clients and constituencies of a bureaucracy with impartiality and efficiency
o He suggests the following:
A fixed division of labor
Clearly defined hierarchies
Promotions based on competence but judged by seniors of the organization
Remuneration with fixed salaries
Official work is different than admin work
A set of rules governing the performance
• Adam Smith’s Pin Factory had 18 jobs to make a pin and saw a 240% increase in productivity
o Marxist Critique
Alienation- workers doing repetitive work get bored and leads to alienation
o Taylorism
Job simplification
Leads to loss of control, repetition, meaningless and monotonous work, high job dissatisfaction, no opportunity to learn new skills
Explain Departmentalisation
• Grouping jobs to coordinate work by:
o Function (finance, research, development areas)
o Products/Services (RioTinto – Aluminium, copper and diamonds and energy)
o Geography/Territory (Most multinational companies)
o Process (Oil Industry – Drilling, mining, refining)
o Customer/Market (Microsoft – Corporate/Individual customers)
o Matrix structure (Division by function and product)
o Virtual Organisation (outsourcing- UBER)
Explain Chain of Command
• Line of authority that runs through the structure.
o Who do I talk to about X?
o Who should I listen to?
o Who is allowed to give me orders?
• Can be rigid or fluid
• Military Hierarchy
o Orders are formulated at the top and passed down (authority)
o No provisions for coordination or communication between units (only between commanding officers)
Explain Span of Control
• Number of subordinates a manager directs.
• Appropriate based on
o Type of work subordinates do (e.g., complexity)
o Subordinate knowledge/expertise
o How much guidance subordinates need
• Consider: Costs, need for control/autonomy, workload for managers
Explain Centralisation
- Degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organisation
- Centralised: Executive level
- Decentralised: Lower level managers, even subordinates in some cases
- Advantages: Avoid bad choices and non-standard actions from employees
- Disadvantages: Lack of autonomy is demotivating, less adaptive to changes
Explain Formalisation
• Degree to which jobs are standardised
o Strict rules and procedures, no discretion
• Advantages: When risks are high, requires less management (bureaucratic)
• Disadvantages: Less autonomy means less motivation, rigidity, low innovation, low adaptation.
Explain Extreme Structures
• Mechanistic Structure o Specialised work o Rigid departmentalisation o Strict chain of command o Narrow span of control? o Centralised decision making o Formalised
• Flat/Organic Structure o Cross-functional work (often in teams) o Fluid chain of command for information flow o Wide span of control? o Decentralised decision making o Low formalisation
Explain downsizing
• Systematic effort to make an organisation leaner o Close location o Reduce staff o Sell business units • Advantages: o Sometimes needed for survival o Reduction wage costs & other expenses • Disadvantages: o Lower commitment o Increased stress & absenteeism o Increased voluntary turnover
What are the factors to consider when choosing a structure?
• Strategy
o Innovating or Following?
o Minimising costs?
• Organisation Size
o Bigger means more specialisation
o Departmentalisation, and formalisation.
• Technology
o Routines created by technology can affect how work is divided and coordinated, need for management, rules, etc.
• Environment
o Suppliers, customers, competitors, government regulations, access to resources, …
