Pure Definitions

Question 1

Knowledge work

Answer 1

Managing knowledge work is less about direct control and capturing of knowledge in machines and/or systems.

It is more about providing an enabling context that supports the processes and practices of applying knowledge for specific tasks and purposes.

Question 2

Knowledge management

Answer 2

The effective learning processes associated with exploration, exploitation and knowledge sharing (tacit and explicit) that use appropriate technology and cultural environments to enhance an organisations intellectual capital and performance.

Question 3

Motivation

Answer 3

Motivation is a major determinant of our behaviour

Question 4

Employee Engagement

Answer 4

Is the emotional state of employees

Question 5

Absorption definition

Answer 5

The level of concentration and how much one is engrossed in work

Question 6

Dedication definition

Answer 6

The level of enthusiasm, inspiration and challenge experienced when performing job related tasks

Question 7

Vigor definition

Answer 7

Reflects the level of energy and persistence of employees while working

Question 8

Human Resource Management (HRM)

Answer 8

A strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasis on leveraging peoples capabilities as a critical means to achieving sustainable competitive advantage (SCA)

Question 9

Competitive advantage

Answer 9

When a firm is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors

Question 10

Aptitude

Answer 10

The natural ability to do something (skills)

Question 11

Leadership

Answer 11

Leadership is defined as the process by which an individual influences others in ways that help attain group or organisational goals.

Question 12

Personality

Answer 12

The unique and stable pattern of behaviour, thoughts and emotions shown by individuals

Question 13

Objective Tests

Answer 13

Questionnaires and inventories designed to measure various aspects of personality

Question 14

Projective tests

Answer 14

A personality assessment test presenting someone with ambiguous (=dubbelzinnige) stimuli to which someone is required to report what they perceive and how they do so

Question 15

Person-Environment fit

Answer 15

The degree to which a persons unique blend of characteristics (personality, skills, etc) suits the requirements of a particular job

Question 16

Need for Achievement

Answer 16

The need for achievement is the concern with meeting excellence standards, the desire and motivation to be successful and excel in competition

Applicable to workplace behaviour

Question 17

Goal Orientation

Answer 17

The difference between people in the kind of success they strive for

Question 18

Learning goal orientation

Answer 18

The desire to perform well because it satisfies an interest in meeting a challenge and learning new skills

Question 19

Performance goal orientation

Answer 19

The desire to perform well to demonstrate one’s competence to others

Question 20

The desire to achieve success to avoid appearing incompetent and to avoid receiving negative evaluation from other

Answer 20

Avoidance goal orientation

Question 21

Dark Personality

Answer 21

Dark personalities are characterised by socially offensive traits falling in the normal/everyday range.
Individuals with dark personalities manage to survive, or even flourish, in everyday society without being incarcerated or supervised.

Question 22

Psychopaths

Answer 22

Individuals characterised by high levels of;
- Impulsivity
- Thrill seeking
and low levels of;
- empathy

Question 23

Narcissists

Answer 23

Individuals characterised by;

• Grandiosity
• Entitlement
• Dominance
• Superiority

Question 24

Machiavellians

Answer 24

Individuals characterised by a cynical, unprincipled belief in interpersonal manipulation as the key to life’s success.

Question 25

Sadists

Answer 25

Individuals characterised by deriving enjoyment from observing and/or inducing suffering in other people

Question 26

Social Dominance Orientation

Answer 26

Is one’s degree of preference for inequality among social groups

Question 27

Imagination

Answer 27

A mental imagery of things that may not exist.

It is neutral and applies to adaptive and maladaptive activities.

Question 28

Creativity

Answer 28

The use of the imagination or original ideas in order to create something.

Question 29

Creative originality/newness

Answer 29

Ideas and products are creative only if they are unique relative to other ideas currently available

Question 30

Creative Cognition

Answer 30

An approach to creativity that focusses on the underlying mental processes. The ‘creative thinking’ process. How people think and what blocks or biases certain thoughts.

Question 31

Insight

Answer 31

An AHA! experience during problem solving as a result of changes in representation.

Question 32

Social and Organisational creativity

Answer 32

Social and organisational creativity emphasise on the role of the situation or context on a person’s creativity.
It is about the person themselves PLUS a (un)favourable social environment to produce creativity

Question 33

Similarity between creativity and unethical actions?

Answer 33

They both involve rule-breaking. Therefore, unethical actions (such as dishonesty) can often lead to greater creativity!

Question 34

Innovation

Answer 34

Implies the generation of novel ideas that are diffused and finally implemented to be applied/used in a practice/process.

Question 35

R&D simplified linear process

Answer 35

Knowledge sources generate ideas, decision are made, actions are undertaken and results are achieved
Repeat, repeat, repeat

(*Do note that the knowledge itself is not linear but continuous throughout the process)

Question 36

Open innovation

Answer 36

A paradigm that assumes that firms can/should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology.

Question 37

Closed innovation

Answer 37

The linear mode in which companies are self-reliant in terms of creating knowledge and introducing it in the form of new products to the markets.

Question 38

Ambidexterity

Answer 38

A firms ability to combine exploitation (delivery) and exploration (new idea generation)

Question 39

Organisational culture

Answer 39

A common perception held by an organisations members; a system of shared meaning

Question 40

Power

Answer 40

An individuals capacity to influence the behaviour of someone else so that this person behaves in line with your wishes

Question 41

Absorptive creativity

Answer 41

A firms ability to transform knowledge into a successful operational process or product.

Question 42

Employee Engagement

Answer 42

A motivational state that is characterised by;
Absorption
Dedication
Vigor

Question 43

Performance appraisal

Answer 43

A periodical and systematic review of individual employee achievement and performance. Good performance is praised and rewarded.

Question 44

Network

Answer 44

A set of actors connected by ties or links

Question 45

Actor

Answer 45

Individuals or entire teams or entire organisations

Question 46

Ties/Links

Answer 46

Things that connect various actors. Can be a trustee, someone you know, you worked with, a customer, someone you dislike even, anything really

Question 47

Strength of weak ties

Answer 47

People with whom we are the least connected with who offer us the most opportunities. The ‘weak ties’ can connect entire networks with each other.

Question 48

Community of Practice

Answer 48

Is a group of people with;

• similar goals/interests
• employ common practices
• work with the same tools
• use a common language
• hold similar beliefs

Question 49

Resource Based View

Answer 49

Internally focussed on achieving competitive advantage through exploiting internal firm resources