Unit 2 Flashcards
Describe the four factors that directly influence individual behaviour and performance.
Four variables—motivation, ability, role perceptions, and situational factors—which are represented by the acronym MARS, directly influence individual behaviour and performance. Motivation repre- sents the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity, and persistence of voluntary behaviour; ability includes both the natural aptitudes and the learned capabilities required to successfully complete a task; role perceptions are the extent to which people understand the job duties (roles) assigned to them or expected of them; situational factors include conditions beyond the employee’s immediate control that constrain or facilitate behaviour and performanc
Summarize the five types of individual behaviour in organizations.
There are five main types of workplace behaviour. Task performance refers to goal-directed behav- iours under the individual’s control that support organizational objectives. It includes proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity. Organizational citizenship behaviours consist of various forms of cooperation and helpfulness to others that support the organization’s social and psychological context. Counterproductive work behaviours are voluntary behaviours that have the potential to directly or indirectly harm the organization. Joining and staying with the organization refers to becoming and remaining a member of the organization. Maintaining work attendance includes minimizing absenteeism when capable of working and avoiding scheduled work when not fit (i.e., low presenteeism).
Describe personality and discuss how the “Big Five” personality dimensions and four MBTI types relate to individual behaviour in organizations.
Personality is the relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that characterize a person, along with the psychological processes behind those characteristics. Personality is developed through heredity (nature) as well as socialization (nurture). The “Big Five” personality dimensions include conscientious- ness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion. Conscientiousness and extraversion are the best overall predictors of job performance in most job groups. Extraversion and openness to experience are the best predictors of adaptive and proactive performance. Emotional stability (low neuroticism) is also associated with better adaptivity. Conscientiousness and agreeableness are the two best personality predictors of organiza- tional citizenship and (negatively) of counterproductive work behaviours.
Based on Jungian personality theory, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) identifies competing orienta- tions for getting energy (extraversion versus introversion), perceiving information (sensing versus intuiting), pro- cessing information and making decisions (thinking versus feeling), and orienting to the external world (judging versus perceiving). The MBTI improves self-awareness for career development and mutual understanding but is more popular than valid.
Summarize Schwartz’s model of individual values and discuss the conditions where values influence behaviour.
Values are stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations. Compared to personality traits, values are evaluative (rather than descriptive), more likely to conflict with each other, and are formed more from socialization than heredity. Schwartz’s model organizes 57 values into a circumplex of ten dimensions along two bipolar dimensions: from openness to change to conser- vation and from self-enhancement to self-transcendence. Values influence behaviour in three ways: (1) shaping the attractiveness of choices, (2) framing perceptions of reality, and (3) aligning behaviour with self-concept and self-presentation. However, the effect of values on behaviour also depends on whether the situation supports or prevents that behaviour and on how actively we think about values and understand their relevance to the situation. Values congruence refers to how similar a person’s values hierarchy is to the values hierarchy of another source (organization, team, etc.)
Describe three ethical principles and discuss three factors that influence ethical behaviour.
Ethics refers to the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad. Three ethical principles are utilitarianism (greatest good for the greatest number), individual rights (upholding natural rights), and distributive justice (same or proportional benefits and burdens). Ethical behaviour is influenced by the degree to which an issue demands the application of ethical principles (moral intensity), the individual’s ability to recognize the presence and relative importance of an ethical issue (moral sensitivity), and situational forces. Ethical conduct at work is supported by codes of ethical conduct, mechanisms for communicating ethical violations, the organization’s culture, and the leader’s behaviour.
Describe five values commonly studied across cultures and discuss the diverse cultures within Canada.
Five values commonly studied across cultures are individualism (valuing independence and personal uniqueness); collectivism (valuing duty to in-groups and to group harmony); power distance (valuing unequal dis- tribution of power); uncertainty avoidance (tolerating or feeling threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty); and achievement-nurturing orientation (valuing competition versus cooperation). Canada is a multicultural society, but its deep-level diversity extends beyond racial and ethnic groups. Anglo- phones and francophones differ with respect to several values (deference to authority, moral permissiveness, etc.), but they converge on others. All regions in Canada differ from one another on some values (e.g., egalitarianism and personal responsibility) and personality traits (e.g., openness to experience). Canadians and Americans are similar in many ways, but they also have long-standing cultural differences, particularly regarding the values of tolerance, collective rights, secularism, and patriarchal authority.
