Week 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 - organisational behaviour lecture Flashcards
What are attitudes in the workplace
Attitudes are psychological constructs shaped by personal experience that reflect mental evaluations of people, objects or events. These impact our behaviour and decision making
How does Richardson (1977) define attitudes
Richardson states attitudes are a predisposition to respond positively or negatively to a person, object or event
What are the 3 components of job attitudes according to Breckler (1984)
Affective - emotional responses about a job
Cognitive - beliefs about a job
Behavioural - predispositions to act in specific ways
What is the difference between attitudes and personality
Personality reflects stable traits that influence behaviour whereas attitudes are more context specific and can be changed based on experiences
What influences the formation of attitudes at work
Influences include work situation, personality traits, personal values, social influences and culture
Why do work attitudes matter
work attitudes significantly affect organisational effectiveness, influencing job performance, employee turnover and workplace climate
What forms of assesment are used to measure workplace attitudes
Attitude measurement often involves self report surveys using Likert scales. rate your self 1-5 on how much you agree
How is job satisfaction defined
Job satisfaction is the emotional state resulting from ones job or job experiences
What components contribute to job satisfaction
- pay and benefits
- relations with peers
-leadership
-career opportunities
-conditions
What is the happy worker-productive worker hypothesis
the hypothesis suggests that satisfied employees are more productive, suggesting positive correlation between job satisfaction and performance
What factors influence job satisfaction
-personality traits
-job characteristics
-fairness perceptions
what is an organisational commitment
Organisational commitment is the psychological attachment an employee feels towards their organisation.
What are the 3 forms of organisational commitment
Affective - emotional attachment to the organisation
Continuance - cost benefit analysis approach
Normative - Moral obligation to remain with the organisation
What outcomes are linked to high organisational commitment
increased performance
reduced turnover
enhanced organisational citizenship behaviours
what does meta-analytic evidence suggest about job attitudes and performance
meta-analytic evidence shows moderate correlation between the pair. this indicates there are other variables that influence job performance and attitudes
how does job satisfaction and organisational commitment affect employee decisions
both constructs influence decisions to stay or leave jobs and organisations impacting overall well being and motivation
What are the primary objectives of Taylorism
Taylorism (scientific management) aims to increase efficiency, standardisation and discipline
What are the core principles of Scientific management
Taylorism’s core principles are task fragmentation, optimal task methods, specific employee training and supervision alongside economic incentives
Critically evaluate Taylorism
Scientific management often leads to low job satisfaction, poor job motivation and employee mental health as tasks lack autonomy and variety. Taylorism also often results in high employee turnover
List the 5 key characteristics of the JCM model
Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
Autonomy
Feedback
How do: Skill variety, task identity and task significance affect job motivation
Skill variety - Increases motivation by allowing workers to use a variety of skills increasing autonomy and engagement
Task identity - the extent to which a task completes an entire piece of work. the higher task identity the higher the sense of purpose
Task significance - The degree to which a job impacts others, higher task significance gives employees a greater sense of purpose
How do autonomy and feedback impact motivation
JCM model
Autonomy - allows employees to make independent decision fostering a sense of responsibility for outcomes increasing motivation
Feedback - helps employees understand their effectiveness which reinforces motivation and guides improvement
What are the psychological states that JCM aims to impact for higher motivation - what things impact the overarching 3
Experienced meaningfulness
Experienced responsibility
Result knowledge
- skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback
Critically evaluate the JCM model
+ve’s : implementation of this model typically increases motivation, job performance and other related fields whilst reducing employee turnover
-ve’s : the model is quite limited in terms of considering the dynamic natures of different job roles, individual differences and external factors. it also omits emotional factors which often affect job performance and turnover rates
What is TPWB
Theory of purposeful work behaviour posits that individual personality traits and motivational striving’s influence job preference and performance so aligning job characteristics with these striving’s will increase job performance
How does TPWB link personality traits to job characteristics
It suggests that personality traits like extraversion and conscientiousness align with specific job characteristics such as autonomy and task significance. This match will increase motivation and job performance
Critically evaluate TPWB
- can be limited, relies on personality traits not considering other things that may effect individuals such as organisational culture and team dynamics. it is a complex approach which is time extensive and resource consuming. On the other hand it is a comprehensive integration of personality theory and job design.
What is the name and 3 main components of Adams ______ theory
Equity Theory 1969
Distributive justice - outcomes
Procedural justice - processes
Interactional justice - interactions
Critically evaluate Equity theory
+ve’s - combines all aspects of justice cohesively to produce a fair work environment that will lead to better work attitudes, outcomes and motivation
-ve’s - can have limited applicability in collectivist cultures where harmony can outweigh fairness
- again the difference and potential variability between individuals is not something that can be accurately predicted or accounted for with a model
what is motivation, how does it relate to performance
Motivation is the psychological process that drives individuals to initiate, direct and sustain behaviour towards goals
higher motivation implies increased effort, persistence and focus
What are the 3 main concepts of motivation, as stated by steers & porter (1979)
direction
effort
persistence
how do intrinsic and extrinsic motivation differ
intrinsic - things done for inherent and personal satisfaction - key element (autonomy, mastery and purpose)
extrinsic - things done for a separable outcome
What are content theories of motivation, what do they aim to identify
content theories focus on identifying specific needs and drives that motivate individuals.
Describe maslow’s hierarchy of needs, alongside listing the 5 levels
Maslow’s 1943 Hierarchy of needs
self-actualisation
esteem
social
safety
physiological
Briefly apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, then criticise it
Organisations can offer
- salaries for physiological
- Safe conditions for safety
- team building for social
- recognition for esteem
- challenging tasks for self-actualisation
-ve’s - limited empirical evidence
assumes all individuals needs are uniform
limited in application to other cultures where order of needs or needs may differ
Who postulated and then describe and briefly criticise the motivational needs theory
McClelland
Achievement (mastery)
Affiliation (social connection)
Power (influence)
states these 3 motivational needs underlie individual motivation
-ve’s - a general argument against content theories is that individuals are too complex to categorise personal motivation into 3 simple categories, motivation is often contextual and can be influenced and shifted by many seemingly irrelevant and small factors
What do process theories of motivation focus on
process theories examine cognitive processes involved in motivation, they focus on how motivation works and can be manufactured
Who developed, and what is Goal setting theory
Locke & Latham 1990
suggests that specific and challenging goals enhance performance by directing attention, increasing effort and promoting persistence and action plans
Critically evaluate goal setting theory
Locke and Latham 1990
- the theory’s emphasis on specific goals may be harm for more complex goals - sometimes learning without clear specific goals may be more suitable
- overemphasis on outcomes can lead to decreased motivation if desired outcome is not achieved
- on the flipside it is empirically tested and has been shown to effectively improve motivation and engagement
Apply McClelland’s concept of need for power to the workplace
individuals with high nPow will enjoy leadership roles and positions that allow them to impact others
Define operant conditioning and how it differs to classical conditioning also what the overarching theory is known as
Skinner 1938 - a learning process where behaviour is modified by consequences using reinforcement to reduce undesired outcomes and vice versa
classical conditioning is a learning process where 2 stimuli are paired and the reaction from the second stimulus becomes a reaction to the first e.g dog and bell the bell making the dogs hungry
Behaviourism - focuses on observable behaviour only, not thoughts and feelings
what are the 4 types of operant conditioning
positive reinforcement - pleasant stimulus to encourage behaviour
negative reinforcement - removing unpleasant stimulus to encourage behaviour
Positive punishment - adding an unpleasant stimulus to discourage behaviour
Negative punishment - removing a pleasant stimulus to discourage behaviour
Apply behaviour modification - Operant conditioning to the workplace
Aims to replace undesirable behaviours with productive ones through positive and negative reinforcement and punishment
It will lead to managers only rewarding employees for desired behaviour but may be expensive to consistently implement as managers must treat everyone the same and often removing the second stimuli removes the effect
What is OBM - list its 5 stages and apply it : IMAIE
Identification
Measurement
Analysis
Intervention
Evaluation
Systematic approach to behaviour at work based on principles of conditioning (utilises operant conditioning principles)
- used to improve safety adherence, reduce lateness and produce an efficient work environment that encourages positive behaviours
Critically evaluate OBM and operant conditioning
- incentives can work to improve work behaviour
- effective method when target area is clear e.g health and safety
- may decrease other desired behaviours as workers concentrate efforts that reward them
- expensive to maintain
- neglects individual differences which may reduce effectiveness depending on the job and employees
What is social learning theory - what are the 4 key processes :ARPM
Social learning theory - Bandura
suggests that individuals learn through observation. it emphasises the importance of self-efficacy in influencing behaviour and motivation
- attention: observing
- retention: memorising
- production: doing
- motivation: desire to do behaviour
Define self efficacy
Belief in ones ability to complete or achieve tasks and goals.
self efficacy influences the goals people set, their perseverance and emotional response to challenges
apply and then critically evaluate social learning theory
managers can support by developing self efficacy, providing models for desired behaviour and tailoring feedback
- there is empirical support for this theory
- practical regarding implementation
- ideas aren’t brought together as one coherent theory making it difficult to implement
Briefly describe the differences between Behaviourism and social cognitive theory
Behaviourism - focuses on learning as a response to external stimuli and reinforcement ignoring thoughts and feelings
Social cognitive theory - considers cognitive processes such as thinking and self efficacy
What is the theory of planned behaviour
a theory that suggests behaviour is influenced by intention. intention is determined by attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control
Example of applying Theory of planned behaviour in the workplace
if i were a manager and wanted to encourage punctuality i would.
influence positive attitudes around punctuality
set norms about timeliness etc
critically evaluate ToPB
it assumes humans are fully rational not considering impulsive behaviours which may reduce accuracy in prediction
not empirically supported in regards to experimentation
Aldefer?
Alderfer ERG Model 1969
Builds on maslows 1943 hierarchy of needs.
simplifies the hierarchy into existence, relatedness and growth
also posits that one can prioritise existence over growth as opposed to maslow positing that one must satisfy the lower needs to begin to satisfy the other.
critically evaluate Alderfer’s ERG model
- flexible, better accounts for cultural and individual differences.
- practical to implement, and well suited for organisational use. accounts for the diverse nature of job roles
- limited empirical support
- quite broad categories, would need to be refined or examined on a deeper level to best account for complex motivations and different job roles.
define traits
traits are a distinguishing quality or characteristic that is typically consistent over time. stable
kurt lewin
1931 B=F(P,E)
highlights that the interaction between an individuals internal characteristics and their environment is what governs behaviour.
Therefore emphasising that the interplay of these variables is what co-produces behaviour
list and describe the structural models of general intelligence
Spearman’s G - g is referring to general mental ability stating that it allows for reasoning, problem solving, abstract thinking and learning from experience. - the idea is that the g factor underlies all specific mental cognitive abilities - high GMA correlates with job performance
Thurston Primary mental ability - produces intelligence profiles that can indicate job performance, loosely
drawback - resource and time consuming
both models are also tested under the maximum performance paradigm hence not accounting for external factors
- good for indicating task performance but job roles are more dynamic.
List, describe, evaluate 2 system models of general intelligence
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence’s - posits that intelligence is diverse, not limited to a single thing.
consists of :
- linguistic
- logical mathematical
- bodily kinesthetic
- musical
- interpersonal
- intrapersonal
-ve’s - little empirical evidence in support
+ve’s - lead to a more diverse and motivated workforce
Emotional intelligence - the ability to manage, recognise and influence emotions in oneself and others
+ve’s - improved/higher emotional intelligence is linked to improved work outcomes its scientific foundation is debated as the assessment is through the self. this puts the results at risk of bias henceforth lacking credibility/reliability
define personality
a stable and consistent set of traits that interact with the environment to produce emotional, behavioural and cognitive responses
List the 5 trait theories (OCEAN)
-Openness
-Conscientiousness
-Extraversion
-Agreeableness
-Neuroticism
+ve’s - empirically supported, shown to relatively accurately predict job performance from and individual and teamwork standpoint.
-ve’s - the model is broad lacking particularity in its classifications making it unsuitable in specific contexts considering the dynamic nature of job roles. for example how helpful is conscientiousness for job roles like project management, it can be argued dependability, orderliness and internal motivation are better indicators of performance for this job role
Briefly describe the self vs observer model - further explain why then others are better able, generally speaking, to predict job performance
From the self we can identify our identity, which others cannot see. on the other hand others can see our reputation - how we come across. the middle ground which both the self and observer can see is referring to identifiable and consistent traits.
Narrow scope, the frame of reference is more closely aligned with work outcomes.
Clear lens, from an external standpoint others are unbiased, as individuals we are biased therefore the external point of evaluation is regarded as a clear lens
define perception, why is it important in the workplace?
Perception are the psychological processes that attend to the organisation and interpretation of sensory data
List the steps in perception, how are these processed.
Processed via, Bottom up(from enviroment) or Top down(from prior knowledge)
Sensory input
Selective attention (filtering relevant info) (influenced by internal factors e.g motivation, personality. and by external factors e.g context and stimuli)
Perceptual organisation
Interpretation (assigning meaning)
Behavioural response
why or how may an overlap of perception influence teamwork
for example, perception of urgency and significance relating to task completion is aligned then the team is more likely to effectively corporate and prioritise the task achieving efficient completion
define/describe fundamental attribution error
the tendency to attribute other people’s actions to their - personality and decisions whilst underestimating the role of external factors. in simpler words you hold others more accountable for their action relative to yourself
what is attribution theory, its key types of attributions?
Attribution theory explains how people assign causes to behaviours. it has two main segments. personal and situational attributions. there are 3 attributiional dimensions -
locus of causality - internal vs external
stability - consistency or variability of cause over time
controllability - control aspect
what is the actor observer effect
comparison of how attributions differ for oneself versus others
- it refers to an individuals tendency to explain their own behaviour with situational effects and others behaviour to personal characteristics
apply and evaluate attribution theory
good for, performance appraisal, leadership (guiding management style), conflict resolution and hiring and promotion processes
-+ve’s, practical, predictive power, connects to emotions also for greater understanding
-ve’s, oversimplified, bias (too subjective), not well applicable to collectivist cultures in opposition to individualist cultures
Attribution theory is a valuable tool for analysing human behaviour in organisational settings, helping leaders and employees understand performance, leadership, and conflict. However, its limitations, such as bias and oversimplification, necessitate cautious application and integration with other behavioural frameworks to ensure a holistic approach.
list 6 things that may lead to perception distortions and errors
halo and horns effect - perception of one quality influences perception of another either negatively or positively
stereotyping - generalisations made towards individuals who are categorised into groups
perceptual defence - screening out information we find threatening or uncomfortable to process
projection - attributing personal feelings to others
self fulfilling prophecy - original idea leads to that idea becoming a reality as the behaviours are adjusted to preconceptions about something
unconscious bias - unconscious social preferences- closely related to the other errors
define organisation
A social arrangement for achieving controlled performance in pursuit of collective goals
Define group and team
group - a number of people who interact, are physiologically aware of each other and perceive themselves as a group
team - a group of people with specific expertise, making individual decisions, sharing a common purpose and working together to plan, and influence future decisions
What are stages of team development, what characterises these stages.
Tuckman - stages of team development theory
Forming - low trust, low motivation, individualistic behaviour
Storming - uneven contributions, trust being tested, aggressive communication
Norming - developing trust, team pride
Performing - proactive behaviour, shared leadership, high accountability and trust
Critically evaluate tuckmans model
stages of team development tuckman.
pros - promotes group effectiveness, assists team development and understanding team processes
cons - oversimplifies modern group dynamics, lacks quantitative research, limited sample settings.
What are belbins team roles, how are they applied and criticise the theory.
- belbins team roles identify behavioural tendencies in interacting and contributing within a team - members perform two roles - a functional role (professional knowledge) and a team role, teams need optimal balance of these roles
- they are split into action orientated, cerebral orientated and people oriented roles
- the theory is good for self awareness and understanding roles in a team environment but not for recruiting purposes, it strength lies in recognising roles and adapting to team demands
- criticisms, overlapping roles, insifficient understanding of situational role task interaction and variable behaviour based on context
what are the pros and cons of team decision making
pros - access to diverse information, increased credibility mutual solutions and commitment to implementation
cons - pressures to conform, unclear responsibilities, polarisation and longer decision making time
What are groupthink, polarisation and their causes and solutions.
groupthink - phsycological drive for consensus in cohesive decision making groups, suppressing alternative viewpoints leading to poor decisions. symptons like overconfidence, stereotyping outsiders.
solutions - impartial leadership, appointing critical evaluators.
Polarisation - Groups make more extreme decisions than members’ initial preferences due to social comparison (desire to appear desirable) and persuasive argumentation - dominance of majority views
solutions - facilitate critical thinking, encourage diverse opinions, regular review of decisions.
How can theories like tuckmans and belbins be applied in exams
Applications: Align team roles and development stages in jobs, education, training, and practice.
Evaluation: Highlight empirical support, practical value, and real-world relevance of theories. Consider their limitations, such as oversimplifications or lack of quantitative backing.
