What is Organizational Behavior?

Question 1

Why are interpersonal skills important?

Answer 1

1. “Good places to work” have better financial performance.
2. lower turnover of quality employees and higher quality applications for recruitment.
3. Quality of good workplace relationships strong related to job satisfaction, stress and turnover.
4. It fosters a social responsibility awareness.

Question 2

What is the managers role?

Answer 2

To get things done through other people in an organization.

Question 3

What is an organization?

Answer 3

A consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.

Question 4

What are the managers’ 4 functions and what skills do all require?

Answer 4

• Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

- a required skill for effective implementation is interpersonal skill.

Question 5

What are the three categories of managerial roles suggested by Minztberg?

Answer 5

1. Interpersonal
2. Informational
3. Decisional

Question 6

What are some examples of interpersonal roles and descriptions?

Answer 6

1. Figurehead - performs a number of routine duties of legal or social nature.
2. Leader - Motivates and directs employees.
3. Liaison - Maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and information.

Question 7

What are some examples of informational roles and descriptions?

Answer 7

1. Monitor - serves as the nerve center of internal and external information of the organization.
2. Disseminator -Transmits information received from outsiders or from other employees to members of the organization.
3. Spokesperson - Transmits information to outsiders on the organization’s plans, policies, actions, and results; serves as an expert on the organization’s industry.

Question 8

What are some examples of decisional roles and descriptions?

Answer 8

1. Entrepreneur - Responsible for corrective action when the organization faces important, unexpected disturbances
2. Resource allocator - Makes or approves significant organizational decisions
3. Negotiator - Responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations

Question 9

What skills should managers have in order to be successful?

Answer 9

1. Technical skills
2. Human skills
3. Conceptual skills

Question 10

What are the managerial activities that managers engage in?

Answer 10

1. Traditional management.
2. Communication.
3. Human Resource Management.
4. Networking.

Question 11

What do the 4 managerial activities entail?

Answer 11

1. Traditional management is decision making, planning, and controlling
2. Communication involves exchanging routine information and processing paperwork.
3. Human resource management includes motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing, and training.
4. Networking is socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders.

Question 12

On what do successful managers allocate their time, mostly?

Answer 12

They allocate most of their time to networking, followed by communication.

Question 13

On what do effective managers allocate their time, mostly?

Answer 13

They allocate most of their time to communication, followed by human resource management.

Question 14

Define Organizational Behavior (OB)

Answer 14

OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.

Question 15

What does the systematic study of behavior entail?

Answer 15

That behavior generally is predictable if we know how the person perceived the situation and what is important to him or her.

Question 16

What does EBM stand for?

Answer 16

Evidence-based management.

Question 17

What is the role of EBM?

Answer 17

• To complement the systematic study.

- It argues for managers to make decisions based on evidence.

Question 18

What are the major behavior sciences disciplines that contribute to organizational behavior?

Answer 18

1. Psychology
2. Social Psychology
3. Sociology
4. Anthropology

Question 19

What are the employment options?

Answer 19

1. Categories of employment
2. Types of employment
3. Place of employment
4. Conditions of employment
5. Compensation of employment

Question 20

How do OB concept respond to globalization?

Answer 20

• Increased foreign assignments.
• Working with people from different cultures.
• Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor.
• Adapting to differing cultural and regulatory norms.

Question 21

What are some principles that explain Organizational Behavior?

Answer 21

1. Contingency variables
2. Responding to economic pressure
3. Managing workforce diversity
4. Improving customer service
5. Improving people skills
6. Working in network organizations
7. Using social media at work
8. Creating a positive work environment
9. Improving ethical behavior

Question 22

What is an example of a simple OB model?

Answer 22

Inputs -> processes -> outcomes

Question 23

What are some examples of outcome variables?

Answer 23

1. Attitudes and stress
2. Task performance
3. Organizational citizenship behavior
4. Withrawal behavior
5. Group cohesion
6. Groups functioning

Question 24

What should managers try and implement for a better work environment?

Answer 24

1. Resist the inclination to rely on generalization.
2. Use metrics and situational variables rather than “hunches” to explain cause-and-effect relationships.
3. Work on your interpersonal skills to increase your leadership potential.
4. Improve your technical skills and conceptual skills through training and staying current with OB trends like big data and fast data.
5. OB can improve your employees’ work quality and productivity by showing you how to empower your employees, design and implement change programs, improve customer service, and help your employees balance work-life conflicts.