MGT 291 CH 1

Organizational Behavior (OB)

A field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations[cite: 1].

Job Performance

A primary individual outcome measuring employee behaviors that contribute positively or negatively to organizational goal accomplishment[cite: 1].

Organizational Commitment

A primary individual outcome representing the desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of the organization[cite: 1].

Job Satisfaction

An individual mechanism reflecting how employees feel about their jobs and what they think about their jobs[cite: 1].

Stress

An individual mechanism representing psychological responses to demands that tax or exceed a person's capacity or resources[cite: 1].

Motivation

An individual mechanism representing energetic forces that originate within as well as beyond an employee's being[cite: 1].

Trust, Justice, & Ethics

An individual mechanism reflecting the degree to which employees feel that company business is conducted with fairness, honesty, and integrity[cite: 1].

Learning & Decision-Making

An individual mechanism dealing with how employees gain job knowledge and use that knowledge to make accurate decisions[cite: 1].

Personality & Cultural Values

Individual characteristics describing underlying traits and cross-cultural preferences that influence employee behavior[cite: 1].

Ability

Individual characteristics reflecting relatively stable physical and cognitive capabilities employees possess[cite: 1].

Team Processes & Characteristics

Group mechanisms describing how teams are structured, interact, communicate, and coordinate[cite: 1].

Leadership Styles & Behaviors

Group mechanisms describing the specific actions and approaches leaders take to guide employees[cite: 1].

Leadership Power & Influence

Group mechanisms describing how leaders acquire and use power to shape follower behavior[cite: 1].

Organizational Structure

An organizational mechanism dictating how units and teams interact and how authority flows[cite: 1].

Organizational Culture

An organizational mechanism capturing shared social knowledge, rules, norms, and values within an organization[cite: 1].

Rule of 1/8th

The principle that only about 12.5% of organizations perform the comprehensive OB practices needed to derive economic benefit[cite: 1].

Independent Variable (IV)

The variable manipulated, altered, or controlled by the researcher[cite: 1].

Dependent Variable (DV)

The outcome variable measured by the researcher to determine the impact of the independent variable[cite: 1].

Correlation Coefficient (r)

A statistical metric measuring the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables (-1.0 to +1.0)[cite: 1].

Small Correlation

A correlation benchmark of r = 0.10 in OB research[cite: 1].

Moderate Correlation

A correlation benchmark of r = 0.30 in OB research[cite: 1].

Large Correlation

A correlation benchmark of r = 0.50 or higher in OB research[cite: 1].

Meta-Analysis

A statistical technique that combines results across multiple independent studies to calculate an average effect size[cite: 1].