Organizational Behavior MBA 606- Exam 1

Describe two types of faulty perceptions and how they might affect decision-making.

- Sterotyping- assuming someone has traits based on group membership. It can lead to biased hiring or promotion decisions.

- Selective perception- occurs when individuals notice and emphasize information that confirms their existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence, which can lead to biased decision-making by limiting the consideration of all relevant data.

What is the relationship between job satisfaction and performance? Would it be right to say "managers should try to make their employees more satisfied with their jobs in order to get them to do their jobs better?

Job satisfaction has a moderate positive effect on job performance. With research showing a correlation around 0.30. People who experience higher levels of job satisfaction tend to have higher levels of Task performance, higher levels of citizenship behavior, and lower levels of counterproductive behavior.

It would not be entirely right to say "managers should try to make their employees more satisfied with their jobs in order to get them to do their jobs better," as the link is not causal or strong enough to rely on alone; other factors like ability, resources, and organizational support play larger roles in driving performance.

Define the three types of organizational commitment that we discussed in class.

1. Affective commitment- An emotional attachment where employees want to stay because they identify with the organization (example: feeling proud to be part of the company).

2. Continuance Commitment- a desire to remain a member of an organization because of an awareness of the costs associated with leaving it. "need to stay" (example: losing your retirement for changing companies).

3. Normative commitment- a desire to remain a member of an organization because of a feeling of obligation to the organization, the team, or co-workers. "ought to stay".

How is organizational commitment related to performance?

Committed employees are more likely to show higher citizenship behaviors and lower withdrawal. Organizational commitment is positively related to performance, with affective commitment having the strongest link as it fosters higher effort, citizenship behaviors, and lower turnover.

What is an attitude? Provide two (2) examples of attitudes and describe how they can affect behavior in the workplace.

An attitude is defined as a relatively enduring evaluation of people, objects, or issues, consisting of affective (feelings), cognitive (beliefs), and behavioral (intentions) components. Two examples are:

Job satisfaction: A positive attitude toward one's job, which can lead to proactive behaviors like helping colleagues or innovating (e.g., a satisfied employee might volunteer for extra tasks).

Organizational justice: Attitudes about fairness in the workplace, which can affect behavior by promoting compliance or, if negative, leading to withdrawal like absenteeism (e.g., perceiving unfair pay might result in reduced effort).

What is meant by "schedule of reinforcement"? Describe two different schedules of reinforcement, and explain how each is related to performance.

The timing and pattern of rewards following behaviors in the learning process.

- Continuous reinforcement: Rewards every instance of the behavior, which quickly establishes new behaviors but leads to rapid extinction if stopped (e.g., praising an employee every time they meet a daily target, relating to short-term performance gains but not sustained effort).

- Variable-ratio reinforcement: Rewards after an unpredictable number of responses, which sustains high performance levels due to anticipation (e.g., sales commissions on random sales, leading to persistent effort as seen in gambling-like motivation).

Describe Equity theory. How do people judge the appropriateness of their rewards in relation to rewards received by referent others? List ways in which someone can respond to perceived under-reward?

Equity theory says that motivation stems from perceptions of fairness, where individuals compare their input-outcome ratios (effort vs. rewards) to those of referent others. People judge appropriateness by selecting referents (e.g., colleagues in similar roles) and assessing if their ratios are balanced—under-reward occurs when one's ratio is worse (more input for less outcome). Ways to respond to perceived under-reward include: reducing inputs (e.g., less effort), seeking higher outcomes (e.g., asking for a raise), changing referents (e.g., comparing to someone lower-paid), distorting perceptions (e.g., rationalizing the situation), or leaving the job.

Describe the Expectancy theory. Your description should include definitions of the terms expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.

Motivation = expectancy x instrumentality x valence

- Expectancy: Belief that effort leads to performance.

- Instrumentality: Belief that performance leads to outcomes.

- Valence: Value placed on those outcomes. High levels in all three multiply to create strong motivation; low in any of the three reduces motivation

What is the difference between "rational decision making" and "bounded rationality". Describe three factors that limit rational decision-making.

- Rational: assumes individuals have complete information, unlimited time, and cognitive capacity to evaluate all options and choose the optimal one.

- Bounded Rationality: recognizes human limitations, leading to "satisficing" (choosing a good-enough option) rather than optimizing.

-Limiting factors that influence decision making are -incomplete or uncertain information (e.g., not knowing all market data), time constraints (e.g., deadlines forcing quick choices), and cognitive biases (e.g., overconfidence leading to ignored risks).

Describe Job Characteristics Theory. What are the core job characteristics and critical psychological states? How do they lead to higher job satisfaction?

JCT: enhancing employee job satisfaction and performance by focusing on effective job design.

- Core Characteristics: Skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.

- Psychological States: Experienced meaningfulness, responsibility, and knowledge of results.

- Outcome: These states enhance motivation and satisfaction, leading to higher performance.

What is "job performance"? Briefly describe the three primary categories of job performance and provide an example of each.

Job performance is the value of employee behaviors that contribute (positively or negatively) to organizational goal accomplishment

1. Task performance- behaviors directly involved in transforming organizational resources into goods or services.

2. Citizenship behavior- voluntary activities that may or may not be rewarded but that contribute to the organization by improving the quality of the setting where work occurs.

3. Counterproductive work behavior- behaviors that intentionally hinder organizational goal accomplishment.

What is the difference between "person job fit" and "person organization fit"? How would the selection criteria be different for each type of fit?

- Person-Job Fit: Match between an employee's abilities and the demands of the job. Selection focuses on skills, knowledge, abilities.

- Person-Organization Fit: Match between employee's values and organizational culture. Selection focuses on personality, values, and goals.

- Both types of fit improve retention and performance, but they emphasize different criteria.

Extra notes on job performance and job satisfaction

T

Job Satisfaction is an attitude a person has about the job that they are performing.

Jobs that are more interesting allow autonomous decision-making, provide feedback, and have a significant impact on others, leading to more satisfaction with work itself.