Organizational Behavior - Learning and Decision Making

A collection of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts related to learning and decision making in organizational behavior.

Learning

Relatively permanent changes in an employee's knowledge or skill that result from experience.

Decision Making

The process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.

Expertise

The knowledge and skills that distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people.

Explicit Knowledge

Knowledge that is easy to communicate and teach; readily available to most.

Tacit Knowledge

Knowledge that is more difficult to communicate; gained with experience and highly personal in nature.

Reinforcement

Learning by observing the link between voluntary behavior and the consequences that follow; also known as operant conditioning.

Positive Reinforcement

A positive outcome that follows a desired behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of an unwanted outcome following a desired behavior.

Punishment

An unwanted outcome that follows an unwanted behavior.

Extinction

The removal of a consequence following an unwanted behavior.

How do employees learn?

• Social learning theory argues that people in
organizations have the ability to learn through the observation of others.
• Behavioral modeling involves observing and learning from others and then repeating the action.

Learning orientation

Building competence is deemed more important than demonstrating competence
배우는 게 먼저. 실패 OK.

Performance-prove orientation

Focus is on demonstrating competence so that others think favorably of them.
잘한다는 걸 보여주고 싶음.

Performance-avoid orientation

Focus is on demonstrating competence so that others will not think poorly of them.
못한다고 보일까 봐 피함 → 최악의 결과

(Methods of Decision Making) Programmed Decisions

Automatic responses made when knowledge allows an employee to recognize a situation and the needed course of action.

Intuition (Methods of Decision Making)

Emotionally charged judgment arising through quick, nonconscious, and holistic associations.

( Methods of Decision Making ) Crisis situation

Urgent problem must be addressed immediately

( Methods of Decision Making ) Nonprogrammed decisions 

Problem is new, complex, or not
recognized

( Methods of Decision Making ) For nonprogrammed decisions, the rational decision-making model:

• Offers a step-by-step approach to making decisions
• Is designed to maximize outcomes by examining all available alternatives

(Decision-Making Problems: Limited Information) Satisficing

Choosing the first acceptable alternative when faced with limited information.

(Decision-Making Problems: Limited Information)
Bounded rationality

Do not have the ability or resources to
process all available information and alternatives

Selective Perception ( Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions )

Tendency to see the environment only as it affects oneself, consistent with one’s expectations.

Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions

Projection bias

belief that others think, feel, and act the same way they do

Social identity theory (Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions)

people identify with groups and judge others by
their group memberships

Stereotype (Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions)

assumptions are made about others on the basis of their membership in a social group

Heuristics (Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions) 

simple, efficient rules of thumb that allow us to make decisions more easily

Availability bias (Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions)

tendency to base judgments on information that is easier to recall

Confirmation bias

Favoring information that confirms beliefs

groupthink

Fundamental Attribution Error (Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions)

A tendency to judge others’ behaviors as due to internal factors such as ability or attitude.

다른 사람의 행동을 설명할 때, 상황 요인 무시하고 “그 사람 성격/능력” 때문이라고 생각하는 경향

Self serving bias

자기 행동을 설명할 때, 성공은 내부 요인 덕분이고 실패는 외부 탓으로 돌리는 경향

Attribution process

• Consensus = 다른 사람들도?

• Distinctiveness = 다른 상황에서는?

• Consistency = 항상 이런가?

Escalation of Commitment

The decision to continue following a failing course of action due to prior investment.

망한 프젝 돈 아까워서 계속 밀어붙이는

Training

Knowledge transfer from more experienced to less experienced employees.

Transfer of Training

The climate for transfer involves an environment that supports the use of new skills.

“How important is learning?” Correlations

Learning is moderately correlated with task performance.

How Important Is Learning?

Learning is less correlated to citizenship behavior and counterproductive behavior.

즉, 많이 배운다고 해서

• 남을 도와주는 행동이 크게 늘진 않지만 조금은 증가

• 문제 행동은 조금 감소

How Important Is Learning?

Learning is weakly related to organizational commitment.

( 1) job knowledge 증가 → 감정적 애착(affective commitment) 약간 증가

(2) Expertise가 높아지면 더 “marketable”해짐

• 즉, 시장 가치가 올라가서 다른 회사로 이직하기 쉬워짐

• 그러면 continuance commitment(떠나기 힘든 이유)는 더 낮아질 수 있음