Individual Dynamics – Organisational Behaviour Review

This set of flashcards covers key concepts from the lecture notes on Individual Dynamics and Organisational Behaviour, including organisation definition, feedback, perception, learning, stereotypes, attitudes, values, conflict resolution, and attribution biases.

What is the basic definition of an organisation?

A coordinated group of two or more people that functions on a sustained basis to achieve a common set of goals.

Which three broad levels of analysis are covered in Organisational Behaviour (OB)?

Micro (individual), Meso (group/interpersonal), and Macro (organisational).

What does Organisational Behaviour help us do in the workplace?

Explain, predict, and influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions.

According to Drucker, why should you focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses?

Because improving strengths can move performance from good to great, whereas fixing weaknesses often only moves incompetence to mediocrity.

What is the first step in Drucker’s ‘feedback analysis’ method?

Write down what you expect will happen whenever you make a key decision or take a key action.

After 9–12 months, what should you do with your feedback analysis notes?

Compare actual results with the expectations you recorded to reveal true strengths and weaknesses.

In Drucker’s model, what four questions should you ask to manage yourself?

(1) How do I perform? (2) What are my values? (3) Where do I belong? (4) What should I contribute?

What is the ‘mirror test’ in ethics?

Asking whether you will feel comfortable looking at yourself in the mirror after making a decision.

What three elements must intersect to find ‘where you belong’?

Strengths, performance style, and values.

Define feedback in an interpersonal context.

Verbal or non-verbal communication that tells someone how their behaviour is affecting you or how your behaviour is affecting them.

Name the four panes of the Johari Window.

Arena, Blind Spot, Façade, Unknown.

How do you shrink the ‘Blind Spot’ pane in the Johari Window?

Solicit feedback from others and be receptive to it.

Which Johari Window pattern is characterised by giving much feedback but soliciting little, resulting in a large blind spot?

The ‘Bull-in-a-China-Shop’ pattern.

What are two key content guidelines for giving effective feedback?

Make it specific (data-based) and balance positive with negative information.

List two best practices for soliciting feedback.

Ask at the right time with clear goals, and listen/reflect instead of denying or rationalising.

What is the difference between dependence, independence, and interdependence?

Dependence = relying on others, independence = self-reliance, interdependence = mutual reliance to achieve goals.

Which two complementary behaviours are required to resolve conflict effectively?

Inquiry (seeking others’ perspectives) and advocacy (making your own reasoning transparent).

Define assertive behaviour.

Expressing thoughts and feelings in a way that respects both your own rights and the rights of others.

What is passive aggression?

Appearing compliant while covertly resisting or subverting the process due to emotional conflict.

Name the three steps in the ‘Constructive Route to Agreement.’

Active listening, winning yourself a hearing, and working to a joint solution.

What is perception in OB terms?

The process by which individuals select, organise, interpret, check, and react to sensory stimuli to make sense of their environment.

Why can two people witness the same event but ‘see’ different things?

Because perception is selective and influenced by individual differences and context.

Give three external factors that attract attention during the ‘selecting stimuli’ stage.

Intensity, movement, novelty (other correct external factors include size, contrast, repetition, familiarity).

What are the three main ways we organise stimuli?

Grouping (similarity, proximity, closure), figure-ground separation, and perceptual constancy.

What is a ‘perceptual set’?

A pre-existing belief or expectation that biases how we interpret incoming information.

Explain the halo effect.

A positive (or negative) impression of one trait leads to favourable (or unfavourable) evaluations of other traits in the same person.

What attribution is made when behaviour is explained by personality rather than situation?

Internal attribution.

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?

The tendency to over-attribute others’ behaviour to internal factors and under-attribute situational factors.

Describe the Self-Serving Bias.

Attributing personal successes to internal factors and failures to external factors to maintain self-esteem.

How can managers reduce attribution biases?

By consciously considering situational factors and asking the actor to explain their behaviour.

Define operant conditioning.

Learning in which voluntary behaviour is strengthened or weakened by its consequences (reinforcement or punishment).

In operant conditioning, what happens to behaviour when reinforcement stops?

Extinction: the behaviour’s frequency gradually declines.

Which reinforcement schedule is most resistant to extinction?

Variable-ratio schedule.

Contrast classical and operant conditioning in one sentence.

Classical conditioning pairs two stimuli to elicit an automatic response, whereas operant conditioning links behaviour with consequences to change voluntary actions.

What is observational (social) learning?

Learning by watching others, interpreting consequences, and imitating selected behaviours.

Provide the four-step stereotyping process.

(1) Attribute traits to a category, (2) match category traits with an individual’s visible traits, (3) classify the individual into the category, (4) transfer other category traits to the individual.

Why can gender stereotypes hurt women’s leadership evaluations?

Because leadership traits are stereotypically ‘masculine,’ creating dissonance with the female gender stereotype.

Give the formal definition of an attitude.

A relatively lasting cluster of feelings, beliefs, and behavioural tendencies toward an object, idea, situation, or person.

What three properties describe an attitude?

Direction (positive/negative), intensity, and specificity.

What is cognitive dissonance?

An uncomfortable psychological state arising from inconsistency between attitudes or between attitude and behaviour, motivating change to reduce the inconsistency.

List two common ways people reduce cognitive dissonance.

Rationalise the inconsistency or change the attitude/behaviour causing the conflict.

Name three job-related attitudes commonly studied in OB.

Job satisfaction, job involvement, organisational commitment.

Define a value in OB terms.

An enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-state is personally or socially preferable to its opposite.

What does it mean to say values have a hierarchy?

People prioritise some values over others, creating a dynamic ranking that guides decisions.

Give one example of intrapersonal value conflict.

Having equal commitments to ‘competition’ and ‘cooperation’ when a situation demands choosing one approach.

Explain ‘trained incapacity.’

A tendency to use past learning that is no longer effective, impairing attention to new or relevant stimuli.

What is the ‘arena’ size in the Johari Window a function of?

The total amount of information shared between self and others.

How does ‘giving feedback’ move the Johari Window partitions?

It lowers the horizontal line, expanding the Arena by reducing the Façade.

In feedback, why should comments focus on behaviour rather than identity?

Because behaviour is changeable and less threatening than judging someone’s character.

State two principles of ‘timing’ for effective feedback.

Give it as close to the behaviour as possible and wait until the recipient is ready to hear it.

What is ‘interdependence’ in team settings?

A state in which each party’s outcomes are affected by the other party’s actions, requiring coordination.

What communication behaviour helps ‘win yourself a hearing’ in conflict discussions?

Talking about your feelings backed by data while staying friendly.

Why is ‘pause to let them respond’ critical during active listening?

It signals genuine interest and allows the other party to feel heard before you present your viewpoint.

What does ‘figure-ground’ separation achieve in perception?

It enables us to focus on the most relevant stimuli (figure) while relegating less important data to background (ground).

Why is classical conditioning considered more powerful than operant conditioning for subconscious learning?

Because it links stimuli directly to automatic responses without requiring conscious thought about consequences.

What organisational consequence can arise from a high proportion of ‘internal’ attribution styles in MBA cohorts?

Greater individualism, reduced collaboration, and an aggravated self-serving bias within the group.

Explain ‘perceptual defence’ using one strategy as an example.

It’s a mechanism to avoid conflicting information; for instance, denying the validity of data that contradicts existing beliefs.

Which perceptual bias gives greater weight to the most recent information?

The Recency Effect.

Define the ‘Pygmalion Effect.’

A self-fulfilling prophecy in which higher expectations lead to improved performance.

What is ‘closure’ in the perceptual grouping process?

The tendency to fill in missing information so that stimuli form a complete, coherent pattern.