BUSM2011: Exam One Vocab

Organizational Behavior (OB)

A field of study devoted to understanding and explaining the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations. Example: A manager evaluating how team dynamic changes affect overall project speed.

Human Capital

The knowledge, skills, abilities, and individual characteristics that employees bring to an organization, serving as a critical strategic asset. Example: A tech firm retaining top engineers because their specialized coding capabilities drive competitive advantage.

Integrative Model of OB

A framework showing how individual outcomes (job performance and organizational commitment) are driven by individual mechanisms (satisfaction, stress, motivation, trust, learning), which are shaped by individual characteristics, group mechanisms, and organizational mechanisms. Example: A company improving its leadership style (group mechanism) to boost employee job satisfaction (individual mechanism) and reduce turnover.

Evidence-Based Management

A decision-making approach that relies on scientific research, systematic data collection, and empirical findings rather than intuition. Example: A firm selecting job candidates based on statistically validated assessment tools rather than interviewer gut feelings.

Intuition

Decision-making based on gut feelings, personal experience, individual assumptions, or stereotypes without systematic evidence. Example: Promoting a sales representative solely because they seem charismatic during casual lunch breaks.

Systematic Study

The practice of examining relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence. Example: Analyzing historical survey data and performance metrics to determine if remote work options reduce employee absenteeism.

Scientific Method

A structured process of theoretical specification, testable hypothesis generation, data collection, and statistical analysis to verify relationships between variables. Example: Formulating a hypothesis that flexible work hours lower employee stress and gathering survey data to test it.

Correlation ($r$)

A statistical metric indicating the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables ranging from -1.0 to +1.0, where .50 is strong, .30 is moderate, and .10 is weak. Example: Identifying a .30 correlation between employee training hours and quarterly sales volume.

Causal Inferences

Conclusions stating that one variable directly causes another, requiring that the two variables are correlated, the cause precedes the effect in time, and no alternative explanation exists. Example: Proving a new reward program increased output by showing productivity spiked immediately after implementation with no other workplace changes。

Levels of Analysis

The structural perspective in OB that examines phenomena at the individual level (personality, ability), group level (teams, leadership), and organizational level (culture, structure). Example: Assessing an employee's output through their personal conscientiousness versus their team's communication norms.

Job Performance

The value of the set of employee behaviors that contribute, either positively or negatively, to organizational goal accomplishment. Example: Evaluating a retail associate based on cash-handling accuracy, customer feedback scores, and peer support.

Task Performance

Explicit, in-role employee behaviors directly involved in transforming organizational resources into the goods or services the firm produces. Example: An accountant accurately preparing corporate financial statements according to tax regulations.

Citizenship Behavior

Voluntary, positive employee behaviors that go beyond formal job duties to support the organization and coworkers. Example: Staying late to help a struggling colleague complete a project before a major client deadline.

Counterproductive Behavior

Intentional employee behaviors that hinder organizational goal accomplishment or harm the organization and its members. Example: Stealing office supplies or deliberately working slowly to sabotage a team project timeline.

Organizational Commitment

The desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of the organization. Example: An engineer declining a job offer from a competing firm to remain at their current company.

Affective Commitment

A desire to remain part of an organization due to an emotional attachment to, and involvement with, that organization ("wanting to stay"). Example: Staying at a company because you genuinely love the organizational culture and feel connected to your coworkers.

Continuance Commitment

A desire to remain part of an organization due to an awareness of the financial, economic, or social costs associated with leaving ("needing to stay"). Example: Remaining in a role because leaving would mean forfeiting unvested stock options and affordable health insurance.

Normative Commitment

A desire to remain part of an organization due to a feeling of moral or ethical obligation ("ought to stay"). Example: Remaining with an employer because they funded your graduate tuition and you feel obligated to repay the investment.

Personality

The structures and propensities inside people that explain their characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior. Example: An employee consistently remaining organized and calm across different work assignments and high-stress projects.

Traits

Recurring trends in people's responses to their environment. Example: A worker habitually seeking out social conversations during team coffee breaks.

Big Five Personality Framework

Five broad dimensions—Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism—that capture most individual personality differences. Example: Screening job applicants using OCEAN personality tests to evaluate fit for open positions.

Nature vs. Nurture

The perspective evaluating whether personality traits stem from genetic inheritance (nature) or environmental experiences and upbringing (nurture). Example: Extraversion being accounted for by 49% genetics and 51% environmental development.

Openness to Experience

The personality trait reflecting curiosity, creativity, and artistic interest versus conventional and routine preferences. Example: An R&D strategist pitching unconventional product ideas rather than sticking to standard company templates.

Conscientiousness

The personality trait characterized by organization, responsibility, persistence, and achievement orientation, serving as the strongest predictor of job performance across jobs. Example: An auditor systematically double-checking every line item on a client budget spreadsheet.

Agreeableness

The personality trait characterized by being cooperative, trusting, helpful, and courteous. Example: A customer service representative patiently de-escalating an angry client's complaint.

Extraversion

The personality trait characterized by being talkative, social, assertive, and high in positive affectivity. Example: A sales manager energized by pitching products to prospective clients and networking at trade shows.

Introversion

The personality trait characterized by being reserved, quiet, independent, and focused. Example: A software engineer who excels when given uninterrupted time to write complex code.

Neuroticism

The personality trait characterized by being anxious, insecure, moody, and prone to stress. Example: A project manager panicking and blaming external circumstances whenever a deadline slips.

Locus of Control

A personality construct reflecting whether individuals believe events in their lives are driven by their own internal actions or external forces like luck or fate. Example: An employee with an internal locus studying harder after a poor evaluation rather than claiming the evaluation was unfair.

Positive Affectivity

A dispositional tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and cheerfulness. Example: An energetic team lead bringing high energy and optimism to daily morning stand-up meetings.

Person-Job Fit

The degree of compatibility between an employee's personality traits/interests and the specific requirements and environment of a job. Example: Placing a high-extraversion employee in an outgoing sales role rather than a solitary data-entry position.

Interests

A stable set of personal preferences that explain why individuals are drawn toward specific careers and away from others. Example: Someone pursuing mechanical engineering because they enjoy understanding how complex machines operate.

RIASEC Model

John Holland's vocational interest framework categorizing interests into six dimensions: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Example: Taking a career assessment to match personal preferences with target career paths.

Realistic Interest

A vocational interest preference for hands-on activities, working with tools, machines, plants, animals, or outdoors. Example: An electrician enjoying hands-on wiring installation and mechanical troubleshooting.

Investigative Interest

A vocational interest preference for observing, analyzing, science, math, and logical problem-solving. Example: A data analyst analyzing large financial statistics to identify market trends.

Artistic Interest

A vocational interest preference for self-expression, creative media, design, drama, and original thinking. Example: A graphic designer creating visual branding layouts for marketing campaigns.

Social Interest

A vocational interest preference for helping, teaching, guiding, and communicating with people. Example: A high school counselor helping students navigate college applications and personal development.

Enterprising Interest

A vocational interest preference for leading, persuading, taking business risks, and driving decisions. Example: An entrepreneur pitching growth proposals to prospective venture capital investors.

Conventional Interest

A vocational interest preference for working with data, routines, procedures, detail, and established standards. Example: A compliance officer auditing corporate accounts against strict regulatory checklists.

Motivation

A set of energetic forces that originates both within and outside an employee, initiates work-related effort, and determines its direction, intensity, and persistence. Example: A sales representative pushing through extra client calls late in the quarter to hit a team revenue milestone.

Direction

A key component of motivation determining what specific activities or goals employees choose to focus their effort on when faced with options. Example: A software engineer choosing to fix high-priority security bugs rather than browsing social media during work hours.

Intensity

A key component of motivation describing how hard an employee works toward their chosen goal. Example: An accountant working with rapid pace and sharp focus during peak tax season.

Persistence

A key component of motivation specifying how long an employee maintains effort toward a goal, especially when encountering obstacles. Example: A researcher continuing to run experiments across multiple months despite early trial failures.

Engagement

High levels of intensity and persistence in work effort where employees devote significant energy, attention, and concentration to their jobs and take initiative. Example: A project manager proactively identifying potential supply chain delays and organizing cross-department solutions before issues arise.

Expectancy Theory

A motivation theory proposing that cognitive processes determine effort choices based on three key beliefs: Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence. Example: An employee choosing to put extra effort into a project only because they believe they can execute it, that high performance will trigger a promotion, and that the promotion is personally valuable.

Expectancy

The belief that exerting a high level of effort will successfully result in achieving a targeted level of task performance. Example: A consultant feeling confident that spending ten hours studying a new software platform will enable them to master its features.

Instrumentality

The belief that successful performance will directly lead to specific organizational outcomes or rewards. Example: A worker trusting that achieving top customer satisfaction scores will result in receiving the promised quarterly performance bonus.

Valence

The anticipated value or attractiveness of the rewards or outcomes associated with performance. Example: An employee placing high value on flexible work-from-home days rather than a minor cash gift card.

Goal Setting Theory

A motivation framework asserting that specific and difficult goals, rather than vague or easy ones, are the primary drivers of intensity, persistence, and task performance. Example: A store manager setting a target to increase monthly sales by 15% instead of telling staff to simply "do your best".

SMART'D Goals Framework

A structured approach to goal setting requiring goals to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-based, Time-bound, and Difficult. Example: Setting a goal to "increase qualified sales leads by 20% within 90 days by conducting 50 outbound prospect calls per week".

Goal Commitment

The degree to which an individual is determined to achieve a goal and refuses to lower or abandon it. Example: A software development team staying late every evening to meet a release date because they personally bought into the project's mission.

Task Strategies

Learning plans and problem-solving approaches developed by individuals to achieve a goal more effectively. Example: A student breaking a complex research paper into daily outlining, drafting, and proofreading milestones.

Equity Theory

A motivation theory stating that effort and satisfaction depend on whether an employee perceives their outcome/input ratio as fair compared to relevant comparison others. Example: An employee feeling satisfied when their salary and effort match the pay and workload of peers in identical roles.

Inequity

A condition where an individual perceives that their outcome/input ratio differs from a comparison other, generating psychological tension and driving corrective action. Example: A top-performing designer discovering a peer making the same salary while producing half as many deliverables.

Under-reward Inequity Responses

Behavioral or cognitive actions taken to resolve unfairness when receiving fewer outcomes relative to inputs, such as reducing effort, asking for raises, or quitting. Example: An overworked staff member taking longer breaks and refusing overtime after learning a less-productive colleague receives higher pay.

Psychological Empowerment

An intrinsic form of motivation driven by the belief that work tasks contribute to a larger, meaningful purpose. Example: A medical researcher feeling deeply energized by knowing their daily laboratory work directly contributes to saving lives.

Structural Practices for Empowerment

Organizational systems like shared decision-making, open information flow, performance-based pay, and leadership development that foster employee empowerment. Example: A company giving frontline staff full authority to resolve customer complaints up to $500 without prior manager approval.