Comprehensive Study Notes - Organizational Behavior Vocabulary

Accommodation

Playing down differences; highlights similarities; ignores the real essence; also known as smoothing

Acquired Needs Theory

Motivation is driven by 1 or more of the 3 needs - need for achievement, need for affiliation and/or need for power

Active listening

Focuses on problem solving from the standpoint of trying to help another person

ADA

Hopes to eliminate employers' practices that treat people with disabilities unnecessarily different

Arbitration

A neutral third party acts as a judge and has the power to issue a decision that is binding on all parties

Attitude

A predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to someone or something in one's environment

Attribution

The process of developing explanations or assigning perceived causes for events

Avoidance

No one acts assertively and everyone simply pretends the conflict doesn't exist

Brainstorming

Actively generating as many ideas and alternatives as possible

Cohesiveness

The degree to which members are attracted to and motivated to remain part of it

Collaboration

Both parties recognize what is wrong and needs attention; also known as problem-solving; win-win

Collective intelligence

Ability of a team to do well on a wide variety of tasks - applies to high performance teams

Communication

The process of sending and receiving messages with attached meanings

Competition

One party achieves a victory through force, superior skill or domination

Complex adaptive systems

Organizations must adapt to survive because environments are constantly evolving

Compromise

Each party is willing to give up something of value to the other; also known as cooperation

Conceptual skill

Capability to think analytically and solve complex problems

Confirmation error

The decision maker seeks confirmation for what is already thought to be true and neglects opportunities to acknowledge or find disconfirming information

Conflict

Occurs whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over issues of substance, or when emotions create frictions between individuals/groups

Conflict resolution

A situation in which the underlying reasons for dysfunctional conflict are eliminated

Consensus

One alternative being favored by most and others agreeing to support it

Consultative decisions

Inputs are gathered from others and the manager/leader uses information to arrive at a final choice

Contingency thinking

Behavior and practices are tailored to fit the exact nature of the situation - there is no one best or universal answer to questions

Controlling

Function of management - ensuring things go well by monitoring performance and taking corrective action as necessary

Coping

Response to distress - requires cognitive and behavioral efforts

Counterproductive behaviors

Purposeful behaviors that disrupt relationships, processes, production in the workplace

Cross-functional teams

Consists of people brought together from different functional departments/work units to achieve specific purpose

Culture

The learned, shared way of doing things in a society/organization

Decision making

The process of choosing a course of action for dealing with a problem or an opportunity

Deflecting

Shifting to another topic

Discrimination

Unfair treatment of women and minorities in the workplace

Disruptive behaviors

Dysfunctional activities that harm the group process

Distress

Destructive stress that turns out to be dysfunctional for both the individual and organization

Distributed leadership

Sharing of responsibilities for making tasks and maintenance contributions to move a team forward

Downward communication

Follows chain of command from top to bottom

Emotional dissonance

Emotions we actually feel are inconsistent with the emotions we try to project

Emotional Drives Model

Motivation model that identifies 4 emotional drives/needs that people seek to satisfy at work and in daily living: acquire, bond, comprehend, defend

Emotional intelligence

Ability to understand and manage emotions, both personally and in relationships

Emotional labor

Relates to the need to show certain emotions in order to perform a job well

Emotions

Natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood or relationships with others

Empathy

The ability to understand and share the feelings of another

Employee engagement

A profound connection with the organization and a passion for one's job

Escalating commitment

Continuing and renewing efforts on a previously chosen course of action, even though it is not working

Eustress

Constructive stress that results in positive outcomes

Evidence-based management

Making decisions based on hard facts

Extrinsic rewards

Positively valued work outcomes given to the individual by another

Feedback

The process through which the receiver communicates with the sender by returning another message

Formal teams

Those officially designated to serve certain purposes

Framing error

Managers and teams evaluate and resolve a problem in the context in which they perceive it

Glass ceiling effect

Invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from promotions

Goal setting

The process of developing/formalizing objectives that a person is responsible for accomplishing

Group dynamics

Forces operating in teams that affect the way members relate to and work with one another

Groupthink

The tendency of members in highly cohesive groups to lose their critical evaluative capabilities

Halo effect

When one attribute is used to develop an overall impression of that individual or situation

Hindsight trap

The decision maker overestimates the degree to which he or she could have predicted an event that has already taken place

Human skills

Ability to work well with others

Impression management

The systematic attempt to behave in ways that will create and maintain desired impressions in the eyes of others

Inclusion

The degree to which the culture embraces diversity and is open to anyone who can perform a job, regardless of their diversity attributes

Individual decisions

Manager or leader decides what to do without involving others

Individual differences

Ways in which people are dissimilar in personal characteristics

Informal groups

Groups that organically emerge with no assigned purpose - develop through personal relationships and create their own networks

Interpersonal barriers

Occurs when individuals are not able to objectively listen to the sender due to things such as lack of trust, personality clashes, a bad reputation, stereotypes/prejudices

Intuitive thinking

Ability to recognize quickly and readily the possibilities of a situation - flexible and spontaneous

Job burnout

Result of extended distress - individual feels physically and emotionally exhausted

Job enrichment

Adding dimensions to existing jobs to make them more motivating

Job involvement

The extent to which an individual feels dedicated to a job

Job satisfaction

How people feel about their work and work environment

Johari's Window

The "blind spot" - what others know about us that we don't know about ourselves; relates to developmental feedback

Lateral communication

The flow of information across the organization

Lifelong learning

Learning from day-to-day experiences - beyond "school years"

Locus of control

The extent to which a person feels able to control his or her own life

Management by objectives

A process of joint goal setting between managers and team leaders and those that report to them

Manager

Someone whose job it is to directly support the work efforts of others

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Motivation is driven by five levels of needs - physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization

Mediation

A neutral third party tries to engage the parties in a negotiated solution through persuasion and rational argument

Moods

Generalized positive and negative feelings or states of mind that may persist for some time

Motivation

The reason(s) one has for acting or behaving in a particular way

Multiculturalism

The presence and respect for diversity within an organization

Negotiation

The process of making joint decisions when the parties involved have different preferences

Nonverbal communication

Communication through means other than words

Open systems

Input from environment; transformation cycle; outputs; feedback; adjust, re-cycle

Organizational behavior

The study of human behavior in organizations

Organizational behavior modification

The use of extrinsic rewards to systematically reinforce desirable work behavior and to discourage unwanted work behavior

Organizational climate

The shared perceptions among members regarding what the organization is like in terms of management policies and practices

Organizational commitment

The degree of loyalty an individual feels toward the organization

Organizational culture

The shared beliefs and values that influence the behavior of organizational members

Organizational identification

The extent to which one feels personally identified with one's membership organization to the point that it becomes part of the self-concept

Organizational silos

Units that are isolated from one another by strong departmental or divisional lines

Organizing

Function of management - creating work structures/systems and arranging resources to accomplish goals/objectives

Perception

The process by which people select, organize, interpret, retrieve and respond to information from the world around them

Personality

The overall combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person as person reacts and interacts with others

Personality traits

Enduring characteristics describing an individual's behavior

Planning

Function of management - defining goals, objectives, identifying actions needed

Prejudice

A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or experience

Probing

Asking for additional information

Problem-solving teams

Created temporarily to serve a specific purpose by dealing with a specific problem or opportunity

Projection

The assignment of one's personal attributes to other individuals reflecting

Reinforcement

The administration of a consequence as a result of a behavior

Relationship management

An ability to establish rapport with others in ways that build good relationships and influence their emotions in positive ways

Role

A set of expectations associated with a job or position on a team