Organizational Behavior Exam 2 Study Guide

Effective Managerial Feedback

Objective feedback:

Not an opportunity to criticize

Not supposed to fix other person

Shouldn’t focus on personality analysis

Focus on concrete objective behaviors and impact of behaviors on others (constructive, deliberate)

Why focus on behaviors?

Specific and actionable

Specific, objective, less personal

Personality comments (you’re a coward) is:

personal/sensitive

presumptive

uncontrollable/thus not actionable

Makes people defensive/vulnerable

Practice the Content

Observe concrete behavior

Impact behavior has

On whom?

5-Steps Feedback Process

Formulate ~ Practice (rehearse/anticipate) ~ Deliver ~ Inquire (test understanding/find root cause) ~ Coach

Critical Feedback (3-Cs Framework)

Complain ~ Criticism ~ Contempt

Complain (constructive feedback)

About specific situation

Focuses on behavior

Criticism

Global (you always, you never)

Places blame or passes judgment

Attacks person

Contempt

Adds insult to criticism/injury

Escalators

“You are dumb”

Emotional/Affective (feedback)

Don’t want to deliver bad news/hurt others

Emotional contagion

Fear of conflict/stress

Diffuse Physiological Arousal (DPA)

Fight/flight/freeze (sweating, heart rate, muscle tension)

Why giving feedback is difficult?

Social aspects (relational cost, need for social approval)

Political aspects (not my headache, organizational culture)

How it will affect my interests

Personal/Cognitive aspects (lack of skills, training)

Easy going nature (agreeableness)

Fair and just?

Know enough to rate?

Do I remember?

Fundamental attribution error

Feedback Process Model

Observe concrete behavior ~ Impact ~ Whom

What are the three elements of effective feedback content? 

Specific behaviors, impact, and on whom

"Your typical carelessness has jeopardized this project.” What form of feedback is this?

Criticism

Why are you so damn careless?  SERIOUSLY!!! You should not be allowed to work on anything that needs more than a double-digit IQ.”  What form of feedback is this?

Contempt

We discussed five steps of the effective feedback process model. In the coaching phase a manager asks questions from the employee, to find the causes of the problematic behavior. True or False?

False

In the instructor video for Managing Feedback, what advice did I provide to managers for situations where an employee starts experiencing emotional flooding during feedback meeting?

Stop the meeting, take a break and reconvene at a later time.

As a manager you are hesitant to provide negative feedback because you believe it will negatively influence your interests in the company. This is what type of a difficulty factor? 

Political

Persons with a low self-esteem do not respond very well to negative feedback. This is what type of a difficulty factor?

Personal

Which of the following is a primary focus of the 'Antecedents and Information' category in the PDC?

Assessing the clarity and availability of instructions to employees.

A supervisor monitoring an employee's performance is related to the consequences of a job in PDC. True or False?

True

According to research by Ehrlich et al. (2020), training employees on receiving feedback can improve task performance by:

10-30%

When receiving vague feedback, it is recommended to:

Ask for clarification with specific questions

Feedback Orientation is a personality trait that affects how often individuals seek feedback. True or False?

True

Research shows that receiving feedback has no bearing on receiver's future job performance. True or False?

False

As an employee, you should always accept the feedback at the decision stage. True or False?

False

Diffuse Physiological Arousal (DPA)

By providing objective/constructive feedback, minimize defensive reactions

Emotional flooding may lead to reception of feedback/conflict

Take a pause/postpone meeting

Can last 30 min to over day

Feedback

Should be regular ~ schedule, prepare, conduct

Annual performance feedback

well prepared ~ focus on way forward ~ listen carefully

ABC of Behavior

Antecedents (happens before behavior, instructions, prompts, motivations)

Behaviors (respondent vs operant)

Consequences (rewards, punishments)

Respondent behaviors

Sweating, heartbeat, blinking when dust in eye

Operant behaviors

learned/shaped by past consequences ~ behaviors of interest for managers

Consequences

Personality doesn’t shape behavior ~ intrinsic motivation is actually intrinsic reinforcement/consequence ~ more immediate the consequence, stronger effects on future behavior ~ rules and values can affect adult behaviors (maintains behaviors despite delayed consequences

Rule governed behavior

carryout as per rules

Observational learning

learn these behaviors by watching others

Performance Diagnostic Checklist

Identify causes of performance problems ~ effective solutions

Four Components of PDC

Antecedents/Information (employee have clear instruction)

Equipment/Processes (Physical/system barriers preventing success)

Knowledge/skills (know how to do task)

Consequences/motivation (rewards/consequences shaping behavior)

What percent does receiving feedback give in task performance?

10-30% (R. Ehrlich)

What influences feedback seeking/accepting feedback?

Organization’s learning

Preparation (feedback skill)

come to meeting prepared (notepad)

Attentive (feedback skill)

focus on conversation and don’t get distracted

Appreciative statement (feedback skill)

thank others, even if you disagree

Active listening (feedback skill)

Repeat back information they received

Ask follow-up questions (feedback skill)

if feedback is vague, ask specific questions

Acknowledge mistakes (feedback skill)

when objective behavior-specific information shows room for improvement

Overall attitude/demeanor (feedback skill)

speak in friendly tone, smile, nod

Commit to behavior change (feedback skill)

express commitment to change, strong consideration to feedback

Stages of Receiving Feedback

Feedback as input of information

Processing buffer zone (don’t immediately reject/accept, accept/evaluate)

Decision (accept feedback that is objective and data-driven)