Org. Psychology Exam 2

explicit knowledge

direct information, easy to communicate and teach

codified knowledge found in documents, databases, etc.

tacit knowledge

implicit knowledge, more difficult to communicate, gained with experience

strategic importance as an asset possessed by companies; intuitive knowledge; rooted in context, experience, practice, and values; resides in the mind of the practitioner; best source of long term competitive advantage and innovation

history

company traditions, customs, rituals

language

technical language, acronyms, slang and jargon

politics

formal and informal work relationships, power hierarchy

people

one’s work relationships with others

goals and values

organizational goals, values, and norms

performance proficiency

work skills, roles

reinforcement (operant conditioning)

way of learning through rewards or punishments; there are continuous and partial schedules

positive reinforcment

desired behavior leads to positive outcome; generally preferred

negative reinforcement

desired behavior leads to removal of unwanted outcome

positive punishment

unwanted behavior leads to unwanted outcome

negative punishment

unwanted behavior leads to removal of positive outcomes; generally preferred

continuous reinforcement

reinforcement schedule

reward given following every desired behavior; high number of rewards which also makes it difficult to maintain

e.g. praise

fixed interval reinforcement

partial reinforcement schedule

reward given following a fixed time period; average potential performance

e.g. paychecks

variable interval reinforcement

partial reinforcement schedule

reward given following a variable time period; moderately high potential performance

e.g. supervisor drop-ins

fixed ratio reinforcement

partial reinforcement schedule

reward given following a fixed number of desired behaviors; high potential performance

e.g. piece-rate pay (production)

variable ratio reinforcement

partial reinforcement schedule

reward given following variable number of desired behaviors; very high potential performance

e.g. commission pay (selling)

variable

a _________ reinforcement schedule is typically better for performance

observation

way of learning through watching others

social learning theory

people learn by observing the actions of others and engage in similar behaviors; four steps

attentional processes

first part of social learning theory; learner focuses attention on the critical behaviors exhibited by the model

retention processes

second part of social learning theory; leader must remember the behaviors of the model once the model is no longer present

production processes

third part of social learning theory; learner must have all the appropriate skill set and be able to reproduce the behavior

reinforcement

fourth part of social learning theory; leader must view the model receiving reinforcement for the behavior and then they receive it themselves

e.g. seeing someone receive praise for turning something in early

performance/goal orientation

way of learning based on values; disposition toward learning vs. performance that influence how you learn

learning goal orientation

building competence is deemed most important than demonstrating competence

improves self-confidence, feedback-seeking, learning strategy, and learning performance

learning

a _______ goal orientation has a positive correlation with learning and task performance

performance-prove goal orientation

focus on demonstrating their competence so that others think favorably of them; brings mixed results (-.01 correlation with learning and task performance)

performance-avoid goal orientation

focus on demonstrating their competence so that other will not think poorly of them; increases anxiety and fear

performance-avoid

a ________ goal orientation has a strong, negative correlation with learning and task performance

job performance

learning has a moderate, positive effect on ____________.

organizational commitment

learning has a weak, positive effect on _____________.

decision-making

the process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem; programmed or nonprogrammed

programmed decision-making

intuition and gut feeling that arise when the problem is familiar to you or you have experience with it

nonprogrammed decision-making

rational decision-making model that arises when the problem is unfamiliar and novel

bounded rationality

decision makers do not have the ability or resources to process all available information and alternatives to make an optimal decision —> reliance on biases to save energy and time

stereotypes

tendency to make assumptions of others on the basis of their membership in a social group; an automation process

can lead to illegal discrimination

heuristics

occur when making decisions under uncertainty

positive: helps make quick, easy decision

negative: can lead to inaccurate, biased decisions

representativeness

type of heuristic

tendency to assess the likelihood of an event by comparing it to a similar event or a stereotype

availability

type of heuristic

tendency to base our judgements on information that is easier to recall

anchoring/adjustment

type of heuristic

tendency to rely too heavily on one trait or piece of information when making decision, even what it might be unreliable or irrelevant; alternative words can significantly alter a decision

escalation of commitment

the decision to continue to follow a failing course of action; decision makers may feel obligated to stick with their decision to avoid looking incompetent

personality

structures and propensities inside a person that explain his or her characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior

stable over lifetime; any changes are gradual

openness

intellectual curiosity

high: curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, sophisticated

low: uninquisitive, conventional, conforming, simple, unartistic, traditional

openness

_______ is not necessarily related to job performance across all jobs or occupations

matters most for:

• jobs requiring high creative performance

• fluid and dynamic jobs, with rapid changes in its demands

conscientiousness

accomplishment striving

high: dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, persevering

low: careless, sloppy, inefficient, negligent, lazy, irresponsible

conscientiousness

______________ is considered the most important among I/O psychologists, because it has the biggest influence on job performance for all job groups

conscientiousness

_____________ has a moderately, positive correlation on job performance and organizational commitment

prioritization of accomplishing goals in their work and life

conscientiousness

childhood ___________ is strongly correlated with ratings of career success

conscientiousness

childhood __________ is strongly correlated with longevity; negatively related to mortality and drug use in adulthood

extraversion

status striving

high: talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, dominant

low: quiet, shy, inhibited, bashful, reserved, submissive

extraversion

_________ is not necessarily related to job performance across all jobs or occupations; matters more for salespersons, leaders, and managers

extraverts

______ are more effective in leadership roles

prioritization of status striving reflects a strong desire to obtain power and influence

extraverts

_________ tend to be happier with their jobs than introverts

also tend to experience more positive life events

agreeableness

communion striving

high: kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, courteous, warm

low: critical, antagonistic, callous, selfish, rude, cold

agreeableness

_________ is not related to job performance across most occupations

agreeableness

__________ can be financially detrimental; agreeable men tend to earn less than less agreeable men

better

agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness are the ______ predictors of citizenship behaviors in comparison to the other two Big-5 dimensions

neuroticism

emotional instability

high: nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous, unstable

low: calm, steady, relaxed, at ease, secure, content

neuroticism

after conscientiousness, _____ is the most important predictor of job performance

emotional instability interferes with work behaviors

neurotics

_______ tend to me less happy with their jobs, as well as in general

they feel more stress and tend to attribute the causes of events to the external environment

IPIP-NEO

used to measure the big-5 personalities; most validated one; issue with self-reporting since positive personality aspects are well-known

combative measures are forced choice measures

HEXACO

taxonomy of personality

includes original big-5 and adds honesty-humility

looked at other languages and cultures to find personality-adjectives

Myers-Briggs type indicator

there is little evidence that this taxonomy of personality is predictive of job satisfaction, motivation, performance, or commitment

dark triad

taxonomy of personality

all three dimensions are significantly related to work outcomes; correlated with counterproductive work behavior

psychopathy

• impulsive, emotionally cold, remorselessness

machiavellianism

• manipulative, self-interested, domineering

narcissism

• grandiosity, perceived superiority, entitlement

ability

relatively stable capabilities people have to perform a particular range of different but related activities; three kinds: cognitive, emotional, physical

cognitive ability

capabilities related to the acquisition and application of knowledge in problem-solving (g)

consists of verbal, quantitative, reasoning, spatial, and perceptual

verbal

cognitive ability

oral and written comprehension and expression

quanitative

cognitive ability

number facility, mathematical reasoning

reasoning

cognitive ability

deductive: apply general rules to specific problems

inductive: combine specific information to form general conclusions

problem sensitivity: understanding when there is a problem or when something may go wrong

spatial

cognitive ability

orientation: knowing where one is relative to objects in the environment

visualization: imagining how something will look after it has been rearranged

perceptual

cognitive ability

speed and flexibility: making sense of information and finding patterns

perceptual speed: comparing information or objects with remembered information or objects

left

hemisphere that dominates verbal, quantitative, and parts of reasoning abilities

right

hemisphere that dominates parts of reasoning, spatial, and perceptual abilities

nature vs. nurture

about half of the variation in ability that we see in people is due to genetics

variation by different types of ability as well

SAT, GRE, GMAT, Raven’s, IQ

general cognition ability assessments

positive

g has a strong _____ correlation with job performance

increases as job complexity increases

g

_____ is one of the strongest predictors of job performance

g

____ has weak/no correlation with organizational commitment

g

hiring on ____ alone is likely to hurt diversity

people may do poorly on a cognitive test for other reasons other than a lack of cognitive ability → lack of learning and practicing opportunities, racially disparate conditions

cognitive tests can measure things other than g: SES, education, practice

performance-irrelevant race-related test variance (rPIRV)

variance in cognitive test scores that is related to race but not related to job performance

when large, using the test for hiring or admissions will exclude the lower-scoring demographic group based on factors unrelated to job performance

emotional ability

capabilities related to the management and use of emotions when interacting with others (EI or EQ)

identifying, understanding, and regulating emotions

critical for jobs with emotional labor

cascading model of ability EI

emotion perception: the abilityof an individual to identify the emotions of themselves and others

emotion understanding: ability of an individual to harness emotions and use them to improve their changes of being successful in a given area

emotion regulation: ability to consciously control and express desired emotions

ability-based EI measurements

the ability to process and reason about emotion

has better validity in measuring EI than mixed measures

mixed EI measurements

broad variety of constructs related to emotion

takes from self-efficacy, self-rated performance, emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and ability-based EI

EI

_____ is important to employee performance, but not as much as g

EI

______ is more important for employees with low g, as it can compensate for it

physical ability

capability of one’s body in performance physical tasks

importance varies according tot he nature of the job

strength, stamina, flexibility, coordination, psychomotor, sensory

team

a team consists of two or more people who work interdependently over some time period in order to accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose

pros of teams

breath of information

diversity of opinion

legitimacy of process

acceptance of solution

cons of teams

time consuming

conformity

domination by the few

ambiguous responsibility

IPO framework

Input-Process-Output

inputs

team type; team interdependence; team composition (roles, size, ability, personality, diversity)

processes

taskwork processes, teamwork processes, communication, team states

outputs

team performance, team viability, team member turnover

team types

work, management, parallel, project, action

work team

produce goods or provide services

long life span

high member involvement

management team

integrate activities of subunits across business functions

long life span

moderate member involvement

parallel team

provide recommendations and resolve issues

life span varies

low member involvement