HROB 2090 Key Terms

Organizations

Social inventions for accomplishing common goals through group effort.

Social inventions

Taking into account the presence of people and not things.

Organizational Behaviour

 The attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations.

Goal Accomplishment

• All organizations have goals. 

• Organizational survival and adaptation are important goals.

Group Effort

The interaction and coordination among people to accomplish goals.

Human Resource Managment

Programs, practices and systems to acquire, develop, motivate, and attain employees in organizations.  

What are some Management Practices of the Best Companies to Work for in Canada

• Flexible work schedules. 

• Stock options, profit sharing, and bonuses. 

• Opportunities for learning and development. 

• Family assistance programs. 

• Career development programs. 

• Wellness and stress reduction programs, 

• Employee recognition and reward programs.

What are the 3 Steps to achieve goals of organizational behaviour

• Predict what type of personality at the checkout counter would increase customer satisfaction. 

• Explain why customers are more satisfied with cashier 1 and 2. 

• Manage who should be hired and what training they need.

Evidence-Based Managment

Involved translating principles based on the best scientific evidence into organizational practices.

what are the two early ideas of management perscriptions

Classical View/Bureaucracy and Human Relations View

Classical View of Management

Focuses on a high degree of specialization of labor, intense coordination and centralized decision making.

Scientific Management

A system by Frederick Taylor used to determine optimum ratio of specialization and standardization of work tasks via research. Concerned with job design.

Bureacracy

Max Weber’s ideal type of organization involving a strict chain of command, promotion based on competence, detailed rules, high specialization, and a powerhead on top of organization.

Human Relations View

The human relations movement was attempting to become more people oriented by making more flexible management, designing more interesting jobs, communication, etc. (Opposite o bureaucracy)

The Hawthorne Studies

• A study done concerning employee productivity being affected by psychology and social aspects. 

  • Begun when people started resisting management.

The Contemporary Management Movement

Humans are too complex to apply a single type of management.

Interpersonal Management Roles

Established relationships between people. Include multiple roles.

Informational Management Roles

 Concerned with how managers receive and transmit info. (Monitoring, spokesperson, etc.)

Decisional Management Roles

Deals with decision making. (Negotiating, resource allocation, etc.)

Liaison Management Roles

Helping the group work effectively together.

Routine Communication

Formal sending/receiving info.

Traditional Management

Planning, decision making, controlling, etc.

Networking

Interaction with people outside the organization.

Human Resource Managment

Motivation, discipline, reinforcing, managing conflict, etc.

Agenda Setting

Setting what wants to be accomplished, often concerning issues with people.

Agenda Networking

Provides managers with info and key people needed to complete agendas.

Agenda Implementation

Use networks to implement agendas.

International Managers

• This style in which managers give activities that will vary across cultures. 

• Management styles can vary across different cultures. 

• Manafgers play different roles in different cultures.

Diversity (Local or Global)

 As diversity increases in the workforce, it’s good to learn how to treat all segments of population fairly. Also important in regards to global business is to understand how other countries run businesses.

Employee health and well-being

Work related stress and poorly designed job are major causes for employee turnover and absenteeism. Focusing on mental health creates more positive workspaces.

Healthy and Productive Work Environment

Psychologically and physically healthy environments create productivity.

Workplace Spirituality

A sense of community is important for employee growth.

Positive Organizational Behaviour

Strengths and capacities can be measured to determine effective management styles.

Self-Efficacy

One’s confidence to take on challenges and put effort into them.

Optimisim

Being positive about events.

Hope

Persevering towards goals and using multiple pathways to achieve goals.

Resilience

Ability to bounce back after setbacks.

PsyCap (Psychological Capital)

An individual's positive psychological state of development. Having good traits (self-efficacy, hope, optimism, resilience) is attributed to good performance.

Talent Managment

Attracting and retaining people with skills to meet current and future business needs.

Work Engagement

Positive work related state of mind with dedication.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

An organization taking responsibility for the impact of its decisions.

External CSR

Responsible practices aimed at community, environment, and consumers. 

Internal CSR

Responsible practices aimed at the internal workforce.

Personality

The relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that incluences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment and how he or she feels, thinks, and behaves.

What are the 3 approaches in OB concerning the Person-situation debate?

Dispositional, situational, and interactionist approaches.

Dispositional Approach

• Focuses on individual dispositions/personality. 

• Individuals might be predisposed to behave in a certain way.

Situational Approach

• Characteristics of the organizational setting affect feelings, attitudes, behaviors. 

• Long term work satisfaction is largely determined by situational factors.

Interactionist Approach

• Takes into account a person’s personality and how it interacts with a work setting. 

• Most widely accepted OB perspective.

Weak Situations

Roles are loosely defined. Few rules and weak reinforcement/punishments. (Eg. Football game)

Strong Situations

Roles and rules are very defined. (Eg. Courtroom)

Trait Activation Theory

Personality leads to certain behaviours only when the situation makes the trait necessary.

What are the 5 factors of personality?

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism/emotional stability.

Which of the 5 factors of personality effect job performance the most?

Conscientiousness.

Extraversion

• Important for jobs that require social interaction. 

• Being an extravert is important for success.

Neuroticism/Emotional Stability

Ppl with high emotional stability will have better interactions with coworkers. More calm and secure.

Agreeableness

Contributes to job performance in jobs that require interaction, cooperating, and nurturing others.

Conscientiousness

Important for job performance with jobs that tend towards hard work and achievement.

Openness

Help with jobs that involve learning and creativity.

Locus of control

A set of beliefs of whether one’s behavior is controlled mainly by internal or external factors. Internals tend to be more committed to their job and make more.

Self-Monitoring

The extent to which people observe and regulate how they appear and behave in social settings. (High self-monitors tend to be concerned about having “proper emotions”).

Self-esteem

 The degree to which a person sees themself positively.

Positive Affectivity

Positive affectivity people view the world with a positive light.

Negative Affectivity

View the world with a negative light.

Proactive Personality

Tendency to take initiative across a range of activities.

General Self-Efficacy

Belief in one’s own ability to perform successfully.

Core Self-Evaluations

How people are able to evaluate themselves in self-worth, competence, and capability. (big 5-OCEAN)

Practical Skills

Job specific skills. (Eg. Excel, photoshop)

Intrapersonal Skills

Problem solving, critical thinking, alternative work processes, risk taking.

Interpersonal Skills

Interactive skills; communicating, teamwork, conflict resolution.

Cultural Awareness

The understanding of social norms of organizations.

Operant Learning Theroy

Subject learns to operate in the environment to achieve certain consequences. Learned behavior is controlled by the consequences that follow it. (good or bad).

Social Cognitive Theory

• Focuses on the reinforcement of activities. 

• Stimulus that follows some behavior and increases/maintains the probability of the behavior.

Positive Reinforcement

Makes you want to repeat action by adding a stimulus. (Eg. praising).

Negative Reinforement

Response that prevents an action by removing a stimulus. (Eg. Taking away a child’s toys because they didn't do chores.)

Performance Feedback

Providing quantitative or qualitative info on past performances.

Social Recognition

Involves informal acknowledgment, attention, praise.

Reinforcement Strategies

For fast acquisition, continuous and immediate reinforcement should be used.

extinction

Gradual dissipation of behavior following the stopping of reinforcement. Works best with reinforcement of the desired substitute behaviuor.

Punishment

Giving a bad stimulus for an unwanted behavior.

Social Cognitive Theory

Emphasizes the role of cognitive process in regulating people’s behavior.

• Peole learn by observing the behavior of others.

Observational Learning

The process of observing and imitating the behavior of others.

Organizational Behaviour Modification

• The systematic use of learning principles to influence OB. 

• Money, feedback. And social recognition has been used for this.

employee recognition programs

Formal organizational programs that publicly recognize and reward employees for specific behaviours.

Peer Recognition

Formal programs where employees publicly acknowledge, recognize, and reward their co-workers for exceptional work and performance.

Training

refers to planned organizational activities used to explain knowledge/skills to improve performance on one’s current job.

Development

focuses on future job responsibilities.

Behaviour Modelling Training (BMT)

One of the most widely used and effective methods of training which is based in observational learning. (Observing a task and having an opportunity to practice the observed task).

Perception

 The process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment.

What are the 3 components of perception?

The perceiver, the target, and the situation.

Social Identity Theory

States that people form perceptions of themselves based on their personal characteristics and social categories. (I am a football player who goes to UofG)

What are the two components of social identity theory?

Personal and social identity.

Personal Identity

Unique characteristics. (Eg. I love knitting).

Social Identiy

Groups that you are apart of. (Eg. I am apart of the LGBTQ community).

Prototypes

The most stereotypical member of a category. (Eg. For category “bird” you imagine a flying bird and not a penguin).

Bruner’s Model of the Perceptual Process

A multi stage process of perceiving a new target. 

1. New target discovered. 

2. Look for target cues. 

3. Finds target cues. 

4. Makes assumptions about cues. 

5. Uses already found cues to alter opinion on other things. 

6. Further strengthen cues.

What are the 3 characteristics of the perceptual process?

Selective, constancy, and consistency.

Selective perception.

Perceivers do not use all of the available cues, and emphasize the ones they do use. 

Constancy perception.

The tendency for the target to be perceived the same in all situations. 

Consistency perception.

The tendency to select, ignore, and distort cues so they fit together to form a homogenous picture of the target.

Primary and Recency Effects

Form of bias.

Primany: The reliance on early cues. (First impression). 

• Eg. Eleanor failed her first chem test, she will fail this one.

Recency: The reliance on the most recent cues. (Last impressions count most).

• Eg. Eleanor failed her most recent chem test, she will fail this one.