MHR3020 WL Organizational Behavior: Changing Environment, Individual Differences, Values, Attitudes, and Motivation

Comprehensive flashcards covering organizational environment, diversity, individual differences, values, attitudes, perceptions, stress, and motivation theories.

What is surface-level diversity?

Surface-level diversity refers to observable differences in people such as race, age, ethnicity, physical abilities, physical characteristics, and gender.

According to population forecasts, what is the projected U.S. population growth by 2060 compared to 2000?

By 2060, the total U.S. population is forecast to grow to 404 million, up from 282.1 million in 2000.

What percentage of individuals in the 55–64 and 65 or older age groups were employed in 2021?

Almost 62% of those aged 55–64 were still working, while 18% of those aged 65 or older continued to work.

What are the birth year ranges for the five generational groups in today's workforce?

Silent Generation (1928–1945), Baby Boomers (1946–1964), Generation X (1965–1980), Generation Y or Millennials (1981–1996), and Generation Z (1997–2012).

What is reverse mentoring?

Pairing a junior employee with a senior employee specifically to transfer technical or computer skills from the junior employee to the senior one.

What protections are established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

What six barriers prevent companies from becoming more inclusive?

The "Like Me" bias, stereotypes, prejudice, perceived threat of loss, ethnocentrism, and unequal access to organizational networks.

What dimensions of culture are included in Geert Hofstede's framework?

Individualism vs. Collectivism, Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity, Long-Term Values, and Short-Term Values.

According to Hofstede's data on work-related differences, how do the United States and Japan compare in Uncertainty Avoidance and Long-Term Orientation?

The United States has Moderate Uncertainty Avoidance and Low Long-Term Orientation, whereas Japan has High Uncertainty Avoidance and High Long-Term Orientation.

What is corporate governance?

The oversight of a public corporation by its board of directors to ensure proper management of the business in the best interests of shareholders and other stakeholders.

What defines a psychological contract between an individual and an organization?

A person's set of expectations regarding what they will contribute to an organization (effort, skills, ability, time, loyalty) and what the organization in return will provide (inducements in the form of tangible and intangible rewards).

What are the four dimensions of fit in an employment context?

Person-Job Fit, Person-Group Fit, Person-Organization Fit, and Person-Vocation Fit.

What five traits comprise the "Big Five" personality framework?

Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness.

What four general dimensions are evaluated by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

Extroversion (E) / Introversion (I), Sensing (S) / Intuition (N), Thinking (T) / Feeling (F), and Judging (J) / Perceiving (P).

What is the difference between an internal locus of control and an external locus of control?

Internal locus of control is the perception that we are in control of what happens to us through our own actions. External locus of control is the belief that forces beyond our control dictate what happens to us.

What is Authoritarianism?

Authoritarianism is the belief that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social systems.

What is general mental ability (GMA)?

The capacity to rapidly and fluidly acquire, process, and apply information, involving reasoning, remembering, understanding, and problem solving.

What are the five key capabilities that make up Emotional Intelligence (EI)?

Self-awareness (being aware of what you are feeling), Self-motivation (persisting in the face of setbacks), Self-management (managing your own emotions and impulses), Empathy (sensing how others are feeling), and Social skills (effectively handling emotions of others).

According to the lecture, what percentage of Americans learn best through visual and auditory modalities?

40% of Americans are visual learners (learning by seeing), and 20–30% are auditory learners (learning by hearing).

What three components make up the sequence of attitude formation?

Cognition (the knowledge a person presumes to have), Affect (feelings about a person or situation), and Behavioral Intention (the component that drives behavior).

What is cognitive dissonance?

An incompatibility or conflict between a behavior and an attitude, or between two different attitudes.

What are the three distinct forms of organizational commitment?

Affective commitment (positive emotional attachment and identification), Normative commitment (feeling of moral or ethical obligation to stay), and Continuance commitment (staying due to perceived high economic or social costs of leaving).

What is the key difference between emotions and moods?

Emotions are intense, short-term reactions to a specific object, person, or event that prepare us to respond. Moods are short-term emotional states that are not directed toward anything in particular.

What are the six common perceptual errors documented in organizational behavior?

Categorization, Halo effect, Contrast effect, Projection, First impression bias, and Self-fulfilling prophecies.

How do eustress and distress differ?

Eustress is pleasurable stress that accompanies positive events, whereas distress is unpleasant stress that accompanies negative events.

What four types of task and interpersonal demands act as organizational stressors?

Task demands (stressors associated with the specific job), Physical demands (conditions associated with physical setting), Role demands (expected behaviors of a position), and Interpersonal demands (group pressures, leadership, conflicts).

What is burnout?

A general feeling of exhaustion that develops when an individual simultaneously experiences too much pressure and has too few sources of satisfaction.

What three factors determine high levels of job performance, and which is hardest to manage?

Motivation (wanting to do the job well), Ability (being able to do the job effectively), and Environment (having required materials, resources, equipment, and information). Motivation is the most difficult factor to manage.

What are the three dimensions of self-efficacy?

Magnitude (beliefs about how difficult a task can be to accomplish), Strength (beliefs about how confident the person is that the task can be accomplished), and Generality (beliefs about the degree to which similar tasks can be accomplished).

What are the five levels in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs from bottom to top?

Physiological Needs, Security Needs, Belongingness Needs, Esteem Needs, and Self-Actualization Needs.

How does Clayton Alderfer's ERG Theory modify Maslow's model?

ERG Theory compresses needs into Existence, Relatedness, and Growth, allows more than one need to motivate simultaneously, and includes both satisfaction-progression and frustration-regression components.

In Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, what distinguishes motivation factors from hygiene factors?

Motivation factors (achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement) cause job satisfaction and motivation. Hygiene factors (supervision, working conditions, pay, security, company policies) prevent dissatisfaction but do not create satisfaction.

What three needs are identified in David McClelland's Acquired Needs Theory?

Need for Achievement, Need for Affiliation, and Need for Power.

How does Equity Theory explain employee motivation?

It proposes that employees evaluate equity by comparing their own outcome-to-input ratio against the outcome-to-input ratio of a comparison other.

What four methods of reinforcement are used in behavior modification?

Positive reinforcement, Negative reinforcement, Punishment, and Extinction.

What are the operational differences between job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment?

Job rotation systematically moves workers between jobs to reduce monotony; job enlargement adds more tasks at the same level horizontally; job enrichment adds tasks and gives workers vertical control over how to perform them (vertical job loading).

What three critical psychological states are specified in Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Theory?

Experienced meaningfulness of the work, Experienced responsibility for work outcomes, and Knowledge of results (feedback).

What is task significance?

The degree to which a job affects the lives or work of other people, both in the immediate organization and in the external environment.

What are four common types of variable work schedules?

Compressed work schedule (40 hours in fewer than 5 days), Job sharing (two or more part-time employees sharing one full-time job), Extended work schedule (long work periods followed by long paid time off), and Flexible work schedule/flextime (personal control over daily working hours).

What four goal attributes drive performance in Locke and Latham's Goal-Setting Theory?

Goal Difficulty, Goal Specificity, Goal Acceptance, and Goal Commitment.

What is Management by Objectives (MBO)?

A collaborative goal-setting process formulated by Peter Drucker where top management sets overall goals, and managers and employees collaborate to cascade subsidiary goals downward throughout the organization.

What is 360-degree feedback?

A performance appraisal method in which employees receive performance feedback from individuals on all sides of them in the organization, including supervisors, peers, subordinates, and self-evaluation.

What is the difference between an open salary policy and a secrecy policy regarding pay transparency?

With an open salary policy, exact salary amounts for employees are public knowledge. With a secrecy policy, employers make no information available to employees regarding other employees' compensation.

Deep-level diversity

Individual differences that cannot be seen directly, including goals, values, personalities, decision-making styles, knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes.

What is intersectionality?

The simultaneous membership of an individual in more than one demographic category.

What is separation diversity?

Differences in position or opinion among group members reflecting disagreement or opposition, particularly regarding attitudes, values, group goals, or processes.

What is variety diversity?

Differences in a certain type or category among group members, including differences in expertise, knowledge, or functional background.

Machiavellianism

A personality trait centered on gaining power and controlling others, characterized by rational and unemotional behavior, a willingness to lie to achieve personal goals, and minimal emphasis on loyalty and friendship.

What six barriers prevent companies from becoming more inclusive and making the most of their diversity?

The "Like Me" bias, stereotypes, prejudice, perceived threat of loss, ethnocentrism, and unequal access to organizational networks.

Tolerance for risk

The degree to which a person is comfortable with risk and is willing to take chances and make risky decisions.

Tolerance for ambiguity

The tendency to view ambiguous situations as either threatening or desirable.

Information processing capacity

The manner in which individuals process and organize information.

Multiple intelligences

A framework proposing that individuals possess distinct types of cognitive capabilities, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and interpersonal intelligence.