HR Exam

organizational culture

The set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments

• Shared concept

• Learned over time

• Influences behavior at work

• Affects outcomes at multiple levels

Four important characterisitcs of organizational behavior

Observable artifacts

The physical manifestation of an organization’s culture (Manner of dress, Awards, special parking spaces)

espoused values

Explicitly stated qualities and norms preferred by an organization

Enacted Values

The qualities and norms that are exhibited or converted into employee behavior

basic underlying assumptions

Organizational values so taken for granted over time that they become assumptions guiding organizational behavior

sustainability

A company’s ability to make a profit without sacrificing the resources of its people, the community, and the planet

1. Establish organizational identity

2. Encourage collective commitment

3. Ensure social system stability

4. Act as sense-making device

An organization’s culture fulfills four important functions:

competing values framework (CVF)

Provides a practical way for managers to understand, measure, and change organizational culture

clan culture

One that values internal focus and flexibility rather than stability and control

adhocracy culture

One that has an external focus and values flexibility

market culture

One that has a strong external focus and values stability and control

hierarchy culture

One that has an internal focus, which produces a more formalized and structured work environment, and values stability and control over flexibility

subcultures

distinctive clusters of ideologies, culture forms and other practices that identifiable groups of people in an organization exhibit (divisions or departments, levels of management, functional groups)

vision

A long-term goal that describes what an organization wants to become

strategic plan

Outlines the organization’s long-term goals and the actions necessary to achieve them

rites and rituals

The planned and unplanned activities and ceremonies used to celebrate important events or achievements

organizational socialization

The process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required to assume a work role

anticipatory socialization

Information gathered and expectations formed before an individual actually joins an organization

realistic job preview (RJP)

Give recruits a realistic idea of what lies ahead by presenting both positive and negative aspects of the job

encounter phase

Socialization phase when employees come to learn what the organization is really like

onboarding programs

Help employees to integrate, assimilate, and transition to new jobs by making them familiar with corporate policies procedures, culture, and politics and clarifying work-role expectations and responsibilities

change and acquisition phase

Socialization phase which requires employees to master important tasks and roles and adjust to their work group’s values and norms

mentoring

The process of forming and maintaining intensive and lasting developmental relationships between a variety of developers (people who provide career and psychosocial support) and a junior person (the protégé, if male, or protégée, if female)

coaching

A customized process between two or more people with the intent of enhancing learning and motivating change or improving an individual’s behavior and performance to resolve work issues or handle specific aspects of the job and may be short term

1. Initiation

2. Cultivation

3. Separation

4. Redefinition

Four Phases of Mentoring

human capital

The productive potential of an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experiences

social capital

The productive potential resulting from relationships, goodwill, trust, and cooperative effort

ill conceived goals

setting goals and incentives to promote a desired behavior, but they encourage a negative one

Motivated blindness

overlooking the unethical behavior of another when it’s our interest to remain ignorant

indirect blindness

holding others less accountable for unethical behvaior when it’s carried through third parties

overvaluing outcomes

giving a pass to unethical behavior if the outcome is good

Parent Country

The country in which an organization’s headquarters is located.

Host Country

A country (other than the parent country) in which an organization operates a facility.

Third Country

A country that is neither the parent country nor the host country of an employer.

Expatriates

Employees assigned to work in another country.

International Organization

An organization that sets up one or a few facilities in one or a few foreign countries.

exporting

The usual way for a company to start entering foreign markets

Multinational Company

An organization that builds facilities in a number of different countries in an effort to minimize production and distribution costs.

Global Organization

An organization that chooses to locate a facility based on the ability to effectively, efficiently, and flexibly produce a product or service, using cultural differences as an advantage.

Transnational HRM System

Type of HRM system that makes decisions from a global perspective, includes managers from many countries, and is based on ideas contributed by people representing a variety of cultures.

Culture

a community’s set of shared assumptions about how the world works and what ideals are worth striving for

individualism/collectivism

describes the strength of the relationship between an individual and other individuals in the society

Power distance

concerns the way the culture deals with unequal distribution of power and defines the amount of inequality that is normal

uncertainty avoidance

describes how cultures handle the fact that the future is unpredictable

masculinity/femininity

The emphasis a culture places on practices or qualities that have traditionally been considered masculine or feminine

Long-term/short-term orientation

whether the focus of cultural values is on the future or the past and present

Indulgence/restraint

the extent to which a culture controls the dsire to pursue enjoyment and fun

Culture Shock

Disillusionment and discomfort that occur during the process of adjusting to a new culture.

Cross-Cultural Preparation

Training to prepare employees and their family members for an assignment in a foreign country.

Repatriation

The process of preparing expatriates to return home from a foreign assignment.

individual differences (IDs)

The many attributes, such as traits and behaviors, that describe each of us as a person

intelligence

An individual’s capacity for constructive thinking, reasoning, and problem solving

practical intelligence

The ability to solve everyday problems by utilizing knowledge gained from experience in order to purposefully adapt to, shape, and select environments

personality

The combination of relatively stable physical, behavioral, and mental characteristics that gives individuals their unique identities

Big Five Personality Dimensions:

1. Extroversion

2. Agreeableness

3. Conscientiousness

4. Emotional stability

5. Openness to experience

Extroversion

outgoing, talkative, sociable, assertive

Agreeableness

Trusting, good-natured, cooperative, softhearted

Conscientiousness

Dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, persistent

emotional stability

relaxed, secure, unworried

openness to experience

intellectual, imaginative, curious, broad-minded

proactive personality

An attribute of someone relatively unconstrained by situational forces and who effects environmental change. Proactive people identify opportunities and act on them, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs

Dark Triad

narcissism, psychopathy, machiavelllianism

narcissism

Having a grandiose sense of self-importance; requiring or even demanding excessive admiration; having a sense of entitlement; lacking empathy; and tending to be exploitative, manipulative, and arrogant

psychopathy

A lack of guilt, remorse or concern for others when their own actions do others harm

Machiavellianism

A belief that the ends justify the means, maintenance of emotional distance, and use of manipulation

core self-evaluations (CSEs)

Four narrow and positive individual traits: (1) generalized self-efficacy, (2) self-esteem, (3) locus of control, and (4) emotional stability

self-efficacy

A person’s belief about his or her chances of successfully accomplishing a specific task

self-esteem

General belief about your self-worth

locus of control

A relatively stable personality characteristic that describes how much personal responsibility we take for our behavior and its consequences

internal locus of control

A belief that one can control the events and consequences that affect their lives

external locus of control

A belief that one’s performance is the product of circumstances beyond their immediate control

emotional stability

Tendency to be relaxed, secure, unworried, and less likely to experience negative emotions under pressure

emotional intelligence

The ability to monitor your own emotions and those of others, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide your thinking and actions

1. self-awareness

2. self-management

3. social awareness

4. relationship management

Four kwy competencies with emotional intelligence:

emotions

Complex, relatively brief responses aimed at a particular target, such as a person, information, experience, or event. They also change psychological and/or physiological states