Organizational Behavior Exam 1

Max Weber and Classic Organizational Theory

• Organizational structure and bureaucracy

• led to: separating managers from owners, distinct division of labor; establishment of organizational hierarchy

F.W. Taylor and Scientific management

• productivity

• led to job design and re-design

Hugo Munsterberg and Industrial Psychology

• hiring based on personality 

• trainer

• vocational studies 

Lillian Gilbreth

• managing the human element

• relieving worker burnout and fatigue

• improving working conditions

Mary Parker Follet

• reciprocal work relations

• leadership skills

• a new win-win approach to workplace diversity

Organization Behavior

• the study of human behavior in work organizations

• the goal is to understand and predict human behavior in work organizations in order to improve experiences 

Winning OB Practices

• formal information sharing programs

• recruiting for non-entry jobs from within

• conducting attitude surveys on regular basis

• work life program

• training and development

• team enabling

• communicating clear vision

• employee engagement

Job Performance

actions or behaviors which contribute or detract from the organizations goals and which can be measured in terms of the individuals level of contribution to the organization

The correlation between job and productivity is only 

r = 0.30

Job Performance: Task Performance

behaviors that directly transform organizational resources into the goods or services offered by the organization

Job Performance: Citizenship Performance

behaviors that affect the psychological or social context at work

Job Performance: Counterproductive Work Behaviors 

behaviors that intentionally hinder the organization

Job Attitudes: Satisfaction and Commitment

Satisfaction: my work is important, matters

Commitment: My organization is fun to work at, I love the organization I work at

Personality

a relatively stable set of characteristic, tendencies, and temperaments that have been simnifically formed by: genes, and early childhood experiences

Three types of personality traits 

Behavioral: traits that influence how we behave (Big Five)

Cognitive/Emotional: traits that influence how we think and feel; core self evaluation 

Dark Personality Traits: behavioral and emotional traits that push us to the dark side 

The Big Five

Openness

Conscientiousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

Conscientiousness

dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, and persevering

biggest influence on job performance

Agreeableness

warm, kind, cooperative, sympathetic

tend to work well in teams 

Neuroticism (Emotional Instability)

nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, and jealous

high levels of negative affectivity

Openness

curious, imaginative, creative, complex

valuable in jobs

Extraversion

Talkative, social, passionate, assertive, bold

prioritize status striving, strong desire to obtain power 

Intelligences

General - the ability to acquire and apply knowledge in problem-solving

Emotional - self-awareness

Social - social skills

Job Competence - ability to learn and improve at one’s job

Workforce Diversity Defined

the observable and unobservable similarities and differences among employees in work organizations

• factors: globalization, demographics, racial and gender

Stereotypes 

generalizations about a person or a group bases on certain characteristics or traits 

Biases

influence one’s thoughts, attitudes and behaviors

Prejudices

attitudes grounded in strong beliefs and emotions related to self-supriority and other inferiority

Diversity Paradox

focusing on diversity and not focusing on diversity both backfire 

Person Perception

the process by which people select, organize, interpret, retrieve, and respond to information about others

How accurate is person perception

30% across cultures

40% within cultures

LENS model of person perception

the accuracy of the person perception process is dependent on the extent that observers can distinguish between valid and invalid cutes then utilize valid cues 

Cue Validity

are the cues available for observation relevant to underlying factor being judged

Cue utilization

did the perceiver utilize valid cues and stay away from invalid cues in their judgment

Conflict

a process of disagreement thru which two or more parties perceive a threat to their interests, needs or concerns

Functional (substantive) conflict

a good conflict

Dysfunctional (Emotional) conflict 

problematic, fighting, disagreeing

Main Causes of conflict

• differing task goals (task conflict)

• differing process goals (process conflict)

• interpersonal differences (relationship conflict)

Other causes of conflict

• resource constraints

• change

• poor communication

• task interdependence

• organizational structure

Conflict management strategies

Cooperativeness/unassertiveness: accommodating

Cooperativeness/assertiveness: collaborating

Uncooperativeness/unassertiveness: avoiding

Uncooperativeness/assertiveness: competing

Conflict management skills

listening: includes rephrasing and summarizing to ensure you understand their position accurately 

questioning

communicating non-verbally 

Negotiation

a process in which two or more parties make offers, counteroffers, and concessions in order to reach an agreement

Creating Constructive Conflict

1. create a culture of psychological safety

2. discourage conflict avoiding

3. reward constructive conflict

4. assign employees to play devils advocate

Criteria for effective negotiation:

are the outcomes of the negotiation process “quality” outcomes?

Are the relationships between the parties involved in the negotiation process “harmonious”?

Common Negotiation Pitfalls

• possessing a “fixed fie” attitude

• escalating commitment to your starting point

• over-confidence

• poor communication