OB exam 2

what is stress?

A psychological response to demands that possess certain
stakes for the person and that tax or exceed the person’s
capacity or resources

what is transactional theory of stress?

how stressors are perceived and
appraised, as well as how people respond to those perceptions
and appraisals

what kind of characteristics affect or characterize stressors?

work, nonword, hindrance, and challenge

what is coping?

the behaviors and thoughts people use to
manage stressful demands and the emotions associated with
those demands.

what are the methods of coping?

Behavioral and Cognitive

what are the focuses of coping?

problem and emotion

How do people choose which strategy to choose?

* Priority given to different demands
• Degree of control over the stressor

What is strain?

Strain refers to the negative consequences associated with
stress.
• Physiological strains
• Psychological strains
• Behavioral strains

physiological strain

illness, high blood pressure, headaches, back pain

psychological strains

depression, anxiety, irritability, forgetfulness

behavioral strain

alcohol drug use, teeth grinding, etc.

programmed decision making

automatic response because knowledge allows employees to recognize a situation and the needed course of action

intuition

emotionally charged judgement arising through quick, nonconcious and holistic associations

crisis situation

urgent problem must be addressed immediately

nonprogrammer decision making

Problem is new, complex, or not recognized.
For nonprogrammed decisions, the rational decision-making model

Bounded rationality:

Do not have the ability or resources to process all
available information and alternatives

Satisficing:

Choosing the first acceptable alternative - 1st thing you think of

Selective perception:

tendency to see the environment only as it affects them,
consistent with their expectations.

Projection bias:

belief that others think, feel, and act the same way they do

Social identity theory:

people identify with groups and judge others by their group
memberships

Stereotype:

assumptions are made about others on the basis of their membership in a
social group.

Heuristics:

simple, efficient rules of thumb that allow us to make decisions more easily

Availability bias:

tendency to base judgments on information that is easier to recall

Anchoring

The tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor,” on one trait or piece of information
when making decisions even when the anchor might be unreliable or irrelevant.

Framing

The tendency to make different decisions based on how a question or situation is
phrased.

Representativeness

The tendency to assess the likelihood of an event by comparing it to a similar
event and assuming it will be similar.

Contrast

The tendency to judge things erroneously based on a reference that is near to
them.

Recency

The tendency to weigh recent events more than earlier events.

Ratio Bias Effect

The tendency to judge the same probability of an unlikely event as lower when
the probability is presented in the form of a ratio of smaller rather than of larger
numbers.

Fundamental attribution error:

A tendency to judge others’ behaviors as
due to internal factors such as ability or attitude

Self-serving bias:

Attribute our failures to external factors and our successes
to internal factors

Consensus:

Did others act the same way under similar situations?

Distinctiveness:

Does this person tend to act differently in other
circumstances?

Consistency:

Does this person always do this when performing this task?

internal attribution:

attitude, individuality, motivation, and ability that are to blame

external attribution

environmental factors are to blame

Behavior is observed by:

consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency through internal and external factors.

escalation of commitment

The decision to continue to follow a failing course of action
• “Throwing good money after bad”
• Becomes stronger when decision makers have invested a lot of
money into the decision and when the project in question seems
quite close to completion

decision making problems

limited information
faulty perceptions
faulty attributions
escalation of commitment

learning has a positive effect on

job performance because when employees gain more knowledge and skill have a higher level of task performance

learning has a weak effect on

organizational commitment

training

Knowledge transfer from more experienced to less experienced
employees
• Behavior modeling
• Communities of practice involve informal social learning through
extended periods of employee interaction

transfer of training

Climate for transfer involves an environment that supports the use
of new skills

decision making

refers to the process of generating and choosing
from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.

expertise

refers to the knowledge and skills that distinguish
experts from novices and less experienced people.

Employees learn two types of knowledge:

• Explicit is easy to communicate and teach.
• Tacit is more difficult to communicate; gained with experience.

explicit knowledge

readily available info to most people

tacit knowledge

info you have to find out that is not easily accessible

how do employees learn?

Reinforcement

reinforcement

also known as operant conditioning.
• We learn by observing the link between our voluntary behavior
and the consequences that follow.

antecedent

condition that preceeds behavior

behavior

action performed by an employee

consequence

result that occurs after behavior

contingencies after reinforcement

Increase desired behaviors and decrease unwanted behaviors:
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• Punishment
• Extinction

positive reinforcement

provide rewards to reinforce desired behavior

negative reinforcement

remove aversive stimuli to reinforce behavior

punishment

deliver aversive stimuli or remove pleasant stimuli to change behavior

extinction

withhold valued consequences to lower negative behavior over time

• Learning orientation:

Building competence is deemed more
important than demonstrating competence.

Performance-prove orientation:

Focus is on demonstrating
competence so that others think favorably of them.

Performance-avoid orientation:

Focus is on demonstrating
competence so that others will not think poorly of them.

modeling process consists of

attentional process, retention process, production processes, reinforcement

what can type A behavior influence?

Level of stressors a person confronts
• Stress process itself
• Level of strain

hindrance stressors has a negative impact on

job performance (weak) and organizational commitment (strongly)

Challenge stressors have a negative impact on

job performance (weak) and organizational commitment (weak)

Presenteeism

can result in prolonged illness, as well as the spread
of illness and ultimately a downward spiral of impaired performance
and employee health
Reductions in productivity from presenteeism
>
reductions in productivity from absenteeism

motivation

A set of energetic forces that originates both within and outside
an employee, initiates work-related effort, and determines its
direction, intensity, and persistence

Several theories attempt to summarize the key factors that
foster high motivation:

• Expectancy theory
• Goal setting theory
• Equity theory
• Psychological empowerment

(expectancy theory) Motivation is fostered when the employee believes three things:

• That effort will result in performance (Expectancy)
• That performance will result in outcomes (Instrumentality)
• That those outcomes will be valuable (Valence)

Effort → Performance

The belief that a high level of effort will lead to the successful
performance of a task
Expectancy can be shaped by self-efficacy.
• Past accomplishments
• Vicarious experiences
• Verbal persuasion
• Emotional cues

instrumentality

Performance → Outcomes
The belief that successful performance will result in certain
outcomes.
Can be hindered by:
• Inadequate budget to provide outcomes, even when performance
is high
• Use of policies that reward things besides performance, such as
attendance or seniority
• Time delays in rewarding good performance

valence

Anticipated value of outcomes
Positive
• Prefer having the outcome (salary increases, bonuses)
• Outcomes that satisfy needs are more positively valenced.
Negative
• Prefer not having outcome (disciplinary action, termination)
Zero
• No interest in outcome either way (bored with outcome)

Why does pay have such a high valence?

The meaning of money
• Achievement
• Respect
• Freedom

Several theories attempt to summarize the key factors that
foster high motivation:

• Expectancy theory
• Goal setting theory
• Equity theory
• Psychological empowerment

Goal setting theory

views goals as the primary drivers of
intensity and persistence of effort.

Motivation

is fostered when employees are given specific and
difficult goals rather than no goals, easy goals, or “do your
best” goals.

fostering goal commitment

rewards, publicity, support, participation, resources

Equity theory

acknowledges that motivation doesn’t just depend
on your own beliefs and circumstances but also on what happens
to other people

psychological empowerment

An intrinsic form of motivation derived from the belief that one’s
work tasks are contributing to some larger purpose
Fostered by four beliefs:
• Meaningfulness
• Self-determination
• Competence
• Impact

motivation has a positive relationship with

(strong) job performance and (average) organizational commitment

Trust:

The willingness to be vulnerable to a trustee based on
positive expectations about the trustee’s actions and intentions
• Trust = willing to be vulnerable
• Risk = actually becoming vulnerable

Justice:

The perceived fairness of an authority’s decision making

Ethics:

The degree to which the behaviors of an authority are in
accordance with generally accepted moral norms

Trust is rooted in three different kinds of factors:

• Disposition-based
• Cognition-based
• Affect-based

Trust Propensity

• A general expectation that the words, promises, and statements of
individuals and groups can be relied upon

Trustworthiness

—the characteristics or attributes of a trustee
that inspire trust
• Ability
• Benevolence
• Integrity

affect-based trust

Trust rooted in emotion rather than reason
Based on an emotional bond with the trustee
Acts as a supplement to other types of trust

Justice-relevant acts

can serve as behavioral evidence of
trustworthiness.
• Distributive justice
• Procedural justice
• Interpersonal justice
• Informational justice

Distributive justice

reflects perceived fairness of decision-making
outcomes
• Employees gauge this by perceived fairness of outcomes such as
pay, promotions, and assignments
• Equity typically the norm (inputs  outcomes), but can also be
equality based also

Procedural justice r

reflects the perceived fairness of the decision-
making process
• This is fostered when authorities adhere to rules of a fair process

Interpersonal justice

is the perception of fairness related to
whether or not authorities treat people with fairness when
implementing rules
• Respect rule
• Propriety

Informational justice

is the perception of fairness related to
whether or not the communications provided to employees during
organizational decision making are fair
• Justification
• Truthfulness

Interpersonal Justice Rules

Respect and Propriety

Informational Justice Rules

Justification
Truthfulness

Some studies of business ethics focus on two threads:

• Prescriptive
• Descriptive

Other studies focus on the following:

• Unethical behavior
• “Especially ethical” behavior (includes whistleblowing)
• “Merely ethical” behavior

decision making

moral awareness, moral judgement, moral intent, ethical behavior

Moral awareness

occurs when an authority recognizes that a moral
issue exists in a situation or that an ethical code or principle is
relevant to the circumstance.

moral judgement

The process people use to determine whether a particular course of
action is ethical or unethical

Stages of cognitive moral development

• Preconventional stage focuses on consequences of actions for the individual
• Conventional stage references the expectations of one’s family and society
• Principled stage the most advanced, uses a set of defined, established moral
principles