Organizational Behavior - Chapter 2: The Changing Environment of Organizations

Vocabulary flashcards for key terms in Organizational Behavior, Chapter 2.

Diversity

The variety of observable and unobservable similarities and differences among people.

Surface-level diversity

Observable differences in people, including race, age, ethnicity, physical abilities, physical characteristics, and gender.

Deep-level diversity

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

Intersectionality

Simultaneous membership in more than one demographic category.

Separation diversity

Differences in position or opinion among group members reflecting disagreement or opposition—dissimilarity in an attitude or value, for example, especially with regard to group goals or processes.

Variety diversity

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

Disparity diversity

Differences in the concentration of valuable social assets or resources—dissimilarity in rank, pay, decision-making authority, or status.

Reverse mentoring

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

The “like me” bias

People prefer to associate with others they perceive to be like themselves.

Stereotypes

A belief about an individual or a group based on the idea that everyone in a particular group will behave the same way or have the same characteristics.

Prejudice

Outright bigotry or intolerance for other groups.

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one’s own language, native country, and cultural rules and norms are superior to all others.

Reciprocal mentoring

Matches senior employees with diverse junior employees to allow both individuals to learn more about a different group.

Globalization

The internationalization of business activities and the shift toward an integrated global economy.

Culture

The set of shared values, often taken for granted, that help people in a group, organization, or society understand which actions are considered acceptable and which are deemed unacceptable.

Cultural competence

The ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures.

Individualism

Exists to the extent that people in a culture define themselves primarily as individuals rather than as part of one or more groups or organizations.

Collectivism

Characterized by tight social frameworks in which people tend to base their identities on the group or organization to which they belong.

Power distance

The extent to which people accept as normal an unequal distribution of power.

Uncertainty avoidance

The extent to which people feel threatened by unknown situations and prefer to be in clear and unambiguous situations (also called the preference for stability).

Masculinity

The extent to which the dominant values in a society emphasize aggressiveness and acquisition of money/possessions as opposed to concern for people and relationships (also called assertiveness or materialism).

Long-term values

Include focusing on the future, working on projects that have a distant payoff, persistence, and thrift.

Short-term values

More oriented toward the past and the present and include respect for traditions and social obligations.

Technology

Refers to the methods used to create products, including both physical goods and intangible services.

Manufacturing

A form of business that combines and transforms resources into tangible outcomes that are then sold to others.

Service organization

One that transforms resources into an intangible output and creates time or place utility for its customers.

Cycle times

The time it takes a firm to accomplish some recurring activity or function, e.g., making deliveries, processing credit payments.

Ethics

A person’s beliefs regarding what is right or wrong in a given situation.

Corporate governance

Refers to the oversight of a public corporation by its board of directors.

Corporate social responsibility

Businesses living and working together for the common good and valuing human dignity.

Outsourcing

The practice of hiring other firms to do work previously performed by the organization itself; when this work is moved overseas, it is often called offshoring.

Offshoring

Outsourcing to workers in another country.

Contingency worker

A person who works for an organization on something other than a permanent or full-time basis.

Psychological contract

A person’s set of expectations regarding what he or she will contribute to an organization and what the organization, in return, will provide to the individual.