Leadership and Organizational Behavior Vocabulary

Flashcards containing key vocabulary terms and definitions from leadership and organizational behavior lecture notes.

Management

Focuses on the present, maintains the status quo and stability, implements policies and procedures, maintains existing structures, remains aloof to maintain objectivity, and uses position power.

Leadership

Focuses on the future, creates change, initiates goals and strategies, creates a culture based on shared values, establishes an emotional link with followers, and uses personal power.

Culture

Commonly held values within a group; including norms, customs, values, and assumptions that guide behavior; shared, transferred, and affects thinking/behavior; stable and dynamic.

National Culture

Values and beliefs shared by people within a nation.

Organizational Culture

Values, norms, and beliefs shared by members of an organization.

Low-Context Culture

Focuses on explicit, specific nonverbal cues.

High-Context Culture

Relies heavily on context, including nonverbal cues.

Individualism

Focus on self, individual achievement.

Power Distance

Acceptance of unequal power distribution.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Tolerance or intolerance for ambiguity.

Masculinity

Value on assertiveness, independence, ambition.

Time Orientation

Focus on past, present, or future.

Incubator Culture

Person/Egalitarian.

Guided Missile Culture

Egalitarian/Task.

Family Culture

Person/Hierarchical.

Eiffel Tower Culture

Hierarchical/Task.

Charismatic and Value-Based Leadership

Inspires and motivates through values, performance expectations.

Team-Oriented Leadership

Focuses on team building, shared goals.

Participative Leadership

Involves followers in decisions.

Humane-Oriented Leadership

Shows compassion, generosity.

Autonomous Leadership

Emphasizes independence, individualism.

Self-Protective Leadership

Focuses on safety, security, self-enhancement.

Cognition (Cultural Mindset)

Self-awareness, curiosity, using multiple cultural lenses.

Behavior (Cultural Mindset)

Self-presentation, verbal/nonverbal cues, addressing cultural issues.

Skills (Cultural Mindset)

Interpersonal skills, communication, language competence.

Trait Era

Late 1800s–mid-1940s. Focused on identifying traits of effective leaders.

Behavior Era

Mid-1940s–early 1970s. Focused on identifying behaviors of effective leaders.

Contingency Era

Early 1960s–present. Leadership effectiveness depends on the situation.

Task-Motivated (Low LPC)

Focus on task, competence, enjoys details.

Relationship-Motivated (High LPC)

Focus on people, loyalty, dislikes details.

Path-Goal Theory

Leader clears paths for subordinates to achieve goals.

Leader-Member Exchange

Relationship development: testing, trust, emotional bond.

Value-Based Leadership

Servant leadership: focus on followers, empathy, accountability, humility, service motivation.

Authentic Leadership

Self-awareness, unbiased processing, true-to-self behaviors, relational authenticity.

Positive Leadership

Strength-based, integrated, optimistic, resilient, persevering.

Transactional Leadership

Resource/reward exchange, focus on daily activities.

Transformational Leadership

Emotional bond, focus on change.

Charismatic Leadership

Confidence, energy, communication, image-building.

Heterogeneous Team

More creativity, better complex decisions.

Homogeneous Team

Less conflict, more cohesion, faster agreement.

Group

Common goal, accountable to manager, frequent conflict, assigned leadership, goal accomplishment.

Team

Committed to shared mission, mutual accountability, collaborative culture, shared leadership, synergy (2 + 2 = 5).

Practice Bundles

Sets of HR practices designed to work together for maximum effect.

Funnel Model

Describes narrowing options or filtering stages (common in recruitment or marketing).

Psychological Contract

The unspoken expectations between employer and employee.

Best Fit

HR practices aligned to the specific context or strategy of the company.

Best Practice

Universal HR practices believed to work well everywhere.

Kolb’s Model for Learning

Experiential learning cycle: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation.

Porters 5 Forces Model

Framework for analyzing industry competitiveness (threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers/customers, threat of substitutes, rivalry).

New Public Management

Applying private-sector management practices to the public sector for efficiency and performance improvement.

Knowledge-Based View of the Firm

Sees knowledge as the most strategic resource of a firm.

Knowledge Systems

Organizational processes and tools to manage and leverage knowledge.

Embodied Knowledge

Tacit knowledge rooted in physical skills or practices.

Embrained Knowledge

Knowledge dependent on conceptual or cognitive abilities.

Creativity / Innovation

Processes of generating novel ideas and turning them into useful products or solutions.

Global War for Talent

Intense international competition for skilled people.

The Dark Triad

A set of three personality traits — narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy — linked to manipulative or destructive workplace behavior.