Organizational Behaviour

Hawthorne Studies

Viewed and managed how people worked on certain conditions and aimed to improve worker conditions, and realized that workers became more productive when they realized they were being observed, regardless of the actual working conditions.

Formal Organization

Official part of business.

Informal Organization

Less visible part of business.

Organizational Context (Open Systems View of Business)

Task - Structure - People - Technology.

Power Distance

Distance between bosses and employees.

Individualism / Collectivism

Working for whole or for individual.

Masculinity vs Femininity

Task oriented versus relationship prioritizing.

Indulgence vs Restraint

Fun vs work.

Long vs Short Term

Refers to the time orientation of goals.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Willingness to change.

Consequential Theories of Ethics

Emphasizes the consequences of an action determine whether it is right or wrong.

Rule-Based Theories

Emphasizes the character of the act itself, not its effects.

Character Theories of Ethics

Emphasizes the character of the individual and the intent of the actor, instead of the character of the act itself or its consequences.

Guanxi

A person's network of social connections, that are used for mutual benefit and involve personal trust.

Abilities

Describe natural capacities that allow for an individual to perform a particular job or task successfully.

Skills

Are talents that have been acquired through deliberate and sustained effort to carry out activities or job functions including ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and people (interpersonal skills).

G Factor

Measure of an individual's general mental ability (IQ).

The Big 5 Personality

Includes Extraversion-Introversion, Agreeableness-Disagreeableness, Conscientiousness-Disorganized, Neuroticism-Emotional Stability, Openness to Experience-Cautious.

Positive Affect

An individual's tendency to accentuate the positive aspects of themselves, other people, and the world in general.

Negative Affect

Opposite of Positive Affect.

Emotions

Are instinctive mental states resulting from one's circumstances or mood.

Emotional Labour

The effort needed to manage your emotions to perform your job effectively.

Emotional Dissonance

Refers to the contradiction between emotions that are experienced with the emotions that are expressed.

Emotional Intelligence

Refers to the ability to recognize and label one's own feelings as well as others and use that information to guide behaviour.

Emotional Display Rules

Different groups/cultures of people have different expectations about what emotions are appropriate to express in specific situations.

Emotional Contagion

Process which one person's emotions and related behaviours provoke similar emotions in others.

ABC Model of Attitudes

Includes Affect, Behavioural Intentions, and Cognition.

Cognitive Dissonance

The tension produced by a conflict between attitudes and behaviour.

Types of Organizational Commitment

Includes Affective, Continuance, and Normative commitment.

Scientific Management

How to motivate individual productivity through rewarding increased performance with increased compensation.

Hawthorne Studies (repeated)

Found that peer influence and social expectations have at least as much influence over productivity as compensation and incentives.

Maslow's Needs Theory

Includes Physiological Needs, Security Needs, Love/Social Needs.

Love/Social Needs

Needs related to interpersonal relationships and connections.

Esteem needs

The need to feel important and recognized.

Self-Actualization

The process of discovering one's true potential.

Theory X

The belief that employees are inherently lazy, will avoid responsibility, and dislike work, requiring supervision and a system of rewards and punishments.

Theory Y

The belief that employees are self-directed and internally motivated by higher-order needs.

ERG Needs Theory

A theory that categorizes needs into Existence, Relatedness, and Growth.

Achievement (McClelland's Needs Theory)

The motivation derived from competition, challenging goals, persistence, and overcoming difficulties.

Power (McClelland's Needs Theory)

The desire to influence others, change people or events, and make a difference.

Affiliation (McClelland's Needs Theory)

The urge to establish and maintain warm, close relationships with others and to be part of groups.

Equity Theory

A theory stating that motivation is a function of perceived fairness in social exchanges, where inequity is a significant motivator.

Expectancy Theory

The theory that people expect certain outcomes from behavior and performance and believe there is a relationship between effort and outcomes.

Goal Setting Theory

The principle that people with specific, challenging goals will outperform those with general goals or none at all.

Stressor

A person or event that triggers the stress response.

Stress

The unconscious preparation to fight or flee that a person experiences when faced with any demand.

Distress

The adverse psychological, physical, behavioral, and organizational consequences that may arise from stressful events.

Cognitive Appraisal Approach

The approach that suggests perception and cognitive appraisal determine what is stressful, whether a threat or a challenge.

Person-Environment Fit approach

The approach that examines confusion in role expectations or when a person's skills do not meet the demands of their social role.

Homeostatic approach

The approach that states external demands upset the body's equilibrium or steady-state balance.

Psychoanalytic Approach

The approach that focuses on the discrepancy between the ego ideal and real self-image.

Programmed Decisions

Routine decisions that are made regularly.

Nonprogrammed Decisions

Unique problems that require new solutions.

Rational Model

A decision-making model characterized by emotionless and unbiased decisions, consistent preferences, perfect information, and known probabilities of success.

Bounded Rationality Model

A more realistic decision-making model that recognizes conceptual limitations and chooses from limited alternatives.

Vroom-Yetton-Jago Normative Model

A decision-making model that includes deciding, consulting individually, consulting a group, facilitating, and delegating.

Z-Model

A decision-making model based on four MBTI preferences: examining facts (Sensing), generating alternatives (Intuition), analyzing alternatives (Thinking), and weighing impact (Feeling).

Garbage Can Model

A model of decision-making characterized by organizational anarchy, uncertain preferences, and unclear organizational processes.

Escalation of Commitment

continuous providence of resources even when a course of action is not ideal and working out

Halo Effect

conclude that a person who does x well will do Y and Z well too (and vice versa)

Recency Effect

value the newest and most current information

Confirmation Bias

look for information that confirms our own views

Central Tendency

tend towards leniency as we avoid extremes in assessments

Groupthink

Deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgements resulting from in-group pressures

Illusions of invulnerability

members are above criticism

Illusions of group morality

members feel moral in their actions

Illusions of unanimity

members believe there is unanimity

Rationalization

members concoct explanations for their decisions

Stereotyping the enemy

competitors are stereotyped as stupid

Self-censorship

members do not express their doubts or concerns

Peer pressure

members who express doubts are pressured

Mindguards

members who protect the group from negative feedback

Group Polarization

Members become more extreme after a group discussion, either the individuals favour the decision much more strongly, or they disagree with the decision much more strongly

Devils Advocacy

a technique used in group decision making

Brainstorming

a technique used in group decision making

Dialectical Inquiry

Debate between two opposing sets of recommendations

Nominal Group Technique

Individuals silently list their ideas, ideas are written on a chart one at a time until all are listed, discussion is permitted but only to clarify the ideas, a written vote is taken

Participative Decision Making

when those who are affected by a decision attempt to influence those that are making the decision

Interpersonal Communication

communication between two or more people in an organization

Communicator

person originating the message

Encode

to convert information into a form that may be transmitted

Message

the thoughts/feelings/ideas that the communicator is attempting to elicit in the receiver

Transmits

the way that an encoded message is conveyed to another

Receiver

the person receiving a message

Decode

to interpret a message that has been received

Perceptual Screen

subconscious filters which we interpret our world through

Language

the words, their pronunciation, and methods of combining them used

Data

uninterpreted and unanalyzed facts

Information

data that have been interpreted, analyzed and have meaning

Feedback Loop

the pathway that completes a two-way communication

Richness

the ability of a medium or channel to elicit or evoke meaning in the receiver

Defensive Communication

communication that can be aggressive, attacking or angry

Nondefensive Communication

more focused on the message and restoring the relationship

Subordinate Defensiveness

Character by passive, submissive, withdrawing behaviour

Dominant Defensiveness

characterized by active, aggressive behaviour

Passive-Aggressive Behaviour

appears passive but masks underlying aggression and hostility

Power Play

finish this report or lose your promotion

Insulting

a capable manager would be done already

Labelling

Morgan must be insane, never trust his work

Raising Doubts

Is morgan really trustworthy?