MENT Exam 1

What is Organizational Behavior (OB)?

The study of attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups within organizations.

What is the focus of Organizational Behavior?

How people act, think, and feel at work; the goal is to predict, explain, and improve workplace behavior.

Why do organizations matter?

They are collections of people working together towards a purpose that cannot be achieved alone.

What is the Resource-Based View (RBV)?

firm's unique and valuable resources and capabilities drive its sustained competitive advantage, rather than just industry dynamics

What is the Rule of 1/8?

½ organizations don’t believe there is a connection between people and profit

½ of those who see the connection try to make a single change, rahter than attempting ot make comprehensive changes

½ of the firms that make comprehensive changes persist long enough for those changes to make a difference

What does the Rule of ⅛ state about change in organizations?

Only 1 in 8 organizations truly succeed in making sustainable improvements.

Three levels of analysis in Organizational Behavior

Highest: organization 

Mid-level: teams/ work groups

Lowest: individuals

Different Ways ofKnowing

Experience, Intuition, Authority, and Science

Experience

believing something because it is consistent with your experience

has limitations and effects on perspective

Intuition

believing something because it seems obvious or self-evident

a hunch, can only take you so far its a guess rolling the dice

Authority:

believing something because a respected source has said it is so

don’t know about the biases, pretend to be authority, can be misleading

Science: 

believing something because scientific studies have replicated that result using a series of samples, settings, and methods

holds steady, best way to generate evidence 

Evidence-based management: 

entails managerial decisions and organizational practices informed by the best available scientific evidence 

Why are structured interviews better than unstructured interviews in predicting job performance?

Structured interviews use well-designed, job-related questions, making them stronger predictors of job performance than unstructured interviews.

What is the single best predictor of individual performance?

General mental ability.

Which personality traits are most valuable when hiring employees?

Conscientiousness and emotional stability—these typically predict performance better than agreeableness.

How do specific and challenging goals affect performance?

They improve performance compared to vague or easy goals.

When does money serve as a motivator?

Only under certain conditions, such as when work is not cognitively challenging.

Why do organizations with visionary top managers tend to outperform others?

Because leaders who set a clear vision drive better alignment and performance across the organization.

Example where social status on critical feedback 

• if supervisor status is high, people don’t see it as toxic behavior to give advice

• person is low status, no respect, why are you talking to me

• employee status: a high performer on the team when receiving feedback ask why are they on my ass

Abusive supervison

• supervisor ridicules me 

• supervisor tells me I’m incompetent

• supervisor tells me my thoughts or feelings are stupid

Ways to collect data 

• surveys and draw relationships (scale 1-5)

• experiments 

  • who will have high performance who will be more derailed?

• archival data

  • ex: ceo survey collecting shareholder letters and looking at the pictures

Findings of the military examples

When task is complicated gender integrated teams outperformed all male teams 

men brute force, having 5 guys on a the team can’t beat

females found a solution since they wouldn’t go to extremes violence and worked collaboratively.

How is research conducted?

Scientific research is a systematic, controlled, empirical, amoral, public, and critical investigation of natural phenomena

process: theory building→ hypothesis development→ data collection/ analysis→ verification→ goes back to theory building 

Data

collection and observations of behaviors and outcomes related to hypotheses

Verification: 

use of statistical methods to determine wether or not a hypothesis can be supported 

Theory

a collection of assertions that specify how, why, and when variables are related 

Four essential elements to theory building

what: boxes variables

How: arrows positive or negative

Why: underlying reasons for relationships theory 

Who, Where When: the “it depends on” factors 

How do we build theories?

through introspection, we think about it

through observation

What is the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance? 

The relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is that higher job satisfaction can lead to improved job performance, as satisfied employees are generally more motivated and engaged in their work. Can go both ways

The Scientific Method 

1. observe/ ask questions

   1. natural sense of wonder to a focus line of investigation

   2. meta analysis: summary of research for a specific topic

2. Research 

3. Formulate a hypothesis 

4. test hypothesis 

   1. fair way conditions constant

5. analyze and conclude

6. share results

what is a scale?

a collection of survey’s

Reliability:

the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and consistent results

reliable has a common theme around the same question 

unreliable each question asking something different 

think about the closeness of questions

Consistency:

Are these items measuring the same thing

Validity:

how well a test measures what is purports to measure

are the questions measuring what its suppose to measure

not valid may hang together but not measuring what you want to measure 

think bulls eye

Can a scale be reliable but not valid?

Yes

Once variables in the hypothesis are measured and are reliable and valid, the hypothesis test in correlation r. 

a perfect positive relationship is 1 

a perfect negative relationship is -1 

r=0 is no correlation 

How is strength of correlation created?

by judging the compactness of a scatterplot of the X independent variable and Y dependent variable values

Correlation is NOT Causation. Proving causality requires what 3 things: 

1. temporal precendence 

   1. time seperation

2. covariate (covaration)

   1. changes in DV must accompany changes in IV

3. elimination of alternative explanations

   1. rigorous in a way to rule out alternative explanations

Job performance

The value of the set of behaviors that contribute to organizational goal accomplishment.

Why distinguish between results of behavior vs. behavior itself when evaluating performance?

Because performance is within the control of the employee, and managers/coworkers can give clear advice for improvement.

What are the limitations of focusing only on behaviors instead of results?

Results still matter; trying hard doesn’t always produce outcomes. The behavior-results stance is not perfect.

Example of behaviors vs. outcomes: How does Rudy from Rudy demonstrate this distinction? football movie

Rudy doesn’t directly impact the team’s outcomes but contributes with effort, attitude, and scrimmage play — behaviors are highly rated even if results aren’t there.

What are the three big factors of job performance?

Task performance, citizenship behavior, and counterproductive behavior.

How can job performance be summarized using the three factors?

Job Performance = Task Performance + Citizenship Behavior − Counterproductive Behavior.

Routine task performance

well-known response to demand that occur in a normal, routine, or otherwise predictable way  

Adaptive task performance:

responses to task demand that are nove, unusual, or at the very least unpredictable 

Creative task performance:

the degree to which individuals develop ideas or physical outcomes that are both novel and useful 

Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Voluntary activities that may or may not be rewarded but that contribute to the organization by improving te quality of the setting where work occurs

Voice

• Speaking up and offering constructive suggestions for change 

• Ex: servers suggesting better menu items 

• Ex: identifying problems to improve service

Civic Virtue

• Attending meetings that are not required by the firm 

• Participating in the company’s operations at a deeper than mnormal level by attending voluntary meetings and functions, reading and keeping up with organizational annoucmenents and keeping up with business news that affects the company 

• Ex: cleaning up a spill that you didn’t create 

• Ex: participating team building weekend retreats 

• Ex: participating in fundraising events

Boosterism

• Representing the organization in a positive way when out in public, away fom the office, and away from work 

• Example: people asking about internships and saying it was awesome

• Ex: saying good things about the restaurant 

Interpersonal level of Organizational Citizenship behavior

Helping, Courtesy, Sportsmanship

Helping

• Assisting other coworkers who have heavy workloads, aiding them wiht personal matters, and showing new employees the ropes when they first arrive 

• Could be positive but could go different ways

Courtesy

Keeping coworkers informed about matters that are relevant to them; not keeping relevant facts and events secret

Sportsmanship

• Keeping a good attitude with coworkers even when they’ve done something annoying or when the unit is going through tough times 

• Ex: grad school everyone super stressed, over worked

• Everyones stressed but always that one person who would wine 

• Joke around switch up the atmosphere and keep the team running 

• OCB not part of your job but contributing to organization

Counterproductive work behavior

Employee behavior that intentionally hinders organizational goal accomplishment 

Types of Counter productive behavior

• Production deviance 

  • Wasting resources 

  • Substance abuse 

• Property deviance 

  • Sabotage 

  • Theft 

• Political Deviance 

  • Gossiping 

  • Incivility 

• Personal Aggression 

  • Harassment 

  • Abuse 

CHECK Photos in notes

Organizational Commitment

A desire for the art of an employee to remain a member of an organization

Three forms of Organizational Commitment

1. Affective commitment

2. Continuous Commitment 

3. Normative commitment

Affective commitment (want to)

a desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of an organization because of an emotional attachment to or involvement in that organization

• stay because you want to

• feel like that’s the right fit

• very influential

The Erosion Model

employees with fewer bonds are more likely to leave 

Continuous Commitment (need to afraid to leave)

a desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of an organization because of an awareness of the costs associated with leaving

• you stay because you need to

• what would you feel if you left anyway

• embeddedness fear of loss

Normative Commitment (ought to)

a desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of an organization because of a feeling of obligation

Management By Objectives (MBO)

A performance evaluation system that evaluates people on whether or not they have met pre-established goals.

What is the first step in MBO?

Setting goals — determining what we are trying to accomplish through mutual agreement between employee and supervisor.

What is the purpose of developing an action plan in MBO?

An action plan defines the course of actions needed to achieve goals.

How is progress monitored in MBO?

Progress is reviewed periodically to see if goals are on target or if corrective actions are needed.

What is BARS (Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales)?

A performance evaluation method that looks directly at job behaviors using critical incidents to describe good and poor performance.

What are the limitations of BARS?

Some behaviors may not reflect performance; it’s time-consuming, difficult, expensive, and high-maintenance — best for small teams.

What is 360-degree feedback?

A performance evaluation system that collects performance information from anyone with firsthand experience with the employee — including subordinates, peers, and customers.

How does 360-degree feedback handle extreme opinions?

Individual extreme ratings (positive or negative) are diluted by other raters, resulting in a median-like score.

What is a Forced Ranking System?

A system where employees are ranked against each other, often limiting collaboration since only a certain number of people can “win” or be rated highly.

What is the “Her loss is my gain” mentality in forced ranking?

Employees compete against each other for top rankings, sometimes at the expense of teamwork.

What was Microsoft’s Stack Ranking?

Engineers and developers were ranked against each other annually, leading to competition, sabotage, and fear of being fired.

Where might forced ranking be effective outside tech?

In auto dealerships, where individual sales performance is easily measurable.

What are the four responses to workplace dissatisfaction in the EVLN model?

Exit, Voice, Loyalty, Neglect

Exit

Ending or restricting organizational membership; leaving the job or organization.

Voice in EVLN

 A constructive response where employees attempt to improve the situation, often by speaking up to supervisors.

Loyalty

A passive response where employees remain supportive and hope for improvement without taking direct action.

Neglect

Reducing interest and effort in the job; becoming disengaged.

In the EVLN model, which types of employees correspond to each response?

Stars: voice

• Citizens: loyalty

• Lone wolves: exit

• Apathetic: neglect

Why do companies care about personalities?

Want to know who you are and see if you fit in their culture 

Personalities

the structures and propensities inside people that explain their characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior 

Type A

organized, need things in an exact way 

Type B

disorganized, relaxed

Are Type A and Type B accurate?

NO

What does the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) do?

Categories people into 16 different typologies

Why is MBTI considered misguiding?

• Clinical psychologists don’t support it anymore

• Fails to predict success in jobs

What did Carl Jung (basis for MBTI) say about personality types?

• Every individual is an exception to the rule

How reliable is the MBTI test?

• 50% of people get different results if they retake it within 5 weeks

What psychological effect helps explain MBTI’s appeal?

• Forer Effect: persuades people with generalized, vague terminology

What is the importance of talent in the Future of Work?

Talent is a scarce resource, and companies that offer flexibility, purpose, and growth attract the best employees.

What is the Big Five Personality model and what are its five categories?

• Developed using adjectives to describe personality, then factor analysis to group them

• Five categories (OCEAN):

  • Openness to experience

  • Conscientiousness

  • Extraversion

  • Agreeableness

  • Neuroticism

What are traits of Openness to Experience?

Curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, sophisticated

How does Openness to Experience relate to job performance?

• Not strongly related across most jobs

• Becomes important in fluid, dynamic, or creative jobs

What are traits of Conscientiousness?

• Dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, persevering

How does Conscientiousness relate to work?

• Biggest influence on job performance & organizational commitment

• Prioritize accomplishment striving

What are traits of Extraversion?

• Talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, dominant

How does Extraversion relate to work & life?

• Easy to judge in zero-acquaintance situations

• Leads to status striving

• Linked to positive affectivity

• More likely to have high job & life satisfaction