Organizational Behavior Exam 1

Organizational Behavior

Field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations

Human resource management

Field of study that focuses on the applications of organizational behavior theories and principles in organizations

Strategic management

Field of study devoted to exploring the product choices and industry characteristics that affect an organization’s profitability.

Job performance

What is the primary behavior?

Organizational Commitment

What is the primary attitude?

Integrative Model of Organizational Behavior

Organizational mechanisms, Group mechanisms, Individual characteristics, Individual mechanisms, Individual outcomes

Resource-Based View of Organizations

A model that argues that rare and inimitable resources help firms maintain competitive advantage

Inimitable

incapable of being imitated or copied

History

a collective pool of experience, wisdom, and knowledge created by people that benefits the organizaiton

Numerous small decisions

people making small decisions every day that are invisible to competitors

Socially complex resources

resources created by people, such as culture, teamwork, trust, and reputation. The source of competitive advantage is known, but the method of replicating the advantage is unclear

Rule of One-Eighth

½ of managers in organizations will not believe the connection between management and profits,

½ of managers who believe the connection will make a single change to solve problems,

½ of managers will persist with comprehensive changes (1/8 or 12.5%)

Method of experience

Theory that people hold firmly to some belief because it is consistent with their own experience and observations

Method of intuition

Theory that people hold firmly to some belief because it “just stands to reason” - it seems obvious or self-evident

Method of authority

Theory that people hold firmly to some belief because some respected official, agency, or source has said it is so

Method of science

Theory that people accept some belief because scientific studies have tended to replicate that result using a series of samples, settings, and methods

Theory

A collection of verbal and symbolic assertions that specify how and why variables are related, as well as the conditions in which they should (and should not) be related

Hypotheses

Written predictions that specify relationships between variables

Correlation {r}

Describes the statistical relationship between two variables

r can range from 0 (no statistical relationship) to [1] (perfect statistical relationship)

Basis of much of organizational behavior research

Correlation does not imply causation

it looks for patterns

Meta-analysis

A method that combines the results of multiple scientific studies by essentially calculating a weighted average correlation across studies (with larger studies receiving more weight than smaller studies)

Evidence-based management

A perspective that argues that scientific findings should form the foundation for management education

Verification

formally test hypothesis

The Scientific Method

What method is used to facilitate evidence-based management?

Job Performance

Employee behaviors that contribute either positively or negatively to the accomplishment of organizational goals

Task Performance

Employee behaviors that are directly involved in the transformation of organizational resources into the goods or services that the organization produces

Routine task performance

Well-known or habitual responses by employees to predictable task demands

Adaptive task performance

Thoughtful responses by an employee to unique or unusual task demands

Creative task performance

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

Job Analysis

a process by which an organization determines requirements of specific jobs

Occupational Information Network (O*NET)

provides a way to search for job summaries

big data base of job titles

Citizenship Behavior

voluntary employee behaviors that contribute to organizational goals by improving the context in which work takes place

Organizational citizenship behavior

Going beyond normal expectations to improve operations of the organization, as well as defending the organization and being loyal to it

Interpersonal citizenship behavior

Going beyond normal job expectations to assist, support, and develop coworkers and colleagues

Voice

When an employee speaks up to offer constructive suggestions for change, often in reaction to a negative work event

Civic virtue

Participation in company operations at a deeper-than-normal level through voluntary meetings, readings, and keeping up with news that affects the company.

Boosterism

Positively representing the organization when in public

Helping

Assisting coworkers who have heavy work loads, aiding them with personal matters, and showing new employees the ropes when they first arrive on the job

Courtesy

Sharing important information with coworkers

Sportsmanship

Maintaining a positive attitude with coworkers through good and bad times

Counterproductive Behavior

Employee behaviors that intentionally hinder organizational goal accomplishment

Property deviance

behaviors that harm the organization’s assets and possessions (e.g., sabotage)

Theft

stealing company products or equipment from the organization

Production deviance

intentionally reducing organizational efficiency of work output (e.g. wasting resources, substance abuse)

Political deviance

behaviors that intentionally disadvantage other individuals (e.g. gossiping, incivility)

Personal aggression

hostile verbal and physical actions directed toward other employees (e.g., harassment, abuse)

Knowledge work

Jobs that primarily involve cognitive activity versus physical activity

Becoming more prevalent than jobs involving physical activity

Service work

Providing a service that involves direct verbal or physical interactions with customers

About 55% of the economic activity in the United States

Management by objectives (MBO)

A management philosophy that bases employee evaluations on whether specific performance goals have been met

Behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS)

Use of examples of critical incidents to evaluate an employee’s job performance behaviors directly

Ex. how did you respond to fussy customer

360-degree feedback

A performance evaluation system that uses ratings provided by supervisors, coworkers, subordinates, customers, and the employees themselves

Forced ranking

A performance management system in which managers rank subordinates relative to one another

Organizational commitment

An employee’s desire to remain a member of an organization

Withdrawal behavior

Employee actions that are intended to avoid work situations

Focus of Commitment

The people, places, and things that can inspire a desire to remain a member of an organization

Affective commitment

An employee’s desire to remain a member of an organization due to a feeling of emotional attachment

Traditional indicator of “loyalty”

Continuance commitment

An employee’s desire to remain a member of an organization due to an awareness of the costs of leaving

Profit associated with staying and cost associated with leaving

Normative commitment

An employee’s desire to remain a member of an organization due to a feeling of obligation

Erosion model

A model that suggests that employees with fewer bonds with coworkers are more likely to quit the organization than employees with more bonds with coworkers

Social influence model

A model that suggests that employees with direct linkages to coworkers who leave the organization will themselves become more likely to leave

Embeddedness

An employee’s connection to and sense of fit in the organization and community

Psychological withdrawal (Neglect)

Mentally escaping the work environment

Examples: daydreaming, socializing, looking busy, cyberloafing

Physical withdrawal (Exit)

A physical escape from the work environment

Examples: tardiness, long breaks, missing meetings, absenteeism, quitting, exit

Stars

high commitment and high performance; role models

Citizens

high commitment and low task performance; high citizenship behaviors

Lone wolves

low commitment and high task performance; motivated to achieve work goals for themselves instead of their organizations

Apathetics

low commitment and low task performance; minimum effort to keep jobs

Diversity of the workplace

Has increased over time in terms of demographic composition, foreign-born employees, and age

The changing employee-employer relationship

Loyalty has decreased over time for employees and organizations (people change jobs more)

Psychological contracts

employee beliefs about what employees owe the organization and what the organization owes them

Transactional contracts

psychological contracts that focus on a narrow set of specific monetary obligations

Relational contracts

psychological contracts that focus on a broad set of open-ended and subjective obligations

Perceived organizational support

The degree to which employees believe that the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being

Practices to increase commitment

Increasing the bonds that link employees together (affective commitment)

Create a salary and benefits package that creates a financial need to stay (continuance commitment)

Provide various training and development opportunities for employees (normative commitment)

Job Satisfaction

A pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences

Represents how a person feels and thinks about his or her job

Value-Percept Theory

A theory that argues that job satisfaction depends on whether the employee perceives that his or her job supplies those things that he or she values

Values

Things that people consciously or unconsciously want to seek or attain

Pay satisfaction

Employees’ feelings about the compensation for their jobs

Promotion satisfaction

Employees’ feelings about how the company handles promotions

Supervision satisfaction

Employees’ feelings about their boss, including his or her competency, communication, and personality

Coworker satisfaction

Employees’ feelings about their coworkers, including their abilities and personalities

Satisfaction with the work itself

Employees’ feelings about their actual work tasks

Meaningfulness of work

A psychological state reflecting one’s feelings about the work tasks, goals, and purposes, and the degree to which they contribute to society and fulfill one’s ideals and passions

Responsibility for outcomes

A psychological state indicating the degree to which employees feel they are key drivers of the quality of work output

Knowledge of results

A psychological state indicating the extent to which employees are aware of how well or how poorly they are doing

Work Itself

What has the strongest correlation to job satisfaction?

Job Characteristics Theory

A theory that argues that five core characteristics combine to result in high levels of satisfaction with the work itself

Variety, Identity, Significance, Autonomy, Feedback

What are the five core characteristics of the job characteristics theory?

Variety

The degree to which a job requires different activities and skills

Identity

The degree to which a job offers completion of a whole, identifiable piece of work

Significance

The degree to which a job really matters and impacts society as a whole

Autonomy

The degree to which a job allows individual freedom and discretion regarding how the work is to be done

Feedback

The degree to which the job itself provides information about how well the job holder is doing

Knowledge and skill

The degree to which employees have the aptitude and competence needed to succeed on their job

Job enrichment

When job duties and responsibilities are expanded to provide increased levels of core job characteristics

Job crafting

Proactively shaping and molding the characteristics contained within one’s job

Affective Events Theory

A theory that describes how workplace events can generate emotional reactions that impact work behaviors

Events trigger emotions

Emotions trigger behaviors

Moods

States of feeling that are mild in intensity, last for an extended period of time, and are not directed at anything

Emotions

Intense feelings, often lasting for a short duration, that are clearly directed at someone or some circumstance

Emotional labor

When employees manage their emotions to complete their job duties successfully

Emotional contagion

The idea that emotions can be transferred from one person to another