Organizational Behaviour Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms and concepts from the introductory chapters of Organizational Behaviour.

Organizational behaviour (OB)

The study of how people think, feel, and behave individually or in groups within organizations.

Levels of analysis in OB

The three key levels at which the organization is studied: the individual, the group, and the organization.

Business ethics

Applying ethical principles to situations that arise either with customers or with employees.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

A 2002 act consisting of 11 requirements aimed at greater accountability which companies must follow in terms of financial reporting and compliance.

Employee engagement

A sense of purpose, belonging, and commitment to an organization, involving focused, intense, persistent, and purposive effort toward work-related goals.

Moore’s Law

A 1975 term stating that computing power doubles every 2 years.

Shamrock organization

An organization comprised of one-third regular employees, one-third temporary employees, and one-third consultants and contractors.

Diversity

The practice of including people from a range of different personal, physical, and social characteristics like gender, ethnicity, age, and education.

Equity

The aim to ensure fair treatment, access, equality of opportunity, and advancement for everyone while removing barriers that prevented some groups from fully participating.

Inclusion

Building a culture where everyone feels welcome by actively inviting every person or group to contribute and participate.

Visible minority

Persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.

Similarity-attraction phenomenon

The tendency for people to be attracted to people similar to themselves, which can impact communication and emotional conflict.

Faultline

An attribute along which a group is split into subgroups, such as gender combined with age.

Stereotypes

Generalizations about a particular group of people used as mental shortcuts to process information.

Neurodiversity

The idea that neurological differences like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia are natural human variations that have benefits.

Expatriate

An individual temporarily assigned to a position in a foreign country.

Individualistic cultures

Cultures in which people define themselves as individuals and form loose ties with their groups.

Collectivistic cultures

Cultures where people have stronger bonds to their groups and group membership forms a person’s self-identity.

Power distance

The degree to which the society views an unequal distribution of power as acceptable.

Uncertainty avoidance

The degree to which people feel threatened by ambiguous, risky, or unstructured situations.

Masculine cultures

Cultures that value achievement, competitiveness, and acquisition of money and other material objects.

Feminine cultures

Cultures that value maintaining good relationships, caring for the weak, and quality of life.

Person–organization fit

The degree to which a person’s values, personality, goals, and other characteristics match those of the organization.

Person–job fit

The degree to which a person’s skill, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands.

Values

Stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them.

Value congruence

The extent to which personal values are similar to the surroundings, such as the individual's employer.

Personality

The relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioural patterns of a person that differentiates them from others.

Openness

One of the Big Five traits; the degree to which a person is curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas.

Conscientiousness

One of the Big Five traits; the degree to which a person is organized, systematic, punctual, achievement oriented, and dependable.

Extraversion

One of the Big Five traits; the degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, sociable, and enjoys social situations.

Agreeableness

One of the Big Five traits; the degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm.

Neuroticism

One of the Big Five traits; the degree to which a person is anxious, irritable, aggressive, temperamental, and moody.

Self-monitoring

The extent to which a person is capable of monitoring his or her actions and appearance in social situations.

Proactive personality

A person’s inclination to fix what is perceived as wrong, change the status quo, and use initiative to solve problems.

Self-esteem

The degree to which a person has overall positive feelings about his or herself.

Self-efficacy

A belief that one can perform a specific task successfully.

Locus of control

The degree to which people feel they have control over the outcome of events in their lives versus believing they are at the mercy of outside forces.

Perception

The process with which individuals detect and interpret environmental stimuli.

Self-enhancement bias

The tendency for individuals to take all the credit for their successes while giving little or no credit to external factors.

Self-effacement bias

The tendency for people to underestimate their performance and see events in a way that puts them in a negative light.

False consensus error

The tendency to overestimate how similar we are to other people.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A cycle occurring when people automatically behave as if an established stereotype is accurate, leading to reactive behaviour that confirms the stereotype.

Selective perception

The process of paying selective attention to parts of the environment while ignoring other parts.

Fundamental attribution error

A cognitive bias where we attribute a person’s behaviour to their character without taking into account situational limitations.

Attitude

Our opinions, beliefs, and feelings about aspects of our environment and our response to events and people.

Job satisfaction

The feelings people have toward their job.

Organizational commitment

The emotional attachment people have toward the company they work for.

Affective commitment

A type of commitment based on affection for the organization where an employee wants to be an integral part of the company.

Continuance commitment

A type of commitment where an employee remains because they feel leaving would be costly or they need to stay.

Normative commitment

A type of commitment based on a sense of obligation or duty to stay with the organization.

EVLN model

Exit, Voice, Loyalty, Neglect; identifying four different ways employees respond to dissatisfaction.

Psychological contract

An unwritten understanding about what the employee will bring to the work environment and what the company will provide in exchange.

Organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB)

Voluntary behaviours employees perform to help others and benefit the organization that are outside the scope of job duties.

Absenteeism

Unscheduled absences from work.

Presenteeism

When employees are at work physically but are not productive or are mentally unengaged.

Intrinsic motivation

Motivation driven by an internal desire to do something for its own sake, like personal enjoyment.

Extrinsic motivation

Motivation driven by an external factor like earning a reward or avoiding a negative outcome.

Instrumentality

In expectancy theory, the degree to which a person believes that performance is related to subsequent outcomes like rewards.

Valence

In expectancy theory, the anticipated satisfaction resulting from an outcome or the value a person places on an expected reward.

Job rotation

Moving employees from job to job at regular intervals to relieve boredom.

Job enlargement

Expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety.

Job enrichment

A job redesign technique that allows workers more control over how they perform their own tasks.

Empowerment

The removal of conditions that make a person powerless, giving employees the ability to make decisions and perform jobs effectively.

SMART goal

A goal that is specific, measurable, aggressive, realistic, and time-bound.

Gainsharing

A company-wide program in which employees are rewarded for performance gains compared to past performance, such as reduced labor costs.

Stock option

Gives an employee the right to purchase company stocks at a predetermined price at a specific time in the future.

Role ambiguity

Vagueness in relation to what an employee’s responsibilities are.

Role conflict

Facing contradictory demands at work, where satisfying one demand makes it difficult to satisfy another.

Information overload

Occurs when the information processing demands on an individual's time exceed the supply or capacity of time available.

Work–family conflict

Occurs when the cumulative demands of work and family roles are incompatible in some respect.

Flow

A state of consciousness in which a person is totally absorbed in an activity, feeling strong, alert, and in effortless control.

Emotional labour

The regulation of feelings and expressions for organizational purposes.

Emotional intelligence (EQ)

The ability to learn about yourself and apply that wisdom to the world around you, focusing on emotional reasoning and knowledge.

Active listening

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand points, and asking questions as needed.

Information richness

The extent to which a communication channel conveys non-verbal information beyond just words.

Social loafing

The tendency of individuals to put in less effort when working in a group context compared to working alone.

Self-managed teams

Empowered teams that manage themselves and do not report directly to a supervisor, often selecting their own leader and tasks.

BATNA

An acronym standing for the 'best alternative to a negotiated agreement,' a standard against which any proposed agreement should be measured.

Satisficing

Accepting the first alternative that meets minimum criteria rather than continuing to search for the best possible option.

Groupthink

A tendency to avoid a critical evaluation of ideas that a group favors.

Transformational leaders

Leaders who lead by aligning employee goals with the leader's goals and focusing on the company's well-being.

Servant leadership

A leadership approach that defines the leader's role as serving the needs of others, specifically employees, customers, and the community.

Authentic leadership

A leadership style where leaders are self-aware, introspective, and stay true to their own values and life experiences.

Legitimate power

Power that comes from one’s organizational role or position.

Referent power

Power stemming from personal characteristics like being liked or respected, often referred to as charisma.

Impression management

Actively shaping the way you are perceived by others through choices in clothing, behavior, and online presence.

Organizational culture

A system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that show employees what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.

Artifacts

Visible, tangible aspects of organizational culture, such as physical environment, policies, and reward systems.

Counterculture

Shared values and beliefs that are in direct opposition to the values of the broader organizational culture.

Onboarding

The process through which new employees learn the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviours required to function within an organization.

Rituals

Repetitive activities within an organization that have symbolic meaning and create identification with the organization.