MANA

Organizational Behavior (OB)

The study of individual behavior and group dynamics in organizations;

understanding how people think, feel, and act at work.

Primary goal of Organizational Behavior

Apply knowledge about people and groups to improve organizational effectiveness and performance.

Scenario clue: asks the main/primary goal of OB → organizational effectiveness.

3 levels of OB analysis

Individual → Group → Organization.

Think: one person → team → whole company.

Hawthorne Studies (1927–1932)

Showed that productivity increased because workers were receiving attention from observers; highlighted the importance of informal organizational factors.

Memory: Attention → Productivity.

Formal organization

The official, legitimate, visible side of an organization: goals, policies, procedures, job descriptions, financial resources, authority structures, communication channels, products/services.

Informal organization

The unofficial, unstructured, less-visible side: beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, values, feelings, group norms, and informal leaders.

Formal vs. Informal organization

Formal = official/structured/visible.

Informal = unofficial/social/less visible.

Challenge of working efficiently with different people

Managers must understand differences between people and cultures;

this starts with understanding themselves through self-awareness.

Self-awareness

Understanding yourself and how your personal characteristics affect your behavior and interactions with others.

Two levels of self-awareness

1) Know your preferences, values, and personality.

2) Understand how they influence your judgment, decisions, and interactions

Why is self-awareness important?

Helps you communicate clearly, handle conflict, recognize triggers, and understand how your strengths and weaknesses affect teamwork.

Hofstede’s 5 cultural dimensions

Collectivism vs. Individualism

Power Distance

Uncertainty Avoidance

Masculinity vs. Femininity

Time Orientation.

Collectivism

Tightly knit social framework;

dependence on extended groups/families and importance of group decisions. Memory: WE before ME.

Individualism

Loose social framework; loyalty to oneself and immediate family is greater than loyalty to the organization.

Memory: ME before WE.

Collectivism vs. Individualism scenario

Group loyalty/team decisions → collectivism.

Loyalty to self/immediate family/independence → individualism.

Power Distance

Degree to which a culture accepts unequal distribution of power.

High Power Distance

Managers have more authority/status and titles matter more.

Scenario: workers readily accept strong differences between boss and subordinate.

Low Power Distance

More equality between managers and employees

more employee autonomy

authority based more on expertise.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Degree to which a culture tolerates ambiguity and uncertainty.

High Uncertainty Avoidance

Concerned with security, avoids conflict, seeks consensus and career stability. Memory: wants certainty.

Low Uncertainty Avoidance

More accepting of risk, conflict, change, job mobility, and uncertainty.

Masculinity cultural dimension

Assertiveness, materialism, achievement, success, money, and possessions.

Femininity cultural dimension

Relationships, empathy, cooperation, and quality of life are emphasized.

Time Orientation

High = future-oriented and values persistence.

Low = focuses more on traditions, present, and immediate gratification.

Ethnocentrism

Tendency to view the world mainly from the perspective of one’s own culture.

WEIRD countries

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic.

Social Perception

interpreting information about another person.

People often behave according to their perception of reality, not necessarily reality itself.

3 major categories affecting social perception

Perceiver characteristics

Target characteristics

Situation characteristics.

Perceiver characteristics

Characteristics of the person doing the judging: perceptual lenses such as trust/power/ego, attitudes, moods, self-concept, and cognitive structure.

Target characteristics

Characteristics of the person being judged: perceived intentions, verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and physical appearance.

Situation characteristics

Cultural/social context and the strength of situational cues about appropriate behavior.

Beauty Bias

A physical-appearance bias in which attractiveness can influence how a person is perceived.

The lecture identifies beauty bias as a target/physical-appearance characteristic.

5 barriers to social perception

Selective perception,

stereotype,

first-impression error,

projection,

self-fulfilling prophecy.

Selective Perception

Tendency to ignore information that does not support your viewpoint or that falls outside your current focus. Scenario clue: only notices evidence supporting what they already see.

Stereotype

Assuming everyone in a group is the same; judging a person based on your perception of the group they belong to.

First-Impression Error

Forming lasting opinions about someone based on initial perceptions. Also called the primacy effect.

Memory: FIRST sticks.

Projection

Projecting your own thoughts, attitudes, motives, beliefs, values, or behaviors onto others. Scenario clue: “I think this way, so they probably do too.”

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy / Confirmation Bias

Previously held beliefs about an employee influence how you interpret future information about that employee. Memory: already believe it → keep seeing confirmation.

Difference: Projection vs. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Projection = assume another person is like YOU.

Self-fulfilling prophecy = an OLD belief about that person influences NEW judgments.

Personality

A relatively stable set of characteristics influencing a person’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior.

How is personality different from temporary OB concepts?

Personality is relatively stable/a baseline;

temporary changes across situations fluctuate around that baseline.

Big Five acronym

CANOE = Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Extraversion.

Conscientiousness

Dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, and persevering. Opposite: careless, lazy, irresponsible.

Agreeableness

Kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, courteous, warm, and trusting. Opposite: antagonistic, selfish, rude, cold.

Neuroticism

Nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous, unstable.

The opposite side is Emotional Stability: calm, steady, relaxed, secure.

Openness to Experience

Curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, and open to new experiences.

Extraversion

Talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, and dominant. Opposite: quiet, shy, reserved.

Best Big Five predictor of job performance

Conscientiousness. Memory: C = Consistent, dependable worker.

Applying personality to jobs

Conscientiousness predicts performance generally;

openness helps creativity/adaptability;

extraversion & agreeableness can help in socially demanding jobs.

Attribution Theory

how people identify the causes/reasons behind

own behavior

other people’s behavior.

Internal Locus of Control

Belief that outcomes are in your control. Internal causes include ability (stable) and effort (unstable).

External Locus of Control

Belief that outcomes are controlled by outside forces. External causes include task difficulty (stable) and luck (unstable).

Attribution table

Internal + stable = ability.

Internal + unstable = effort.

External + stable = task difficulty.

External + unstable = luck.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency to attribute SOMEONE ELSE’S behavior to internal causes instead of considering external circumstances.

Scenario: teammate misses deadline → “they’re lazy.”

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to attribute YOUR successes to internal causes and YOUR failures to external causes.

Memory: Success = ME; Failure = situation.

FAE vs. Self-Serving Bias

FAE = judging OTHER people internally.

Self-serving bias = MY success is internal, MY failure is external.

Attitude

An evaluative statement, favorable or unfavorable, about an object, person, or event; basically how someone feels about something.

ABC Model of Attitudes

A = Affect

B = Behavioral Intent

C = Cognition.

Memory: FEEL → DO → THINK.

Affect (A in ABC)

The feelings a person has about something or someone.

Behavioral Intent (B in ABC)

How a person plans/intends to behave toward an object or person.

Cognition (C in ABC)

A person’s thoughts, perceptions, or beliefs about something.

ABC scenario clue

“I feel angry” = Affect.

“I plan to quit” = Behavioral intent.

“I believe the company is unfair” = Cognition.

Cognitive Dissonance

State of tension/discomfort when a person’s attitudes and behavior conflict with each other.

Memory: what I believe ≠ what I do.

Ways people reduce cognitive dissonance

Change behavior, add supportive beliefs, or reduce the importance of the conflicting belief.

How attitudes are formed

evaluations or opinions about people, objects, or ideas

personal experiences

social influences

conditioning

Two major work attitudes

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment.

Job Satisfaction

A pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from appraisal of one’s job/job experiences; perception that the job fulfills important job values.

5 sources/facets of Job Satisfaction

1) Work itself,

2) Supervisor,

3) Coworkers,

4) Pay,

5) Promotion opportunities.

Organizational Commitment

Strength of an individual’s identification with an organization; relates to why the person stays.

3 types of Organizational Commitment

Continuance = NEED to stay. cost

Normative = SHOULD stay. Obligation

Affective = WANT to stay. desire

Continuance Commitment

Leaving would have costly consequences or there are no good alternatives. “I stay because I NEED to.”

Normative Commitment

Feeling an obligation to remain; staying feels like the right thing to do or repayment to the organization.

“I SHOULD stay.”

Affective Commitment

Emotional attachment and desire to remain with the organization. “I WANT to stay.”

Commitment scenario memory

Need = Continuance.

Should/loyalty/obligation = Normative.

Want/love/emotional attachment = Affective.

Job Performance

A set of behaviors that gives someone the best chance of a successful outcome;

not simply the outcome itself.

3 components of Job Performance

In-role task performance

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)

Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWBs).

In-Role Task Performance

Performing the normal behaviors/tasks required as part of the employee’s job.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)

Spontaneous “extra mile” or above-and-beyond behavior outside the formal job description. Memory: extra GOOD.

Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)

Behavior that violates organizational norms and harms the organization and/or employees. Memory: extra BAD.

OCB vs. CWB scenario

Voluntarily helping coworker beyond job requirements = OCB.

Stealing/sabotaging/harming workplace = CWB.

Why emotions and moods matter at work

Positive moods can improve creativity, work motivation, prosocial behavior, rational thought/decision-making, and can affect work attitudes and behaviors.

Emotion

A short-lived, intense reaction to an event with a specific and known cause.

Mood

Lasts longer than an emotion, is less intense, and normally does not have one specific cause.

Emotion vs. Mood scenario

Specific event + intense/short = emotion.

General feeling + longer/no specific cause = mood.

6 universal emotions

Anger,

fear,'

sadness,

happiness,

disgust,

surprise.

Emotional Labor

The work employees do to control their feelings and emotional expressions at work; especially common in service jobs.

Felt Emotion

The employee’s actual emotion.

Displayed Emotion

The emotion the organization requires the employee to show and considers appropriate for the job.

Emotional Dissonance

display one emotion while actually feeling another.

Deep Acting

Trying to genuinely change your feelings so you can display the appropriate emotion; tends to be more authentic.

Surface Acting

Suppressing your real feelings and faking the desired emotion; putting on an “emotional mask.”

Deep vs. Surface Acting

Deep = change how you FEEL. Surface = FAKE what you SHOW.

Ethical Behavior

Acting in ways consistent with one’s personal values and the commonly held values of the organization and society.

Why ethics matter to organizations

Well-reputed firms attract more applicants; unethical/illegal behavior can damage organizational performance, reputation, returns, and growth.

3 main ethical theories

Character Theory,

Rule-Based Theory,

Consequential Theory.

Memory: PERSON → ACT/RULE → RESULT.

Character Theory

Focuses on the character, personal virtues, and intent of the INDIVIDUAL.

Scenario: “She considers herself an ethical person.”

Rule-Based Theory

Focuses on the character/rightness of the ACT itself rather than its consequences. Scenario: “Is this action consistent with the rule/principle?”

Consequential Theory

Focuses on the consequences or RESULTS of the behavior.

Scenario: judge the choice based on what outcome it produces.

Ethical theories scenario memory

PERSON = Character.

ACT/RULE = Rule-Based.

RESULT = Consequential.

Machiavellianism

A personality characteristic involving willingness to do whatever it takes to get one’s own way;

pragmatic, emotionally distant, competitive, persuasive, and may believe the ends justify the means.