Organizational Behavior Exam 2

Motivation

Set of energetic forces that determine the direction, intensity, and persistence of an employees work efforts

Direction of effort

What are you going to do right now?

Intensity of effort

How hard are you going to work on it?

Persistence of effort

How long are you going to work on it?

Expectancy theory

People will be motivated to engage in behavior (make a choice) to the degree that they believe that the behavior will lead to a valued outcome (towards positive experience, away from negative ones)

Expectancy

Effort is believed to result in performance

Self efficacy

Belief that a person has the capabilities needed to perform the behaviors required on some task (self confidence, self esteem)

Past accomplishments

Level of success or failure with similar job tasks in the past

Vicarious experiences

learning method where an individual learns from the actions, experiences, and outcomes of others

Verbal persuasion

Pep talks that lead employees to believe that they can “get the job done”

Emotional ques

Positive or negative feelings that can help or hinder task accomplishments

Instrumentality

Performance is believed to result in outcomes

Valence

The outcomes from performance are anticipated to be valuable

Positive valence

I would prefer having x outcome than not having it (salary increases, bonuses, rewards)

Negative valence

I would prefer not having outcome x than having it (Demotions, terminations)

Needs

Groupings or clusters of outcomes viewed as having critical psychological consequences

Intrinsic motivation

Desire to put forth work effort due to the sense that task performance serves as its own reward (enjoyment, accomplishment, interest)

Extrinsic motivation

Desire to put forth work effort due to some contingency that depends on task performance (pay, bonuses, praise)

Meaning of money

Idea that money can have symbolic (achievement, respect, freedom) value in addition to economic value

Goal setting theory

Motivation is fostered when employees are given specific and difficult goals rather than no goals, easy goals, or “do you best” goals

Self set goals

The internalized goals that people use to monitor their own progress

Feedback

The degree to which the job itself provides info about how well the job holder is doing (job characteristics theory). Progress updates on work goals (goal setting theory)

Task complexity

Degree to which the information and actions needed to complete a task are complicated

Goal commitment

Degree to which a person accepts a goal and is determined to reach it

SMART

Specialty, Measurable, Achievable, Results-based, Time sensitive

Equity theory

You compare you ratio of outcomes and inputs to the ratio of someone else

Comparison other

person you are comparing yourself to

Equity distress

Intentional tension that results from being over/under rewarded relative to some comparison other

Cognitive distortion

A reevaluation of the inputs an employee brings to a job, often occurring in response to equity distress

Internal comparison

Comparing one self to someone in the same company

External comparison

Comparing one self to someone in a different company

Psychological empowerment

An energy rooted in the belief that tasks are contributing to some larger purpose

Meaningfulness

Captures the value of a work goal/purpose relative to a persons own ideals and passions (easier to concentrate on task)

Self determination

Sense of choice in the initiation and continuation of work tasks (intrinsic motivation)

Competence

Employees feel capable of performing successfully

Impact

Employees are making progress towards fulfilling their purpose

Job Equity

Compare self to others doing the same job at the same company, with similar levels of education, performance, seniority

Company equity

Compare self to others in the same company but different job, with similar levels of responsibility/working conditions

Occupational equity

Compare self to others doing the same job in other companies

Age equity

Compare self to others with the same age

Reputation

The prominence of an organizations brand in the minds of the public and the perceived quality of its goods and services

Trust

Willingness to be vulnerable to an authority based on positive expectations about the authority’s actions and intentions

Justice

The perceived fairness of an authority’s decision making

Ethics

Degree to which the behaviors of an authority are in accordance with generally accepted moral norms

Disposition based trust

Trust because of faith in humanity

Cognition based trust

trust that is rooted in a rational assessment of the authority’s trustworthiness (authority’s track record)

Affect based trust

Trust that depends on feelings towards the authority that go beyond rational assessment

Ability

Relatively stable capabilities of people for performing a particular range of related activities

Benevolence

Belief that an authority wants to do good for an employee, apart from any selfish or profit-centered motives (care for employees)

Distributive justice

Perceived fairness of outcomes based on social norms (mainly based on equity)

Procedural justice

Perceived fairness of decision making processes (equal employment opportunity)

Interpersonal Justice

Perceived fairness of the treatment received by employees from authorities

(fair pricing and terms, treating others with dignity and care, and listening to concerns or issues)

Informational justice

perceived fairness of the communications provided to employees from authorities

Whistleblowing

When employees expose illegal actions by their employer (especially ethical)

Four component model

Model that argues that ethical behaviors result from the multistage sequence of moral awareness, moral judgement, moral intent, and ethical behavior

Moral Awareness

When an authority recognizes that a moral issue exists in a situation

Moral Intensity

Degree to which an issue has ethical urgency

Moral attentiveness

Degree to which people chronically perceive and consider issues of morality during their experiences

Moral judgement

Process used to determine whether the consequence is ethical or unethical

Cognitive moral development

As people age and mature, they move through several states of moral development, each more mature and sophisticated than the prior one

Preconventional stage

Right vs wrong is viewed in terms of the consequences of various actions for the individual

Conventional stage

Right vs wrong is referenced to the expectations of ones family and society

Principled (post conventional) stage

Right vs wrong is referenced to a set of defined, established moral principles

Moral Principles

Prescriptive guides for making moral judgements

Moral intent

Authority’s degree of commitment to the moral course of action

Moral identity

Degree to which a person self-identities as a moral person

Ability to focus

Degree to which employees can devote their attention to work

Corporate social responsibility

Perspective that acknowledge that the responsibility of a business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and citizenship expectation of society

Learning

Reflects relatively permanent changes in an employees knowledge or skill that result from experience

Decision making

Process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem

Expertise

The knowledge and skills that distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people

Explicit Knowledge

Knowledge that is easily communicated and available to everyone

Tacit Knowledge

Knowledge that employees can learn only through experience

Antecedent

What triggers the action

Behavior

Action performed by employee

Consequence

Result that occurs after behavior

Positive reinforcement

When a positive outcome follows a desired behavior

Negative reinforcement

An unwanted outcome is removed following a desired behavior

(a teacher taking away homework because the class was so well behaved)

Punishment

When an unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behavior

(employees are given something they don’t like as a result of performing behaviors that the organization doesn’t like)

Extinction

The removal of a positive outcome following an unwanted behavior

(Employees are often motivated to work overtime due to extra pay and benefits. If overtime pay is removed, the incentive is gone, discouraging them from working overtime)

Continuance reinforcement

Specific consequence follows each and every occurrence of a certain behavior

Fixed interval schedule

Reinforcement occurs at set periods of time (length of time between reinforcement stays the same - monthly pay)

Variable interval schedule

Reinforcement occurs at random periods of the time (supervisor waling around at different points of time everyday)

Fixed ratio schedule

Reinforcement where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses. (a child must do five chores before receiving an allowance)

Piece rate pay system

Refers to a compensation method where employees are paid for each unit of work they complete. In this setup, the workers' pay is directly tied to their productivity level.

Variable ratio schedule

Response is reinforced after an unpredictable amount of responses (ie: lottery)

Social learning theory

Learn through observing

Behavioral model

When employees observe the actions of others, learning from what they observe, and then repeat the observed behavior

Process of learning

Attention process - Retention process - Production process - Reinforcement

Learning orientation

A predisposition or attitude according to which building competence is deemed more important by an employee than demonstrating competence

Performance-prove orientation

Predisposition attitude where employees focus on demonstrating their competence so that others think favorably of them

Performance-avoid orientation

Predisposition or attitude where employees focus on demonstrating their competence so that others will not think poorly of them (prevention of failure in front of others)

Programmed decisions

Decisions that are somewhat automatic (intuition or gut feeling)

Crisis situation

A change, sudden or evolving, that results in an urgent problem that must be addressed immediately

Non-programmed decisions

Decisions made by employees when a problem is new, complex, or not recognized

Rational decision making model

A step by step approach to making decisions that are designed to maximized outcomes by examining all available alternatives

Bounded rationally

The notion that people do not have the ability or resources to process all available information and alternatives when making decisions

Satisfying

When a decisions maker chooses the first acceptable alternative considered

Selective perception

The tendency for people to see their environment only as it affects them and as it is consistent with their expectations

Projection bias

The faulty perception by decision makers that others think, feel, and act the same way as they do

“I would never do that; that’s unethical” = “they would never do that, that’s unethical”