Managing People In Orgs Exam 3 Study guide

Q: Why do organizations care about being just and ethical?

A: Reputation

Q: What is the importance of reputation?

A: Beliefs/opinions held of a brand by the public that relate to the perceived quality of its products or services

Q: Why do employees care about their organization's reputation?

A: Affects retention and recruitment in part because employees want to protect their personal images

Q: What is trust?

A: The willingness to be vulnerable to a person or an organization based on positive expectations about their/its actions and intentions

Q: What does it mean to trust a person or a larger organization?

A: "Putting yourself out there" and not feeling like you have to "look over your shoulder"

Q: Why do employees look to managers or leaders to assess a firm's reputation?

A: Authorities "put a face on the company", giving employees and customers a means of judging the firm's reputation, and they significantly influence employees' performance and commitment

Q: What is disposition-based trust?

A: Personalities "pre-wire" us to have a general propensity to trust others or not. Guides us in cases when we don't yet have data about a given authority; yet, eventually we gain enough knowledge to gauge their trustworthiness

Q: What is cognition-based trust?

A: Cognition-based, meaning that our trust is based in our thoughts about the authority based on their "track record."

Q: What is affect-based trust?

A: Emotion; trust can be chemical - a simple hug can release a hormone called oxytocin that causes your brain to be more trusting

Q: What is trust propensity?

A: Person's general tendency to expect that others' words, promises, statements can be relied upon

Q: What is the dark side of having high levels of trust propensity at work?

A: Manipulation: We may be fooled into trusting those who do not deserve it, leading to negative outcomes

Q: What are the bright sides of having high levels of trust propensity at work?

A: 1.) Blind Trust: a basic willingness to accept some vulnerability is needed for greater trust to emerge (new team project)

2.) Lost Opportunities: failures to trust those who actually deserve it can rob us of many opportunities

Q: What is trustworthiness?

A: Characteristics of a trustee that inspire trust

Q: What are the three factors that shape the extent to which we perceive others as trustworthy?

A: 1.) Ability: skills, competencies, and areas of expertise that enable an authority to be successful in a specific area

2.) Benevolence: belief that authority cares about, is loyal to, and wants to do good for you, apart from any selfish motives

3.) Integrity: perception that the authority adheres to values and principles the trustor deems acceptable

Q: What does radical candor refer to?

A: Building trust with those under you involves (a) caring personally about them as human beings and, at the same time, (b) being willing to challenge them directly.

Q: How does trust build over time?

A: New Relationships: when there's little track record of behavior. Trust is solely based on our own trust propensity

-Most Relationships: trust propensity is supplemented by knowledge of ability, benevolence, or integrity, such that trustworthiness develops.

-Select Relationships: an emotional bond, marked by loyalty and deep attachment, forms that causes a trustee to further accept vulnerability to the trustor

Q: Why are justice-related acts vital to assessing others' trustworthiness?

A: It provides one with behavioral evidence that they are trustworthy

Q: What is distributive justice?

A: Perceived fairness of decision-making outcomes (pay, work, assignments, promotions)

Q: What is the role of equity in distributive justice?

A: Not always about equity norms when other goals are vital (team solidarity = an equality norm may be judged as fairer)

Q: What is procedural justice?

A: Perceived fairness of the decision-making process. Increase when authorities adhere to rules of fair processes

Q: What are the rules of fair process in procedural justice?

A: 1.) Voice 2.) Correctability 3.) Consistency 4.) Bias suppression and accuracy

Q: Why is procedural justice more vital than distributive justice?

A: PJ is a stronger drive of reactions to authorities than DJ because employees understand that outcomes are sometimes favorable and sometimes not.

Q: What happens when procedural justice is low?

A: People don't receive the "outputs" they deem fair at work

Q: Why is it important that managers demonstrate that they acted in a procedurally fair way?

A: Procedures are likely to last longer and stay in place until the organization designs them or a new authority revises them

Q: What is interpersonal justice?

A: Perceived fairness of treatment received from authorities

Q: What is the respect rule in interpersonal justice?

A: Treating employees in a dignified way

Q: What is the propriety rule in interpersonal justice?

A: Refraining from referring to employees using inappropriate labels

Q: What is incivility and abusive supervision in the workplace?

A: Interpersonally unjust acts reflect abusive supervision (AS), sustained hostile acts excluding physical contact

Q: Why are interpersonally unjust acts so damaging to employees' wellbeing and performance?

A: Because of positive negative asymmetry. People remember unfair acts more vividly than fair acts

Q: What is informational justice?

A: Perceived fairness of the communications provided to employees from authorities

Q: What is the rule of justification in informational justice?

A: Mandates that authorities explain decision-making procedures and outcomes in a complete manner

Q: What is the rule of truthfulness in informational justice?

A: Mandates that the communications can be honest and candid

Q: How can organizational culture be defined?

A: System of shared meaning; values, beliefs, and norms guiding collective behavior - "The way we do things around here"

Q: What are some of the functions of organizational culture?

A: Shared identity among employees; sensemaking and control; stability of employee behavior

Q: What types of culture exist in organizations?

A: Outcome-oriented and process-oriented cultures

Q: What is the difference between outcome- and process-based cultures?

A: Outcome focuses on strategic goals of the organization whereas process-based focuses on the ways a company's strategic goal is achieved

Q: What is the general idea of Schein's Levels of Culture?

A: Different levels of important aspects that shape the actual culture of an organization

Q: What is meant by artifacts in Schein's model?

A: Observable manifestations of a culture that are seen, heard, touched, smelled, or talked about

-Conveys what the organization is all about to current employees and potential employees, customers, shareholders, and investors

Q: What are some artifacts that signal an organization's culture?

A: Symbols, physical structures, language, stories, rituals, ceremonies

Q: Do these artifacts always reflect what a culture is truly like?

A: No. Artifacts are the visible signs of culture—like symbols, language, and rituals—but they may not accurately represent the underlying values or assumptions of an organization. Sometimes, what is displayed on the surface can differ from the deeper beliefs and behaviors that actually guide how things are done.

Q: What is meant by espoused values in Schein's model?

A: Common beliefs confirmed over time by shared experience; range from published documents to verbal statements from executives or managers

Q: What are some indicators of espoused values that employees may hold about a culture?

A: Statements by executives, mission and vision statements, core values in handbooks, company slogans, and behaviors that are publicly rewarded or praised.

Q: What is meant by basic assumptions in Schein's model?

A: What the organization is actually like causing it to be difficult to change

- Deeply held beliefs that are often taken for granted or unconscious and that employees simply act on rather than questioning the validity of their behavior

Q: How do organizations build and maintain their cultures?

A: Founder and top leaders: founders set the tone and develop the culture while subsequent executives maintain or change it to address external environmental shifts

- employee selection: not only about person-job fit, also about personality and values fit with the org

- socialization: process of learning about an orgs values and procedures to set a tone for new employees; allows employees to understand/adapt to the culture

- performance appraisal: organizations that think strategically about culture evaluate and reward employees on culture consistent behaviors.

Q: What does the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) model say about how a company culture evolves over time?

A: Suggests that cultures become stronger as employees and potential employees jointly assess P-O fit based on personality over time

- Essentially, they will come to be populated by people of a similar personality profile

Q: What are some "dark" sides of organizational culture?

A: Barriers to change: Entrenched cultures can limit adaptability

- mergers: If two company cultures are strong but dissimilar, tends to lead to culture clash

- barriers to diversity: culture fosters identity for employees but attracts and retains similar kind of people. Can limit range of accepted beliefs and styles

- institutionalization: acceptable behaviors taken for granted and go unquestioned