Mos 2181 -- Organizational Behavior

Def: Organizational Behavior

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

Relationship between OB and HRM

OB is identifying solutions through research whilst HRM is the application of such findings

Who is Fredrick Taylor?

He proposed the idea of efficiency through scientific experiment and measure:

• Scientific management

• Optimal and efficient work processes

• Focus on scientific method

Who is Max Weber?

He proposed a focus on organization and specialized work:

• Bureaucracy

• Specialization — strict chain of command, formal rules/procedures, decision making from high ranking people of the organization

What were the Hawthorne Studies?

A study which identified the limitation to the classical approach to management

What was the Human relations Movement?

Recognized that needs, attitudes, and social influences within groups affect behavior

What is the contemporary management theory?

There is not one best, universal principle… it depends on an employee’s needs 

What are examples of Inimitable resources that help a firm maintain a competitive advantage?

• History (time to develop)

• Numerous small decision (Management, training, etc)

• Socially complex resources (trust, teamwork, organization)

What is the Rule of 1/8th

At best, 1/8th (12%) of organizations will do what is required to build profits by putting people first

What are the Ways of Knowing?

• Method of Experience

  • past experience

• Methods of Intuition

  • Common sense

• Method of authority

  • Higher up tells you something is true

• Method of Science

  • research

What is the research practice gap?

The gap between research findings and the amount of research applied to the organization by HR management

What is a theory?

Collection of assertations that specify how/why variables are related and the conditions under which they should be related

What is a hypothesis?

Written prediction that specifies relationships between variables

What is a correlation?

• statistical relationship between two variables

• Can be positive or negative

• Can range from 0 to (-+)1

0.1 = weak

0.3 = moderate

0.5 = strong

What are conditions for causation?

• The two variables are correlated

• No alternate explanation exists for the correlation 

Correlation does NOT = Causation

What is meta analysis?

A method that combines the results of multiple studies by calculating a weighted average correlation across studies

• More participants = weighted higher

Evidence-based management

Making the best decisions using the best available evidence from multiple sources

Def: Job Performance

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

What are the 3 aspects of Job Performance?

1. Task Performance (required)

2. Citizenship behavior (voluntary)

3. Counterproductive Behavior (hinders performance)

What are the types of Task Performance?

Def: teams

two or more people who work interdependently over some time period to accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose

Team Characteristics:

• Team types

• team interdependence

• team composition

Team Types

• Work teams — relatively permanent teams in which members work together to produce goods or provide services 

  • production teams members work together to assemble vehicles

• management teams — relatively permanent teams that participate in managerial-level tasks that affect the entire organization

• parallel teams —teams composed of members from various jobs within the org that meet to provide recommendations about important issues that run parallel to the org’s production process

• project teams — teams formed to take on one-time tasks, most of which tend to be complex and require input from members from different functional areas

• action teams —teams of limited duration that perform complex tasks in contexts that tend to be highly visible and challenging

  • a team of nurses and surgeons work together to complete a surgery, etc

What is the five-stage model of team development?

1. Forming — members get a feel for what is expected of them, what behaviors are out of bounds, who is in charge

2. storming — members remain committed to the ideas they bring with them to the team, and conflict may result

3. norming —members begin to cooperate; norms and expectations develop

4. performing —members are comfortable in their roles, the team makes progress towards goals

5. adjourning — members separate, disperse from team

What is the punctuated equilibrium model?

• Time (first half) — members make assumptions and establish a pattern of behavior that lasts for the first half of  the project’s life

• Midpoint —members realize that they must change their approach to the task in order to complete it on time

• Time (second half) — the new framework dominates team behavior until task completion

Team Interdependence:

The ways in which members of a team are linked to one another

3 general types of team interdependence:

• task interdependence

• goal interdependence

• outcome interdependence

Task interdependence

Degree to which team members interact with and rely on other members for information, materials, and resources needed to accomplish work for the team

• four types of task interdependence

  • pooled

  • sequential

  • reciprocal

  • comprehensive

Goal interdependence:

degree to which team members have a shared vision of the team’s goal and align their individual goals with that vision

Outcome interdependence:

degree to which team members share equally in feedback and rewards that result from the team achieving its goals

Team Composition:

Mix of the various characteristics that describe the individuals who work in a team

• 5 aspects of team composition:

  • member roles

  • member ability

  • member personality

  • team diversity

  • team size

member roles:

• Team task roles: behaviors that directly facilitate accomplishment of team tasks

  • initiator-contributor — proposes new ideas

  • devil’s advocate — offers challenges to the team’s status quo

  • energizer — motivates the team to strive to do better

• Team-building roles: behaviors that influence the quality of the team’s social climate

  • encourager — praises the contributions of other team members

  • compromiser — attempts to find the halfway point to end conflict

  • follower — accepts the ideas of teammates

• Individualistic roles: behaviors that benefit the individual at the expense of the team

  • recognition seeker — brags and calls attention to themselves

  • slacker — acts cynically or nonchalantly, or goofs off

Member ability:

• additive tasks — in these tasks, abilities of all members add up to determine team performance

  • e.g. fighting fires

• disjunctive tasks — in these tasks, the most able member has the most influence on team performance

  • e.g. finding an error in a computer program

• conjunctive tasks — in these tasks, the least able members has the most influence on team performance

  • e.g. packaging boxes on an assembly line

Member personality: