Organizational Behavior
A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness.
Managers
An individual who achieves goals through other people.
Organization
A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuos basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
What are the five management functions?
Planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling.
Today, the five management functions have been condensed to four, what are they?
Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
Planning
A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities.
Technical Skills
The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise.
Human Skills
The ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in groups.
Conceptual Skills
The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
Psychology
The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals.
Social Psychology
An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.
Sociology
The study of people in relation to their social environment or culture.
Anthropology
The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
Surface-Level Diversity
Differences in easily perceived characteristics, such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, or disability that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel but that may activate certain stereotypes.
Deep-Level Diversity
Differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become progressively more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better.
Discrimination
Nothing of a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group.
Biographical Characteristics
Personal characteristics- such as age, gender, race, and length of tenure- that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records. These characteristics are representative of surface- level diversity.
Intellectual Abilities
The capacity to do mental activities- thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.
Physical Abilities
The capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characters.
Attitudes
Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events.
What are the main components of attitudes?
Cognitive component, affective component, and behavioral component.
Cognitive Component
The opinion or belief segment of an attitude.
Affective Component
The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.
Behavioral Component
An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
Job Satisfaction
A positive feeling about one's job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.
Job Involvement
The degree to which a person identifies with a job, actively participates in it, and considers performance important to self-worth.
Psychological Empowerment
Employees' belief in the degree to which they affect their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy in their work.
Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism
When numerous alternative jobs are available, dissatisfied employees have high absence rates, but when there are few they have the same (low) rate of absence as satisfied employees.
Job Satisfaction and Turnover
If an employee is presented with an unsolicited job offer, job dissatisfaction is less predictive of turnover because the employee is more likely leaving in response to "pull" (the lure of the other job) then " push" (the unattractiveness of the current j
Affect
A broad range of feelings that people experience.
Emotions
Intense feelings that are directed at someone or something.
Moods
Feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus.
Positive Affect
A mood dimension that consists of specific positive emotions such as excitement, self- assurance, and cheerfulness at the high end and boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end.
Negative Affect
A mood dimension that consists of emotions such as nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end.
Personality
Enduring characteristics that describe an individual's behavior.
Observer-Ratings Surveys
Provide an independent assessment of personality.
Big Five Model
A personality assessment model that taps five basic dimensions.
Extraversion
A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive .
Agreeableness
A personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured, cooperative, and trusting.
Conscientiousness
A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized.
Emotional Stability
A personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self-confident, secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).
Openness To Experience
A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination, sensitivity, and curiosity.
Machiavellianism
The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.
Proactive Personality
People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs.
Terminal Values
Desirable end-states of existence; the goals a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime.
Instrumental Values
Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one's terminal values.
Collectivism
A national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework of which they are apart to look after them and protect them.
Perception
A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
Attribution Theory
An attempt to determine whether an individual's behavior is internally or externally caused.
Selective Perception
The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of one's interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
Halo Effect
The tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
A situation in which a person inaccurately, perceives a second person, and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception.
Decisions
Choices made from among two or more alternatives.
Rational
Characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within specified constraints.
Anchoring Bias
A tendency to fixate on initial information, from which one then fails to adequately adjust for subsequent information.
Utilitarianism
A system in which decisions are made to provide the greatest good for the greatest number.
Hierarchy Of Needs
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of five needs-physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self.
Physiological
Includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs.
Safety
Security and protection from physical and emotional harm.
Social
Affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.
Esteem
Internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement, and external factors such as status, recognition, and attention.
Self-Actualization
Drive to become what we are capable of becoming; includes growth, achieving our potential, and self-fulfillment.
McClelland's Theory Of Needs
A theory that states achievement, power, and affiliation are three important-needs that help explain motivation.
Need For Achievement (nAch)
The drive to excel, to achieve in relationships to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
Need For Power (nPow)
The need to make others behave in a way in which they would not have behaved other wise.
Need For Affiliation (nAff)
The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships.
Self-Determination Theory
A theory of motivation that is concerned with the beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful effects of extrinsic motivation.
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
A version of self-determination theory which holds that allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that had been previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the overall level of motivation if the rewards are seen as controlling.
Expectancy Theory
A theory that says that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome, and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
Informal Group
A group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined; such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.
Social Identity Theory
Perspective that considers when and why individuals insider themselves members of groups.
Cohesiveness
The degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group.
Diversity
The extent to which members of a group are similar to, or different from, one another.
Identify the main functions of communication?
Control, motivation, emotional expression, and information.
Communication Apprehension
Undue tensions and anxiety about oral communication, written communication, or both.
Trait Theories Of Leadership
Theories that consider personal qualities, and characteristics that differentiate leaders from non-leaders.
Behavioral Theories Of Leaderships
Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from non-leaders.
Servant Leadership
A leadership style marked by going beyond the leader's own self-interest and instead focusing on opportunities to help followers grow and develop.
Trust
A positive expectation that another will not act opportunistically.
Power
A capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A's wishes.
Coercive Power
A power base that is dependent on fear of the negative results from failing to comply.
Legitimate Power
The power a person receives as a result of his/her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization.
Power Tactics
Ways in which individual's translate power bases into specific actions.
What are the nine distinct influence tactics?
Legitimacy, rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, consultation, exchange, personal appeals, ingratiation, pressure, and coalitions.
Legitimacy
Relying on your authority position or saying a request accords with organizational policies or rules.
Rational Persuasion
Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to demonstrate a request is reasonable.
Inspirational Appeals
Developing emotional commitment by appealing to a target's values, needs, hopes, and aspirations.
Consultation
Increasing the target's support by involving him/her in deciding how you will accomplish your plan.
Exchange
Rewarding the target with benefits or favors in exchange for following a request.
Personal Appeals
Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty.
Ingratiation
Using flattery, praise, or friendly behavior prior to making a request.
Pressure
Using warnings, repeated demands, and threats.
Coalitions
Enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade the target to agree.