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Organizational behavior

the study of individual behavior and group dynamics in organizations

Understanding behavior- internal perspective

thoughts, feelings, needs, past experiences

External perspective

external events, consequences, and environmental factors

Organizations as open systems: task

mission, purpose, goal


systems of communication, authority and roles, and workflow


tools, knowledge, techniques used to transform inputs into outputs

Inputs and outputs

material, capital, humans. products/services

Task environment

competitors, regulatory agencies, unions, clients, etc

Formal organizations

the official, legitimate, and most visible part of the system- policies, objectives, job descriptions, products and services, authority structures

Informal organizations

unofficial and less visible part of the system- beliefs, assumptions, feelings, values, informal leaders, perceptions, group norms

Four challenges for managers related to change

increased globalization of operating territories, increasing workforce diversity, continuining demand for higher levels of ethical and moral behavior at work, and continuining technological innovation with its companion need for skill enhancement

Total Quality Management (TQM)

the complete dedication to continuous improvement and to customers so that their needs are met and their expectations exceeded

Six Sigma

a philsophy for company-wide improvement. characterized by its customer-driven approach, decision-making based on quantitative data, and its priority on saving money. measure, analyze, improve, and control. can be applied to a range of areas and problems

Trends affecting managers

industrial restructuring, the increased amount and availability of information, need to attract and retain the best empoyees, need to understand human and cultural differences. trust, security, predictability

Challenges to be up-to-date on

improving quality/productivity (more output per employee), responding to labor shortages in some fields, improving customer service, empowering employees (feel they can make decisions on behalf of the customers on their own), coping with 'temporariness', stimulating innovation, and employee balance of work/life conflicts

Importance of addressing customer needs

increase positive employee attitudes, increase customer satisfaction, increase revenue growth. train employee to improve the employee-customer interaction. satisfied employees=satisfied customers

Dependent variables for management to address

productivity, absenteeism, turnover, satisfaction, loyalt, citizenship

Independent variables positively addressing these

job itself, work design, communication, performance appraisals, organizational design and structure

Multinational businss

business in several countries


global, all nations

Changes in global marketplace

collapse of estern europe, union of east and west berlin, expansion of business with china, creation of european union, establish of NAFTA


chinese practice of building networks for social exchange; partnership

Understanding cultural differences- individualism vs. collectivism

loose social frameworks, primary concern is for themselves and their families. collectivism- tightly knit social frameworks, depend strongly on large extended families or clans

High power distance vs low power distance

the acceptance of unequal distribution of power. high power= bosses are afforded more power simply because they are the bosses, authority is seldom bypassed. lower power= inequality should be minimized

High and low uncertainty avoidance

high= concerned with security and tend to avoid conflict. low= more tolerant of ambiguity

Masculinty vs femininity

masculine- assertiveness and materialism are valued. stereotypes of men and women's roles. feminine societies tend to blur gender roles

Time orientation

short term (past and present) or long term (future). china is long term, russia is short term

Expatriate manager

a manager who works in a country other than his or her home country

International executive

an executive whose job has international scope, doesn't necessarily live in this country like this expatriates

Developing cross-cultural sensitivity

use of mentor/protege relationships, cultural sensitivity training, cross-cultural teams, and global view of human resource functions


all forms of differences among people- culture, gender, age, ability, religion, personality, social status, and sexual orientation

Diversity benefits

helps firms attract and retain the best available talent, improves marketing efforts, promotes creativity/innovation, better problem-solving, and enhances organizational flexibility

Diversity problems

resistance to change, lack of cohesiveness, communication problems, interpersonal conflicts, and slowed decision-making

Ethics, Character, Personal Integrity: consequential theories

emphasize the consequences or results of behavior. right and wrong determined by the consequences of the behavior (utilitarianism)

Rule-based theories

emphasize the character of the act itself, not its effects

Character theories

emphasizes the character, personal virtues, and integrity of the individual

Employee rights issues

computerized monitoring, drug testing, free speech, downsizing and layoffs, due process, and AIDS in the workplace (rights of the infected work and others who feel threatened)

Sexual harassment: gender harassment

comments or jokes and behaviors that disparage someone's gender or convey hostility toward a particular gender

Unwated sexual attention

unwanted touching or repeated unwanted pressures for dates

Sexual coercion

implicit or explicit demands for sexual favors by threatening negative job-related consequences or promising job-related rewards

Organizational justice: distributive justice

conerns the fairness of the outcomes that individuals receive in an organization

Procedural justice

the fairness of the process by which outcomes are allocated


an employee who informs authorities of the wrongdoings of his or her company or coworkers

Social responsibility

the obligation of an organization to behave in ethical ways in the social environment in which is operates

Code of ethics

adhere in their actions and behaviors. becomes a standard against which members can measure themselves in the absence of interalized standards (J and J credo)

Alternative work arrangements: telecommuting

transmitting work from a home computer to the office using a modem. gain flexibility, save the commute, and enjoy the comforts of home. but also have distractions, lack of social interaction, identify less with the organization, and takes a lot of self-discipline


mobile file cabinets and lockers for personal storage, and "hotel" work spaces are furnished for them

Satellite offices

facilities are broken into a network of smaller workplaces close to employees' homes

Virtual offices

work any time, anywhere, with anyone. internet access and online meeting software

Flex hours

work 8 hours a day, but can start and end at any time

Job sharing

two people do one job

Compressed work week

4 days a week, weekend free, but work 10 hour days

Case study from chapter one: Johnson and Johnson- using a credo for business guidance

commitment to a business philosophy that puts customers first, employees, the community, and lastly stockholders. constant source of guidance and serves as a foundation for everything the company does

Individual differences** variables influencing individual behavior

the person- skills/abilities, personality, perception, attribution, attitudes, values, ethics. the environment- organization, work group, job, personal life

Ethical dilemma

outsourcing- is it ethical? try to spread the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of consituents


a relatively stable set of characteristics that influence behavior

Interactional psychology

in order to understand behavior, we must know something about the person and the situation

Personality theories- trait theory


Integrative approach


Big Five Personality Traits


Core Self Evaluation (CSE)

a broad set of personality traits that refers to self-concept- comprised of self esteem, locus of control, self efficacy, and emotional stability

Locus of control

belief about internal control (self control) versus external control (the situation or others)


general belief that he or she is capable of meeting job demands in a wide variet of situations


general feeling of self-worth


the extent to which people base thei rbehavior on cues from other people and situations. high SM pay attention to what is appropriate in particular situations and to the behavior of other people, and behave accordingly. low SM are not vigilant to situational cues and act from internal states rather than paying attention to the situations. low SM consistent, high SM less predictable bc behavior depends on the situation they're in. high SM more likely to get promoted, change employers, and make a job-related geographic move

Positive/negative affect

positive- tendency to accentuate the positive aspects of themselves, other people, and the world in general. negative- accentuate the negative aspects

4 measures of personality

projective tests (eliciting response from abstract stimuli), behavioral measures (observing a person's behavior in a controlled situation), self-report questionnaires, myers-briggs type indicator (measure jung's theory of individual differences)

MBTI preferences

introversion/extraversion, sensing vs intuiting, thinking vs feeling, judging vs perceiving

Social perception model

interpreting information about another person

Perceiver characteristics

familarity with the target, mood/attitude, self-concept, and cognitive structure

Target characteristics

physical appearance, verbal communication, nonverbal cues, intentions

Characteristics of the situation

the social context, the strength of situational cues (some situations provide strong cues as to appropriate behavior, and so a person's bx can be accounted for by the situation)

Discounting principle

behavior accounted for by the situation

Barriers to social perception

subjective perception (selecting information that supports our viewpoints and ignoring info that threatens it), stereotyping, first impression error, projection (overestimating the number of people who share our own beliefs, values, and behaviors), self-fulfilling prophecies (expectations about peple influence our interaction with them in a way in which those expectations are confirmed)

Impression management

people try to control the impressions others have of them- name-dropping, appearance, flattery, favors, agreement with others' opinions

Attribution theory

explains how people pinpoint the causes of their own behavior and that of others

Internal attribution

contributing success to your own ability or efforts

External attribution

attributing success to sources beyond one's control

Fundamental attribution error

the tendency to make attributions to internal causes when focusing on someone else's behavior

Self-serving bias

attributing one's own successes to internal causes and one's failures to external causes


your belief in your ability to do something successfully

Primary effect

first impressions are often lasting, whether right or wrong

Recency effect

perception error in which the most recent information dominates a boss's perceptions or beliefs about a person's work. finds its way into performance appraisals

Halo effect

perceptual error when we make a general impression of someone based on one thing, and then start using that for everything. good on one trait=good on all. or bad on one trait=bad on all

Ethical dilemma for chapter 3

finding an employee with the specialized knowledge and skills that the new hire has it very hard. she was the only one who had this knowledge out of all who applied. she is extremely extroverted, but the main person she'd be working with is an introvert. doesn't want to make the introvert unhappy but needs this worker in this position

Case study for chapter 3

sir richard branson. owns the virgin companies. didn't get a diploma, was dylesxic, told he was stupid bc of his poor academic performance but had a loving family who set challenges for him. began building his successful career as a teenager. now is a CEO who likes to push the envelope and do what he wants

Chapter 4, changing nature of work

acquisition and mergers, downsizing, limited if any pay raises, limited opportunities for advancement, medical benefits, limited if any contributions to retirement funds, limited financial support for things like graduate degrees, people working past retirement age, increase diversity, uncertainty, violence, burnout, illness, etc


evaluating an entity with some degree of favor or disfavor

ABC model of attitude

affect, behavioral intentions, and cognition. affect refers to a person's feelings about something or someone- I like this, I prefer that. behavioral intentions- the intention to behave in a certain way toward an object or person. cognition- beliefs/perceptions

Cognitive dissonance

a state of tension that is produced when a person experiences conflict between attitudes and behavior

Attitude formation

direct experience (contact with person or object) and social learning (deriving attitudes from family, friends, peer groups, religious groups, etc). relatively fixed but can be changed

Work attitudes- organizational commitment

strength of a person's identification with an organization.

Affective commitment

desire to remain, liking the organization, emotional attachment, identifying with the organization

Continuance commitment

cannot afford to leave, unlikely to find a better job

Normative commitment

obligation to remain, sense of loyalty

Work attitudes- job satisfaction


Organizational citizenship behavior

behavior that is above and beyond the call of duty

Driving job satisfaction

work itself, quality of supervision, relationship with coworkers, promotional/advancement opportunities, pay, matching people to jobs that fit their interests

Measuring job satisfaction

absenteeism, customer satisfaction, performance on the job

Responses to job dissatisfaction

active, passive, destructive, and constuctive









Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion

look up

Emotions at work- emotional contagion


Ethical behavior

acting in ways consistent with one's person values and the commonly held values of the organization and society

Individual/Organizational Model of Ethical Behavior

ethical behavior influenced by: individual- value system, locus of control, moral development. organization- code of conduct, training, ethics comittees, norms, modeling, rewards/punishments

Values: instrumental

values that represent the acceptable behaviors to be used in achieving some end state. emphasizes ways to get there

Terminal values

represent the goals to be achieved or the end states of existence. emphasizes the end point/result


one's willingness to do whatever it takes to get one's own way

The Psychological Contract

between the company and the employee- mutual agreement upon hiring that the employee will contribute and the employer provides wages, benefits, etc

Mergers and acquisition and their impact on the psychology and behavior of people

who's the boss now? culture clashes, communication difficulties, new procedures and regulations, changes in value systems, etc

Antisocial behavior in the workplace

aggression, hostility, insults, theft, violence, sabatoge. need to pick up on subtle behavioral cues if possible

Chapter 5** Motivation

arousing and sustaining goal-directed behavior. direction, intensity, persistence

Frederick W. Taylor

father of scientific management. said that monetary rewards for output produces extra personal productivity. concerned with improving employee proficiency, thought that people were almost exclusively motivated by money. believed in the picework system

Douglas McGregor

theory x people- how to manage people people who are motivated by lower-order needs (safety and physiological needs). theory Y- how to manage people who are motivated by higher-order needs (social, esteem, self-actualization)

Theory X workers

little ambition, dislike work, avoid responsibility

Theory Y workers

self-directed, enjoy work, accept responsibility

By understanding needs, we can understand what motivates- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

higher and lower level needs- at the bottom moving upward: physiological needs, safety and security, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. as one level of needs is met, a person progresses to the next higher level of need as a source of motivation. progress up the hierarchy as they successfully gratify each level of need

Alderfer's ERG theory

felt that maslow's needs were not quite accurate. grouped human needs into only 3 basic categories: existence, relatedness, and growth. also added a regression hypothesis to go along with maslow's progression hypothesis. states that people regree to the next lower category of needs and intensify their desire to gratify those needs. so explains both progressive need gratification and regression when people face frustration

McClelland's Need Theory

manifest needs: need for achievement (excellence, competition, challenging goals, overcoming difficulties), power (make an impact on others, influence others, make difference in lives), and affiliation (establish and maintain warm, close, intimate relationships with other people)

Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory

motivation factors- a work condition related to satisfaction of the need for psychological growth. lead to positive mental health and challenge people to grow, contribute to the work enviro, and invest themselves in the organization. absence of these factors leads to the lack of satisfaction. most important factor bc affects motivational drive to do a good job. hygiene factor- a work condition related to dissatisfaction caused by discomfort or pain. don't influence motivation to work but do contribute to the extent of discontent. don't stimulate growth but is a maintence factor

Process theories: equity theory of motivation

focuses on the individual-environment interaction. concerned with the social processes thati nfluence motivation and behavior. demands and contributions- worker brings expertise, knowledge, education, etc to the job and expect to receive certain outcomes such as pay, benefits, recognition, etc. assess our inputs vs rewards/recognition we receive vs. our coworkers. workers then make comparisons between their input-outcome ratios and those of fellow workers to determine equitable distributions. underpayment and overpayment inequity occur

Goal setting theory, Edwin Locke

our primary motivation is defined in terms of our desire to achieve a particular goal. specific or challenging goal motivates and guides behavior. having goals leads to higher performance than operating without goals, and the more specific the goal the better. more difficult goal attainment= better motivators. things that influence goal commitment- rewards, feedback, peer influence, participation in ngoal establishment, personal need for achievement, competitiveness, etc. should be clear, specific, attainable, and quantifiable, not general

Expectancy theory of motivation

focuses on personal perceptions of the performance process. efforts and performance should lead to rewards. if workers believe this, they will be motivated to perform

3 key factors of expectancy theory: valence of an outcome

value one places on a particular reward


belief that effort leads to performance


belief that performance is related to rewards

Reasons for employee burnout

job insecurity, technological advancements, information overload. results- emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, lower levels of achievement, possibly clinical depression

Ways to motivate people

training, coaching, task assignments, rewards contingent on good performance, flextime, telecommuting, self-managed work teams, job sharing/part-time work, employee of the month

Performance appraisals

2-way discussion with managers and employee, feedback and evaluation, 6 months or annually, acknowledgment of employee, basis for raises, promotions, recognition, etc

Chapter 6**Learning and performance management. Bandura's Social Learning Theory

learning occurs through the observation of other people and the modeling of their behavior. central to his theory is task specific self efficacy- beliefs/expectancies about ability to perform a task effectively. 4 sources of this self efficacy: prior experiences, persuasion from others, behavior models (witnessing the success of others), and assessment of current physical and emotional capabilities

Goal setting at work

the process of establishing desired results that guide and direct behavior, very important

Characteristics of effective goals

specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound

Goal setting functions

increase work motivation and task performance- employee participation, supervisory commitment, useful and timely performance feedback

Reduce role stress associated with conflicting or confusing situations

clarify task-role expectations communicated to employees, improve communication between managers and employees

Improve accuracy and validity of performance evaluation

MBO, management by objectives- a goal-setting program based on interaction and negotiation between employees and managers. articulates what to do, determines how to do it

Performance management

a process of defining, measuring, appraising, proving feedback on, and improving performance

How is performance measured?

performance appraisal- the evaluation of a person's performance. provides feedback to employees, identifies employees' developmental needs, decides promotions and rewards, decides demotions and terminations, develops info about the organization's selection and placement decisions

Communicating performance feedback

refer to specific verbatim statements and observable behaviors. focus on changeable behaviors. both supervisor and employee should plan and organize before the session. begin with something positive

360 degree feedback

a process of self-evaluation and evaluations by a manager, peers, direct reports, and possibly customers (weighted)

Develop people and ehnance careers

supervisor- coach and enhance employees, be vulnerable and open to challenge, maintain a position of responsbility, listen emphatically, and encourage employees to talk about hope and aspirations. employee- take responsbility for growth and development, challenge supervisor about future development, and express individual preferences and goals

Individual or team rewards?

individual rewards- foster independent behavior, may lead to creative thinking/novel situations, encourage competitive striving within a work team. team rewards- emphasize cooperation and joint efforts, emphasize sharing information, knowledge, and expertise


a work relationship that encourages development and career enhancement for people moving through the career cycle

Why performance appraisals?

merit increases, promotions/firing/demotion, track/mentor/improve/record, documentation of employee performance or lack thereof, provides employee feedback, re-assignments, developmental tool/career path advancement, tool to help 'link' prganizational goals and employee's work activities

Errors in performance appraisals

leniency error- common; rater rates every employee either positively or negatively. halo effect- does well in one area and the manager generalize to all other areas of appraisal. central tendency- the manager doesn't do job right, gives out mediocre reviews to all of the employees. recency errors- the most recent activity influences overall rating. strictness error- refusing to give out high marks on principle. personal bias error- manager plays favorites

Performance appraisal sessions

in the work environ or outside the work enviro (situation dependent). manager's office, conference room, off site. end of day, beginning, start of day? formal vs informal atmosphere. preparation for review- employee informed ahead of time with a copy of the PA, allotted time for review, employee expectations for the review

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