Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts and Theories

Situations with two choices, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically manner.

Ill-conceived goals = incentives promote negative behaviors (Wells Fargo opening accounts)

Motivated blindness = overlook it if it is in our best interest (incentives for us)

Indirect blindness = hold others less accountable if it is carried out through third parties (Nike blamed third party for sweatshop accusations)

Slippery Slope = hard to see unethical behavior when it develops slowly (stealing paperclips then cash overtime)

Overvaluing outcomes – give a pass if the outcome is good (NFL allowed best player to play under accusations)

Preconventional = following the rules because it benefits us (treat, candy toy) or don’t do something to not get punished

Conventional = after learning rules of society like laws or expectations (how we should behave) social contract

Principled = make decisions based on what we believe is right or wrong

Consequentialist = focused on outcome

Utilitarianism = greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people

Egoism = freely decided to pursue own interest

Nonconsequentialist = The way the decision is being made (honesty?)

Probability of Effect = How likely that this decision will have a harmful effect on others

Magnitude of consequences = How major is the harm being done (High – loss of life / low –pocket change)

Concertation of effect = How many people will be impacted by this decision

Temporal immediacy = How close to when I make the decisions will the effects occur

Proximity = Degree to which the person making the decisions will be close to the others that will be impacted by the decision (High Proximity – family / Low – across the world)

Social Consensus = How much do people agree that this is not the right thing to do

Values and Attitudes

Value = what is important to us, what drives us, what do we want to achieve?

Schwartz = Self-Enhancement opposite Self-Transcendence / Openness to change opposite conservatism

Discomfort when behavior doesn’t align with values or beliefs (Ex.wanting to be healthy but not exercising or eating healthy)

Individualism = focus on themselves and close family members (USA)

Collectivism = focus on family and extended family and base decisions for the benefit of the whole group and what will they think (China)

Power Distance –

Low = everyone is equal (USA) High = accepts people having different levels (China) Ex. Chinese student says Dr. not Mrs.

Uncertainty Avoidance –

Low = Okay with not knowing how to respond ideas more appealing (USA) High = Uncomfortable in unknown situation want structure (China)

Masculinity = Value masculine traits like aggressiveness and acquire things for self (USA)

Femininity = Caring for others and having positive beneficial life (China)

Short-Term Oriented = focus on past and present, respect for tradition, fulfilling obligations (USA) Ex. Credit card debt not thinking long-term

Long-Term Oriented = focus on future, persistence, prudence, thrift (China)

Why? Understand cultures of different countries when traveling

Affective = wanting to stay in the organization

(Erosion vs. Social Influence model) Sad when leaving.

Continuance = Needing to be in the organization

(Alcon Labs) Anxiety when leaving.

Normative = Ought to stay (obligation)in the organization

(if I don’t stay…then who will…I owe.) Guilt when leaving

Transactional = Fair day’s pay for fair day worked

Relational =

ideological = Belief that organization will stand for something in response to one effort on the organization behalf

Individuals with relational contracts

Individuals with transactional contracts –

Need fulfillment = when organizations can meet people’s needs people will be satisfy

Met Expectations = Expect vs what you receive from job

Value Attainment = Satisfaction depends on fulfillment of values

Disposition/genetics = Baseline of satisfaction or dissatisfaction that people always return to

Equity = Fair share, treated fairly

Interpersonal = Helping, Courtesy (for my use only or group use), Sportsmanship

Organizational – Voice = seeing problems and finding solutions, Civic Virtue = just being informed/up to date, Boosterism = Representing the organization outside of work

Counterproductive Behaviors –

Minor = Production Deviance

Individual = Political Deviance (disrupting environment)

Serious = Personal Aggression

Organizational = Property Deviance

Individual Differences and Emotions

Openness – being open to explore.

Conscientiousness –Focus on getting stuff done.

Extraversion – center of attention, power, control

Agreeableness – Service position

Neuroticism –Bad mood, negative, anxiety, stress

Taking action and doing things for the better (Ex.Figuring out a way to implement solutions at company when things weren’t working before)

Self-efficacy – I think I can (belief of successfully accomplishing a specific task)

Self-esteem – Do I have value.

Emotional stability – same as Big Five

Locus of control – How much personal responsibility we take for our behavior and itsconsequences.

Internal locus on control – I control what happens in my life.

External locus of control –Outside forces control what happens in my life.

Self-awareness – are you aware when yourexperiencing emotions and what they mean.

Self-management –Keeping disruptive emotions under control.

Social awareness –Sensing others’ emotions and taking interest in concerns.

Relationship management – being able to lead others through appealing to their emotions.

Mood = last longwith no trigger

Emotions = Short periodwith trigger

Display – Ex. McDonalds worker smiles, Debt collector and doctor is more intense and negative emotion.

Emotion Labor – act of expressing emotions expected by the organization.

Surface acting –outside doesn’t express inside just acting.

Deep acting –attempting to actually feel emotion one wants to display.

Social Perception and Managing Diversity

Attribution theory – Why did it happen (bias)

2 theories – self-fulfillling prophesies, fulfillment sur

Internal attribution –I have a personality or looking at others like funny.

External attribution – caused by the circumstances.

Consensus – Low consensus acting differentlythan others(internal), High consensus acting the same as others (external)

Distinctiveness – Low dist. acts the same way in all places(internal), High dist. behavior different or something about circumstances (external)

Consistency –High/Low

Fundamental attribution error –overestimate internal factors when looking at others.

Self-serving bias –When we fail – external, When we succeed – internal 

Halo effect –False judgement when looking at someone (attractive women gets help with tire)

*Self-fulfilling prophecies –Leader perceptions -> Leader Behaviors -> Subordinate perceptions/expectations -> Subordinate behavior 

Stereotyping – belief about the characteristics of a group 

Surface Level – observable attributes (race,age,sex)

Deep Level – less observable attributes (Values,personality,education) 

Similarity -attraction – people like others who are similar tothem.

Value in diversity – problem solving and larger pool of people

Differences in education/knowledge can help problem soling (helps teens growing)

Differences in values and goals can have negative effects on teams

As they got to know each other the surface level diversity go away

Identity blind – ignored sociodemographic differences such as race and gender (least effective)

Assimilation –Bring people from different backgroundsand teach them the right way without admiring there value and what they bring 

Inclusive differentiation – Recognizing differences and actively including people from all sociodemographic (Accommodating for first time mom workers for kids compared to having all man workforce)

Equitable Transformation –Managers question practices if it allows people to flourish

Motivation

Theory X – workers lazy, do little, strict punishments, well-defined rewards

Theory Y – Workers are self-engaged, give employees authority and support

Right – 5 needs – Physiological (we need to breathe). Safety (will we be able to survive), Love(connection), Esteem (Respect for self & others), Self-actualization(best person you can be)

Wrong – No support for needs to be in Pyramid

Intrinsic – Motivation comes from task performance (more well-being overall)

Extrinsic –What will I get? (money,bonus)

Competence – feeling of being qualified.

Autonomy –freedom (did it your way)

Relatedness – desire to belong and connect with others.

Adding extrinsic reward causes intrinsic to decrease.

Equality = Everyone gets same

Theory = 

Equity = taking into consideration needs 

Theory –people calculate how fairly they are treated compared to others (people pay attention)

No action, Balance inputs and outputs, shrink outcomes.

Ways to resolve – Internal comparison, External comparison, Leave

Distributive – Perceived fairness of outcome (do more get more, do less get less)

Procedural –Perceived fairness of process (where people allowed to speak up)

When outcomes are fair – doesn’t matter how they got there

Different outcomes (procedural matters) 

Interpersonal justice – Perceived fairness of treatment from authorities when procedures are implemented.

Respect rule 

Propriety rule – refrain from making offensive remarks

Valence – How much do you care about outcome? (Important – High Valence) , Negative (I don’t want that), Positive (I really want that)

Expectancy – Do you think you can do well? If I study hardI’ll pass = 1, No matter what I won’t pass = 0 

Expectancy = I think I can) depends on your self-efficacy 

Instrumentality – Do you believe if you perform well,you’ll get your outcome?

E-P-O

Specific, Difficult 

Goals direct attention which increases persistence and create own strategies.

Employees must have ability and resources to achieve goal.

They also need to be committed. 

Scientific management –Study how people work, methods, select workers, job level.

Problem – Managers didn’t increase rewards, less workers, boring = less motivation

Steps managers can take to change jobs: 

Job Rotation –Shifting employee from one task to another(more interesting, learn more)

Job Enlargement –Expansion of jobs (added variety to jobs through multiple task) 

Job Enrichment –vertical expansion of jobs (allowing employees to figure it out) 

Job Characteristics – 

Skill variety: one skill or multiple

Task Variety: High identity –you see the outcome, Low – might not know if issue was resolved

Task significance – making impact and making world better place

Autonomy –Freedom with work 

Feedback – Sense of how work is going. 

Critical Psychological states: 

Meaningfulness of work – does job have value and purpose (does something for world)

*Responsibility for outcomes –Sense that role change outcomes, 

Knowledge of results – How well you are doing

Motivation predicts satisfaction with the work itself

What are the different forms of job crafting and what are idiosyncratic deals?  

Steps employees can take to change job

Cognitive crafting – changes in how you think about your job (change mindset)

Relational crafting –Changes in your relationships with others (new connections or distancing from co-workers)

Task crafting –Changes in what you do in your job (adding components to make job more motivating)

Performance Management

Routine – Predictable demands (Assembly lines, Call centers)

Adaptive – Unpredictable (Police)

Creative –New ideas (Artists, Architects)

Objectives – Employee & manager sit down to determine goals.

Negative: Measures output not behavior 

360 Feedback – Gather information about employee from clients, peers, managers.

Negative: Can get different opinions (might get a bias), good for feedback not for formal

BARS – Ranked on 1-5, specific things to get a score. 

Forced ranking –Divide people in 3, Top 20%, Middle 70%, Lowest 10%

Negative: Demotivating because the bar is being raised, doesn’t look at improvement 

Omission –taking away a wanted outcome.

Fixed Interval – Bi-weekly check 

Fixed-Ratio – Call center (every 100 calls) not as effective as fixed.

Variable-Interval – Don’t know when manager will listen.

Variable-Ratio –Randomly (Commission based on sales) (Stronger incentives)

Groups and Teams

Task dependency: Independent 

Accountability: individual

Time together: unspecified

Task roles: Getting things done. 

Maintenance roles: Working together. 

Individualistic roles: Focusing on self. (don’t take on these roles)

Task dependency: Interdependent

Accountability: shared

Time together: specified-in order to complete goal.

Tuckman’s model: Forming,Storming,Norming, Performing 

Punctuated Equilibrium: Most teams have a punctuated shift during midway point (6 months, semester)

Work team (sales, self-managed teams, productions teams)

Management team: (top management)

Parallel team: provides recommendations/resolve issues.

Project team: produce one time output (Product design team, Research group,Planning team)

Functional vs cross-functional

Self vs manager-led 

Virtual vs in-person 

Degree to which team relies on each other.

Pooled interdependence: Doing own work then putting it together with team.

Sequential interdependence: Track relay race (baton) or Assembly line 

Reciprocal Interdependence: Going into subgroups then coming together with whole group.

Comprehensive Interdependence: Relying on each other all the time (creating new product)

Social Interdependence theory: the way rewards are structed will determine team dynamics.

Individual – competition (high motivation) 

Team – cooperation (low motivation)

Pros: New ideas

Cons: Reduce productivity 

Outcome Interdependence: Extent to which team outcome influence individual compensation.

High: Your own outcome is contingent on how team performed 

Low: Outcome based on how you performed

Disposition-Based Trust: Can you trust other people or are you sus?

Cognition-Based Trust: thoughts 

Dimensions –

Competence trust: Ability

Communication – Truth 

Contractual trust – Integrity (get it done?)

Affect-Based trust: trust based on emotional bond/relationship (friends, family)

Team Performance: Does team meet objectives? 

Team Viability: How well does team work together? 

Individual Growth: Team experience contributes to individual well-being & learning.\

Charter and Strategies: How team will operate, share info & held accountable

Composition: Who’s on team, diverse team? Get along well? Conflict?

Capacity: Ability to adapt to change in response to demand 

Process gains: Getting more from team then you accept (sometimes people just click)

Process loss: getting less when putting people together.

Coordination loss 

Production blocking 

Motivational loss 

Actual performance = Potential performance + Process gains – Process losses