Organizational Behavior
1. Definition of Organizational Behavior (OB)
- OB: “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.”
2. Managerial Functions
- Planning: Defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities.
- Organizing: Determining tasks, grouping them, assigning responsibility, and deciding authority structures.
- Leading: Motivating, directing others, selecting communication channels, and resolving conflicts.
- Controlling: Monitoring performance to ensure activities align with the plan and correcting deviations.
3. Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles
- Interpersonal Roles: Figurehead, Leader, Liaison.
- Informational Roles: Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson.
- Decisional Roles: Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler, Resource Allocator, Negotiator.
4. Managerial Skills
- Technical Skills: Applying specialized knowledge or expertise.
- Human Skills: Working with, understanding, and motivating individuals and groups.
- Conceptual Skills: Analyzing and diagnosing complex situations.
5. Challenges and Opportunities in OB
- Responding to Globalization: Managing foreign assignments and cross-cultural teams.
- Managing Workforce Diversity: Adapting to heterogeneous workforces in terms of gender, age, and ethnicity.
- Improving Customer Service: Developing customer-responsive cultures.
- Balancing Work-Life Conflicts: Helping employees maintain work-life balance.
- Improving Ethical Behavior: Promoting integrity and justice in organizations.
6. Systematic Study and Intuition
- Systematic Study: “Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.”
- Intuition: “Gut feelings” about behaviors and decisions without evidence-based support.
7. Contributing Disciplines to OB
- Psychology: Understanding individual behavior, emotions, and personality.
- Sociology: Studying group behavior and organizational culture.
- Social Psychology: Examining interpersonal influence and behavior in groups.
- Anthropology: Investigating cultural values and behaviors across societies.
8. Dependent Variables in OB
- Productivity: A measure of effectiveness and efficiency.
- Job Satisfaction: A positive feeling about one’s job based on evaluation of its characteristics.
- Absenteeism: Failure to report to work.
- Turnover: Voluntary or involuntary withdrawal from an organization.
- Deviant Workplace Behavior: Voluntary behavior violating organizational norms and threatening well-being.
- Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB): Discretionary behavior that promotes organizational functioning.
9. Contingency Variables
- Contingency Variables: “Situational factors that make the main relationship between two variables change.”
Diversity and Individual Behavior
1. Ability and Intelligence
- Ability: “An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.”
- Intellectual Ability: “The capacity to do mental activities (thinking, reasoning, solving).”
- Multiple Intelligences: Intelligence contains four subparts—cognitive, social, emotional, and cultural.
2. Dimensions of Intellectual Ability
- Number Aptitude: Ability to perform speedy and accurate arithmetic.
- Verbal Comprehension: Ability to understand written or spoken material and relationships between words.
- Perceptual Speed: Ability to identify visual similarities and differences quickly.
- Inductive Reasoning: Ability to identify logical sequences and solve problems.
- Deductive Reasoning: Ability to use logic to assess arguments and implications.
- Spatial Visualization: Ability to imagine how an object would look when its position is altered.
- Memory: Ability to retain and recall experiences.
3. Physical Abilities
- Physical Abilities: Capacity to perform tasks that require stamina, strength, and dexterity.
Strength Factors
- Dynamic Strength: Ability to exert muscular force repeatedly over time.
- Trunk Strength: Use of abdominal and trunk muscles to exert strength.
- Static Strength: Ability to apply force against external objects.
- Explosive Strength: Exerting maximum energy in explosive actions.
Flexibility Factors
- Extent Flexibility: Ability to stretch the trunk and back muscles.
- Dynamic Flexibility: Making rapid, repeated movements.
Other Factors
- Body Coordination: Coordinating multiple body parts simultaneously.
- Balance: Maintaining equilibrium despite forces pulling out of balance.
- Stamina: Sustaining maximum effort over an extended period.
4. The Ability-Job Fit
- Ability-Job Fit: Ensuring employees’ abilities match the job’s requirements.
5. Biographical Characteristics
- Biographical Characteristics: “Personal characteristics—such as age, gender, and race—that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records.”
6. Workforce Diversity
- Workforce Diversity: “Organizations are becoming heterogeneous in gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and inclusion of diverse groups.”
Levels of Diversity
- Surface-Level Diversity: “Differences in easily perceived characteristics (age, gender, race, etc.) that do not reflect how people think but may activate stereotypes.”
- Deep-Level Diversity: “Differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become significant as people get to know one another.”
7. Discrimination
- Discrimination: “Noting of a difference between things and making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes of their demographic group.”
8. Diversity Management
- Diversity Management: “Programs by which managers make everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others.”
Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
1. Definition of Attitudes
- Attitudes: “Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events.”
- Affective Component: The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.
- Cognitive Component: The opinion or belief segment of an attitude.
- Behavioral Component: Intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
2. Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger)
- Cognitive Dissonance: “Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.”
- People strive to reduce dissonance by altering behavior, attitudes, or perceptions.
- Factors Influencing Dissonance Reduction:
- Importance of elements causing dissonance.
- Degree of influence over elements.
- Rewards involved in resolving the dissonance.
3. Self-Perception Theory (Daryl Bem)
- “Individuals come to know their own attitudes, emotions, and internal states by inferring them from observations of their own behavior and the circumstances in which they occur.”
4. Types of Attitudes
- Job Involvement: Identifying with one’s job and considering performance important to self-worth.
- Organizational Commitment: Identifying with organizational goals and maintaining membership.
- Affective Commitment: Emotional attachment to the organization.
- Normative Commitment: Obligation to stay for ethical or moral reasons.
- Continuance Commitment: Staying because of perceived economic value.
- Job Satisfaction: Positive or negative feelings toward a job.
- Employee Engagement: “Involvement, satisfaction, and enthusiasm for the organization.”
- Perceived Organizational Support (POS): The degree to which employees feel their well-being is valued by the organization.
5. Attitude Surveys
- Surveys used to collect employees’ feedback about their jobs, work groups, supervisors, and organizations.
6. Job Satisfaction
- Facets of Satisfaction: Satisfaction with work, pay, promotion, supervision, and coworkers.
- Influence of Pay: Pay influences satisfaction only up to a point (e.g., $40,000 threshold).
- Personality and Satisfaction: Negative individuals tend to report lower job satisfaction.
7. Expressions of Job Dissatisfaction
- Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the organization.
- Voice: Active, constructive attempts to improve conditions.
- Neglect: Allowing conditions to deteriorate.
- Loyalty: Waiting passively for conditions to improve.
8. Impact of Job Satisfaction on Performance
- Happy Worker = Productive Worker: Satisfied employees tend to perform better.
- Satisfied Employees = Happy Customers: Positive employee experiences improve customer satisfaction.
9. Job Satisfaction, Absenteeism, and Turnover
- Absenteeism: Negatively related to job satisfaction, though liberal leave policies may encourage absenteeism.
- Turnover: Strongly negatively related to job satisfaction but moderated by external job prospects.
10. Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
- OCB: “Discretionary behavior that promotes the effective functioning of the organization.”
- Satisfied employees are more likely to engage in OCBs.
11. Job Satisfaction and Deviant Workplace Behavior
- Dissatisfaction can lead to:
- Unionization attempts.
- Substance abuse.
- Theft.
- Tardiness and socializing excessively.
- Deviant Workplace Behavior: “Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and threatens the well-being of the organization or its members.”
Emotions and Moods
1. Definitions of Affect, Emotions, and Moods
- Affect: “A broad range of emotions that people experience.”
- Emotions: “Intense feelings directed at someone or something.”
- Moods: “Feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus.”
2. Basic Emotions (Rene Descartes)
- Wonder
- Love
- Hatred
- Desire
- Joy
- Sadness
3. Biology and Dimensions of Emotions
- Biology of Emotions: Originate in the brain’s limbic system.
- Intensity of Emotions: Affected by personality and job requirements.
- Frequency and Duration: Refers to how often emotions are displayed and how long they last.
- Functions of Emotions: Essential for rational thinking and motivation.
4. Story of Phineas Gage
- Gage’s accident showed that loss of emotions leads to impaired reasoning. This case demonstrated the essential role of emotions in rational thinking and decision-making.
5. Sources of Emotions and Moods
- Personality: Some individuals experience emotions more frequently.
- Day and Time of the Week: Positive moods peak at the end of the week and in the middle of the day.
- Weather: No significant correlation with mood (illusory correlation).
- Social Activities: Physical, informal, or dining activities enhance positive moods more than formal or sedentary events.
- Sleep: Lack of sleep decreases decision-making ability and job satisfaction.
- Exercise: Releases endorphins (“happy hormones”).
- Age: Older individuals experience longer positive moods and quicker recovery from negative moods.
- Gender: Women express emotions more intensely and frequently but are not inherently more emotional than men.
6. Cultural Influences on Emotions
- Cultural Differences:
- Pride: Valued positively in Western cultures but negatively in Eastern cultures.
- Expressions: Smiles are interpreted differently across cultures (e.g., sign of attraction in the Middle East or lack of intelligence in Japan).
7. Emotional Labor
- Emotional Labor: When employees express organizationally required emotions during interactions.
- Felt Emotions: An individual’s genuine emotions.
- Displayed Emotions: Emotions that are organizationally appropriate and expected.
8. Emotional Dissonance
- Emotional Dissonance: Occurs when people’s felt and displayed emotions differ.
- Surface Acting: Hiding true feelings and complying with display rules.
- Deep Acting: Modifying actual inner feelings to align with display rules.
9. Affective Events Theory (AET)
- AET: Emotions are responses to workplace events, influenced by personality and mood. These emotions affect job performance and satisfaction.
10. Emotional Intelligence (EI)
- Components of EI:
- Self-awareness: Knowing one’s emotions.
- Self-management: Controlling emotions and impulses.
- Self-motivation: Staying motivated and persistent.
- Empathy: Understanding others’ emotions.
- Social Skills: Managing relationships effectively.
11. Organizational Behavior (OB) Applications
- Decision Making: Emotions are integral to decision processes.
- Creativity: Positive moods enhance creativity.
- Motivation: Emotional commitment strengthens motivation.
- Leadership: Emotions affect the acceptance of leadership messages.
- Conflict and Negotiation: Emotions shape workplace conflict and negotiation outcomes.
- Customer Service: Employees’ emotions impact service quality and customer relationships.
- Deviant Workplace Behavior: Negative emotions lead to deviance, such as theft or aggression.
Personality and Values
1. Definition of Personality
- Personality: “The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others; measurable traits a person exhibits.”
- Personality Traits: “Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.”
2. Personality Determinants
- Heredity: Genetic makeup that influences personality.
- Environment: External factors shaping behavior.
- Situation: Contextual factors influencing behavior at a given moment.
3. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- Personality Dimensions:
- Extroverted (E) vs. Introverted (I): Outgoing vs. reserved.
- Sensing (S) vs. Intuitive (N): Practical vs. big-picture thinker.
- Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F): Logic-driven vs. value-driven.
- Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P): Structured vs. spontaneous.
- Application: Useful for self-awareness and career guidance but not ideal for predicting job performance.
4. The Big Five Personality Model
- Extroversion: Sociable and assertive.
- Agreeableness: Cooperative and trusting.
- Conscientiousness: Organized and dependable.
- Openness to Experience: Imaginative and curious.
- Emotional Stability: Calm and secure under stress.
5. Personality Attributes Influencing OB
- Core Self-Evaluation:
- Self-Esteem: Degree of liking oneself.
- Locus of Control: Belief about control over events (internal vs. external).
- Machiavellianism: Pragmatic, emotionally distant, justifies means to achieve ends.
- Narcissism: Grandiosity, need for admiration, sense of entitlement.
- Self-Monitoring: Adjusting behavior to external situations.
- Risk-Taking: Quick decision-making with less information.
- Proactive Personality: Identifies and acts on opportunities for change.
- Type A vs. Type B Personalities:
- Type A: Competitive, urgent, multitasking.
- Type B: Relaxed, not time-obsessed, enjoys leisure.
6. Values and Their Role
- Definition: “Mode of conduct or end-state that is personally or socially preferable.”
- Value System: A hierarchy based on intensity of values.
- Terminal Values: Desired end-states (e.g., freedom, happiness).
- Instrumental Values: Means to achieve terminal values (e.g., honesty, responsibility).
7. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
- Power Distance: Acceptance of unequal power distribution.
- Individualism vs. Collectivism: Preference for self vs. group.
- Masculinity vs. Femininity: Value placed on achievement vs. relationships.
- Uncertainty Avoidance: Tolerance for ambiguity and change.
- Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation: Focus on future vs. present.
8. Person-Job Fit Theory (Holland)
- Six Personality Types:
- Realistic: Prefers hands-on tasks.
- Investigative: Analytical and intellectual.
- Social: Enjoys helping others.
- Conventional: Prefers structure and routine.
- Enterprising: Ambitious and energetic.
- Artistic: Creative and expressive.
- Outcome: Satisfaction and turnover are influenced by the match between personality and job environment.
Perception and Individual Decision Making
1. Definition of Perception
- Perception: “A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment.”
- Importance: Behavior is based on perception of reality, not reality itself.
2. Factors Influencing Perception
- The Perceiver: Influenced by personal characteristics like attitudes and experience.
- The Target: Characteristics of what is being perceived (e.g., motion or novelty) affect perception.
- The Situation: Context, timing, and environment influence perception.
3. Attribution Theory
- People try to determine whether behavior is internally or externally caused.
- Key Attribution Factors:
- Distinctiveness: Whether behavior is different in various situations.
- Consensus: Whether others behave the same in similar situations.
- Consistency: Whether the person behaves similarly over time.
4. Errors and Biases in Attributions
- Fundamental Attribution Error: Overestimating internal causes and underestimating external causes for others’ behavior.
- Self-Serving Bias: Attributing successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.
5. Common Shortcuts in Judging Others
- Selective Perception: Filtering information based on interests, background, and experiences.
- Halo Effect: Generalizing about a person based on a single characteristic.
- Contrast Effect: Judging someone relative to others recently encountered.
- Projection: Attributing one’s own characteristics to others.
- Stereotyping: Judging someone based on group membership.
6. Specific Applications in Organizations
- Employment Interview: Perceptual biases affect the accuracy of interviews.
- Performance Expectations: Pygmalion effect—employees perform according to leader expectations.
- Performance Evaluations: Appraisals reflect subjective perceptions of performance.
7. The Rational Decision-Making Model
- Define the problem.
- Identify decision criteria.
- Allocate weights to criteria.
- Develop alternatives.
- Evaluate alternatives.
- Select the best alternative.
- Assumptions: Problem clarity, known options, constant preferences, no time/cost constraints, and maximum payoff.
8. Bounded Rationality
- Decision-making is constrained by information-processing limits, leading to satisficing—choosing an acceptable, not optimal, solution.
9. Biases and Errors in Decision Making
- Overconfidence Bias: Overestimating one’s abilities.
- Anchoring Bias: Relying too heavily on initial information.
- Confirmation Bias: Focusing only on information that supports existing beliefs.
- Availability Bias: Using readily available information to make judgments.
- Escalation of Commitment: Increasing commitment to a decision despite negative information.
- Hindsight Bias: Believing, after the outcome, that it was predictable.
10. Intuitive Decision Making
- An unconscious process based on experience.
- Favored when:
- There is high uncertainty.
- Few facts exist.
- Time pressure is present.
11. Individual Differences in Decision Making
- Personality: Conscientiousness and self-esteem influence decision-making behavior.
- Gender: Women analyze decisions longer than men.
12. Organizational Constraints on Decision Making
- Performance Evaluations: Influence action choices.
- Reward Systems: Encourage certain decisions.
- Formal Regulations: Limit choices with rules and policies.
- Time Constraints: Require decisions within deadlines.
- Historical Precedents: Influence current decisions.
13. Cultural Differences in Decision Making
- Western vs. Eastern Cultures:
- Time orientation: Immediate vs. quality-based decisions.
- Individual vs. collective decision-making preferences.
14. Ethics in Decision Making
- Ethical Decision Criteria:
- Utilitarianism: Seeking the greatest good for the majority.
- Rights: Respecting and protecting individual rights.
- Justice: Ensuring fairness and impartiality.
- Global Ethics: No universal ethical standards; organizations must reflect local norms.
15. Improving Decision Making
- Analyze the situation and adjust decision style accordingly.
- Recognize and reduce biases.
- Combine rational analysis with intuition.
- Increase creativity by looking for novel solutions.