Questions and Answers of Organizational Behavior Science

Cognitive in nature
Generally not indicated by distinct expressions
More general (two main dimensions—positive affect and negative affect—that are composed of multiple specific emotions)
Last longer than emotions (hours or days)
Cause is often general and unclear
Action oriented in nature
Usually accompanied by distinct facial expressions
Specific and numerous in nature(many specific emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, surprise)
Very brief in duration (seconds or minutes)
Policies to improve the climate for diversity can be effective, so long as they are designed to acknowledge all employees’ perspectives. One-shot diversity training sessions are less likely to be
Diversity management must be an ongoing commitment that crosses all levels of the organization.Group management, recruiting, hiring, retention, and development practices can all be designed to
To accommodate employees with disabilities, managers can improve the fit by finetuning the job to better match an incumbent’s abilities. Often, modifications with no significant impact on the
Promotion and transfer decisions affecting individuals already in the organization’s employ should reflect candidates’ abilities. As with new employees, care should be taken to assess critical
An effective selection process will improve the fit between employees and job requirements.A job analysis will provide information about jobs currently being done and the abilities individuals need
We can readily observe biographical characteristics, but that doesn’t mean we should explicitly use them in management decisions. Most research shows fairly minimal effects of biographical
Assume the first two statements are true. Is the final one:1. True.2. False.3. Not certain.a. The boy plays baseball.b. All baseball players wear hats.c. The boy wears a hat.
When rope is selling at $0.10 a foot, how many feet can you buy for $0.60?
Describe the causes and consequences of work stress.
Show how national culture may affect the way organizational culture is transported to a different country.
Define organizational culture, and describe its common characteristics.
When determining an appropriate organizational form, managers will need to consider scarcity, dynamism, and complexity of the environment and balance the organic and mechanistic elements appropriate
Organizational downsizing can lead to major cost savings and focus organizations around their core competencies, but it can leave workers dissatisfied and worried about the future of their jobs.
Virtual and boundaryless forms are changing the face of many organizations. Contemporary managers should thoroughly understand their implications and recognize advantages and potential pitfalls.
Formal hierarchies offer advantages like unification of mission and goals, while employees in excessively rigid hierarchies can feel they have no power or autonomy.As with specialization, the key is
Demonstrate how organizational structures differ.
Compare and contrast the virtual and boundaryless organizations.
Describe the common organizational designs.
Define conflict and differentiate among the traditional, interactionist, and managedconflict views of conflict.
Show the influence of culture on the uses and perceptions of politics.
Apply impression management techniques.
Assess whether or not charismatic and transformational leadership generalize across cultures.
Compare and contrast charismatic and transformational leadership.
Define leadership and contrast leadership and management.
Contrast downward, upward, and lateral communication, and provide examples of each.
Describe the communication process and distinguish between formal and informal communication.
Show how our understanding of teams differs in a global context.
Compare and contrast four types of teams.
Contrast groups and teams and analyze the growing popularity of teams in organizations.
Demonstrate how norms and status exert influence on an individual’s behavior.
Identify the five stages of group development.
Define group and distinguish the different types of groups.
Check the System for Equity. Employees should perceive that experience, skills, abilities, effort, and other obvious inputs explain differences in performance and hence in pay, job assignments, and
Link Rewards to Performance. Rewards should be contingent on performance, and employees must perceive the link between the two. Regardless of how strong the relationship is, if individuals perceive
Allow Employees to Participate in Decisions That Affect Them. Employees can contribute to setting work goals, choosing their own benefits packages, and solving productivity and quality problems.
Use Goals and Feedback. Employees should have firm, specific goals, and they should get feedback on how well they are faring in pursuit of those goals.
Recognize Individual Differences. Managers should be sensitive to individual differences.For example, employees from Asian cultures prefer not to be singled out as special because it makes them
Give examples of employee involvement measures and show how they can motivate employees.
Compare and contrast the main ways jobs can be redesigned.
Describe the job characteristics model and evaluate the way it motivates by changing the work environment.
Apply the key tenets of expectancy theory to motivating employees.
Demonstrate how organizational justice is a refinement of equity theory.
Contrast goal-setting theory and management by objectives.
Identify early theories of motivation and evaluate their applicability today.
Finally, try to enhance your creativity. Actively look for novel solutions to problems, attempt to see problems in new ways, and use analogies. Try to remove work and organizational barriers that
Third, combine rational analysis with intuition. These are not conflicting approaches to decision making. By using both, you can actually improve your decision-making effectiveness. As you gain
Second, be aware of biases. Then try to minimize their impact.
Analyze the situation. Adjust your decision-making approach to the national culture you’re operating in and to the criteria your organization evaluates and rewards.If you’re in a country that
The employee’s conclusion that a job is good or bad is an interpretation. Managers must spend time understanding how each individual interprets reality and, when there is a significant difference
Absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction are also reactions to an individual’s perception. Dissatisfaction with working conditions and the belief that an organization lacks promotion
Employees judge issues such as fair pay, performance appraisals, and working conditions in very individual ways. To influence productivity, we need to assess how workers perceive their jobs.
Whether a manager successfully plans and organizes the work of employees and actually helps them to structure their work more efficiently and effectively is far less important than how employees
Define creativity and discuss the three-component model of creativity.
List and explain the common decision biases or errors.
Identify the shortcuts individuals use in making judgments about others.
Define values, demonstrate the importance of values, and contrast terminal and instrumental values.
Identify other personality traits relevant to OB.
Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model and demonstrate how the Big Five traits predict behavior at work.
Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain the factors that determine an individual’s personality.
Contrast the experience, interpretation, and expression of emotions across cultures.
Differentiate emotions from moods and list the basic emotions and moods.
More than money. Although paying employees poorly will likely not attract high-quality employees to the organization or keep high performers, managers should realize that high pay alone is unlikely
Job appeal. The most important thing managers can do to raise employee satisfaction is focus on the intrinsic parts of the job, such as making the work challenging and interesting.
Valid measurement. Managers will also want to measure job attitudes effectively so they can tell how employees are reacting to their work. As one review put it,“A sound measurement of overall job
Positivity. Satisfied and committed employees have lower rates of turnover, absenteeism, and withdrawal behaviors. They also perform better on the job. Given that managers want to keep resignations
Neglect. The neglect response passively allows conditions to worsen and includes chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate.
Loyalty. The loyalty response means passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism and trusting the
Voice. The voice response includes actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and undertaking some forms of
Or they can quit their job because the dissonance is too great.Exit. The exit response directs behavior toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as resigning.
They can accept the evidence and make cigarettes less dangerous or reduce their availability to more vulnerable groups, such as teenagers.
They can acknowledge the negative consequences of smoking but rationalize that people are going to smoke and that tobacco companies merely promote freedom of choice.
They can brainwash themselves by continually articulating the benefits of tobacco.
They can deny any clear causation between smoking and cancer.
Policies to improve the climate for diversity can be effective, so long as they are designed to acknowledge all employees’ perspectives. One-shot diversity training sessions are less likely to be
Diversity management must be an ongoing commitment that crosses all levels of the organization.Group management, recruiting, hiring, retention, and development practices can all be designed to
To accommodate employees with disabilities, managers can improve the fit by finetuning the job to better match an incumbent’s abilities. Often, modifications with no significant impact on the
Promotion and transfer decisions affecting individuals already in the organization’s employ should reflect candidates’ abilities. As with new employees, care should be taken to assess critical
An effective selection process will improve the fit between employees and job requirements.A job analysis will provide information about jobs currently being done and the abilities individuals need
We can readily observe biographical characteristics, but that doesn’t mean we should explicitly use them in management decisions. Most research shows fairly minimal effects of biographical
Recognize stereotypes and understand how they function in organizational settings.
Describe the two major forms of workforce diversity.
It helps managers to see the value of workforce diversity and practices that may need to be changed in different countries.
Organizational behavior offers specific insights to improve a manager’s people skills.
Because people are different, we need to look at OB in a contingency framework, using situational variables to explain cause-and-effect relationships.
Some generalizations provide valid insights into human behavior, but many are erroneous.Organizational behavior uses systematic study to improve predictions of behavior over intuition alone.
Work design4 OB’s goal is to understand and predict human behavior in organizations; the complexities of human behavior are not easy to predict, but neither are they random—certain fundamental
Conflict and negotiation
Change processes
Attitude development and perception
Group structure and processes

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