CHAPTER 1 Responding to economic pressures, globalisation, workforce diversity,

customer service, people skills, working in networked organisations,

1.1 Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the social media at work, enhancing employee well-being, positive work
workplace. environment, improving ethical behaviour
Better performance, interpersonal skills, social responsibility 1.7 Compare the three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model.
awareness, quality of workplace relationship and job satisfaction Input - individual diversity personality values, group and organization
1.2 Define organizational behavior (OB). structure, roles, responsibilities
is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, Process – individual emotions motivation perception decision, group
groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the communication leadership conflict power, organization HR
purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an Outcomes – individual attitudes stress performance behavior, group
organization’s effectiveness. cohesion functioning, organization productivity, survival
1.3 Show the value to OB of systematic study. 1.8 Describe the key employability skills gained from studying OB
Behavior generally is predictable if we know how the person applicable to other majors or future careers.
perceived the situation and what is important to him or her.
Evidence-Based Management (EBM) – complements systematic
study, argues for mangers to make decisions based on evidence.
intuition.
1.4 Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to
OB.
Psychology (seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the
behavior), social psychology, sociology (studies people in relation to
their social environment or culture), anthropology (is the study of
societies to learn about human beings and their activities)
1.5 Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.
Contingency variables situational factors are variables that moderate
the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
1.6 Identify managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB
concepts.
CHAPTER 9 Foundations of Group Behaviour Diversity increase group conflict in the short term but in the long time
they will be open-mined and creative
9.1 Distinguish between the different types of groups. 9.7 Contrast the strengths and weaknesses of group decision making.
Social identity theory - considers when and why individuals consider Strengths of group decision making: More complete information and
themselves members of groups. knowledge, Increased diversity of views, acceptance of solutions
Ingroup favoritism - see members of our group as better than other Weaknesses of group decision making: Time consuming, Conformity
people, and people not in our group as all the same. pressures, Dominance of a few members, Ambiguous responsibility
Social identity threat.
9.2 Describe the punctuated-equilibrium model of group Groupthink: situations in which group pressures for conformity deter
development. the group from critically appraising unusual, minority, or unpopular
9.3 Show how role requirements change in different situations. views.
Role perception: one’s perception of how to act in a given situation. Groupshift: a change between a group’s decision and an individual
Role expectations: how others believe one should act in a given decision that a member within the group would make.
situation.
Role conflict: situation in which an individual faces divergent role
expectations.
9.4 Demonstrate how norms exert influence on an individual’s
behavior.
Norms - Acceptable standards of behaviour within a group that are
shared by the group’s members.
9.5 Show how status and size differences affect group performance.
Status - socially defined position or rank given to groups or group
members by others. Big group diverse input, Social loafing: the
tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working
collectively than alone.
9.6 Describe how issues of cohesiveness and diversity can be
integrated for group effectiveness.
CHAPTER 10 Understanding Work Teams Does the work create a common goal or purpose?
Are the members of the group interdependent?
10.1 Analyze the continued popularity of teams in organizations.
Teams can achieve much more than individuals, flexible, responsive,
collaborative mindset
10.2 Contrast groups and teams.
Groups – share information, neutral, individual, random & varied
Teams – collective performance, positive, mutual, complementary
10.3 Contrast the five types of team arrangements.
Problem solving – from the same department to improve quality and
efficiency
Self-managed – perform highly related/interdependent jobs (not
effective when there’s conflict and power struggle)
Cross-functional – from the same hierarchical level but different work
areas (need high level of coordination, takes time to build trust
teamwork, leadership ambiguity)
Virtual
10.4 Identify the characteristics of effective teams.
Context – adequate resources, leadership & structure, climate of
trust, performance evaluations and rewards
Composition – ability of members, personality, allocating roles,
diversity, cultural difference, size of teams, member preference
Process – common purpose, specific goals, team efficacy, team
identity, cohesion, mental models, conflict levels, social loafing
10.5 Explain how organizations can create team players.
Selecting, training, rewarding
10.6 Decide when to use individuals instead of teams.
Can the work be done better by one person?
CHAPTER 2 Diversity in Organisation Diversity management is the process and programs by which
managers make everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs
2.1 Describe the two major forms of workplace diversity. and differences of others.
Surface-level (mostly stereotypes gender race age), deep-level Attracting, selecting, developing, and retaining diverse employees
(difference in values personality preference that become Emphasize higher-level similarities among people.
progressively more important for determining similarity as people get Expatriate Adjustment
to know) Effective programs to teach managers
2.2 Demonstrate how workplace discrimination undermines
organizational effectiveness.
Stereotype threat describes the degree to which we agree internally
with the generally negative stereotyped perceptions of our groups.
Discriminatory policies or practices, sexual harassment, intimidation,
mockery, exclusion, incivility
2.3 Describe how the key biographical characteristics are relevant to
Organizational Behavior (OB).
Biological characteristics are personal characteristics that are
objective and easily obtained from personnel records.
Age, sex, race, disabilities
2.4 Explain how other differentiating characteristics factor into OB.
Tenure/seniority, religion, sexual orientation, cultural identity
2.5 Demonstrate the relevance of intellectual and physical abilities to
OB.
Intellectual abilities are abilities needed to perform mental activities
– thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.
Physical Abilities - The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina,
dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.
2.6 Describe how organizations manage diversity effectively.
CHAPTER 5 Personality & Values
5.1 Describe personality, the way it is measured, and the factors that
shape it.
Personality is a dynamic concept describing the growth and
development of a person’s whole psychological system.
5.2 Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI) personality framework and the Big Five model.
5.3 Discuss how the concepts of core self-evaluation (CSE), self-
monitoring, and proactive personality contribute to the
understanding of personality.
Core Self-Evaluation: bottom line conclusions individuals have about
their capabilities, competence, and worth as a person.
Self-Monitoring: measures an individual’s ability to adjust his or her
behaviour to external, situational factors.
Proactive Personality: people who identify opportunities, show
initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs.
5.4 Describe how personality affects job search and unemployment.
5.5 Describe how the situation affects whether personality predicts
behavior.
Situation strength theory: indicates that the way personality
translates into behaviour depends on the strength of the situation.
The degree to which norms, cues, or standards dictate appropriate
behaviour: Clarity, Consistency, Constraints, Consequences
5.6 Contrast terminal and instrumental values.
Values: Lay the foundation for understanding of attitudes and
motivation, Influence attitudes and behaviours.
Terminal values: desirable end-states of existence.
Instrumental values: preferred modes of behavior or means of
achieving terminal values.
5.7 Describe the differences between person-job fit and person-
organization fit.
Person Job Fit – uses the personality types and propose the fit
between the personality type and occupational environment
determines satisfaction and turnover
Person-Organization Fit:
- high on extraversion fit well with aggressive and team cultures
- high on agreeableness match up better with a supportive
organizational climate than one focused on aggressiveness.
- high on openness to experience fit better in organizations that
emphasize innovation rather than standardization.
5.8 Compare Hofstede’s five value dimensions and the GLOBE
framework.
Hofstede’s Framework: Power distance, Individualism vs
collectivism, Masculinity vs femininity, Uncertainty avoidance,
Long-term vs short-term orientation
GLOBE: ++humane orientation (degree which society rewards indiv
for being altruistic, generous kind), performance orientation
CHAPTER 6 Perception and Individual Decision Making
6.1 Explain the factors that influence perception.
Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret
their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment.
6.2 Describe attribution theory.
Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s
behaviour, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or
externally caused. Depends on distinctiveness, consensus, consistency
-> internal / external causation
Fundamental attribution error: tendency to underestimate the
influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of
internal or personal factors.
Self-serving bias: Individuals attribute their own successes to internal
factors.
Selective perception: Any characteristic that makes a person, object,
or event stand out will increase the probability that it will be
perceived.
Halo effect: occurs when we draw a general impression based on a
single characteristic.
Contrast effects: Our reaction to one person is influenced by other
persons we have recently encountered.
Stereotyping: Judging someone based on one’s perception of the
group to which that person belongs.
6.3 Explain the link between perception and decision making.
Decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem: a discrepancy
between some current state of affairs and some desired state,
requiring consideration of alternative courses of action.
6.4 Contrast the rational model of decision making with bounded
rationality and intuition.
Rational Decision-Making Model: Define the problem, identify the
decision criteria, allocate weights, develop, evaluate the alternatives,
select the best (assumptions: has complete info, able to identify all
the relevant options unbiased, chooses option with highest utility)
Bounded Rationality: Once a problem is identified, the search for
criteria and options begins. A limited list of the more conspicuous
choices is identified. The decision maker then reviews the list, looking
for a solution that is “good enough.”
Common Biases and Errors in Decision Making
Overconfidence Bias: individuals whose intellectual and
interpersonal abilities are weakest are most likely to overestimate
their performance and ability.
Anchoring Bias: fixating on initial information as a starting point and
failing to adequately adjust for subsequent information.
Confirmation Bias: Seek out information that reaffirms past choices,
and discount information that contradicts past judgments.
Availability Bias: tendency for people to base judgments on
information that is readily available.
Escalation of Commitment: staying with a decision even when there
is clear evidence that it’s wrong.
Randomness Error: our tendency to believe we can predict the
outcome of random events.
Risk Aversion: the tendency to prefer a sure thing instead of a risky
outcome.
Hindsight Bias: the tendency to believe falsely that one has
accurately predicted the outcome of an event, after that outcome is
actually known.
6.5 Explain how individual differences and organizational constraints
affect decision making.
Individual Differences: Personality (conscientiousness, high self-
esteem), gender, mental ability, cultural difference
Organizational Constraints: Performance Evaluation Systems, Reward
Systems, Formal Regulations, System-Imposed Time Constraints,
Historical Precedents
6.6 Contrast the three ethical decision criteria.
Utilitarianism: decisions are made solely on the basis of their
outcomes or consequences.
Behavioral ethics: an area of study that analyzes how people behave
when confronted with ethical dilemmas.
Lying
6.7 Describe the three-stage model of creativity.
Causes of creative behaviors (creative potential and environment)
Creative behaviour (Problem formulation, information gathering,
idea generation)
Creative outcomes (novelty, usefulness)
CHAPTER 11 Communication
11.1 Describe the functions and process of communication.
5 functions: Management, feedback, emotional sharing, persuasion,
information exchange
Communication acts to manage member behavior in several ways:
Authority hierarchies and formal guidelines, Job descriptions and
company policies, Workgroup teasing or harassing.
Communication creates feedback by clarifying to employees what
they must do, how well they are doing it, and how they can improve
their performance.
Communication, therefore, provides for the emotional sharing of
feelings and fulfillment of social needs.
11.2 Contrast downward, upward, and lateral communication
through small-group networks and the grapevine.
Downward: flows from one level to a lower level (Assign goals,
provide instructions, communicate policies and procedures, and
provide feedback)
Upward communication: Provide feedback to higher-ups, inform
them of progress, and relay current problems.
Lateral communication: takes place among members of the same
work group, among members of work groups at the same level,
among managers at the same level, or among any horizontally
equivalent personnel.
The informal communication network in a group or organization is
called the grapevine.
11.3 Contrast oral, written, and nonverbal communication.
11.4 Describe how channel richness underlies the choice
of communication channel.
Routine messages tend to be straightforward and have a minimum of
ambiguity.
Choose oral communication when you need to gauge the receiver’s
receptivity. Written communication is more reliable for complex and
lengthy communications.
11.5 Differentiate between automatic and controlled processing of
persuasive messages.
Automatic processing: a relatively superficial consideration of
evidence and information. (little time low effort)
Controlled processing: a detailed consideration of evidence and
information relying on facts, figures, and logic. (harder to fool
someone who engages in it)
Rules of thumb for determining the choice of processing:
Interest level, Prior knowledge, Personality, Need for cognition,
Message characteristics
11.6 Identify common barriers to effective communication.
Filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotions,
language, silence, communication apprehension, lying
11.7 Discuss how to overcome the potential problems of cross-
cultural communication.
A Cultural Guide
– Know yourself.
– Foster a climate of mutual respect, fairness, and
democracy.
– State facts, not your interpretation.
– Consider the other person’s viewpoint.