MAN3240 Organizational Behavior Midterm Exam Study Guide Multiple choice questions are worth 2 points each There are 50 MC questions on the exam Review the following to be prepared for this portion of the test One of the earliest studies that proved that employees are more motivated when being watched Results demonstrated that employee performance can be improved by attending to individual needs supportive supervision and group dynamics Hawthorn Studies Theory X and Theory Y Theory X states that employees are lazy and dislike work and avoid it when they can Employees should be threatened or punished for them to work perform Employees avoid responsibility and are only interested in security Theory Y states that work is a natural activity and that employees are able to direct themselves They will commit if they are rewarded for doing so Employees can learn to accept and seek responsibility The general population has imagination ingenuity and creativity Contingency approach to management The contingency approach calls for using management concepts and techniques in a situationally appropriate manner instead of trying to rely on one best way There is no one way to complete a task or make a decision and so you have to practice flexibility Social capital Productive potential resulting from strong relationships goodwill trust and cooperative effort Two types of social capital are internal and external Internal Mentoring relationship to provide guidance and opportunities Membership in company softball team to build relationships outside of your work area External Attending conferences relation to your field or of other companies to network and learn of other job opportunities Joining a local industry specific organization to network and to identify new customers Page 1 of 11 Organizational culture The set of shared taken for granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives thinks about and reacts to various environments The three layers of organizational behavior are observable artifacts espoused values and basic assumptions Observable Artifacts The physical manifestation of and organization s culture Ex Acronyms manner of dress awards myths and stories told about the organization published list of values observable rituals special parking spaces decorations and so on Espoused values Explicitly stated values and norms that are preferred by an organization These are put in place to directly influence employee behavior Enacted values Values that are exhibited or converted into employee behavior These are values that employees ascribe to the organization based on daily observations of their peers and managers Basic Assumptions The core of organizational culture Unobservable taken for granted assumptions that guide organizational behavior Global mindset requirements Intellectual Capital Knowledge of International Business and ability to learn characterized by savvy cognitive complexity and cosmopolitan outlook Psychological Capital Openness to other cultures and willingness to change characterized by passion for diversity thirst for adventure and self assurance Social Capital Forming connections and bringing people together How is culture learned Culture is learned from family parents teachers church and media Page 2 of 11 Ethnocentrism The belief that one s country culture language and modes of behavior are superior to all others GLOBE project Managerial implications of perception Power distance How much unequal distribution of power should there be in an organization Uncertainty avoidance How much should people rely on social norms and rules to avoid uncertainty and limit unpredictability Institutional collectivism How much should leaders encourage and reward loyalty to the social unit as opposed to the pursuit of individual goals In group collectivism How much pride and loyalty should an individual have for their family or organization Gender egalitarianism How much effort should be put into minimizing gender discrimination and role inequalities Assertiveness How confrontational and dominant should individuals be in social relationships Future orientation How much should people delay gratification by planning and saving for the future Performance orientation How much should individuals be rewarded for improvement and excellence Humane orientation How much should society encourage and reward people for being kind fair friendly and generous Kelley s Model of Attribution Proposes that behavior can be attributed to internal factors within a person or to external factors within the environment Page 3 of 11 Three dimensions of behavior Consensus Comparing an individual s behavior with that of his peers There is a high consensus when one acts like the rest of his group and low consensus when one acts differently Distinctiveness Comparing a person s behavior on one task with his her behavior on other tasks High distinctiveness means the individual has performed the task in question in a significantly different manner than they perform other tasks Low means stable performance or quality from one task to another Consistency Judging if one s performance on a given task is consistent over time High consistency means stability while low means unstable performance of a given task Perceptual errors Halo Giving someone or something high ratings because he she it is liked but not necessarily good Biased Leniency Not wanting to say negative things about someone or something and so you give them high ratings good evaluations Central tendency The tendency to avoid all extreme judgments and rate people things as average or neutral Recency effects The tendency to remember recent info so something or someone can be rated negatively because they recently performed negatively but they may have been good great throughout the term Contrast effects Evaluating people or things by comparing them with recently observed characteristics of other people things Types of memory Event memory Info about specific and general events These memories describe sequences of events in well known situations Semantic memory General knowledge about the world Mental dictionary of concepts Person memory Info about people being able to remember info about a person event or an advertisement especially if it contains characteristics that are similar to something stored in your memory Page 4 of 11 Based on the premise that people attempt to infer causes for observed behavior Formulating cause and effect
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