MGMT 311 Exam 1 Review: Organizational Behavior

Exam 1 Review - MGMT 311

• The Exam is on March 3rd and will consist of 45 Multiple Choice Questions.

Chapter 1: Organizational Behavior

• Organizational behavior is a field of study dedicated to understanding, explaining, and improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations.
• A resource is valuable if it is rare and inimitable.
• One-eighth of firms believe the connections, make comprehensive changes, and stick to it long enough to see the profits increase.
• Information can be garnered about Organizational Behavior through Experience, Intuition, Authority, and Science
• A theory is a collection of assertions, both verbal and symbolic, that specify how and why variables are related, and the conditions where they should be.
• To test a theory, data is gathered on the variables included in hypotheses.
• Correlation strength can be inferred from judging the compactness of a scatterplot of X-Y values.
• More compact = stronger correlation.
• Less compact = weaker correlation.
• A theory is needed to start scientific testing.
• Meta-analysis averages correlations from multiple studies.
• Meta-analyses form the foundation for evidence-based management, the use of scientific findings to inform management practice.
• Correlation doesn't prove causation.
• Proving causation requires correlation, temporal precedence, and elimination of alternative explanations.

Chapter 2: Job Performance

• Job Performance is the value of employee behaviors that contribute positively or negatively to organizational goal accomplishment, not the consequences or results of behavior but the behavior itself.
• "Good performer" qualities include task performance, citizenship behavior, and counterproductive behavior.
• Task Performance: behaviors directly involved in transforming organizational resources into goods or services (i.e., in one's job description).
• Task performance is typically a mix of routine, adaptive, and creative tasks.
• Task performance can be identified through job analysis, determining specific job requirements, rating tasks by frequency and importance, and defining task performance by frequent and important tasks.
• Citizenship behavior: voluntary activities that may or may not be rewarded but that improve the work environment.
• Organizational citizenship behavior includes voice, civic virtue, and boosterism.
• Interpersonal Citizenship Behaviors include helping, courtesy, and sportsmanship.
• Counterproductive behavior: employee behaviors that intentionally hinder organizational goal accomplishment.
• Organizational counterproductive behaviors include production deviance (minor), property deviance (serious).
• Interpersonal counterproductive behaviors include political deviance/gossiping (minor), personal aggression/abuse (serious).
• Trends affecting performance include knowledge work and service work.
  • Knowledge work includes cognitive emphasis and is fluid and dynamic.
  • Service work provides non-tangible goods to customers, requires direct interaction with customers, and needs high citizenship and low counterproductive behavior.

Chapter 3: Organizational Commitment

• Organizational commitment is a desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of an organization.
• There is an inverse relationship between organizational commitment and withdrawal behavior.
• Low withdrawal behavior associates with high organizational commitment .
• Moderate withdrawal behavior associates with moderate organizational commitment.
• High withdrawal behavior associates with low organizational commitment.
• Three types of commitment combine to form overall organizational commitment:
  • Affective commitment: desire to remain a member due to emotional attachment and involvement, staying because you WANT to.
  • Continuance commitment: desire to remain due to awareness of the costs associated with leaving.
  • Normative commitment: desire to remain due to a feeling of obligation.
• Withdrawal is a set of actions employees perform to avoid work.
• 51% of employees' time is spent working, while 49% is allocated to breaks, late starts, early departures, and other forms of withdrawal.
• Withdrawal forms are independent, compensatory, and progressive.
• Forms of withdrawal are almost always moderately to strongly correlated.
• Correlations suggest a progression like lateness strongly relates to absenteeism, and absenteeism strongly associates with quitting.
• Psychological withdrawal (neglect) includes daydreaming, looking busy, cyber-loafing, socializing, and moonlighting.
• Physical withdrawal (exit) includes tardiness, missing meetings, quitting, long breaks, and absenteeism.
• Exit means ending/restricting organizational membership.
• Voice means a constructive response to improve the situation.
• Loyalty means remaining supportive while hoping for change.
• Neglect means reduced interest and effort in the job.
• Trends affecting commitment include workforce diversity, aging populations, and changing employee-employer relationships.

Chapter 4: Job Satisfaction

• Job satisfaction depends on whether your job supplies the things you value.
• Job satisfaction has five components: pay, promotion, and supervision satisfaction; coworker satisfaction; and satisfaction with the work itself.
• Job Characteristics Theory: jobs are more enjoyable when challenging and fulfilling work tasks.
• Jobs are rewarding if they have variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback (VISAF).
• Life satisfaction means happiness with life.
• Job satisfaction is one of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction.
• Increases in job satisfaction have a stronger impact on life satisfaction than increases in salary/income.

Chapter 5: Stress

• Stress is a psychological response to demands that possess certain stakes for the person and exceed their capacity/resources.
• It's helpful to consider the transactional theory of stress to understand what it means to feel "stressed."
• The theory explains how stressors are perceived, appraised, and how people respond.
• Challenge stressors include time pressure, work complexity, and work responsibility.
• Hindrance stressors include role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, and daily hassles.
• Family Challenge stressors include family time demands, personal development, and positive life events.
• Family Hindrance stressors include work-family conflict, financial uncertainty, and negative life events.
• Coping refers to the behaviors/thoughts people use to manage stressful demands and associated emotions.
• Problem-focused Behavioral Methods include working harder, seeking assistance, and acquiring additional resources.
• Emotion-focused Methods include engaging in alternative activities, seeking support, and venting anger Cognitive Methods involve strategies such as self-motivating or changing priorities; these can be problem or emotion focused based on situation
• Strain refers to the negative consequences of stress.
• Physiological strains include illness, high blood pressure, headaches, back pain, and stomachaches.
• Psychological strains include depression, anxiety, irritability, forgetfulness, reduced confidence, and burnout.
• Behavioral strains include alcohol/drug use, teeth grinding, compulsive behaviors, and overeating.
• Individual factors in coping with stress include Type A Behavior Pattern, recovery, and social support.
• Social support can be instrumental and emotional.
• Stressors influence strains, health, and well-being.
• Stressors impact job performance and organizational commitment.