Key Concepts PDF

Key Concepts Acculturation: Cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture. Adaptors: Gestures that are reactions to the internal state of the individual. Adhocracy: Organizations composed of highly trained professionals organized...

Key Concepts Acculturation: Cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture. Adaptors: Gestures that are reactions to the internal state of the individual. Adhocracy: Organizations composed of highly trained professionals organized into temporary, overlapping teams, such as consulting firms. Adjustment: The process of adapting or becoming used to a new situation. Amish: A group of traditionalist Christian church fel-lowships with Swiss German Anabaptist origins. Heuristics: are rules of thumb, mental tools that people use to simplify decision making. Heuristics speed up decision making but can result in biases: in practice, the increased speed and convenience often outweighs the loss in decision quality. The three general heuristics that are most used to simplify decision making are availability, representativeness, and anchoring and adjustment. Availability: mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person’s mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision Representativeness: anagers’ assessments of the likelihood of an event occurring are influenced by how similar the occurrence is to their mental representation (stereotype) of similar experiences. They often ignore statistical information in favor of their personal expectation. Anchoring and adjustment: Basing estimates and decisions on known "anchors" or familiar positions and then adjusting relative to this starting point. / Managers often make a judgment by starting from some initial point (the “anchor”) and then adjusting to make a final decision. Anglophone: A person who speaks English. Artifacts: Objects made by human beings, typically an item of cultural or historical interest. Asynchronous: Not simultaneous or concurrent in time. Attribution: The action of regarding something as being caused by a person or thing. Behavioral theories: Focus on how leaders behave and assume that successful leadership is based on definable, learnable behavior. Bicultural: Individuals who have dual cultural identities. Boundary spanning: an activity in which individuals connect organizational units or the organization to its environment. Boundaryless career: the boundaryless-career concept commonly describes careers that involve moves across the physical boundaries of separate employers. Brain drain: the emigration of highly trained or intelligent people from a particular country. Categorical imperative: a moral law that is unconditional or absolute for all agents, the validity or claim of which does not depend on any ulterior motive or end. Also stated as, act to treat people always as an end and never as only a means. Centralization: the extent to which decisions are made at a single location in the organization. Charismatic or transformational theories: both charismatic and transformational leadership rely on the ability of the leader to influence and inspire followers. Transformational and charismatic leaders motivate the individual or those around them to be better and to work for the greater good of an organization or society. Coercive isomorphism: patterns of organization are imposed on the firm by an outside authority, such as the government. Cognitive moral development: the idea that people pass through stages in which they become more adequate at responding to moral dilemmas than the previous stage. Collectivism: a social pattern consisting of closely linked individuals who see themselves as part of one or more collectives, primarily motivated by norms and duties, give priority to goals of the collective Confucian ideology: a worldview that people are fundamentally good and teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor, especially self-cultivation and self-creation. Consequential models: theory holding that the morality of an action is determined by its consequence, not by whether it follows a set of written edicts or laws. Consideration: the extent to which a leader exhibits concern for the welfare of the members of the group. This factor is oriented toward interpersonal relationships, mutual trust, and friendship. Constructive conflict: occurs when disagreements evolve into a cooperative exchange of ideas. Content theories: deal with what motivates people and is concerned with individual needs and goals. Process theories: are the psychological and behavioral processes that motivate a person to act in a particular way. Contingency theory: states that a leader's effectiveness is contingent upon how their leadership style matches to the situation. Trait theories: state that leaders have certain innate traits that enable them to lead. Initiating structure: the extent to which a leader defines leader and group member roles, initiates actions, organizes group activities, and defines how tasks are to be accomplished by the group. Conversational currency: social and textual knowledge likely to be shared by many members of a culture, which offers common ground for social conversations. Crew: a group of people working together through the use or operation of a specific device or vehicle. Cultural complexity: the amount of difference that exists in the various aspects of the lives of individuals in a society. Cultural distance: the aggregate difference between individuals (or societies) based on a number of cultural dimensions. Cultural field: the culturally based elements of a person's background that influence communication. Cultural identity: part of a person's self-conception that is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality, or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. Cultural intelligence: the capability to relate and work effectively across cultures. Cultural relativism: the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture rather than be judged against the criteria of another. Culture: culture is a set of knowledge structures consisting of systems of values, norms, attitudes, beliefs and behavioral meanings that are shared by members of a social group (society) and embedded in its institutions and that are learned from previous generations. Culture shock: the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture. Culture-free perspective: a view that the contingencies that affect organizations operate similarly across cultures. Decision styles: decision making can be grouped into four main styles: directive, analytic, conceptual, and behavioral. Descriptive: deferring to or grounded in observation or experience. Devil's advocate: person who expresses a contentious opinion in order to provoke debate or test the strength of the opposing arguments. Digital divide: the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet and those who do not. Diversity management: refers to organizational actions that aim to promote greater inclusion of employees from different backgrounds into an organization's structure. Divisional structures: organizations with a number of semi-autonomous subunits coordinated by a central headquarters. Downsizing: making an organization smaller by eliminating staff positions. Dual career partnerships: families in which both heads of household pursue careers and at the same time, maintain a family life together. Dynamic externality: is about grappling with the external constraints while focusing on the survival tasks of life. It also encompasses the importance of religion in transforming people into good citizens and the belief that justice will prevail and good will triumph. Ecological theories: theories of organization in which the environmental conditions determine which organizations survive or die. Economic migration: the movement of people from one country or area to another in order to improve their standard of living. Electronic intermediation: when technology comes between individuals in an exchange. Emblems: nonverbal signals that can generally be translated directly into words. Most people within a culture or group agree on their meaning. Equity theory: based on the idea that individuals are motivated by fairness and that if they identify inequities in the input or output ratios of themselves and their referent group, they will seek to adjust their input to reach their perceived equity. Ethical dilemma: a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two courses of action, either of which might violate a moral principle. Ethnocentric: means believing that your own culture is the best. In terms of staffing strategy, it means staffing with home country nationals. Ethnolinguistic vitality: the ability of a group's language and ethnicity to sustain itself as a distinct entity. Euphemism: a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing. Expectancy theory: states that the tendency to perform in a particular manner is dependent on the expectation that the performance will be followed by a definite outcome and on the value of the outcome to the individual. Familism: a social structure where the needs of the family are more important and take precedence over the needs of any of the family members. Faultlines: hypothetical dividing lines that split a group into relatively homogeneous subgroups based on the group members alignment along multiple attributes. Femininity: cultural dimension that stresses caring and nurturing behaviors, sexual equality, environmental awareness, and more fluid gender roles. First Nations: the predominant indigenous peoples in Canada south of the Arctic Circle. Flat world: Thomas Friedman coined this term to suggest that the world is flat in the sense that the competitive playing field between industrial and emerging market countries is leveling and that individual entrepreneurs as well as companies, both large and small, are becoming part of a large, complex, global supply chain extending around the world. Foreign direct investment (FDI): Foreign direct investment is an investment made by a firm or individual in one country into business interests located in another country. Fundamental attribution error: the tendency people have to overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors in judging others' behavior. Geocentric: means having the earth as the center. In terms of staffing strategy, it means staffing with a mix of nationalities. Global commons: the earth's unowned natural resources, such as the oceans, the atmosphere, and space. Global virtual team: refers to a group of individuals who work together from different geographic locations and rely on communication technology in order to collaborate. Globalization: globalization is the word used to describe the growing interdependence of the world's economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information. GLOBE: a 62 nation study that investigated how cultural values are related to organizational practices and conceptions of leadership. Gross domestic product: gross domestic product (GDP) is the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period. Grounding: information that all participants in a communication know that they all know. Group process: refers to how a group's members work together to get things done. Heuristic: an approach to problem solving that employs a practical method, not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, logical, or rational, but instead sufficient for reaching an immediate goal. High-context communication: the messages are interpreted using tone of voice, gesture, silence, or implied meaning, as well as context or situation (read between the lines) - Japan. Low context communication: meanings are explicitly stated through language. People communicating usually expect explanations when something remains unclear. Most information is expected to be in the transmitted message in order to make up for what is missing in the context (both internal and external) - Germany & England. Horizontal differentiation: the number of different types of jobs or occupations that exist in an organization. Vertical differentiation: is the number of levels in the hierarchy of the organization. Hybrid team culture: an emergent set of norms, rules, expectations, and behaviors that individuals within a team create for themselves after a period of interaction. Hybridization: mixing organizational elements, value systems, and action logics. Hypernorm: principles so fundamental to human existence that they rise above religious, philosophical, or cultural differences. Identity (ies): the understanding a person has of him-self or herself, their self-concept. Imperative for control: the standardization of policies and procedures in order to centrally control international operations. Implicit theories: based on the idea that individuals have implicit expectations and assumptions about the personal characteristics, traits, and qualities that are inherent in a leader. Individualism: a social pattern that consists of loosely linked individuals who view themselves as independent of collectives, are primarily motivated by their own preferences and needs, and give priority to their personal goals. Indulgence versus restraint: indulgence indicates a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint indicates a society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms. Initiating structure: the extent to which a leader defines leader and group member roles, initiates actions, organizes group activities, and defines how tasks are to be accomplished by the group. In-group/out-group: an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. By contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify. Institution: an institution is a social structure formed for a common purpose that influences the behavior of people and the way they live. Some institutions are government, education, religion, law, and so on. Institutional theory: a theory that focuses on the ways that organizations in the same environment come to adopt similar structures Intellective tasks: tasks with objectively correct answers. Internet bubble: a historic speculative bubble and period of excessive speculation mainly in the United States that occurred roughly from 1994 to 2000, a period of extreme growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Isomorphism: the similarity of the processes or structure of one organization to those of another. Job characteristics model: specifies five core job dimensions that will lead to critical psychological states in the individual employee. Skill variety: Consists of different activities requiring different abilities. Task identity: Requires the completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work. Task significance: Has a substantial effect on other people. Autonomy: Has substantial freedom, independence, and discretion. Feedback: The activities of the job provide direct and clear information on performance Job design: the specification of content, methods, and relationship of jobs. Job migration: the movement by people from one place to another with the intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, in a new location. Loose coupling: in loosely coupled organizations, employees have more autonomy, and different departments may operate without much coordination among them. Low-context communication: the message will be interpreted through just the words (whether written or spoken) and their explicit meaning. Machine bureaucracy: organizations that rely on standardized procedures and policies for control, such as banks. Masculinity: cultural dimension that emphasizes ambition, acquisition of wealth, and differentiated gender roles. Matrix designs: organizational forms in which employees have dual reporting relationships. Mergers and acquisitions: mergers and acquisitions are defined as the consolidation of companies. A merger is the combination of two companies to form one. An acquisition is when one company takes over the other. Middle line: managers who are concerned with converting the broad objectives of the company into operational plans. Migration: migration is the movement by people from one place to another with the intention of settling. permanently or temporarily, in a new location. Mimetic isomorphism: organizations copy the structure of firms that have been successful in dealing with a particular environment. Mindfulness: a mental state achieved by focusing one's attention and awareness on the present moment while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Monocultural: having or referring to a single culture. Moral philosophies: systematic approach to defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct Motivation: the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal oriented behavior. Multicultural individuals: individuals with more than one cultural pattern of identity. National stereotype: a fixed, overgeneralized belief about people from a particular country. Need for closure: an individual's desire for a firm answer to a question and an aversion toward ambiguity. Nepotism: the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs. Normative isomorphism: professional bodies promote proper organizational structure. Norms: standards or patterns of social behavior that are typical or expected of a group. Operating core: the people who do the basic work of the organization. Optimization model: finding an alternative with the most cost effective or highest achievable performance under given constraints. See Rational model. Organizational design: the way in which a business is structured to best meet its business objectives. Organizational replication: the tendency of a firm to duplicate effective structures and procedures in new environments. Outsourcing: outsourcing is the business practice of hiring outside a company to perform services and create goods that traditionally were performed in house by the company's own employees. Paternalism: an approach that involves a dominant authority figure who acts as a patriarch or matriarch and treats employees and partners as though they are members of a large, extended family. In exchange, the leader expects loyalty and trust from employees, as well as obedience. Path-goal theory: a theory based on specifying a leader's style or behavior that best fits the employee and work environment in order to achieve a goal. Performance-maintenance (PM) theory: suggests that the consequences of leadership are ordinarily the result of an interaction of P-orientated and M-oriented behaviors. Polycentric: means having more than one center. In terms of staffing strategy, it means staffing with managers in each location. Power distance: how members of a specific culture view and accept an unequal sharing of power. Privatization: the process of transferring an enterprise or industry from the public sector to the private sector. Process loss: group processes that lead to performance that falls below expectations. Process theories: the psychological and behavioral processes that motivate a person to act in a particular way. Professional bureaucracy: organizations populated by highly trained professionals, such as universities. Protectionist: relates to the theory or practice of shielding a country's domestic industries from foreign competition by taxing imports. Proxemics: the study of the amount of space that people feel is necessary to set between themselves and others. Punctuated equilibrium model: a theory that most social systems (groups) exist in an extended period of stasis, which may be punctuated by sudden shifts leading to radical change. Pygmalion effect: the Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, is the phenomenon whereby others' expectations of a person affect that person's performance. Reference groups: groups that influence our opinions, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. Regiocentric: means an approach that groups countries according to regions. In terms of staffing strategy, it means staffing with a mix of nationalities within defined regions. Representativeness: a mental shortcut in which people assess the similarity of objects and organize them based around the category or prototype. Reverse migration: the movement by people back to their original home with the intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, in a new location. Reverse transfer: reverse transfer is the process of transfer of explicit or tacit knowledge from an MNO's subsidiary to its headquarters. Role ambiguity: a lack of clarity about expected behavior from a job or position Roles: the expected behavior associated with a particular position or status in a group. Role structures: mechanism that enables a member of a group to figure out all the roles of the group. Rule of thumb: a broadly accurate guide or principle, based on experience or practice. Saving or losing face: to lose face means to lose someone's respect, to be humiliated in front of others. To save face means to maintain someone's respect, to maintain the esteem of others. Schema: a mental framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Script: a sequence of expected behaviors for a given situation. Selective avoidance: the tendency to direct attention away from information that challenges existing beliefs. Selective perception: the process in which a person only perceives what they desire to, and sets aside or ignores other perceptions or viewpoints. Self-actualization: the realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potential. Self-schema: ideas and beliefs about ourselves. Servant leadership: a leadership philosophy in which the main goal of the leader is to serve. Simple organizational structures: organizations in which (almost) everyone reports to one person, as in entrepreneurial start-ups. SMEs: Small and medium-sized enterprises are defined differently around the world. In the United States, it means companies with 500 employees or less. In the EU, it is 250 employees or less. Social cognition: how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. Social dominance: a theory of intergroup relations that focuses on the maintenance and stability of group-based social hierarchies. Social loafing: the tendency of certain members of a group to get by with less effort than what they would have put in when working alone. Sociotechnical systems: an approach to organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in the workplace. Spatial differentiation: the extent to which the organization's physical facilities and personnel are geographically dispersed. State socialism: a political system in which the state has control of industries and services. Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person. Strategic apex: those people at the top of the organization responsible for making sure it follows its mission and manages its relationship with its environment. Superordinate goals: refer to goals that require the cooperation of two or more people or groups to achieve, which usually results in rewards to the groups. System of authority: the legitimate basis for making decisions on behalf of the organization. Task force: a group of people who are brought together to do a particular job. Technostructure: people who are concerned with the best way to do a job and ensuring that people have appropriate skills. Third country national: a person who is employed by an international organization and who comes neither from the country where the organization has its main base nor from the country where they are working. Tightness versus looseness: tight cultures have many strongly enforced rules and little tolerance for deviance, while loose cultures have few strongly enforced rules and greater tolerance for deviance. Totalitarianism: a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state. In theocratic totalitarianism, the religious leaders are also the political leaders. In secular totalitarianism, ideological concepts as opposed to religion are the basis of the political system Trait theories: states that leaders have certain innate traits that enable them to lead. Transition economies: an economy that is changing from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. Type 1 cognition: relatively fast, unconscious (auto-matic) mental processing. Type 2 cognition: relatively slow, conscious (controlled) mental processing. Ultimate attribution error: the tendency to attribute negative outgroup and positive ingroup behavior to the individual and to attribute positive outgroup and negative ingroup behavior to external factors. Uncertainty avoidance: how cultures differ on the amount of tolerance they have of unpredictability. Utilitarianism: a theory that states that the best action is the one that maximizes utility, which is typically defined as that which produces the greatest well-being of the greatest number of people. Values: a person's principles and beliefs about what is important in life. Vertical differentiation: the number of levels in the hierarchy of the organization. Visible minority: defined by the government of Canada as persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in color. Work centrality: belief about the degree of importance that work plays in your life.