Chapter 1

Question 1

What is an organization

Answer 1

A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of a group of people, which functions on a realtvily continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals

Question 2

Organizational Behaviour

Answer 2

A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness

Question 3

OB as a Science

Answer 3

OB looks at consistencies
OB is more common sense
OB has few absolutes
OB takes a contingency approach - behaviour in context

Question 4

Organizations

Answer 4

• are social inventions for accomplishing common goals through group effort
  Ex: Universities

Question 5

Social Inventions:

Answer 5

organizations are social inventions - their essential characteristics is the coordinated presence of people, not necessarily things

Question 6

Goal Accomplishment:

Answer 6

individuals are assembled into organizations for a reason (usually the goal is survival)

Question 7

How to complete a goal

Answer 7

• Be motivated to join and remain in the organization
• Carry out their basic work reliably, in terms of productivity, quality, and service
• Be willing to continuously learn and upgrade their knowledge and skills
• Be flexible and innovative

Question 8

Group Effort:

Answer 8

orgnaizations depend on interaction and coordination among people to accomplish their goals
Informal grouping → friendships develop - can impact goal achievement

Question 9

attitidues

Answer 9

satisfaction, committed to the goals, supportive in promoting minorites

Question 10

Behaviours

Answer 10

conflict, innovation, resignation, or ethical lapse

Question 11

Human resources managment:

Answer 11

refers to programs, practices, and systems to acquire, develop, motivate and retain employees in organizations

Selection → personality
Training and development → learning
Compensation → motivation

Question 12

Why Study Organizational Behaviour:

Answer 12

• Help us understand why employees become committed to an organization and what motivates them to work hard

Important to - managers, employees, and consumers

Question 13

Human Captial:

Answer 13

• refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) embodied in an organization’s employees

-Strongly and positively related to organizational performance

Question 14

Social capital:

Answer 14

refers to the social resources that individuals obtain from participation in a social structure

Has to do with interpersonal relationships, social ties, and one’s network of relationships with others who can assist in work and careers

Question 15

Goals of Organizational Behaviour

Answer 15

(1) Effectively predicting, (2) explaining, and (3) managing behaviour that occurs in organizations

Question 16

Management

Answer 16

is defined as the art of getting things accomplished in organizations through others

Question 17

Management

Answer 17

is defined as the art of getting things accomplished in organizations through others

Question 18

Evidence-based Management:

Answer 18

involved translating principles based on the best scientific evidence into organizational practices

Question 19

Early Perscriptions Concerning Managment

Answer 19

Many years experts in organizations wanted to prescribe – correct way to manage

Two phases to this prescription: (1) classical viewpoint and (2) human relations movement

Question 20

The Classical View:

Answer 20

an early perscription on managment that advocated a high specilization of labour, intensive coordination, and centralized decision making
Each department was to tend to its own affairs

Question 21

Scientific management:

Answer 21

Fredrick Taylor’s system for using research to determine the optimum degree of specialization and standardization of work tasks

Question 22

Bureaucracy

Answer 22

Max Weber’s ideal type of orginization that included a strict chain of command, detailed rules, high specialization, centralized power, and selection and promotion based on technical competence

Question 23

Hawthrome studies:

Answer 23

• was research conducted in the 1920s and 1930s at the Hawthrone plant of Western Electic, near Chicago, that illustrated how psychological and social processes affect productivity and work adjustment
• Impact of fatigue, rest pauses, and lighting on productivity

Question 24

Human relations movement:

Answer 24

was a critique of classical managment and bureaucracy that advocated managment styles that were more participative and oriented toward employee needs

Question 25

contemporary managment: Contingency approach

Answer 25

approach to management that recognizes that there is no one best way to manage, rather, an appropriate style depends on the demands of the situation
Effectiveness of leadership is dependent on the abilities of followers, consequence of pay increase

Question 26

What do Managers do?

Answer 26

They both influence and are influenced by organizational behaviour, and the net result can have important consequences for organizational effectiveness

Question 27

Managerial Roles

Answer 27

1. informational
2. interpersonal
3. decision roles

Question 28

informational

Answer 28

Monitors - scan internal and external enviornments
Dissmeninator: send information to others (emails to inform of a conference)
Spokesperson: sending messages to external environment

Question 29

interpersonal

Answer 29

Figurehead
leader
liaision - talk to people with other departments

Question 30

Decisional Roles

Answer 30

Entrepreneur, Disturbance handler, Resource allocator, Negotiator

Question 31

Managerial Activites

Answer 31

Routine communication, traditional managment, networkingl, human and resource managment

Question 32

managerial agendas: agenda setting

Answer 32

were concerned with “people issues” and were less numerical than most formal strategic plans, managers based their agendas on wide-ranging informal discussions with a variety of people

Question 33

Agenda Implementation -

Answer 33

the managers used networks to implement the agendas. They would go anywhere in the network for help, up or down, in or out of the organization.

Question 34

Managerial Minds:

Answer 34

experienced managers use intuition in several ways

Question 35

Contemporary Managment Concerns

Answer 35

Diversity – Local and Global
Employee Health and Well-Being -

Question 36

mindfullness

Answer 36

a state in which people are highly aware of and attentive to what is happening in the present – have been found to reduce employee stress and absenteeism, and increase employee engagment

Question 37

How to create positive work environment -

Answer 37

Workplace spirituality and organziational care
- a workplace that provides employees with meaning, purpose, and a sense of community, and a connection to others

Question 38

Organizational care: i

Answer 38

involves values and principles centred on fulfilling employees’ needs, promoting employees’ best interests, and valuing employees’ contributions

Question 39

(2) Positive Organizational Behaviour:

Answer 39

the study and applicaition of positiviley oriented human resources and strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement in todays workplace

Question 40

Psychological capital:

Answer 40

refer to an individual’s positive psychological state of development that is characterized by self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience

Question 41

Self-efficacy

Answer 41

refers to ones confidence to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks

Question 42

Talent Management:

Answer 42

refers to an organizations processes and practices for attracting, developing, retaining, and deploying people with the required skills to meet current and future business needs

Question 43

Work engagement

Answer 43

is a positive work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption

Question 44

Alternative Work Arrangements:Precarious work:

Answer 44

refers to work that is risky, uncertain, and unpredictable for workers

• Unstable, shortterm, low pay, no benefits

Question 45

Corporate Soical Responsibility:

Answer 45

refers to an organization taking responsibility for the impact of its decisions and actions on its stakeholders

• Comapnys overall impact, beyond interests of shareholders, community, environment, consumers