Topic 1: Attitudes, Behaviours, and Values Flashcards
(22 cards)
What are the two key types of behaviour within an organization?
1) The way employees behave in the organization
-This in turn affects job performance
2) The way organizations behave towards their employees
-This in turn affects job attitudes
Walk me through the evolution of Organizational Behaviour?
1) Early Organization Behaviour was pioneered by Frederick W. Taylor, where he discussed his scientific management theory.
2) Human Relations Movement: Hawthorne Studies.
3) Modern Organizational Behaviour which aligns with the contingency approach
What did Frederick Taylor suggest with his scientific management theory?
-Taylor suggested that we should study the “one best way” to perform a task, and that employees should follow this optimized method to improve productivity.
-Frank Taylor advocated for “functional foremanship” where supervisors specialized in various functions.
-One person may be a specialist in training workers, while another may fulfill the role of a disciplinarian.
-It was assumed that while the managers role was to plan and control the work, it was the workers responsibility to execute.
What did the Hawthorne studies find?
-The Hawthorne studies led to the Hawthorne effect, which suggested that productivity increased not only due to physical changes, but also due to psychological and social factors.
-Initially, they looked at the impact of fatigue, rest pauses, and lighting on productivity.
-But during the study, they noticed the effects of psychological and social processes on productivity and work adjustment.
-One key way this occurred was that employees would ice out or shun other employees who worked too well because it could result in less staffing.
What is the contingency approach?
-The contingency approach suggests that there is no single best way to manage or lead. The effectiveness of a strategy or behavior depends on contextual factors such as environment, task, team dynamics, and individual differences.
-Even the impact of a pay increase is contingent upon the employees need for that extra money.
-The contingency approach illustrates the complexity of organizational behaviour.
What are the three key elements of job performance? What are the two key subcategories that stem from it?
Overall: 1) Task Performance, 2) Citizenship Behaviours, 3) Counterproductive Work Behaviours
1) Task Performance: The key technical duties of the job that the employee is hired to do.
-The two subcategories that follow are routine performance and adaptive performance.
-Routine performance is the predictable, habitual tasks that form the core of the job.
-Adaptive performance is the ability to respond to novel or challenging situations
2) Citizenship Behaviours: Voluntary actions that are not formally rewarded, but critical to the success of the organization.
-The two subcategories that follow are organizational performance and interpersonal performance.
-Organizational citizenship involves helping the company as a whole doing things like staying late to help with a project or suggesting improvements.
-Interpersonal citizenship involves helping coworkers, being courteous, mentoring new employees, maintaining a positive atmosphere.
3) Counterproductive Work Behaviours: Voluntary behaviours that harm the organization and it’s members.
-Once again, the two subcategories that follow are organizational performance and interpersonal performance.
-Organizational CWB involves things that damage the organization like theft, sabotage, or intentionally working slowly.
-Interpersonal CWB involves gossiping, bullying, harassment, or undermining colleagues.
What are the three key things to remember about performance?
1) Performance is a behaviour
2) Performance is multi-dimensional involving task performance, citizenship behaviour, and counterproductive workplace behaviour
3) Employees respond to how performance dimensions are valued
What are the key facets of job satisfaction?
1) The work itself
2) Working conditions
3) Compensation
4) Benefits
5) Recognition
6) Supervision
7) Co-Workers
8) Organizational policies
What is the definition for job satisfaction? How can we understand job satisfaction more conceptually?
-Job satisfaction refers to a collection of attitudes that people have about their jobs.
-More coneptually, we can think of job satisfaction as the discrepancy between what an individual wants from their job, and their outcomes.
-Wants-Outcomes=Job Satisfaction. As an individuals wants increases, their satisfaction declines. Conversely, as their wants decrease, their satisfaction increases.
-Another thing that influences job satisfaction is that people constantly compare the outcomes of themselves compared to the outcomes of others–and take into consideration their own inputs vs the inputs of others.That’s equity theory.
What is equity theory? How does it relate to job satisfaction?
-Equity theory states that people perceive their efforts and outcomes they receive in a job compared against the inputs and outcomes of another person or group.
-A key formula is My outcomes/My inputs=Other’s outcomes/Other’s inputs.
-If an individual is getting the better end of the deal, they won’t be too concerned, but if they are getting the worse end of the deal, they certainly will be upset.
-Individuals who see themselves as getting the short end of the stick will reduce their efforts so that the equation balances.
What are the three types of fairness?
1) Distributive fairness which has to do with the outcomes we receive
2) Procedural fairness which has to do with the process that led to those outcomes
3) Interactional fairness which concerns how those matters were communicated to us.
How does an individuals disposition impact their job satisfaction?
-Studies show that identical twins experience similar job satisfaction as one another.
-Studies also show that individuals experience similar levels of job satisfaction across all jobs, regardless of the fairness of the job itself. One job can be more fair, and another job they have can be less fair, and yet they will still have a similar level of job satisfaction in both.
Over time how does the process of withdrawal happen?
1) Reduced Organizational Citizenship Behaviour
2) Lateness
3) Absenteeism
4) Turnover(the employee quits)
Identify the difference between job performance, and job attitudes?
-Job performance is a behaviour with three key components
-Job attitudes has many causes, and are profoundly influential in determining behaviour–and by extension, determining job performance.
What are values? What are attitudes? Which is more specific?
-Values are a broad tendency to perform certain states of affairs over others.
-Our attitudes are a function of what we think and what we feel. Attitude=belief+value. Attitudes shift our behaviour.
-Attitudes are more specific than values.
What are values?
A broad tendency to perform certain states of affairs over others.
What is an attitude?
An attitude is a fairly stable evluative tendency to respond consistently to some specific object, situation, person, or category of people. Attitudes often involve evaluations directed towards specific targets.
What is emotional contagion?
Emotional contagion is the tendency for moods and emotions to spread between people or throughout a group.
What is the difference between terminal values and instrumental values?
-Terminal values are the end goals that you want to acheive in life.
-Instrumental values are the means by which we reach those goals.
What does the honeymoon-hangover effect suggest?
-Initially our job satisfaction is consistent.
-As our job satisfaction decreases, we eventually find a new job.
-Over time our job satisfaction in the new job increases during “the honeymoon” phase, however, our job satisfaction will decrease in the hangover phase.
What are the three types of organizational commitment?
1) Affective Commitment: I want to stay. This means they like it.
2) Normative Commitment: I should stay. This is out of obligation.
3) Continuance Commitment: I have to stay.
What is work centrality?
-Work centrality describes how work itself is valued across cultures. If someone said they were likely to continue working if they won the lottery would have high work centrality.
-Those with more work centrality also tend to work more hours.
