Understanding Individual Behavior

Question 1

Study of the actions of people at work.

Answer 1

Organizational Behavior

Question 2

Organizational Behavior focuses on three major areas:

Answer 2

Individual behavior
Group behavior
organizational aspects

Question 3

Attitudes, personality, perception, learning, and motivation

Answer 3

Individual behavior

Question 4

Norms, roles, team building, leadership, and conflict

Answer 4

Group behavior

Question 5

Structure, culture, and human resource policies and practices

Answer 5

Organizational aspects

Question 6

Goals of Organizational Behavior

Answer 6

To explain, predict, and influence behavior.

Question 7

A performance measure of both efficiency and effectiveness.

Answer 7

Employee productivity

Question 8

The failure to show up for work.

Answer 8

Absenteeism

Question 9

The voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization.

Answer 9

Turnover

Question 10

Discretionary behavior that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but which promotes the effective functioning of the organization.

Answer 10

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)

Question 11

An employee’s general attitude toward his or her job.

Answer 11

Job satisfaction

Question 12

Any intentional employee behavior that is potentially damaging to the organization or to individuals within the organization.

Answer 12

Workplace misbehavior

Question 13

Evaluative statements, either favorable or unfavorable, concerning objects, people, or events.

Answer 13

Attitudes

Question 14

The part of an attitude which is made up of the beliefs, opinions, knowledge, or information held by a person.

Answer 14

Cognitive component

Question 15

The emotional part of an attitude.

Answer 15

Affective component

Question 16

The part of an attitude that refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.

Answer 16

Behavioral Component

Question 17

The degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her job performance to the important to self-worth.

Answer 17

Job involvement

Question 18

The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in that organization.

Answer 18

Organizational commitment

Question 19

Employees’ general belief that their organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being.

Answer 19

Perceived organizational support

Question 20

When employees are connected to, satisfied with, and enthusiastic about their jobs.

Answer 20

Employee Engagement

Question 21

Any incompatibility or inconsistency between attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.

Answer 21

Cognitive dissonance

Question 22

Surveys that elicit responses from employees through questions about how they feel about their jobs, work groups, supervisors, or the organization.

Answer 22

Attitude Surveys

Question 23

The unique combination of emotional, thought, and behavioral patterns that affect how a person reacts to situations and interacts with others.

Answer 23

Personality

Question 24

Personality trait model that includes extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.

Answer 24

The Big Five Model

Question 25

The degree to which people believe they are masters of their own fate.

Answer 25

Locus of Control

Question 26

A measure of the degree to which people are pragmatic, maintain emotional distance, and believe ends justify means.

Answer 26

Machiavellianism

Question 27

An individual’s degree of like or dislike for himself or herself.

Answer 27

Self-esteem

Question 28

People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs.

Answer 28

Proactive personality

Question 29

An individual’s ability to overcome challenges and turn them into opportunities.

Answer 29

Resilience

Question 30

Intense feelings that are directed at someone or something

Answer 30

Emotions

Question 31

The ability to notice and to manage emotional cues and information.

Answer 31

Emotional Intelligence (IE)

Question 32

A process by which we give meaning to our environment by organizing and interpreting sensory impressions.

Answer 32

Perception

Question 33

A theory used to explain how we judge people differently depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behavior.

Answer 33

Attribution Theory

Question 34

Fundamental Attribution error

Answer 34

The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.

Question 35

The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.

Answer 35

Self-serving bias

Question 36

The assumption that others are like oneself.

Answer 36

Assumed similarity

Question 37

Judging the person on the basis of one’s perception of a group to which he or she belongs.

Answer 37

Stereotyping

Question 38

A general impression of an individual based on a single characteristic

Answer 38

Halo effect

Question 39

Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience.

Answer 39

Learning

Question 40

A theory of learning that says behavior is a function of its consequences.

Answer 40

Operant conditioning

Question 41

A theory of learning that says people can learn through observation and direct experience

Answer 41

Social learning theory

Question 42

The process of guiding learning in graduated steps using reinforcement or lack of reinforcement.

Answer 42

Shaping behavior