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Concepts and Terms [ BUSI 240 - Document Two]
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Concepts and Terms
BUSI 240
Document Two
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Concepts and Terms [ BUSI 240 - Document Two]
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Knowledge acquisition includes extracting information and ideas from the external environment
as well as through insight. It involves individual learning, environment scanning, grafting, and
experimentation.
OB is important because it helps to fulfill the need to understand and predict. But the main
reason why people with work experience value OB knowledge is that they have discovered how
it helps them get things done in organizations.
The observable demographic or physiological differences in people, such as their race, ethnicity,
gender, age, and physical disabilities, constitute surface-level diversity.
Globalization refers to economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of
the world.
Welch was describing the second perspective of organizational effectiveness, called
organizational learning. This perspective takes the view that organizations are effective when
they find ways to acquire, share, use, and store knowledge.
Corporate social responsibility refers to an organization's moral obligation toward all of its
stakeholders. It is the view that companies have a contract with society, in which they must serve
stakeholders beyond shareholders and customers.
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Systematic research investigation is the basis for evidence-based management—making
decisions and taking actions guided by research evidence. It makes perfect sense that
management practice should be founded on the best available systematic knowledge.
Human capital is the knowledge available with the employees and is risky for the organization. It
has to be converted to structural capital, which includes knowledge captured and retained in an
organization's systems and structures, such as the documentation of work procedures and the
physical layout of the production line.
Contingencies are identified in many OB theories, such as the best leadership style, the best
conflict-handling style, and the best organizational structure.
Globalization offers numerous benefits to organizations in terms of larger markets, lower costs,
and greater access to knowledge and innovation. Globalization is now well entrenched, so the
most important issue in organizational behavior is how corporate leaders and employees alike
can lead and work effectively in this emerging reality.
Storing knowledge is the process of retaining knowledge, which is known as organizational
memory.
Organizations are groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose. Notice
that organizations are not buildings or government-registered entities. In fact, many
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organizations exist with neither physical walls nor government documentation to confer their
legal status.
OB researchers systematically study these topics at multiple levels of analysis, namely, the
individual, team (including interpersonal), and organization.
Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his colleagues (1930s and 1940s) established the "human
relations" school of management, which pioneered research on employee attitudes, formal team
dynamics, informal groups, and supervisor leadership style.
In open systems, organizations receive feedback from the external environment regarding the
value of their outputs, the availability of future inputs, and the appropriateness of the
transformation process.
As part of CSR, many companies have adopted the triple-bottom-line philosophy. They try to
support or "earn positive returns" in the economic, social, and environmental spheres of
sustainability. Firms that adopt the triple bottom line aim to survive and be profitable in the
marketplace (economic), but they also intend to maintain or improve conditions for society
(social) as well as the physical environment.
