Business 300-test 1
Liberty University
7/20/20
Organizational Behavior-the study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations
Organizations-groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose
organizational effectiveness-the effectiveness of your organization.
considered to be the ultimate dependent variable
open systems-organizations depend on the external environment for resources, including raw materials,
employees, financial resources, information, and equipment
organizational efficiency-also called productivity is the ratio of inputs to outcomes
organizational learning-a perspective that organizational effectiveness depends on the organization's
capacity to acquire, share use, and store valuable knowledge
Intellectual capital-a company's knowledge, including human capital, structural capital, and relationship
capital
High Performance Work Practices (HPWP)-a perspective that effective organizations incorporate several
workplace practices that leverage the potential of human capital
Stakeholders-individuals, organizations, or entities who affect, or are affected by, the organizations
objectives and actions
Values-stable, evaluative beliefs that guide a person's preferences for outcomes or course of action in a
variety of situations
Ethics-the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and
outcomes are good or bad
Corporate Social Responsibility consists of organizational activities intended to benefit society and the
environment beyond the firms' immediate monetary interests or legal obligations
Task Performance-refers to goal directed behaviors under the control that support organizational
objectives
Organizational Citizenship behaviors-various forms of cooperation and helpfulness to others that support
the organizations social and psychological context
example: attending no required conferences
Counter Productive Work behaviors-voluntary behaviors that have the potential to harm the organization
directly or indirectly
Job Satisfaction-person's evaluation of his or her job and work context
Globalization-economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world
Surface Level Diversity-the observable demographic or physiological differences in people such as their
race, ethnicity, gender, age, and physical disabilities
Deep-Level Diversity-differences in the psychological characteristics of employees, including
personalities, beliefs, values, and attitudes
Work/Life Balance-the degree to which a person minimizes conflict between work and non-work
demands
Virtual Work-work performed away from the traditional workplace using information technology
Motivation-the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity, and persistence of
voluntary behavior
Ability-the natural aptitudes and learned capabilities required to successfully complete a task
Competencies-skills, knowledge, aptitudes, and other personal characteristics that lead to superior
performance
Personality-the enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize a person, along
with the psychological processes behind those characteristics
Neuroticism-a personality dimension describing people with elevated levels of anxiety, hostility,
depression, and self-consciousness
Extroversion-a personality dimension describing people who are outgoing, talkative, sociable, and
assertive
Self-concept-An individual's self-beliefs and self-evaluations
Self-Verification-Maintains people's self-concept
Self-Efficiency-a person's belief that he or she has the ability, motivation, correct role
perceptions, and favorable situation to complete a task successfully
Locus of Control-a person's general belief about the amount of control he or she has over personal life
events
Social Identity Theory-a theory that explains self-concept in terms of the person's unique characteristics
(personal identity) and membership in various social groups (social identity) page 34
Individualism-across cultural value describing the degree to which people in a culture emphasize
independence and personal uniqueness
Collectivism-a cross-cultural value describing the degree to which people in a culture emphasize duty to
groups to which people belong, and to group harmony
Power Distance-a cross-cultural value describing the degree to which people in a culture accept unequal
distribution of power in a society
Uncertainty avoidance-across cultural value describing the degree to which people in a culture tolerate
ambiguity (low uncertainty avoidance) or feel threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty (high uncertainty
avoidance)
Moral Intensity-The degree to which an issue demands the application of ethical principles
Ethical sensitivity-a personal characteristic that enables people to recognize the presence and determine
the relative importance of an ethical issue
Kant- universal laws-"Act only to which the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should
become a universal law"
Utilitarianism-seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people
problems:
1. what is the greatest good?
2. What is the greatest number?
Individual rights-everyone has entitlements that let them act in a certain way
Duties-I have a duty not to harm others
Rights-I have a right for others not to harm me
Year OB started-1940
Subsystems-processes, tasks, activities, social dynamics within the system
transformation process-subsystems transform inputs into various outputs
intellectual capital-all the knowledge in an organization
human capital-knowledge that employees carry around in their heads
structural capital-knowledge captured and retained in an organizations systems and structures,
documentation, finished products
relationship capital-value derived from an organization's relationships with customers, suppliers etc.
High performance work practices (HPWPS)-internal systems and structures that are associated with
successful companies
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)-organizational activities intended to benefit society and the
environment beyond the firms' immediate monetary interests or legal obligations
Milton Friedman-"There is one and only one social responsibility of business- to use its resources and
engage in activities designed ti increase profits
Task Performance
1. goal-directed behaviors under individual control that support organizational objectives
2. transform raw materials into goods and services or support and maintain the technical activities
3. Joining and staying with the organization
4. Companies must attract and retain people who are good at their jobs
5. Maintaining work attendance-coming no matter what the situation is
6. surface level diversity-observable diversity in the work force
7. deep-level diversity-not noticeable on the outside but noticeable in psychological behaviors
8. Contingency anchor-"It depends"!!!
Magnitude of consequences (MC)-refers to the sum of the harm resulting from the moral act in question
Social Consensus (SC)-refers to the degree of social agreement that a proposal act is ethical or unethical
Probability of effect (PE)-refers to both the probability that the act in question will take place, and the
probability will cause harm
Temporal Immediacy (TI)-refers to the length of time between the act in question and the onset of
consequences occur
Proximity (PX)-refers to the social, cultural, psychological, or physical closeness that the moral agent feels
for the victim
Concentration Effect (CE)-refers to the impact of a given magnitude of harm in relation to the number of
people affected
allocation of justice-Procedural justice-fairness in the process by which resources are allocated and
disputes are settled
Egoism-What benefits me?
Three Cs of self-concept
1. complexity- people have multiple self-concepts
2. Consistency- similar personality traits that are required across all aspects of self-concepts
3. People develop a clearer self-concept as they get older
Self- enhancement-promoting and protecting our positive self-view of being competent, attractive, lucky,
ethical, valued q
Self- Verification-affirming our existing self-concept
Social identity theory-people define themselves in terms of the groups to which they belong or have an
emotional attachment
Espoused vs. Enacted-How we think we act vs. how we act
Values congruence-the extent that a person's values hierarchy is like the values hierarchy of the
organization
Uncertainty avoidance-the degree to which people tolerate ambiguity
five factor model (FFM)-The five abstract dimensions representing most personality traits;
conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness, and extroversion
