Chapter 1 organizational behavior

Manager an individual who achieves goals through other people.

Organization A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people that functions on a
continuous basis to achieve a common goal/ set of goals.
Planning A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate
activities.
Organizing Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped,
who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
leading A function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective
communication channels, and resolving conflicts.
controlling Monitoring activities to ensure they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any
significant deviations
technical skills The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise.
human skills The ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in
groups.
conceptual skills The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations
organizational behavior (OB) 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.
systematic study Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing
conclusions based on scientific evidence.
evidence-based management (EBM) The basing of managerial decisions on the best available scientific
evidence.
intuition A gut feeling not necessarily supported by research.
psychology The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans
and other animals.
social psychology An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that
focuses on the influence of people on one another.
sociology The study of people in relation to their social environment or culture.
anthropology The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
contingency variables Situational factors: variables that moderate the relationship between two or more
variables.
workforce diversity The concept that organizations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of
gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and inclusion of other diverse groups.
positive organizational scholarship An area of OB research that concerns how organizations develop
human strength, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential.
ethical dilemmas and ethical choices Situations in which individuals are required to define right and
wrong conduct.
model An abstraction of reality. A simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon
input Variables that lead to processes.
processes Actions that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a result of inputs and that lead
to certain outcomes.
outcomes Key factors that are affected by some other variables
task performance The combination of effectiveness and efficiency at doing your core job tasks.
citizenship behavior Discretionary behavior that contributes to the psychological and social environment
of the workplace.
withdrawal behavior The set of actions employee take to separate themselves from the organization
group cohesion The extent to which members of a group support and validate one another while at work.
group functioning The quantity and quality of a work group’s output.
productivity The combination of the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization.
effectiveness The degree to which an organization meets the needs of its clientele or customers.
efficiency The degree to which an organization can achieve its ends at a low cost.
organizational survival The degree to which an organization is able to exist and grow over the long
term.
attitudes Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events.

Chapter 2 diversity in organization

surface-level diversity Differences in easily perceived characteristics, such as gender, race, ethnicity,
age, or disability, that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel but that may activate certain
stereotypes.
deep-level diversity Differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become progressively
more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better.
discrimination Noting of a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which
means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group.
biographical characteristics Personal characteristic such as age, gender, race, and length of tenure that
are objective and easily obtained from personnel records. These characteristics are representative
of surface-level diversity.
ability An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.
intellectual abilities The capacity to do mental activities—thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.
general mental ability (GMA) An overall factor of intelligence, as suggested by the positive correlations
among specific intellectual ability dimensions.
physical abilities The capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar
characteristics.
diversity management The process and programs by which managers make everyone more aware of and
sensitive to the needs and differences of others.

Chapter 3 attitudes and job satisfaction

affective component The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.
behavioral component An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
cognitive component The opinion or belief segment of an attitude
cognitive dissonance Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and
attitudes.
job satisfaction A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.
job involvement The degree to which a person identifies with a job, actively participates in it, and
considers performance important to self-worth.
psychological empowerment Employees’ belief in the degree to which they affect their work
environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy in their
work.
organizational commitment The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization
and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.
perceived organizational support (POS) The degree to which employees believe an organization values
their contribution and cares about their well-being.
employee engagement An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the work
he or she does.
core self-evaluations Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capabilities, competence, and
worth as a person.
exit Dissatisfaction expressed through behavior directed toward leaving the organization.
voice Dissatisfaction expressed through active and constructive attempts to improve conditions.
loyalty Dissatisfaction expressed by passively waiting for conditions to improve.
neglect Dissatisfaction expressed through allowing conditions to worsen.
Chapter 4 Emotion & moods
affect A broad range of feelings that people experience.
Emotions Intense feelings that are directed at someone or something.
moods Feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus
positive affect A mood dimension that consists of specific positive emotions such as excitement, self-
assurance, and cheerfulness at the high end and boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end.
negative affect A mood dimension that consists of emotions such as nervousness, stress, and anxiety at
the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end.
positivity offset The tendency of most individuals to experience a mildly positive mood at zero input
(when nothing in particular is going on).
affect intensity Individual differences in the strength with which individuals experience their emotions.
illusory correlation The tendency of people to associate two events when in reality there is no
connection.
emotional labor A situation in which an employee expresses organizationally desired emotions during
interpersonal transactions at work.
emotional dissonance Inconsistencies between the emotions people feel and the emotions they project.
displayed emotions Emotions that are organizationally required and considered appropriate in a given
job.
surface acting Hiding one’s inner feelings and forgoing emotional expressions in response to display
rules.
affective events theory (AET) A model that suggests that workplace events cause emotional reactions on
the part of employees, which then influence workplace attitudes and behaviors.
deep acting Trying to modify one’s true inner feelings based on display rules.
felt emotions An individual’s actual emotions.
emotional intelligence (EI) The ability to detect and to manage emotional cues and information.
emotional contagion The process by which peoples’ emotions are caused by the emotions of others.

Chapter 5 personality and value

personality Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.
heredity Factors determined at conception; one’s biological, physiological, and inherent psychological
makeup.
personality traits Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies
people into 1 of 16 personality types.
Big Five Model A personality assessment model that taps five basic dimensions.
agreeableness A personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured, cooperative, and
trusting.
conscientiousness A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable,
persistent, and organized.
emotional stability A personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self-confident, secure
(positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).
openness to experience A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination,
sensitivity, and curiosity.
extraversion A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive.
core self-evaluation Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capabilities, competence, and
worth as a person.
Machiavellianism The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and
believes that ends can justify means.
self-monitoring A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to
external, situational factors.
narcissism The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require excessive
admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.
proactive personality People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until
meaningful change occurs.
values Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially
preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.
value system A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity.
terminal values Desirable end-states of existence; the goals a person would like to achieve during his or
her lifetime.
instrumental values Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal values.
personality–job fit theory A theory that identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between
personality type and occupational environment determines satisfaction and turnover.
power distance A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power
in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
individualism A national culture attribute that describes the degree to which people prefer to act as
individuals rather than as members of groups.
collectivism A national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework in which people expect
others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.
masculinity A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which the culture favors traditional
masculine work roles of achievement, power, and control. Societal values are characterized by
assertiveness and materialism.
femininity A national culture attribute that indicates little differentiation between male and female roles;
a high rating indicates that women are treated as the equals of men in all aspects of the society.
uncertainty avoidance A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society feels
threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them.
long-term orientation A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift, and persistence.
short-term orientation A national culture attribute that emphasizes the past and present, respect for
tradition, and fulfillment of social obligations.

Chapter 6 perception and individual decision making

perception A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to
give meaning to their environment
attribution theory An attempt to determine whether an individual’s behavior is internally or externally
caused.
fundamental attribution error The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and
overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.
self-serving bias The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors and put
the blame for failures on external factors.
selective perception The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of one’s interests,
background, experience, and attitudes.
halo effect The tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single
characteristic.
contrast effect Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that is affected by comparisons with other people
recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.
stereotyping Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person
belongs.
self-fulfilling prophecy A situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a second person, and the
resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception.
decisions Choices made from among two or more alternatives.
problem A discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired state.
rational Characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within specified constraints.
rational decision-making model A decision-making model that describes how individuals should behave
in order to maximize some outcome
bounded rationality A process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the
essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity.
intuitive decision making An unconscious process created out of distilled experience.
anchoring bias A tendency to fixate on initial information, from which one then fails to adequately adjust
for subsequent information.
confirmation bias The tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices and to discount
information that contradicts past judgments.
availability bias The tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is readily available
to them.
escalation of commitment An increased commitment to a previous decision in spite of negative
information.
randomness error The tendency of individuals to believe that they can predict the outcome of random
events.
risk aversion The tendency to prefer a sure gain of a moderate amount over a riskier outcome, even if the
riskier outcome might have a higher expected payoff.
hindsight bias The tendency to believe falsely, after an outcome of an event is actually known, that one
would have accurately predicted that outcome.
Utilitarianism A system in which decisions are made to provide the greatest good for the greatest
number.
whistle-blowers Individuals who report unethical practices by their employer to outsiders.
Creativity The ability to produce novel and useful ideas.
three-component model of creativity The proposition that individual creativity requires expertise,
creative thinking skills, and intrinsic task motivation.