MARS model of individual behavior and performance · Adaptive task performance

For most of the past century, experts have investigated the direct How well employees modify their thoughts and behaviors to align
predictions of individual behavior and performance. with and support a new or changing environment.

One of the earliest formulas was: performance = person X · Proactive task performance
situation How well employees take the initiative to anticipate and introduce
new work patterns that benefit the organization.
Person: individual characteristics
Situation: external influences on the individuals behavior Organizational citizenship
Another formula Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB’s): various forms of
Performance = ability X motivation cooperation and helpfulness to others that support the
The skill-and-will model organization’s social and psychological context.

AMO model Counter-productive work behaviors

Ability-motivation-opportunity Voluntary behaviors that have the potential to directly or indirectly
Limited interpretation of the situation harm the organization.
MARS Four variables
Joining and staying with the organization
⮚ Motivation
Maintaining work attendance
⮚ Ability Organizations are more effective when employees perform their
jobs at scheduled times.
⮚ Role perception
Personality in organizations
Personality determinants: nature versus nurture
⮚ Situational factors Personality is shaped by both nature and nurture.

`All factors critical influences on an individual’s voluntary behavior Five-factor model of personality
and performance These are direct predictors of behavior on the The five broad dimensions representing most personality traits:
workplace.
· Conscientiousness - organized, dependable, methodical,
1. Employee motivation and industrious
· Motivation: the forces within a person that affect his or her
direction, intensity, and persistence of voluntary behavior.
· Emotional stability
· Direction refers to the path along which people steer their
effort. Motivation is goal-directed.
Intensity is the amount of effort allocated with the goal. · Openness to experience
· Persistence refers to the length of time that the individual
continues to exert effort toward an objective. Employees sustain · Agreeableness
their effort until they reach their goal or give up beforehand.
· Extraversion
2. Ability
· The natural aptitudes and learned capabilities required to Five-factor model and work performance
successfully complete a task. Personality mainly affects behavior and performance through
· Aptitudes are the natural talents. motivation, specifically by influencing employees’ direction and
· Learned capabilities are the physical and mental skills and intensity of effort. All of the five-factor model dimensions predict
knowledge you have acquired. They tend to wane over time when one or more types of employee behavior and performance to
not used. some extent.
· Aptitudes and learned capabilities are the main elements of
competencies. · The Big Five dimensions cluster several specific traits, each of
which can predict employee performance somewhat different
3. Role perceptions from others in the same cluster
· The degree to which a person understands the job duties
assigned to or expected of him or her.
· The relationship between a personality dimension or trait and
performance may be nonlinear.
Role clarity exists in three forms:
· When employees understand the specific duties or
consequences for which they are accountable. 1. Conscientiousness traits of industriousness and dutifulness
· When employees understand the priority of their various tasks are the best predictors of proficient task performance.
and performance expectations. 2. Extraversion is the second best overall personality predictor
· Understanding the preferred behaviors or procedures for of proficient task performance.
accomplishing tasks. 3. Agreeableness does not predict proficient or proactive task
4. Situational factors - individual behavior and performance performance very well, but it does predict an individual’s
depend on the situation. performance as a team member as well as in customer service
jobs.
4. Openness to experience is a weak predictor of proficient
Two main influences: task performance.
Emotional stability is moderately associated with proficient task
performance. One of the best personality predictors of adaptive
· The work context constrains of facilitates behavior and
performance.
performance

· Situations provide cues that guide and motivate people

Jungian personality theory and the Myers-Briggs type
indicator
Types of individual behavior The Jungian personality theory is measured through the Myers-
Task performance - the individual’s voluntary goal-directed Briggs type indicator.
behaviors that contribute to organizational objectives. How people prefer to gather information occurs through two
competing orientations:
Three types:
· Sensing - involves perceiving information directly through the
· Proficient task performance five senses. It relies on an organized structure to acquire factual
Performing the work efficiently and accurately and preferably quantitative details.
· Intuition - insight and subjective experience to see · We are motivated to act consistently with our self-concept and
relationships among variables. public self-presentation

· Judging information consists of two competing processes Several factors weaken the relationship

· Thinking · The situation

· Feeling · We don’t actively think about them much of the time

· Perceiving Values congruence

· Values tell us what is right or wrong and what we ought to do.
· Judging · Values congruence: how similar a person’s values hierarchy
is to the values hierarchy of another entity.
Values in the workplace · Organizations also benefit from some incongruence, with
· Value system. People arrange their values into a hierarchy of diverse perspectives.
preferences.
· Each persons value system is developed and reinforced Ethical values and behavior
through socialization. Three ethical principles
· It is stable and long-lasting.
· In reality, values exists only within individuals, they are personal · Utilitarianism
values. The only moral obligation is to seek the greatest good for the
· Groups of people might hold the same or similar values, these greatest number of people.
are shared values.
· Organizational values: values shared by people throughout an · Individual rights
organization. Everyone has the same set of natural rights.
· Cultural values: values shared across a society.
· Values and personality traits are related to each other, but differ · Distributive justice
in a few ways. The benefits and burdens of similar individuals should be the
· Values are evaluative and personality traits describe what we same, otherwise they should be proportional.
naturally tend to do.
Moral intensity, moral sensitivity and situational influences
· Personality traits have minimal conflicts with each other Moral intensity - the degree to which an issue demands he
· Both are partly determined by heredity, but this has a stronger application of ethical principles.
influence on personality traits. Moral sensitivity - a person’s ability to recognize the presence of
an ethical issue and determine its relative importance.
Types of values Includes cognitive and emotional level awareness that something
Schwartz’s values circumplex is or could be morally wrong.

Several factors are associated with a person’s moral

1. Universalism
sensitivity:
2. Benevolence
· Expertise or knowledge of prescriptive norms and rules
3. Tradition
· Previous experience with specific moral dilemmas
4. Conformity
· Employees who are better at empathizing are more sensitive
to the needs and situation of others, which makes them more
5. Security aware of ethical dilemmas involving others.

6. Power · How people define and view themselves

7. Achievement · Mindfulness, a person’s receptive and impartial attention to and

awareness of the present situation as well as to one’s own
8. Hedonism thoughts and emotions in that moment.

9. Stimulation Situational factors - ethical conduct is influenced by the situation

in which the conduct occurs.
10. Self-direction
Supporting ethical behavior
Each category is a cluster of more specific values. Most large and medium-sized organizations maintain or improve
The 10 categories are clustered in four quadrants ethical conduct through systematic practices.

· Openness to change · A code of ethical conduct

· Conservation · Train and regularly evaluate employees about their knowledge

of proper ethical conduct.
· Self-enhancement
Values across cultures
· Self-transcendence Individualism and collectivism
· Individualism: a cross-cultural value describing the degree to
Values and individual behavior which people in a culture emphasize independence and personal
Personal values influence decisions and behavior in various ways. uniqueness.
· Collectivism: a cross-cultural value describing the degree to
which people in a culture empathize duty to groups to which they
· Values directly motivate our actions by shaping the relative
belong ad to group harmony.
attractiveness (valence) of the choices available.
Those two are not opposites, the two are uncorrelated.
· Values frame our perceptions of reality
Power distance
· A cross-cultural value describing the degree to which people in Employees with complex identities tend to have more adaptive
a culture accept unequal distribution of power in society. decision making and performance.
· Those with high power distance value unequal power.
· Self-concept complexity often produces more diverse social
Uncertainty avoidance networks.
· The degree to which people tolerate ambiguity (low uncertainty · Highly complex self-concepts require more effort to maintain
avoidance) or feel threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty. and juggle, which can be stressful.
· High uncertain avoidance value structured situations in which
rules of conduct and decisions making are clearly documented.
· Self-concept clarity tends to improve performance and its
Achievement-nurturing orientation considered vital for leadership roles.
Reflects a competitive versus cooperative view of relations with · Provides a clearer path forward.
other people. · Feel less threatened by interpersonal conflict.
But: inflexibility
Caveats about cross-cultural knowledge
Self-enhancement
· Too many studies have relied on small, convenient samples A person’s inherent motivation to have a positive self-concept
(and to others perceive him or her favorably) such as being
· Cross-cultural studies often assume that each country has one competent, attractive, lucky, ethical and important.
culture. Observed in many ways
· Individuals rate themselves above average
· Cross-cultural research and writing continues to rely on a major · Believe that they have a better average probability of success
study conducted among four decades ago. · Attribute successes to personal motivation or ability
But, people rate themselves above average only for things that
are important to them and that are relatively common.

Chapter 3: Self-concept: how we perceive ourselves

Self-enhancement,
Self-concept: an individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations. · Positive
o Individuals tend to experience better mental and physical
Defined at three levels: health when they amplify their self-concept.
· Individual o Over-confidence generates a can-do attitude that motivates
· Relational persistence in difficult or risky tasks
· Collective · Negative
Specifically, we view ourselves in terms of our personal traits o Self-enhancement causes people to overestimate future
(individual), connections to friends and coworkers (relational)and returns in investment decisions and engage in unsafe behavior.
memberships in entities (collective). o Responsible for executives repeating poor decisions, launch
misguided corporate diversification strategies, and acquire
Self-concept complexity, consistency and clarity excessive corporate debt
An individual’s self-concept can be described by three
characteristics Self-verification
· Complexity · A person’s inherent motivation to confirm and maintain his
o The number of distinct and important roles or identities that or her existing self-concept.
people perceive about themselves · Employees actively communicate their self-concept so
o Self-expansion: increase complexity coworkers understand it and provide verifying feedback.
o Also the separation of those identities · Self-verification includes seeking feedback that is not
o Although everyone has multiple selves, only some of those necessarily flattering.
identities dominate their attention at one time.
· Self-verification is associated with several OB topics
· It affects the perceptual process because employees are
more likely to remember information that is consistent with their
Consistency self-concept. And they non-consciously screen out information
o High consistency exist when the individual’s identities require that seems inconsistent with it.
similar personality traits, values, and other tributes. · People with high self-concept clarity will consciously dismiss
o Depends on how closely the person’s identities require feedback that contradicts their self-concept.
personal attributes that are similar to his or her actual attributes. · Employees are motivated to interact with others who affirm
their self-views
· Clarity
o The degree to which a person’s self-concept is clear, Self-evaluation
confidently defined and stable. Defined by three elements:
o When we are confident about who we are, can describe our
important identities to others, and provide the same description of Self-esteem
ourselves across time. · The extend to which people like, respect and are satisfied
o Clarity increases with age and is clearer when a person’s with themselves.
multiple selves have higher consistency. · Represents a global self-evaluation.
· People have degrees of self-esteem for each of their various
Effects of self-concept characteristics on well-being and roles. From these multiple self-appraisals, people form an overall
behavior evaluation of themselves, → their global self-esteem.
People tend to have better psychological well-being when they · People with high self-esteem are less influenced by others,
have fairly distinct multiple selves (complexity), that are well tend to persist in spite of failure, and have a higher propensity to
established (clarity) and require similar personal attributes that are think logically.
compatible with the individual’s character (consistency). Self-efficacy
· A person’s belief about successfully completing a task.
· Self-concept complexity protects our self-esteem when some · Those with high self-efficacy have a ‘can-do’ attitude. Often
roles are threatened or damaged. task specific.
People tend to have better well-being when their multiple selves · People have a general self-efficacy when they belief they
are in harmony with each other with the individual’s personality can be successful across a variety of situations.
and values. Also increases with clarity. · People whit higher general self-efficacy have a more positive
overall self-evaluation.
· Self-concept has opposing effects on individual behavior and Locus of control
performance. · A person’s general beliefs about the amount of control he or
she has over personal life events.
· Individuals with an internal locus of control belief that life · Knowledge structures that we develop to describe, explain
events are caused mainly by their personal characteristics. and predict the world around us.
· A generalized belief, but this belief varies to some extent with · They consist of visual or relational images in our mind.
the situation. · Rely on the process of perceptual grouping to make sense
· People with an internal locus of control have a more positive of things. They fill in the missing pieces, including the causal
self-evaluation. They also tend to perform better in most connection among events.
employment situations, are more successful in their careers, earn · Important for sense making, yet they also make it difficult to
more money, and are better suited for leadership positions. see the world in different ways.

The social self The most important way to minimize the perceptual problems with
mental models is to be aware of and frequently question them. We
Social identity theory: a theory that people define themselves by need to ask ourselves about the assumptions we make.
the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment. Working with people from diverse backgrounds is another way to
Social identity is a complex combination of many memberships break out of existing mental models.
arranged in a hierarchy of importance.
Specific perceptual processes and problems
Stereotyping in organizations
Determining importance:
· How easily you are identified as a member of a reference Stereotyping: the process of assigning traits to people based on
group their membership in a social category.
· Your minority status in a group Shared beliefs across an entire society and sometimes across
· The group’s status several cultures.

All of us try to balance our personal and social identities, but the Why people stereotype
priority of uniqueness (personal identities) versus belongingness · As a form of categorical thinking, stereotyping is usually a
(social identities) differs from one person to the next. non-conscious ‘energy-saving’ process that simplifies our
understanding of the world.
Expressing disagreement with others is a sign of distinctiveness · We have an innate need to understand and anticipate how
and can help employees form a clear self-concept, particularly others will behave.
when that disagreement is based on differences in personal The higher the perceiver’s need for cognitive closure, the higher
values. the reliance on stereotypes.
· Motivated by the observer’s need for social identity and self-
Perceiving the world around us enhancement
Perception: the process of receiving information about and
making sense of the world around us. The combination of social-identity and self-enhancement leads to
Determining which information to notice, as well as how to the processes of:
categorize and interpret it withing the framework of our existing · Categorization
knowledge. · Homogenization
We tend to think that people within each group are very similar to
Selective attention: the process of attending to some information each other.
received by our senses and ignoring other information. · Differentiation
Influenced by characteristics of the person or object being We tend to assign more favorable characteristics to people in our
perceived. Also by context. Characteristics of the perceiver also groups than to people in other groups.
influence selective attention, usually without the perceivers Problems with stereotyping
awareness. Stereotyping distorts perceptions in various ways
When information is received through the senses, our brain · Stereotypes do not accurately describe every person in a
quickly and non-consciously assesses whether it is relevant or social category
irrelevant to us and then attaches emotional markers to the · Stereotype threat (an individual’s concern about confirming
retained information. Emotional markers help us store information a negative stereotype about his or her group). Often results in
in memory. Those emotions are later reproduced when recalling displaying the stereotype trait they are trying to avoid.
the perceived information. · It lays the foundation for discriminatory attitudes and behavior
Most of this perceptual bias occurs at unintentional (systemic)
Selective attention problems: discrimination whereby decision makers rely on stereotypes to
· The effect of our assumptions and expectations about future establish notions to he ‘ideal’ person in specific roles.
events Implicit, automatic and unintentional
· Confirmation bias
Perceptual organization and interpretations Intentional discrimination or prejudice.
We pay attention to a tiny fraction of the stimuli received by the People hold unfounded negatived attitudes toward people
senses. Even so, the human brain further reduces the huge belonging to a particular stereotyped group.
volume and complexity of the information received through Deliberate
various perceptual grouping strategies.
Attribution theory
Perceptual grouping occurs mostly without our awareness, yet it Attribution process: the perceptual process of deciding whether
is the foundation for making sense of things and fulfilling our need an observed behavior or event is caused largely by internal or
for cognitive closure. external factors.
· Categorical thinking (organizing people and objects into
preconceived categories that are stored in our long-term Three attribution rules
memory). · Consistency
· Usually grouped based on observable similarity. Object
· Or based on proximity to each other. · Distinctiveness
Another form of perceptual grouping involves filling in missing Context
information or when we think we see trends in otherwise · Consensus
ambiguous information. The attribution process is important because understanding
cause-effect relationships enables us to work more effectively with
Along with perceptual grouping, making sense of the world around others and to assign praise or blame to them.
us involves interpreting information. This happens as quickly as We react differently to attributions of our own behavior and
selecting and organizing because the previously mentioned performance.
emotional markers are tagged to incoming stimuli, which are
essentially quick judgments about whether information is good or Attribution errors
bad to us. We are strongly motivated to assign internal or external
attributions to someone’s behavior, but hits perceptual process is
Mental models also susceptible to errors.
· Self-serving bias (the tendency to attribute our favorable
outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors) Meaningful interaction reduces dependence on stereotypes
Associated with the self-enhancement process because we gain better knowledge about individuals and
· Fundamental attribution error. Or correspondence bias (the experience their unique attributes in action. It potentially improves
tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main empathy toward others.
cause of that person’s behavior)
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Our perceptions can influence reality. Empathizing reduces attribution errors by improving our sensitivity
to the external causes of another person’s performance and
Contingencies of self-fulfilling prophecy behavior. But, trying to emphasize with others without spending
· The self-fulfilling prophecy effect is stronger in some time with them might actually increase rather than reduce
situations than in others. stereotyping and other perceptual biases.
· It has a stronger effect at the beginning of a relationship.
· It is stronger when several people hold the same Global mindset: developing perceptions across borders
expectations of the individual. Global mindset: an individuals ability to perceive, appreciate, and
· It is stronger among people with a history of low achievement, emphasize with people from other cultures, and to process
these people tend to have a low self-esteem, so they are easily complex cross-cultural information.
influenced by others. Includes:
· An awareness of, openness to, and respect for others views
Positive organizational behavior: a perspective of and practices in the world
organizational behavior that focuses on building positive qualities · The capacity to emphasize and act efficiently across cultures
and traits within individuals or institutions as opposed to focusing · The ability to process complex information about novel
on what is wrong with them. environments
· The ability to comprehend and reconcile inter-cultural matters
Other perceptual effects with multiple levels of thinking
Developing a global mindset
Four additional biases: · Involves improving one’s perceptions.
Halo effect · It begins with self-awareness
A perceptual error whereby our general impression of a person, · Develops through better knowledge of people and cultures
usually based on one prominent characteristic, colors our
perception of other characteristics of that person. Most likely to Chapter 4: Workplace emotions, attitudes, and stress
occur when important information about the perceived target is Emotions in the workplace
missing or we are not sufficiently motivated to search for it. Emotions influence almost everything we do in the
workplace.Often occur before cognitive processes and,
False-consensus effect consequently influence them.
A perceptual error in which we overestimate the extent to which
others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own. Emotions:
Explanations ● physiological, behavioral, and psychological episodes
We are comforted believing that others are similar to us, experienced toward an object, person, or event that create a
particularly regarding less acceptable or diverse behavior. We state of readiness.
interact more with people who have similar views and behaviors. ● Quite short.
We are more likely to remember information that is consistent with
our own views and selectively screen out information that is ● Directed toward someone or something.
contrary to our beliefs. Our social identity process homogenizes
people withing groups
● Emotions are experiences, they represent changes in our
physiological state, psychological state and behavior.
Primacy effect
● Most of these emotional reactions are subtle, they occur
A perceptual error in which we quickly form an opinion of people
without our awareness.
based on the first information we receive about them. First
impressions are lasting impressions
Moods are not directed towards anything in particular and tend to
be long-term emotional states.
Recency effect
A perceptual error which the recent information dominates our
Types of emotions
perception of others. Most common when people make a decision
All emotions have two common features.
involving complex information.
⮚ An associated valance (core affect) signaling that the
perceived object or event should be approached or avoided.
Improving perceptions
⮚ The level of activation
Three potentially effective ways.
Emotions, attitudes, and behavior
Awareness of perceptual biases
Attitudes are judgments, whereas emotions are experiences. We
Can reduce the biases to some extent by making people more
experience emotions very briefly, whereas our attitude towards
mindful of their thoughts and actions.
something or someone is more stable over time.
But it has only limited effect.
· Teaching people to reject incorrect stereotypes has the
Beliefs
unintended effect of reinforcing rather than reducing reliance on
These are your established perceptions about the attitude object,
those stereotypes.
what you believe to be true. Each of these beliefs also has a
· Diversity training is ineffective for people with deeply held
valence, you have a positive or negative feeling about each belief.
prejudices against those groups
Improving self-awareness
Feelings
Tends to reduce perceptual biases by making people more open-
Represent your conscious positive or negative evaluations of the
minded and nonjudgmental toward others.
attitude object. Most of the time, your beliefs about something or
someone affect your feelings, but the reverse sometimes occurs.
Meaningful interaction
Your feelings about something can cause you to change your
Any activity in which people engage in valued activities.
feelings about specific beliefs regarding that target.
Contact hypotheses: a theory that the more we interact with
someone, the less prejudiced or perceptually biased we will be
Behavioral intentions
against that person.
Your motivation to engage in a particular behavior regarding the
Meaningful interaction is the strongest when people work closely
attitude object.
and frequently with each other on a shared goal that requires
mutual cooperation and reliance. Everyone should have equal
Attitude-behavior contingencies
status in that context, should be engaged in a meaningful task,
· People with the same beliefs might form quite different feelings
and should have positive experiences with each other in those
toward the attitude object because they have different valences
interactions.
for those beliefs.
· People with the same feelings toward the attitude object often ⮚ Neglect - reducing work effort, paying less attention to
develop different behavioral intentions because of their unique quality, and increasing absenteeism and lateness.
experiences, personal values, self-concept, and other individual
differences. How employees respond to job dissatisfaction depends on the
person and situation. And past experiences.
How emotions influence attitudes and behavior
Our brain tags incoming sensory information with emotional Job satisfaction and performance
markers based on a quick and imprecise evaluation of whether There is a moderately positive relationship between job
that information supports or threatens our innate drives. They are satisfaction and performance. Workers tend to be more productive
automatic and non-conscious. The experienced emotions to some extent when they have more positive attitudes toward
influence our their job and workplace.
feelings about the attitude object.
But,
Generating positive emotions at work ⮚ General attitudes don’t predict specific behaviors very well
⮚ Some employees have little control over their performance
Cognitive dissonance because their work effort is paced by work technology or
Cognitive dissonance: an emotional experience caused by a interdependence with coworkers in the production process
perception that our beliefs, feelings, and behavior are incongruent ⮚ Job performance might cause job satisfaction, rather than
with one another. vice versa.

Managing emotions at work Job satisfaction and customer satisfaction

Emotional labor: the effort, planning, and control needed to Service profit chain model: a theory explaining how employees’
express organizationally job satisfaction influences company profitability indirectly through
desired emotions during interpersonal transactions. service quality, customer loyalty, and related factors.

Display rules: norms or explicit rules Two explanations why satisfied employees tend to produce
requiring us within our role to display specific emotions and to hide happier and more loyal customers.
other emotions. ⮚ Job satisfaction tends to put employees in a more positive
mood
Emotional display norms across cultures ⮚ Satisfied employees are less likely to quit their jobs
Norms about displaying or hiding your true emotions vary
considerably across cultures. Job satisfaction and business ethics

Emotional dissonance Organizational commitment

The psychological tension experienced when the emotions people
are required to display are quite Affective organizational commitment: an individual’s emotional
different from the emotions they actually experience at that attachment to, involvement in, and identification with an
moment. organization. Continuance commitment: an individual's calculative
⮚ Surface acting: they pretend that they feel the expected attachment to an organization.
emotion even though they actually experience a different
emotion. Can lead to higher stress and burnout. Pretending This calculation takes two forms:
to feel particular emotions can be challenging.Reduce · Where an employee has no alternative employment
psychological damage caused by surface acting by viewing opportunities
their act as a natural part of their role. · Where leaving the company would be a significant financial
⮚ Deep-acting: involves visualizing reality differently, which sacrifice.
then produces emotions more consistent with the required
emotions. Consequences of affective and continuance commitment
Affective commitment can be a significant competitive advantage.
Emotional intelligence Also higher motivation and job performance.
Emotional intelligence (EI): a set of abilities to perceive and
express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and But:
reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in oneself and others. ⮚ High conformity
To motivated to defend the organization
Includes a set of abilities: ⮚ High levels of continuance commitment
⮚ Awareness of our own emotions Lower performance
⮚ Management of our own emotions
⮚ Awareness of others’ emotions, relates to empathy Building organizational commitment
⮚ Management of other’s emotions · Justice and support
· Shared values
The four dimensions form a hierarchy. · Trust
· Organizational comprehension
Emotional intelligence outcomes and development · Employee involvement
Most jobs involve social interaction with coworkers or external
stakeholders, so employees need emotional intelligence to work Work-related stress and its management
effectively. Stress: an adaptive response to a situation that is perceived as
challenging or threatening to the person’s well-being.
Job satisfaction ⮚ Distress: the degree of physiological, psychological, and
A person’s evaluation of his or her job and work context. An behavioral deviation from healthy well-being.
appraisal of the perceived job characteristics, work environment, ⮚ Eustress: a necessary part of life because it activates and
and emotional experiences at work. motivates people to achieve goals, change their
environments, and succeed in life’s challenges.
Job satisfaction and work behavior
Exit-voice-loyalty-neglect (EVLN) model
General adaptation syndrome
Identifies four ways that employees respond to dissatisfaction: A model of the stress experience, consisting of three stages:
⮚ Exit - leaving the organization, or at least trying to get away 1. Alarm reaction
form the dissatisfying situation. When a treat or challenge activates the physiological stress
responses
⮚ Voice - any attempt to change the dissatisfying situation. Can
be a constructive response, or more confrontational. 2. Resistance
Activates various biochemical, psychological, and behavioral
⮚ Loyalty - patiently waiting for the problem to work itself out or mechanisms to overcome or remove the source of stress. The
be resolved by others body reduces the immune system during this stage. People have
a limited resistance capacity, and if the source of stress persists, ⮚ Telecommuting (or teleworking)
the individual will eventually move to the third stage ⮚ Personal leave (like extended maternity, paternity)
⮚ Child care support
3. Exhaustion
Withdraw from the stressor
Consequences of distress
Stress takes toll on the human body ⮚ Permanent withdraw occurs when employees are
⮚ · Tension headaches transferred to jobs that are more compatible with their
⮚ · Muscle pain abilities and values.
⮚ Temporarily withdrawing from stress is the most frequent
High stress also contributes to way that employees manage stress. (like vacations or nap
⮚ Cardiovascular disease rooms)
⮚ Job burnout
Change stress perceptions
(order of symptoms): Positive self-evaluation and optimism
⮚ Emotional exhaustion
⮚ Cynicism or depersonalization Control stress consequences
⮚ Reduced feelings of personal accomplishments Regular exercise and maintaining a healthy lifestyle are effective
stress management strategies because they control stress
Stressors: the causes of stress consequences.

Stressors: any environmental conditions that place a physical or Receive social support
emotional demand on the person. When coworkers, supervisors, family members, friends, and
others provide emotional and/ or informational support to buffer an
Organizational constraints individual’s experience.
Includes lack of:
⮚ Equipment
⮚ Supplies
⮚ Budget funding
⮚ Coworker support
⮚ Information
⮚ Other resources necessary to complete the required work.

Interpersonal conflict Motivation: the forces within a person that affect his or her
Employees frequently disagree with each other regarding how to direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behavior.
achieve organizational goals as well as how the work and
resources should be distributed along that journey.
Employee engagement
In organizational settings, most interpersonal conflict is caused by
structural sources such as ambiguous rules, lack of resources, Employee engagement: individual emotional and cognitive
and conflicting goals between employee departments. motivation, particularly a focused, intense, persistent, and
purposive effort toward work-related goals.
Psychological harassment: repeated and hostile or unwanted An emotional involvement in, commitment to, and satisfaction with
conduct, verbal comments, actions, or gestures that affect and the work.
employee’s dignity or psychological or physical integrity and that Also high level of absorption in the work and self-efficacy.
result in a harmful work environment for the employee.
Most employees aren’t very engaged.
Actively disengaged employees tend to be disruptive at work, not
just disconnected from work.
Work overload
Work overload is evident when employees consume more of their Employee drives and needs
personal time to get the job done.
Drives: hardwired characteristics of the brain that correct
Low task control deficiencies or maintain an internal equilibrium by producing
Workplace stress is higher when employees lack control over how emotions to energize individuals. (primary needs). Innate and
and when they perform their tasks as well as lack control over the universal.
place of work activity. The starting point of motivation because they generate emotions.

Individual differences in stress Needs: goal-directed forces that people experience.

People exposed to the same stessors experience different levels Motivational forces of emotions channeled toward particular goals
of stress because: to correct deficiencies or imbalances.
⮚ The employee’s physical health The emotions we eventually become conscious aware of.
⮚ The coping strategy employees use to ward off a particular
stressor. People have the tendency to rely on one or two
coping strategies. Drives and emotions → needs → decisions and behavior
⮚ Personality
Individual differences in needs
Managing work-related stress
Everyone has the same drives.
Remove the stressor People develop different intensities of needs in a particular
situation.
Some of the more common actions:
⮚ Assigning employees to jobs that match their skills and
preferences Self-concepts, social norms and past experience amplify or
⮚ Reducing excessive workplace noise suppress emotions, thereby resulting in stronger or weaker needs.
⮚ Having a complaint system that takes coorective action
against harassment ⮚ Need can be ‘learned’ to some extent.
⮚ Giving employees more control over the work process
⮚ Regulate a person’s motivated decisions and behavior.
And facilitating better work-life balance
⮚ Flexible and limited work time Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory
⮚ Job sharing
 A motivation theory of needs arranged in a hierarchy, whereby recognition for their success.
people are motivated to fulfill a higher need as a lower one Money is a weak motivator, except when it provides feedback and
becomes gratified. recognition. (employees with low nAch perform better when
Five categories, which Maslow called primary needs. money is used as an incentive).

● Self-actualization Need for Affiliation (nAff)

A learned need in which people seek approval from others,
● Esteem conform to their wishes and expectations, and to avoid conflict and
confrontation.
● Belongingness
Need for power (nPow)
● Safety A learned need in which people want to control their environment,
including people and material resources, to benefit either
● Physiological themselves (personalized power) or others (socialized power)

And Changing (learning) need strength

Individual needs can be strengthened or weakened (learned).
● The desire to know
Four-drive theory
● The desire for aesthetic beauty
Emotions are the source of human motivation and these emotions
Two drives that did not fit within the hierarchy are generated through four innate and universal drives. The drives
are independent of one another.
Three drives are proactive (the are regularly activated by our
Humans are motivated by several primary needs (drives) at the perceptions to seek fulfillment), and one drive is reactive
same time, but the strongest source of motivation is the lowest (triggered by threat).
unsatisfied need. The drives are:
But people have an ongoing need for self-actualization, it is never
really fulfilled.
It is a growth need, it continues to develop even when temporarily ● Drive to acquire
satiated. To seek out, take, control, and retain objects and personal
experiences.
But Maslow’s need hierarchy theory has been dismissed by most ● Drive to bond
motivation experts. Motivates people to cooperate

● Not a order adequately to the hierarchy ● Drive to comprehend

People are inherently curious and need to make sense of
● Need fulfillment seems to last for a briefer period of time their environment and themselves.

● People have different needs hierarchies ● Drive to defend

To protect ourselves physically, psychologically, and
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation socially.

Intrinsic motivation: motivation controlled by the individual and How drives influence motivation and behavior
experienced from the activity itself.
When people seek fulfillment from doing the activity itself. Stimuli received through our senses are quickly and non-
Anchored in the innate drives for competence and autonomy. consciously tagged with emotional markers.
The mental skill set develops behavioral intentions that are
Extrinsic motivation: when people are motivated to receive acceptable to society, consistent with our own moral compass,
something that is beyond their personal control for instrumental and have high probability of achieving the goal of fulfilling those
reasons. felt needs.
Direct effort toward a reward controlled by others that indirectly
fulfills a need. Practical implications of four-drive theory
Also when employees create the own internal pressure to act in
association with external factors. The main recommendation from four-drive theory is that jobs and
workplaces should provide a balanced opportunity to fulfill the four
Does extrinsic motivation undermine intrinsic motivation? drives.
Two recommendations:
Extrinsic motivators help quantity
Intrinsic motivators help quality. ● Best workplaces help employees fulfill all four drives.

Extrinsic motivators do not undermine intrinsic motivation when ● Fulfillment of the four drives must be kept in balance.
they are unexpected, have low value relative to the intrinsic
motivator, and when they are not contingent on specific behavior. Because the four drives counterbalance each other.

Learned needs theory Expectancy theory of behavior

Need strength can be altered through social influences. Expectancy theory: a motivation theory based on the idea that
Through reinforcement, learning, and social conditions. work effort is directed towards behaviors that people believe will
lead to desired outcomes.

An individual’s effort level depends on three factors:

Three ‘learned’ needs:
● Effort-to-performance expectancy
Need for achievement (nAch) The individuals perception that his or her effort will result in
A learned need in which people want to accomplish reasonably a particular level of performance.
challenging goals and desire unambiguous feedback and
 In most cases, E-to-P expectancy falls somewhere between ● Negative reinforcement
1.00 and 0.
OB Mod considers the frequency and timing of the reinforces
● Performance-to-outcome expectancy (schedules of reinforcement)
The perceived probability that a specific behavior or
performance level will lead to a particular outcomes.
● Continuous reinforcement
● Outcome valances
The anticipated satisfaction or dissatisfaction that an ● Variable ratio schedule
individual feels toward an outcome.
Social cognitive theory
Expectancy theory in practice
A theory that explains how learning and motivation occur by
Increasing E-to-P expectancies observing and modeling others as well as by anticipating the
consequences of our behavior.
Influences by the individuals belief that he or she can successfully
complete the task.

● Assuring employees that they have the necessary skills and

knowledge, clear role perceptions, and necessary resources
to reach the desired levels of performance. Learning behavior consequences
Matching employee abilities to job requirements and clearly
communicating the tasks required for the job. People learn the consequences of behavior by observing or
hearing about what happened to other people.
Behavior modeling and supportive feedback. People logically anticipate consequences in related situations.

Increasing P-to-O expectancies Behavior modeling

Measure employee performance accurately and distribute more People learn by imitating and practicing their behaviors.
valued rewards to those with higher job performance. Increases self-efficacy. Helps acquire tactic knowledge.
They need to know that connection occurs.
Self-regulation
Increasing outcome valences
Humans beings set goals and engage in other forms of intentional,
One size does not fit all when motivating and rewarding people. purposive action.
Individualize rewards by allowing employees to choose the People self-regulate by engaging in self-reinforcement.
rewards of greatest value to them. If this isn’t possible, companies Self-reinforcement: reinforcement that occurs when an employee
should ensure that everyone values the reward. has control over a reinforces but doesn’t ‘take’ it until completing
a self-set goal.
Expectancy theory mainly explains extrinsic motivation and
ignores emotion. Goal setting and feedback

Organizational behavior modification and social cognitive theory Goal setting: the process of motivating employees and clarifying
their role perceptions by establishing performance objectives.
Organizational behavior modification Potentially improves employee performance in two ways:

Organizational behavior modification (OB Mod) ● Amplifying the intensity and persistence of effort
A theory that explains employee behavior in terms of the
antecedent conditions and consequences of that behavior. ● Giving employees clear role perceptions so their effort is
channeled toward behaviors that will improve work
performance.
A-B-Cs of OB Mod
Effective goals have several specific characteristics.
Antecedents → Behavior → consequences SMARTER

Antecedents are events preceding the behavior, informing ● Specific

employees that a particular action will produce specific
consequences. It does not cause behavior, it is a cue. ● Measurable
Consequences are events following a particular behavior that
influence its future occurrence. ● Achievable

Contingencies and schedules of reinforcement ● Relevant

Four types of consequences, called the contingencies of ● Time-framed

reinforcement
● Exciting
● Positive reinforcement ● Reviewed
The introduction of a consequence increases or maintains
the frequency of future probability of a specific behavior.
Characteristics of effective feedback
● Punishment
When a consequence decreases the frequency of future Feedback contributes to motivation and performance by clarifying
probability of a specific behavior occurring. role perceptions, improving skills and knowledge, and
strengthening self-efficacy.
● Extinction It should be specific and relevant.
When the target behavior decreases because no Also timely and credible.
consequence follows it.
Feedback should be sufficiently frequent. ● Giving employees ‘voice’ in the process
Depends on at least two things
● When the decision maker is perceived as unbiased, relies on
● The employee’s knowledge and experience with the task complete and accurate information, applies existing policies
consistently, and has listened to all sides of the dispute.
● How long it takes to complete the task.
● Give a full explanation of the decision and treat employees
with respect throughout the complaint process.
Feedback through strengths-based coaching
Consequences of procedural injustice
Strengths-based coaching: a positive organizational behavior
approach to coaching and feedback that focuses on building an
leveraging the employee’s strengths rather than trying to correct Employees tend to experience anger toward the source of
his or her weaknesses. injustice, which generates various response behaviors, either
withdrawal or aggression.
Sources of feedback The meaning of money in the workplace
Money is much more than an object of compensation for an
Feedback can originate from nonsocial or social sources. employee’s contribution to organizational objectives.
Money relates to our needs and our self-concept.
Organizational justice It generates a variety of emotions.
Money is a symbol of achievement and status, a motivator, and
an influence on our propensity to make ethical or risky decisions.
Two forms of organizational justice. To some extent, the influence of money on human thoughts and
behavior occurs nonconsiously.
● Distributive justice: perceived fairness in the individual’s The meaning of money varies considerably form one person to the
ration of outcomes to contributions relative to a comparison next.
other’s ratio of outcomes to contributions. The meaning and effects of money differ between men and
women.
● Procedural justice: perceived fairness of the procedures
used to decide the distribution of resources. ● Men attach more importance or value to money
● Men are more likely to view money as a symbol of power and
Equity theory status as well as the means to autonomy.
● Women are more likely to view money in terms of things for
which it can be exchanged
And equality principle operates when we believe that everyone in
the group should receive the same outcomes.
The need principle is applied when we believe that those with the The meaning of money varies across cultures.
greatest need should receive more outcomes than others with less
need. ● People in countries with high power distance tend to have a
The equity principle infers that people should be paid in proportion high respect and priority for money
to their contribution. ● People in countries with a strong egalitarian culture are
discouraged from openly talking about money or displaying
A theory explaining how people develop perceptions of fairness in their personal wealth
the distribution and exchange of resources. ● The motivational effect of money is due more to its symbolic
Employees determine feelings of equity by comparing their own value than to what it can buy.
outcome-input ratio to the outcome-input ratio of some other Financial reward practices
person. Membership- and seniority-based rewards
Sometimes called pay for pulse.
Inequity and employee motivation Sample rewards Advantages Disadvantages

When people believe that they are under- or overrewarded, they Doesn’t directly
May attract
experience negative emotions (inequity tension). Fixed pay motivate
applicants
performance
Ways to try to reduce the inequity tension: May discourage
Most employee Minimized stress
poor performers
benefits of insecurity
● Reduce our inputs so the outcome-input ratio is similar to the from leaving
higher-paid coworker.
‘golden
● Increase our outcomes handcuffs’ may
Paid time off Reduces turnover
undermine
● Increase the comparison other’s inputs performance

● Reduce the comparison other’s outcomes

Job status-based rewards
Companies measure job worth through job evaluation.
● Ask the company to reduce the coworker’s pay so it is the
Job evaluation: systematically rating the worth of jobs within an
same as yours.
organization by measuring the required skill, effort, responsibility,
and working conditions.
● Changing our beliefs about the situation

● Change the comparison other

Sample rewards Advantages Disadvantages
● Leave the field
Encourages
People who feel overreward inequity would reverse these actions. hierarchy, which
Promotion-based Tries to maintain
may increase
pay increase internal equity
costs and reduce
Procedural justice responsiveness

Ways to improve procedural justice:

Status-based Minimizes pay Reinforces status
benefits discrimination differences

Improving reward effectiveness

Motivates Motivates job
Link rewards to performance
employees to competition and
compete for exaggerated job
promotions worth ● Gainsharing, ESOPs and other plans that use objective
performance measures
● Apply rewards soon after the performance occurs, in a large-
enough dose
Competency-based rewards
Skill-based pay plans are a more specific variation of competency- Ensure that rewards are relevant
based rewards in which people receive higher pay determined by Companies need to align rewards with performance within the
their mastery of measurable skills. employees control. The more employees see a ‘line of sight’
between their daily actions and the reward, the more they are
Sample rewards Advantages Disadvantages motivate to improve performance.
Reward systems also need to correct for situational factors.
Use team rewards for interdependent jobs
Relies on subjective Team rewards work better than individual rewards when
Pay increase based Improves workforce employees work in highly interdependent jobs, because it is
measurement of
on competency flexibility difficult to measure individual performance in these situations.
competencies
Also encourages cooperation.
Tend to support employee preferences for team-based work.
Tends to improve Ensure that rewards are valued
Skill—based pay Expensive Ask employees what they value.
quality
Watch out for unintended consequences
Job design practices
Is consistent with Job design: the process of assigning task to a job, including the
employability interdependency of those tasks with other jobs.A job is a set of
tasks performed by one person.
Performance-based rewards Job design and work efficiency
Individual rewards Job specialization: the result of a division of labor, in which work
Team rewards is subdivided into separate jobs assigned to different people.
Gainsharing plan: a team-based reward that calculates bonuses Each resulting job includes a narrow subset of tasks, usually
from the work unit’s cost savings and productivity improvement. completed in a short cycle time.
Organizational rewards Potentially improves work efficiency.
Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs): a reward system that
encourages employees to buy company stock. Usually at a ● Employees have less variety tasks to juggle.
discounted price. ● Employees can become proficient more quickly in
Stock options: a reward system that gives employees the right to specialized jobs.
purchase company stock at a future date at a predetermined price. ● Shorter work cycles give employees more frequent practice
Profit-sharing plan: a reward system that pays bonuses to with the task.
employees on the basis of the previous year’s level of corporate ● Specialization tens to increase work efficiency by allowing
profits. employees with specific aptitudes or skills to be matched
more precisely to the job for which they are suited.
Sample
Advantages Disadvantages
rewards
Scientific management
Scientific management: the practice of systematically partitioning
work into its smallest elements and standardizing tasks to achieve
maximum efficiency.
Motivates task May weaken job
Commissions Problems with job specialization
performance content motivation
It affects employee attitudes and motivation.
It affects output quality, but in two opposing ways

Attracts ● Produces higher-level quality because they master their

May distance work faster. But many jobs are specialized to the point that
performance-
Merit pay reward giver from they are highly repetitive and tedious. So negative effects of
oriented
receiver lower attentiveness and motivation.
applicants
● Disassociating job incumbents form the overall product or
service.

Organizational
rewards create May discourage
Gainsharing
an ownership creativity Job design and work motivation
culture Motivator-hygiene theory: Herzberg’s theory stating that
employees are primarily motivate by growth and esteem needs,
not by lower-level needs.
Employees experience job satisfaction when they fulfill growth and
esteem needs (motivators)
Tends to address Employees experience dissatisfaction when they have poor
Pay variability working conditions, low job security, and other factors categorized
symptoms, not
Profit sharing may avoid layoffs as lower-order needs (hygienes).
underlying causes
during downturns Only characteristics of the job itself motivate employees, whereas
of behavior
hygiene factors merely prevent dissatisfaction.
Job characteristics model: a job design model that relates the
motivational properties of jobs to specific personal and
organizational consequences of those properties.
Stock options Core job characteristics → critical psychological states →
.outcomes
Skill variety, task identity, task significance → meaningfulness → ● Higher productivity when task identity and feedback are
work motivation improved.

One way to increase job enrichment is by combining highly

Autonomy → responsibility → growth satisfaction interdependent tasks into one job. Natural grouping.
Feedback from job → knowledge of results → work One other ways is establishing client relationships.
effectiveness→ general satisfaction Empowerment practices
Core job characteristics Empowerment: a psychological concept in which people
Five core job characteristics. Under the right conditions, experience more self-determination, meaning, competence, and
employees are more motivated and satisfied when jobs have impact regarding their role in the organization.
higher levels of these characteristics.
● Self-determination
● Skill variety Empowered employees feel that they have more freedom,
The extent to which employees must use different skills and independence, and discretion over their work activities
talents to perform tasks within their jobs. ● Meaning
● Task identity Employees care about their work and believe that what they
The degree to which a job requires completion of a whole or do is important
an identifiable piece of work ● Competence
● Task significance Confident about their ability to perform the work well and
The degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the have capacity to grow with new challenges
organization and/or larger society ● Impact
● Autonomy View themselves as active participants in the organization
The degree to which a job gives employees the freedom,
independence, and discretion to schedule their work and
determine the procedures used in completing it.
● Job feedback
Supporting empowerment
Critical psychological states Employees are much more likely to experience self-determination
The five core job characteristics affect employee motivation and when working in jobs with a high degree of autonomy and minimal
satisfaction through three critical psychological states. bureaucratic control.
More meaningfulness when working in jobs with high level of task
identity and task significance
● Skill variety, task identity, and task significance directly More self-confidence when working in jobs that allow them to
contribute to toe job’s experienced meaningfulness receive feedback about their performance and accomplishments
● Autonomy directly contributes to feelings of experienced More empowered in organizations in which information and other
responsibility resources are easily accessible.
● Knowledge of results And organizations that demonstrate a commitment to employee
learning.
Individual differences Requires corporate leaders to trust employees and be willing to
Growth need strength, an individual’s need for personal growth take the risks that empowerment creates.
and development. Self-leadership practices
Social and informational processing job characteristics Self-leadership: specific cognitive and behavioral strategies to
Task interdependence: the extent to which team members must achieve personal goals and standards through self-direction and
share materials, information, or expertise in order to perform their self-motivation.
jobs. Self-leadership strategies
And feedback from others. Personal goal setting → constructive thought strategies →
The other cluster of job characteristics missing from the job designing natural rewards → self monitoring → self-reinforcement
characteristic model relates the the information processing ● Personal goal setting
demands of the job. ● Setting self-determined goals
● Constructive thought strategies
● Task variability Two constructive (positive) thought strategies about that work and
● Task analyzability its accomplishments

Job design practices that motivate ● Positive self-talk: the process of talking to ourselves about
Job rotation our own thoughts and actions
(Extreme) training employees on all assembly stations and ● Mental imagery: the process of mentally practicing a task
rotating them through different jobs every three or four hours. and visualizing its successful completion.
Three potential benefits of job rotation.
Designing natural rewards
● It increases skill variety throughout the workday One way to build natural rewards into the job is to alter the way a
● It minimizes health risks from repetitive strain and heavy task is accomplished.
lifting Self-monitoring
● Supports multiskilling The process of keeping track at regular intervals of one’s progress
toward a goal by using naturally occurring feedback.
Self-reinforcement
Job enlargement Chapter 7
The practice of adding more tasks to an existing job. Rational choice decision making
Decision making: the conscious process of making choices
● Skill variety increases among alternatives with the intention of moving toward some
● Improves work efficiency and flexibility desired state of affairs.
Rational choice decision making selects the best alternative by
But won’t affect motivation, performance of job satisfaction. These calculating the probability that various outcomes will occur from
benefits result only when skill variety is combined with more the choices and the expected satisfaction from each of those
autonomy and job knowledge. outcomes.
Job enrichment Rely primarily on two pieces of information:
The practice of giving employees more responsibility for
scheduling, coordinating, and planning their own work. ● The probability that each outcome will occur
● The valence or expected satisfaction of each outcome
● Higher job satisfaction and work motivation
● Lower absenteeism and turnover. Rational choice decision-making process
Steps:
● To identify the problem or recognize an opportunity ● Access to limited information
● Choose the best decision process ● Limited information processing
● Discover or develop possible choices ● A tendency toward satisfying rather than maximizing when
● Select the choice with the highest value making choices
● Implement the selected choice
● Evaluate the selected choice
Additional flaws are overlooked by bounded rationality.
Programmed decisions: follow standard operating procedures. Problems with information processing
They have been resolved in the past, so the optimal solution has People evaluate only a few alternatives and only some of the main
already been identified and documented. outcomes of those alternatives.
Non-programmed decisions: require all steps in he decision model Implicit favorite: a preferred alternative that the decision makes
because the problems are new, complex, or ill-defined. uses repeatedly as a comparison with other choices.
Identifying problems and opportunities Sometimes, decision makers aren’t even aware of this favoritism.
Problems with problem identification Confirmation bias
Five of the most widely recognized problems: Humans need to minimize cognitive dissonance.
Solution-focused problems Biased decision heuristics
Some decision makers describe the problems as a veiled solution. Three of the most widely studies heuristic biases:
They fail to fully diagnose the underlying causes that need to be
addressed. ● Anchoring and adjustment heuristic
Decisive leadership A natural tendency for people to be influenced by an initial
Many leaders announce problems or opportunities before having anchor point such that they do not sufficiently move away
a change to logically asses the situation. The result is often a from that point as new information is provided
misguided effort to solve an ill-defined problem or resources ● Availability heuristic
wasted on a poorly identified opportunity. A natural tendency to assign higher probabilities to objects
Stakeholder framing or events that are easier to recall from memory, even though
Stakeholders provide (or hide) information in ways that makes the ease of recall is also affected by non-probability factors
decision maker see the situation as a problem, opportunity, or ● Representativeness heuristic
steady sailing. A natural tendency to evaluate probabilities of events or
Perceptual defense objects by the degree to which they resemble other events
People sometimes fail to become aware of problems because or object rather than on objective probability information.
they block out bad news as a coping mechanism.
Mental models
Decision makers are victims of their own problem framing due to Clustering illusion: the tendency to see patterns from a small
existing mental models. sample of events when those events are, in fact, random.
Mental models are visual or relational images in our mind of the Problems with maximization
external world. Satisficing: selecting an alternative that is satisfactory or ‘good
Identifying problems and opportunities more effectively enough’ rather than the alternative with the highest value.
One way to improve the process is by becoming aware of the five Maximizing decision makes run into trouble where there are many
problem identification biases. alternatives, those alternatives have many features, and the
Another way is to create a norm of ‘divine discontent’. Decision quality of those features for each alternative is ambiguous.
makers with this mindset are never satisfied with current When presented wit ha large number of choices, people often
conditions, so they more actively search for problems and choose a strategy that is less cognitively challenging, they don’t
opportunities. choose at all.
Or discussing the situation with colleagues and clients. Evaluating opportunities
Decision makers do not evaluate several alternatives when they
find an opportunity.
An opportunity is usually experienced as an exciting and rare
Searching for, evaluating and choosing alternatives revelation, so decision makers often tend to have an emotional
attachment to the opportunity.
Rational choice paradigm Observations from
Emotions and making choices
assumptions organizational behavior
It is impossible for humans to make perfectly rational decisions.
The rational choice view completely ignores the effect of emotions
in human decision making.
Goals are clear, compatible Goals are ambiguous, are in Emotions form early preferences
and agreed upon conflict and lack full support Our brain very quickly attaches specific emotions to information
about each alternative, and our preferred alternative is strongly
Decision makers can Decision makers have limited influences by those initial emotional markers.
calculate all alternatives and information-processing Logical analysis also influences with alternative to choose, but it
their outcomes abilities requires strong logical evident to change our initial preferences.
Even logical analysis depends on emotions to sway our decision.
Information produced from logical analysis is tagged with
Decision makers evaluate all Decision makers evaluate emotional markers that then motivate us to choose or avoid a
alternatives simultaneously alternatives sequentially particular alternative.
Emotions change the decision evaluation process
Mood and specific emotions influence the process of evaluating
Decision makes use absolute Decision makers evaluate alternatives.
standards to evaluate alternatives against an We pay more attention to details when in a negative mood. In a
alternatives implicit favorite positive mood, we rely more on a programmed decision routine.
Emotions shape how we evaluate information, not just which
choice we select.
Decision makers use factual Decision makers process Emotions serve as information when we evaluate alternatives
information to choose perceptually distorted We listen to our emotions to gain guidance when making
alternatives information decisions.
Most emotional experiences remain below the level of conscious
awareness, but people actively try to be more sensitive to these
Decision makers choose the Decision makers choose the subtle emotions when making a decision.
alternative with the highest alternative that is good Intuition and making choices
payoff enough (satisfying) Intuition: the ability to know when a problem or opportunity exists
and to select the best course of action without conscious
reasoning.
Bounded rationality: the view that people are bounded in their
decision-making capabilities. Including:
Some people rely more on intuition whereas others rely more on ● Involve several people in the evaluation.
logical analysis when making decisions. But they never
completely replace each other. Creativity
Intuition is both an emotional and a rapid nonconscious analytic Creativity: the development of original ideas that make a socially
process. recognized contribution.
The gut feelings we experience are emotional signals that have The creative process
enough intensity to make us consciously aware of them. Stages:
All gut feelings are emotional signals, but not all emotional signals
are intuition.
Intuition involves rapidly comparing our observations with deeply 1. Preparation
held patterns learned trough experience. They are mental models. The process of investigating the problem or opportunity in
When a template fits or doesn’t fit the current situation, emotions many ways.
are produced that motivate us to act. Developing a clear understanding of what you are trying to
Intuition signals that a problem or opportunity exist long before achieve through a novel solution and then actively studying
conscious rational analysis has occurred. information seemingly related to the topic.
Intuition also relies on action scrips, programmed decision 2. Incubation
routines that speed up our response to pattern matches or The period of reflective thought.
mistakes. Maintaining a low-level awareness by frequently revisiting
Action scrips are generic, so we consciously adapt them to the the problem.
specific situation. Divergent thinking: reframing a problem in a unique way and
Making choices more effectively. generating different approaches to the issue.
3. Illumination
The experience of suddenly becoming aware of a unique
● Decisions tend to have a higher value rate when leaders are idea.
decisive rather than contemplative about the available Inspiration is fleeting and can be quickly lost if not
options. documented. Might come at any time.
● Remember that decisions are influenced by both rational and 4. Verification
emotional processes Subject the ideas to detailed logical evaluation and
● Scenario planning: a systematic process of thinking about experimentation.
alternative futures and what the organization should do to
anticipate and react to those environments.
Characteristics of creative people
Evaluating decision outcomes
Decision makers aren’t completely honest with themselves when ● Cognitive and practical intelligence
evaluating the effectiveness of their decisions. Above-average intelligence to synthesize information,
Postdecisional justification analyze ideas, and apply their ideas.
Decision makers ignore or under-emphasize negative outcomes And the capacity to evaluate the potential usefulness of their
of the choice they make and overemphasize new information ideas.
about its positive features. ● Persistence
Escalation of commitment ● Knowledge and experience
Escalation of commitment: The tendency to repeat an apparently A foundation of knowledge and experience to discover or
bad decision or allocate more resources to a failing course of acquire new knowledge.
action. ● Independent imagination
Self-justification effect
People try to convey a positive public image of themselves. Organizational conditions supporting creativity
Self-justification in decision making involves appearing to be
rational and competent. ● Learning orientation: beliefs and norms that support the
Self-enhancement effect acquisition, sharing and use of knowledge as well as work
Self-enhancement: a person’s inherent motivation to have a conditions that nurture these learning processes.
positive self-concept. ● Motivation from the job itself.
Increases the risk of escalation of commitment. ● If the job is challenging and aligned with the employee’s
When presented with evidence that a project is in trouble, the self- knowledge and skills.
enhancement process biases our interpretation of the information ● Open communication and sufficient resources.
as a temporary aberration from a otherwise positive trend line. ● Organizations provide a comfortable degree of job security.
Mostly nonconsciously. ● Designing nontraditional workspaces.
Prospect theory effect ● Support from leaders and coworkers.
A natural tendency to feel more dissatisfaction from losing a
particular amount than satisfaction from gaining an equal amount.
Motivates us to avoid losses, which typically occurs by taking the Activities that encourage creativity
risk of investing more in that losing project. Cornerstones of creativity in organizations:
Escalation of commitment is the less painful option at the time.
Suck costs effect ● Hiring people with strong creative potential
The value of resources already invested in the decision. ● Providing a work environment that supports creativity
People inherently feel motivate to invest more resources in ● Activities that help employees think more creatively
projects that have sunk costs. ● Four types of creativity-building activities
A variation is time investment. ● Redefine the problem
Sunk costs can take the form of closing costs, the financial or ● Associative play
nonfinancial penalties associated with shutting down a project. Variations:
Escalation of commitment is usually framed as poor decision ● Literally play games
making, but persistence may be the better choice under some ● Systematically investigating all combinations of
circumstances. characteristics of a product, event or other target.
Evaluating decision outcomes more effectively ● A challenge to use existing unrelated products.
● Cross-pollination
● Ensure people who made the original decision are not the When people from different areas of the organization
same people who evaluate that decision. exchange ideas or when new people are brought into an
Minimizes the self-justification effect. existing team.
But the second person might continue to escalate the project ● Design thinking
if he or she emphasizes with the decision maker, has a
similar mindset, or has similar attributes such as age. Design thinking
● Publicly establish a preset level at which the decision is A human-centered, solution-focused creative process that applies
abandoned or reevaluated. both intuition and analytical thinking to clarify problems and
But conditions are often complex. generate innovative solutions.
● Find a source of systematic and clear feedback. Four rules:
● The human rule Informal groups
Design thinking is a team activity. Why do informal groups exist?
Designers need to empathize with clients and end users and
involve them in the design process. ● Human beings are social animals
● The ambiguity rule ● Social identity theory
Creativity and experimentation are possible only when there ● They accomplish personal objectives that cannot be
is ambiguity in the problem and its potential solutions. achieved by individuals working alone.
Design thinkers preserve ambiguity rather to seek clarity too ● We are comforted by the mere presence of other people
quickly.
● The re-design rule
Designers review past solutions to understand how Informal groups and organizational outcomes
inventions tried to satisfy human needs. Informal groups potentially minimize employee stress. This
They find out how those solutions tried to work as well as improves employee well-being.
understand their flaws and limitations. Informal groups are the backbone of social networks.
Then they use foresight tools to imagine better solutions to Advantages and disadvantages of teams
the future. In many situations, people are potentially more motivated when
● The Tangible rule working in teams than when working alone.
Spending less time planning and more time doing.
Designers build several low-costs prototypes of their ideas ● Employees have a drive to bond and are motivated to fulfill
rather than analyze those ideas at a purely conceptual level. the goals of groups to which they belong
● Accountability to fellow team members
Employee involvement in decision making ● Coworkers become benchmarks of comparison
Employee involvement: the degree to which employees influence
how their work is organized and carried out. The challenges of teams
Also called participative management. Process losses: resources (including time and energy) expended
Has become a natural process in every organization, but the level toward team development and maintenance rather than the task.
of involvement varies with the situation. Amplified when more people are added or replace others on the
Low level involvement occurs where employees are individually team.
asked for specific information but the problem is not described to Brooks’s law: the principle that adding more people to a late
them. software project only makes it later.
Benefits of employee involvement Social loafing
Employee involvement potentially improves decision-making Social loafing: the problem that occurs when people exert less
quality and commitment. effort (and usually perform at a lower level) when working in teams
It improves the identification of problems and opportunities. than when working alone.
Can potentially improve the number and quality of solutions A motivational process loss.
generated. More pervasive when:
Under specific conditions, it improves the evaluation of
alternatives. ● Individual performance is hidden or difficult to distinguish
Involvement tends to strengthen employee commitment to the from the performance of other team members
decision. ● When the work is boring or the team’s overall task has low
Contingencies of employee involvement significance
There is an optimal level of employee involvement, and that ideal ● Individual characteristics
level depends on the situation. ● Lack motivation to help the team achieve goals
Four contingencies: ● When employees believe they have little control over the
team’s success.
● Decision structure
Programmed or nonprogrammed. Social loafers provide only as much effort as they believe others
● Source of decision knowledge will provide.
If the leader lacks sufficient knowledge Ways to minimize social loafing:
● Decision commitment
If employees are unlikely to accept a decision made without
their involvement, some level of participation is usually ● Form smaller teams
necessary. ● Specialize tasks
● Risk of conflict ● Measure individual performance
Two types of conflict undermine the benefits of employee ● Increase job enrichment
involvement ● Select motivated, team-oriented employees
● Employee goals and norms conflict with the organization
● Whether employees will agree with each other A model of team effectiveness
A team is effective when it benefits the organization and its
members, and its survives long enough to accomplish its
mandate.
Organizational and team environment
Teams and informal groups The organizational and team environment represents all
Teams: groups of two or more people who interact with and conditions beyond the team’s boundaries that influence its
influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving effectiveness.
common goals associated with organizational objectives, and Team members tend to work together more effectively when
perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization.
All teams exist to fulfill some purpose.
Team members are held together by their interdependence and ● They receive some team-based rewards.
need for collaboration to achieve common goals. ● The organization’s structure assigns discrete clusters of
Team members influence each other. work activity to teams
A team exist when it members perceive themselves as a team. ● Information systems support team coordination
Each type of team in an organization can be distinguished by three ● The physical layout of the team’s workspace encourages
characteristics: frequent communication
● The environment also generates drives for change within
teams
● Team permanence ● External competition
How long that type of team usually exists ● Changing societal expectations
● Skill diversity
Members possess different skills and knowledge
● Authority dispersion
The degree that decision-making responsibility is distributed
throughout the team
Team design elements ● Storming
Task characteristics Interpersonal conflict as members become more proactive
Teams work better when the work is well structured rather than and compete for various team roles. Members try to
ambiguous or novel. establish norms of appropriate behavior and performance
Low task variability: the same set of tasks every day standards.
Low task analyzability: the work is predictable enough for well- ● Norming
established procedures The team develops its first real sense of cohesion as roles
The main benefit for well-structured tasks is that it is easier to are established and a consensus forms around group
coordinate the work among several people. objectives and a common or complementary team-based
Teams can perform less structured tasks reasonably well then mental model
their roles are well defined. ● Performing
Task interdependence: the extent to which team members must Team members hare learned to efficiently coordinate and
share materials, information, or expertise in order to perform their resolve conflicts.
jobs. ● Adjourning
Three levels of task interdependence The team is about to disband

● Pooled interdependence Developing team identities and mental models

When an employee or work unit shares a common resource. Two sets of processes that are the essence of team development:
Each member works alone but shares raw materials.
● Sequential interdependence ● Developing team identity
The output of one person becomes the direct input for Team development occurs when employees make the team
another person or unit part of their social identity and take ownership of the team’s
● Reciprocal interdependence success
Work output is exchanges back and forth among individuals ● Developing team mental models and coordinating routine

The higher the level of task interdependence, the greater the need Team roles
to organize people into teams. Role: a set of behaviors that people are expected to perform
A team structure improves interpersonal communication and thus because they hold certain positions in a team and organization.
results in better coordination Many team roles aren’t formally embedded in job descriptions.
High task interdependence motivates most people to be part of They are informally assigned or claimed as part of the team
the team development process.
Team size Accelerating team development trough team building
Teams should be large enough to provide the necessary abilities Team building: a process that consists of formal activities intended
and viewpoints to perform the work, yet small enough to maintain to improve the development and functioning of a work team.
efficient coordination and meaningful involvement of each Team building interventions are often organized into the following
member. four categories:
Small teams operate effectively because they have less process
loss.
Team composition ● Goal setting
Team effectiveness depends on the qualities of people who are ● Problem solving
members of those teams. ● Role clarification
Teams perform better when their members are highly motivated, ● Interpersonal relations
possess the required abilities, and have clear role perceptions to
perform the assigned task activities. Team norms
Teams need people who are motivated and able to work Norms: the informal rules and shared expectations that groups
effectively in teams. establish to regulate the behavior of their members.
How team norms develop
Norms develop during team formation because people need to
The five C’s anticipate or predict how others will act.

● Cooperating ● Subtle events during the team’s initial interactions can plant
● Coordinating norms
● Communicating ● Norms form as team members discover behavior that help
● Comforting them function more effectively
● Conflict handling ● The experiences and values that members bring to the team

Team diversity Preventing and changing dysfunctional team norms

Has both positive and negative effects The best way to establish desirable norms is to clearly state them
Advantages when the team is created.
Team norms can be organizationally induced.
● They make better decisions Introduce teambased rewards that counter dysfunctional norms.
● Often provide better representation of the team’s Disband the group and form a new team whose members have
constituents more favorable norms.
Team cohesion
Team cohesion: the degree of attraction people feel toward the
Challenges team and their motivation to remain members.

● Takes longer to become a high-performing team

Team processes Influences on team cohesion

Team development Six of the most important influences:
Team members must resolve several issues and pass through
several stages of development before emerging as an effective ● Member similarity
work unit. ● Team size
Team development ● Member interaction
● Somewhat difficult entry
● Forming ● Team success
A period of testing and orientation in which members learn ● External competition and challenges
about each other and evaluate the benefits and costs of
continued membership Consequences of team cohesion
Teams with higher cohesion tend to perform better than those with ● Plenty of structure
low cohesion. ● Virtual team members should meet face-to-face fairly early
The team’s existence depends on a minimal level of cohesion. in the team development process
The relationship between team cohesion and team performance
depends on two conditions

● Team cohesion has less effect on team performance when

the team has low task interdependence
● The effect of cohesion on team performance depends on
whether the team’s norms are compatible with or opposed to
the organizational objectives.
Team decision making
Teams with higher cohesion perform better, and teams with better Constraints on team cohesion making
performance become more cohesive. Time constraints
Team trust Teams consume time
Any relationship depends on a certain degree of trust. Production blocking: a time constraint in team decision making
Trust: positive expectations one person has toward another due to the procedural requirement that only one person may
person in situations involving risk. speak at a time
Trust is ultimately perceptual. Evaluation apprehension
Trust is built on tree foundations: A decision-making problem that occurs when individuals are
reluctant to mention ideas that seem silly because they believe
(often correctly) that other team members are silently evaluating
● Calculus based trust them.
A logical calculation that other team members will act Pressure to conform
appropriately because they face sanctions if their actions Team cohesion leads employees to conform to the team’s norms.
violate reasonable expectations. It may cause team members to suppress their dissenting opinions,
● Knowledge-based trust particularly when a strong team norm is related to the issue.
Based on the predictability of another team member’s Overconfidence (inflated team efficacy)
behavior. This predictability refers only to positive Team efficacy: the collective belief among team members in the
expectations. team’s capability to successfully complete a task.
● Identification-based trust Teams make worse decisions when they become overconfident
Based on mutual understanding and an emotional bond and develop a false sense of invulnerability.
among team members. Improving creative decision making in teams
Brainstorming
Dynamics on team trust Participants try to think up as many ideas as possible.
Employees typically join a team with a moderate or high level of Rules
trust in their new coworkers. Swift trust.
People usually believe fellow team members are reasonably ● Speak freely
competent. ● Don’t criticize others or their ideas
● Provide as many ideas as possible
● Build on the ideas that others have presented
Self-directed teams
Self-directed teams (SDTs): cross-functional work groups that are
organized around work processes, complete and entire piece of Brainwriting
work requiring several interdependent tasks, and have substantial A variation of brainstorming whereby participants write (rather
autonomy over the execution of those tasks. than speak about) and share their ideas.
Success factors for self-directed teams Electronic brainstorming
The successful implementation of self-directed teams depends on A form of brainwriting that relies on networked computers for
several factors: submitting and sharing creative ideas.
Nominal group technique
A variation of brainwriting consisting of three stages in which
● SDTs should be responsible for an entire work process participants:
● SDTs should have sufficient autonomy to organize and
coordinate their work
● SDTs are more successful when the work site and ● Silently and independently document their ideas
technology support coordination and communication among ● Collectively describe these ideas to the other team members
team members and increase job enrichment without critique
● Silently and independently evaluate the ideas presented.
Virtual teams
Virtual teams: teams whose members operate across space, time, The importance of communication
and organizational boundaries and are linked trough information
technologies to achieve organizational tasks. ● Coordination
Virtual teams differ from traditional teams in two ways: ● In addition to coordination, communication is critical for
organizational learning. It is the means through which
● Their members are not usually co-located knowledge enters the organization and is distributed to
● Due to their lack of co-location, members of virtual teams employees.
depend primarily on information technologies rather than ● A function of communication is decision making.
face-to-face interaction to communicate and coordinate their ● It also changes behavior.
work effort. ● Communication supports employee well-being.

Team virtually increases with the geographic dispersion of team A model of communication
members. Communication flows through one or more channels (also called
Success factors for virtual teams media) between the sender and receiver.
Virtual teams face all the challenges of traditional teams, The sender forms a message and encodes it.
compounded by problems arising from time and distance. The encoded message is transmitted to the intended receiver.
Strategies to minimize most virtual team problems. The receiver senses and decodes the incoming message into
something meaningful.
● Virtual team members need to apply the effective team In most situations, the sender looks for evidence that the other
behaviors described earlier person received and understood the transmitted message.
● Good communication technology skills Communication is not a free-flowing conduit, the transmission of
● A toolkit of communication channels as well as the freedom meaning from one person to another is hampered by noise.
to choose the channels that work best for them. Influences on effective encoding and decoding
Effective communication depends on the sender’s and receiver’s conversation at the same time (synchronous) or at different times
ability, motivation, role clarity, and situational support to efficiently (asynchronous)
and accurately encode and decode information. Synchronous communication is better when:
Four main factors influence the effectiveness of the encoding-
decoding process ● The information is required quickly
● Where the issue is complex and therefore requires the
● The sender en receiver encode and decode more parties to address several related decisions.
effectively when they have similar ‘codebooks’ ● Asynchronous communication is better when:
● Improves with experience ● The issue is simple
● When the sender and receiver are skilled and motivated ● The issue has low time urgency
to use the selected communication channel(s) ● Getting both parties together at the same time is costly
● The process depends on the sender’s and receiver’s ● And/or the receiver would benefit from time to reflect on
shared mental models of the communication context the message before responding.

Communication channels Social presence

Two main types of channels Social presence: the extent to which a communication channel
creates psychological closeness to others, awareness of their
● Verbal humanness, and appreciation of the interpersonal relationship
● Nonverbal A communication channel is valued for its social presence effect
when the purpose of the dialogue is to understand and empathize
with the other person or group.
Social acceptance
How well the communication medium is approved and supported
Problems with email and other digital message channels by the organization, teams, and individuals involved in the
Four top complaints: exchange.
Factors:
● Poor communication of emotions
● Less politeness and respectfulness ● Set of norms
Flaming: messages that convey strong negative ● The sender’s and receiver’s preferences for specific
emotions communication channels
Individuals can post digital messages before their ● The symbolic meaning of a channel
emotions subside.
Digital messages are impersonal
Media richness
● Cumbersome medium for ambiguous, complex, and Media richness: a medium’s data-carrying capacity, the volume
novel situations and variety of information that can be transmitted during a specific
● Contributes to information overload time.
Rich media are better than lean media when the communication
Workplace communication through social media situation is nonroutine and ambiguous.
Social media are more conversational and reciprocally interactive Lean media work well in routine situations.
between sender and receiver, resulting in a sense of community. Exceptions to the media richness theory
Each type of social media serves a unique combination of Three factors explain why digital channels may have more media
functions. richness than media richness theory predicts
Enterprise social media can improve knowledge sharing and
socializing among employees under some conditions. ● Ability to communicate
Many social media platforms enable feedback, which potentially Employees can engage in tow or more communication
gives employee more voice. events at the same time
Nonverbal communication
● Communication proficiency
Nonverbal communication is necessary when noise or physical
distance prevents effective verbal exchanges and the need for
● Social presence effects
immediate feedback precludes written communication.
Nonverbal cues signal subtle information to both parties. Communication channels and persuasion
Nonverbal communication differs from verbal communication in a Spoken communication is more persuasive than written
couple of ways communication. Three main reasons

● It is less rule-bound ● Spoken communication is typically accompanied by

● Nonverbal is automatic and nonconscious nonverbal communication
● Spoken communication offers the sender high-quality,
immediate feedback
Emotional contagion
Emotional contagion: the nonconscious process of ‘catching’ or ● People are persuaded more under conditions of high
sharing another person’s emotions by mimicking that person’s social presence
facial expressions and other nonverbal emotions.
Emotional contagion influences communication and social Written messages have the advantage of presenting more
relationships in three ways technical detail.
Communication barriers (noise)
● Mimicry provides continuous feedback
● Mimicking the nonverbal behaviors of other people ● Both sender and receiver have imperfect perceptual
seems to be a way of receiving emotional meaning from processes.
those people
● It fulfills the drive to bond Language issues can be huge sources of communication noise
because sender and receiver might not have the same codebook.
The ambiguity of language isn’t always dysfunctional noise.

● Reflect the ambiguity of the topic

Choosing the best communication channel Jargon, specialized words and phrases for specific occupations or
Synchronicity groups, is usually designed to improve communication efficiency.
Synchronicity: the extent to which the channel requires or allows It is a source of communication noise when transmitted to people
both sender and receiver to be actively involved in the who do not possess the jargon codebook.
 Another noise in the communication process is the tendency to ⮚ They avoid interrupting the speaker’s conversation
filter messages. ⮚ They remain motivated to listen to the speaker
Information overload
Information overload: a condition in which the volume of
information received exceeds the person’s capacity to process it.
Employees have a certain information-processing capacity. At the
same time, jobs have a variating information load. ● Evaluating
Information overload problems can be minimized by: Includes understanding the message meaning, evaluating
the message, and remembering the message.
Active listeners empathize with the speaker.
● Increasing our information-processing capacity ● Responding
● Reducing the job’s information load Providing feedback to the sender
● A combination of both Maintaining sufficient eye contact and sending back channel
signals both of which show interest. They also respond by
clarifying the message.

Improving communication throughout the hierarchy

Workspace design
Redesigning the workspace and employee territorial practices in
Cross-cultural and gender communication that space.
Increasing globalization and cultural diversity have created more The location of design of areas all shape to whom we speak as
cross-cultural communication issues. well as the frequency of that communication.
Another strategy is to cloister employees into team spaces, but
● Voice intonation also encourage sufficient interaction with people from other
● Language teams.
● Use of silence Internet-based organizational communication
● Conversational overlaps Employees are increasingly skeptical of information that has been
screened and packaged by management.
Direct communication with top management
Nonverbal differences across cultures Effective organizational communication includes regular
Nonverbal communication represents another potential area for interaction directly between senior executives and employees
misunderstanding across cultures. further down the hierarchy.
Many nonconscious or involuntary nonverbal cues have the same
meaning around the world, but deliberate gestures often have
different interpretations. ● Hall meetings
Gender differences in communication ● Hold roundtable forums with small representation of
Men and women have similar communication practices, but there employees
are subtle distinctions that can occasionally lead to ● Management by walking around (MBWA):
misunderstanding and conflict. A communication practice in which executives get out of their
offices and learn from others in the organization through
face-to-face dialogue.
● Men are more likely to view conversations as
negotiations of relative status and power. They assert
their power by directly giving advice to others and using Communicating through the grapevine
combative language. Grapevine: an unstructured and informal communication network
founded on social relationships rather than organizational charts
● Men dominate the talk time in conversations with women,
or job descriptions.
as well as interrupt more and adjust their speaking style
less than do women.
● Men engage in more ‘report talk’ in which the primary
Grapevine characteristics
function of the conversation is impersonal and efficient Grapevine transmits information very rapidly in all directions
information exchange throughout the organization.
The typical pattern is a cluster chain, whereby a few people
Gender differences are modest. actively transmit information to many others.
Improving interpersonal communication Grapevine distorts information by deleting fine details and
Effective interpersonal communication depends on the sender’s exaggerating key points of the story.
ability to get the message across the receiver’s performance as Grapevine benefits and limitations
an active listener. Benefits:
Getting your message across
● Employees rely on the grapevine when information is not
1. To get your message across to the other person, you first need to available trough formal channels
empathize with the receiver. ● The main conduit through which organizational stories and
other symbols of the organization’s culture are
2. Second, be sure that you repeat the message.
communicated.
3. Third, your message competes with other messages and noise, ● Social interaction relieves anxiety
so find a time when the receiver is less likely to be distracted by ● Associated with the drive to bond
these other matters. ● Limitations
● Information is sometimes distorted
If you are communicating bad news or criticism, focus on the
problem, not the person. The meaning of power
Active listening Power: the capacity of a person, team or organization to influence
Effective leadership includes active listening. others.
Three components
● It is only the potential
● Sensing ● Power is based on the target’s perception that the power
The process of receiving signals from the sender and paying controller holds
attention to them ● Power involves asymmetric (unequal) dependence of one
Active listeners improve sensing in three ways party on another party
Countervailing power: the capacity of a person, team or
organization to keep a more powerful person or group in the
exchange relationship.
● All power relationships depend on some minimum level of
⮚ The postpone evaluation by on forming an opinion until the
speaker is finished trust
Managers typically have more power, whereas employees have Many people respond to expertise just as they respond to
weaker countervailing power. authority, they mindlessly follow the guidance of these experts.
Sometimes employees have more power than their bosses. Referent power
Power is derived from four sources: Referent power: the capacity to influence others on the basis of
an identification with and respect for the power holder.
● Legitimate Associated with charisma.
● Reward Charisma: a personal characteristic or special ‘gift’ that serves as
● Coercive expert a form of interpersonal attraction and referent power over others.
● Referent Contingencies of power
Sources of power generate power only under certain conditions.
Substitutability
Four contingencies of power: Power is strongest when the individual or work unit has a
monopoly over a valued resource. They are nonsubstitutable.
● The employees or department’s substitutability Substitiutability refers not only to other sources that offer the
● Centrality resource, but also to substitutions of the resource itself.
● Discretion Centrality
● Visibility Centrality: a contingency of power pertaining to the degree and
nature of interdependence between the power holder and others.
Sources of power in organizations The power holders importance based on the degree and nature of
Tree sources of power originate mostly form the power holder’s interdependence with others.
formal position or informal role Visibility
Power increases with your visibility.
Discretion
● Legitimate The freedom to exercise judgment is an important contingency of
● Reward power in organizations.
● Coercive The power of social networks
Social networks: social structures of individuals or social units that
Two other sources of power originate mainly from the power are connected to each other through one or more forms of
holder’s own characteristics interdependence.

● Expert ● Some social networks are held together due to common

● Referent interests.
● Other networks form around common status, expertise,
kinship, or physical proximity.
Legitimate power
● Social networks exist because people have a drive to bond,
Legitimate power: an agreement among organizational members
but there are cultural differences in the norms of active
that people in certain roles can request certain behaviors of
network involvement.
others.
Social capital and sources of power
This perceived right or obligation originates from formal job
Social capital: the knowledge and other resources available to
descriptions as well as informal rules of conduct.
people or social units from a durable network that connects them
Legitimate power has restrictions.
to others.
It gives the power holds only the right to ask others to perform a
Social networks potentially enhance and maintain the power of its
limited domain of behaviors. This domain is the zone of
members through three resources:
indifference.
The size of the zone of indifference increases with the level of trust
in the power holder. ● Information
Some values and personality traits also make people more ● Visibility
obedient to authority. ● Referent power
The organization’s culture represents another influence on the
willingness of employees to follow orders. Gaining power through social networks
Norm of reciprocity: a felt obligation and social expectation of Strong ties, weak ties, many ties
helping or otherwise giving something of value to someone who The volume of information, favors, and other social capital that
has already helped or given something of value to you. people receive from networks usually increases with the number
It is a form of legitimate power. of people connected to them.
Legitimate power through information control But the more people you know, the less time and energy you have
A particularly potent form of legitimate power occurs where people to form ‘strong ties’.
have the right to control information that others receive. Strong ties: close-knit relationships, which are evident from how
often we interact with people, how intensely we share resources
● Information is a resource with them, and whether we are multiple-, or single-purpose
● Selectively distributing information in a way that affects how relationships with them.
those receiving the information perceive the situation Strong ties are valuable.
compared to their perception if they received all of the Some minimal connection strength is necessary to remain in any
information. social network, but strong connections aren’t necessarily the most
valuable ties.
Having weak ties with people from diverse networks can be more
Reward power
valuable than having strong ties with people in similar networks.
Derived from the person’s ability to control the allocation of
Social network centrality
rewards valued by others and to remove negative sanctions.
The more central person is located in the network, the more social
Coercive power
capital and therefore more power he or she acquires.
The ability to apply punishment.
Centralization importance in that network.
Expert power
Three factors determine your centrality in a social network.
An individual’s or work unit’s capacity to influence others by
possessing knowledge or skills valued by others.
Expertise can help companies cope with uncertainty in three ● Betweenness
ways: How much you are located between others in the network
The more betweenness you have, the more you control the
distribution of information and other resources to people
● Prevention
either side of you.
● Forecasting
● Degree centrality
● Absorption
The number or percentage of connections you have to others
Absorbing or neutralizing the impact of environmental shifts
in the network.
as they occur.
● Closeness
High closeness refers to strong ties.
 Structural hole: an area between two or more dense social highly motivated to implement it even when extrinsic
network areas that lacks network ties. sources of motivation are not present.

Consequences of power General preference on soft tactics.

The most appropriate influence strategy depends on a few
When people feel empowered, they believe they have power over contingencies.
themselves and freedom from being influenced by others.
Empowerment tends to increase motivation, job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and job performance. ● The influencer’s strongest sources of power
This feeling of being in control and free from others’ authority also ● Whether the person being influenced is higher, lower, or
increases automatic rather than mindful thinking. at the same level in the organization
Power over others produces a sense of duty or responsibility for ● Personal, organizational and cultural values.
the people over whom the power holder has authority.
Influencing others Organizational politics
Influence: any behavior that attempts to alter someone’s attitudes For the most part, organizational politics is in the eye of the
or behavior. beholder.
Influence is power in motivation. Organizational politics: behavior that others perceive as self-
Type of influence tactics serving tactics at the expense of other people and possibly the
Silent authority organization.
When someone complies with a request because of the Employees who experience organizational politics from others
requester’s legitimate power as well as the target person’s role have:
expectations.
Assetiveness
Involves actively applying legitimate and coercive power to ● Lower job satisfaction
influence others. ● Lower organizational commitment
Vocal authority. ● Lower organizational citizenship
Informational control ● Lower task performance
When the power holder actually distributes information selectively ● Higher levels of work-related stress
so it re-frames the situation and casual others to change their ● Higher motivation to leave the organization.
attitudes and/or behavior.
Coalition formation
Minimizing organizational politics
Coalition: a group that attempts to influence people outside the
group by pooling the resources and power of its members.
A coalition in influential in three ways: ● Organizational politics is triggered by scare resources in
the workplace
● It pools the power and resources of many people
● Organizational politics are fueled by ambiguous or
complex rules, or the absence of formal rules
● The coalition’s mere existence can be a source of power by
● Organizational change tends to bring out more
symbolizing the legitimacy of the issue
organizational politics
● Social identity
● Political behavior is more common in work units and
organizations where it is tolerated and reinforced
Upward appeal
Persuasion
Personal characteristics
The use of facts, logical arguments, and emotional appeals to
Several personal characteristics affect an individual’s motivation
change another person’s beliefs and attitudes, usually for the
to engage in self-serving behavior.
purpose of changing the person’s behavior.
The effectiveness of persuasion as an influence tactic depends
on: ● A strong need for personal as opposed to socialized
power
● Characteristics of the persuader
● Message content Machiavellian values: the beliefs that deceit is a natural and
● Communication channel acceptable way to influence others and that getting more than one
● The audience being persuaded deserves is acceptable.

Inoculation effect: a persuasive communication strategy of Meaning and consequences of conflict

warning listeners that others will try to influence them in the future
and that they should be wary of the opponent’s arguments. Conflict: the process in which one party perceives that its interests
Impression management (including ingratiation) are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.
Impression management: actively shaping through self-
presentation and other means the perceptions and attitudes that Conflict is ultimately based on perceptions. It exists whenever one
others have of us. party believes that another might obstruct its efforts, regardless of
Ingratiation: any attempt to increase liking by, or perceived to, whether the other party actually intends to do so.
some targeted person.
Exchange
The promise of benefits or resources in exchange for the target Is conflict good or bad?
person’s compliance with your request.
Consequences and contingencies of influence tactics Conflict can have negative consequences under some
How people react when others try to influence them circumstances:

● Resistance ● Reducing employee performance by consuming

When people or work units oppose the behavior desired otherwise productive time
by the influencer. Levels of it. Most extreme refuse the
behavior. ● Stressful
● Compliance
When people are motivated to implement the influencer’s ● Increases job dissatisfaction
request for purely instrumental reasons.
Involving in the behavior with no more effort than is ● People who experience conflict tend to reduce their
required. information sharing and other forms of coordination with
● Commitment each other.
People identify with the influencer’s request and are
● Conflict fuels organizational politics
 ● Conflict may undermine team cohesion and performance ● Interdependence

Benefits of conflict ● Scare resources

● Ambiguous rules
Optimal conflict perspective: organizations are most effective
when employees experience some level of conflict, but becomes ● Communication problems
less effective with high levels of conflict.
Incompatible goals
● Conflict energizes people to debate issues and evaluative
alternatives more thoroughly.
They probe and test each other’s way of thinking to better When the goals of one person or department seem to interfere
understand the underlying issues that need to be addressed. with another person’s or department’s goals.

● Moderate levels of conflict prevent organizations from Differentiation

becoming nonresponsive to their external environment.
Differences among people and work units regarding their training,
● When team members have a dispute or competition with values, beliefs, and experiences.
external sources, this represents and external challenge that
potentially increases cohesion within the team.
Interdependence
The emerging view: task and relationship conflict
Conflict is inherently about relationships because people and work
units are affected by others only when they have some level of
There are various types of conflicts with different consequences. interdependence.
The two dominant types are: The risk of conflict increases with the level of interdependence.

● Task conflict: a type of conflict in which people focus their Scare resources
discussion around the issue while showing respect for
people who have other points of view. Constructive conflict.
Process conflict → how the work should be done and who Each person or unit requiring the same resource necessarily
should perform the various task roles. undermines others who also need that resource to fulfill their
Functional goals.

● Relationship conflict: a type of conflict in which people focus Ambiguous rules

on characteristics of other individuals, rather than on the
issues, as the source of conflict. Uncertainty increases the risk that one party intends to interfere
Dysfunctional with the other party’s goals.
Encourages political tactics and, in some cases, employees enter
Separating task form relationship conflict a free-for-all battle to win decisions in their favor.

Separating task form relationship conflict is not easy. Communication problems

Three conditions potentially minimize the level of relationship
conflict during task conflict episodes: The lack of opportunity, ability, or motivation to communicate
effectively.
● Emotional intelligence and emotional stability.
● When two parties lack the opportunity to communicate, they
● Cohesive team tend to rely more on stereotypes to understand the other
party in the conflict.
● Supportive team norms
● Some people lack the necessary skills to communicate in a
diplomatic, nonconfrontational manner.

● Relation conflict is uncomfortable, so people are less

Conflict process model motivated to communicate with others in a disagreement.

Sources of conflict. Interpersonal conflict-handling styles

At some point, the sources of conflict lead one or both parties to
perceive that conflict exists. These perceptions usually interact The six sources of conflict lead to conflict perceptions and
with emotions experienced about the conflict. emotions that, in turn, motivate people to respond in some way to
Conflict perceptions and emotions produce manifest conflict, the the conflict.
decisions and behaviors of one party toward the other.
Conflict episodes may range from subtle nonverbal behaviors to
warlike aggression. How people respond behaviorally to a conflict situation depends
Conflict is behaviorally revealed by the style each side uses to on the relative importance they place in maximizing outcomes for
resolve the conflict. themselves and for the other party.

Sources of conflict → conflict perceptions and emotions → ● Problem solving

manifest conflict → (sometimes back to perceptions and emotions Tries to find a solution that is beneficial for both parties.
and so on) → conflict outcomes Win-win orientation: the belief that conflicting parties will find a
mutually beneficial solution to their disagreement.
Information sharing is an important feature of this style.
Structural sources of conflict in organizations
● Forcing
Six main conditions: Tries to win the conflict at the other’s expense.
Win-lose orientation: the belief that conflicting parties are
● Incompatible goals drawing from a fixed pie, so the more one party receives, the
less the other party will receive.
● Differentiation Relies on assertiveness and other hard influence tactics to
get one’s own way.
● Avoiding Cultural differences are more than just a source of conflict. They
Tries to smooth over or evade conflict situations altogether. influence the preferred conflict-handling style.
Does not necessarily mean that we have a low concern for Men and women also rely on different conflict-handling styles to
both one’s and the other party’s interest. some degree.

● Yielding ● Men are more likely to use the forcing style.

Giving in completely to the other side’s wishes, or at least
cooperating with little or no attention to your own interests. ● Females are more likely to use the avoiding style
Involves making unilateral concessions and unconditional
promises.
Compared to men, women pay more attention to the relationship
● Compromising between the parties.
Involves looking for a position in which your losses are offset
by equally valued gains. Structural approaches to conflict management
Actively searching for a middle ground between the interests
of the two parties. Conflict management also involves altering the underlying
structural causes of potential conflict.
Choosing the best conflict-handling style
Empathizing superordinate goals
People usually gravitate toward on or two conflict-handling styles
that match their personality, personal and cultural values, and past Superordinate goals: goals that the conflicting parties value and
experience. whose attainment requires the joint resources and effort of those
The best style depends on the situation. parties.

Reducing differentiation

Conflict-handling Preferred style Problems with As people develop common experiences and beliefs, they
style when… this style become more motivated to coordinate activities and resolve their
disputes through constructive discussion.
Interests are not
perfectly opposing Sharing Improving communication and mutual understanding
Parties have trust, information that the
Problem solving openness, and other party might
time to share user to his or her To give the conflicting parties more opportunities to communicate
information advantage and understand each other.
Issues are complex But

You have a deep ● These interventions should be applied only where

conviction about differentiation is sufficiently low or after differentiation has
Highest risk of been reduced.
your position
relationship conflict
Dispute requires a
May damage long- ● People in collectivist and high power distance cultures are
Forcing quick solution
term relations, less comfortable with the practice of resolving differences
Other party would
reducing future through direct and open communication.
take advantage of
problem solving
more cooperative
strategies Reducing distance

Conflict has
become too Minimize the level of interdependence between the parties.
Doesn’t usually Three ways to reduce interdependence among employees:
emotionally
resolve the conflict
charged
Avoiding May increase the
Cost of trying to ● Create buffers
other party’s
resolve the conflict A buffer is any mechanism that loosens the coupling
frustration
outweighs the between tow or more people or work units.
benefits
● Use integrators
Other party has Employees who coordinate the activities of work units toward
substantially more the completion of a shared task of project.
power Reduces the amount of direct interaction required among
Increases other
Issue is much less diverse work units.
party’s
important to you
Yielding expectations in
than to the other ● Combine jobs
future conflict
party
episodes
The value and logic ● Increasing resources
of your position
isn't as clear ● Clarifying rules and procedures

Parties have equal Third-party conflict resolution

power
Sub-optimal
Time pressure to
solution where Third-party conflict resolution: any attempt by a relatively neutral
Compromising resolve the conflict
mutual gains are person to help conflicting parties resolve their differences.
Parties lack trust/
possible Three main third-party dispute resolution activities
openness for
problem solving
● Arbitration:
Arbitrators have high control over the final decision, but low
control over the process.
Executives engage in this strategy by following previously
agreed-upon rules of due process, listening to arguments
Cultural and gender differences in conflict-handling styles
form the disputing employees, and making a binding
decision.
● Inquisition Develop goals and understand needs
Inquisitors control all discussion about the conflict.
Determine how to resolve the conflict. They also choose Successful negotiators develop goals about what they want to
which information to examine and how to examine it, and achieve from the exchange.
they generally decide how the conflict resolution process will They reflect on what needs they are trying to fulfill from those
be handles. goals.
Also anticipating the other party’s goals and their underlying
● Mediation needs, based on available information before negotiation sessions
Mediators have high control over the intervention process. begin.
Their main purpose is tho manage the process and context
of interaction between the disputing parties. But, the parties
make the final decision about how to resolve their Negotiators engage in a form of goals setting that identifies three
differences. key positions:

Choosing the best third-party intervention strategy. ● Initial, what they will initially request in the negotiations

● Target, what they want to achieve in the best possible

Research suggests that managers and other people in positions situation
of authority usually adopt an inquisitional approach whereby they
dominate the intervention process as well as make a binding ● Resistance, what minimum acceptable result they will accept
decision.
It is consistent with the decision-oriented nature of managerial
jobs. These tree are shown for each party in the bargaining zone model.

Inquisition is usually the least effective third-party conflict The initial offer point, each party’s offer to the other side, requires
resolution method in organizational settings. careful consideration because it can influence the negotiation
outcome.
● Leaders who take an inquisitional role tend to collect limited
information about the problem, so their imposed decision Target point: your realistic goal or expectation for a final
may produce an ineffective solution to the conflict. agreement.
This position must consider alternative strategies to achieve those
● Employees often view inquisitional procedures and objectives, and test underlying assumptions about the situation.
outcomes as unfair because they have little control over this
approach Know your BATNA and power

● Which third-party approach is most appropriate in Best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA): the best
organizations? outcome you might achieve through some other course of action
if you abandon the current negotiation.
● Partly depends on the situation

● More favorable results when it applies the procedural justice Having more than one BATNA to a negotiation increases your
practices power.
A common problem is that people tend to overestimate their
BATNA.
Generally speaking, for everyday disagreements between two
employees, the mediation approach is usually the best because it
gives employees more responsibility for resolving their won The negotiation process
disputes.
Gather information
Resolving conflict through negotiation
Information is the cornerstone of effective negotiations.
Negotiation: the process whereby two or more conflicting parties Some types of information reveal the other party’s resistance
attempt to resolve their divergent goals by redefining the terms of point.
their interdependence. Mutual gains may be possible with more information.
People negotiate when they think that discussion can produce a Successful negotiations require both parties to volunteer
more satisfactory arrangement in their exchange of goods or information.
services.
The most important practices for gathering information in
Distributive versus integrative approaches to negotiation negotiations are to listen and ask questions.
Skilled negotiator communicate their inner thoughts and feelings
about what the other party has said.
Distributive
In negotiations, those involved in the conflict must distribute
portions from a fixed pie. Manage concessions

Integrative or mutual gains Successful negotiators make fewer concessions and each
Then negotiators believe the resources at stake are expandable concession is smaller than those of average negotiators.
rather than fixed if the parties work creatively together to find a Concessions are a form of communication because they signal to
solution. the other party the relative importance of each issue being
negotiated.
Concessions also symbolize each party’s motivation to bargain in
When do negotiators adopt a distributive or integrative approach good faith.
to negotiations? Concessions are necessary for the parties to move toward the
area to agreement.
● The situation Concessions need to be clearly labeled as such and should be
accompanied by an expectation that the other party will
● Individual’s personality and past experiences reciprocate.

Preparing to negotiate Some type of offers and concessions are better than others.

Preparation is essential for successful negotiations. ● The key objective is to discover and signal which issues are
more and less important to each side.
● One way to figure out the relative importance of the issues
to each party is to make multi-issue offers rather than
discuss one issue at a time.

Manage time

Negotiators tend to make more concessions as the deadline gets

closer.

Build the relationship

Building and maintaining trust is important in all negotiations.

The negotiation setting

The effectiveness of negotiating depends to some extent on the

environment in which the negotiations occur.

● Location

● Physical setting

● Audience characteristics

Gender and negotiation

When it comes to negotiation, women tend to have poorer

economic outcomes than do men.