Key Terms Organizational Behaviour

CHAPTER 1:
Corporate social responsibility Organizational
activities intended to benefit society and the
environment beyond the firms immediate financial
interests or legal obligations
Deep-level diversity Differences in the
psychological characteristics of employees,
including personalities, belifs, values and
attitudes
Ethics The study of moral principles or values
that determine whether actions are right or
wrong and outcomes are good or bad
Evidence-based management The practice of
making decisions taking actions based on
research evidence
Globalization Economic, social, and cultural
connectivity with people in other parts oft the
world
High-performance work Practices A
perspective which holds that effective
organizations incorporate several workplace
practices that leverage the potential of human
capital
Human capital The stock of knowledge, skills,
and abilities among employees that provide
economic value to the organization

 Intellectual capital A companys stock of

knowledge incuding human capital, structural
capital, and relationship capital
Open systems A perspective which holds that
organizations depend on the external
environment for resources, affect that
environment through their output, and consists
of internal subsystems that transform inputs to
outputs
Organizational behaviour The study of what
people think, feel, and do in and around
organizations
Organizational effectiveness A broad concept
represented by several perspectives, including
the organizations fit with the external
environment, internal subsystems configuration
for high performance, emphasis on
organizational learning and ability to satisfy the
needs of key stakeholders
Organizational efficiency The amount of
outputs relative to inputs in the organizations
transformation process
Organizational learning A perspective which
holds that organizations capacity to acquire,
share, use, and store valuable knowledge
Organizations Groups of people who work
interdependently toward some purpose

 Relationship capital The value derived from

an organizations relationships with customers,
suppliers, and others
Stakeholders Individuals, groups, and other
entities that affect, o rare affected by the
organizations objectives and actions
Structural capital Knowledge embedded in an
organizations systems and structures
Surface-level diversity The observable
demographic or psychological differences in
people, such as their race, ethnicity, gender,
age, and physical disabilities
Values Relatively stable, evaluative beliefst
hat guide a persons preferences for outcomes
or courses of action in a variety of situations
Virtual work Work performed away from the
traditional physical workplace by using
information technology
Work-life balance The degree to which a
person minimizes conflict between work and
non-work demands
CHAPTER 2
Ability The natural aptitudes and learned
capabilities required to successfully complete a
task

 Achievement nurturing orientation A crosscultural value describing the degree to which

people in a culture emphasize competitive
versus cooperative relations with other people
Collectivism A cross-cultural value describing
the degree to which people in a culture
emphasize duty to groups to which they belong,
and to group harmony
Conscientiousness A personality dimension
describing people who are organized,
dependable, goal-focused, thorough,
disciplined, methodical, and industrious
Counter productive work behaviours
Voluntary behaviours that have the potential to
directly or indirectly harm the organization
Extraversion A personality dimension
describing people who are outgoing, talkative,
sociable, and assertive
Five factor model The five broad dimensions
representing most personality traits:
Conscientiousness, emotional stability,
openness to experience, agreeableness, and
extraversion
Individualism A cross-cultural value
describing the degree to which people in a
culture emphasize independence and personal
uniqueness

 Mindfulness A persons receptive and

impartial attention to and awareness of the
present situation as well as to ones own
thoughts and emotions in that moment
Moral intensity The degree to which an issue
demands the application of ethical principles
Moral sensitivity A persons ability to
recognize the presence of an ethical issue and
determine its relative importance
Motivation The forces within a person that
affect his or her direction, intensity, and
performance of voluntary behaviour
MBTY An instrument designed to measure the
elements of Jungian personality theory,
particularly preferences regarding perceiving
and judging information
Neuroticism A personality dimension
describing people who tend to be anxious,
insecure, self-conscious, depressed, and
temperamental
Organizational citizenship behaviours Various
foms of cooperation and helpfulness to others
that support the organizations social and
psychological context

 Personality The relatively enduring pattern of

thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that
characterize a person, along with the
psychological processes behind those
characteristics
Power distance A cross-cultural value
describing the degree to which people in a
culture accept unequal distribution of power in
a society
Presenteeism Attending scheduled work when
ones capacity to perform is significantly
diminished by illness or other factors
Role perceptions The degree to which a
person understands the job duties assigned to
or expected of him or her
Uncertainty avoidance A cross-cultural value
describing the degree to which people in a
culture tolerate ambiguity or feel threatened by
ambiguity and uncertainty
CHAPTER 3:
Attribution process Process of deciding
whether an observed behaviour is caused
largely by internal or external factors
Categorical thinking Organizing people and
objects into preconceived categories that are
stored in our long-term memory

 Confirmation bias The process of screening

out information that is contrary to our values
and assumptions and to more readily accept
confirming information
Contact hypothesis A theory stating that the
more we interact with someone, the less
prejudices pr perceptually biased we will be
against that person
Empathy A persons understanding of and
sensitivity tot he feelings, thoughts, and
situations of others
False-consensus effect A perceptual error in
which we overestimate the extent to which
others have beliefs and characteristics similar to
our own
Fundamental attribution error Tendency to
see the person rather than the situation as the
main cause oft the persons behaviour
Global mindset An individuals ability to
perceive, appreciate and emphatize with people
from other cultures and to process cross cultural
information
Halo effect A perceptual error whereby our
general impression of a person usually based
on the prominent characteristics, colors our
perception of other characteristics of the person

 Johari window A model of mutual

understanding that encourages disclosure and
feedback to increase our own open area and
reduce the blind, hidden, and unknown areas
Locus of control A persons general belief
about the amount of control he or she has over
personal life events
Mental models Knowledge structures that we
develop to describe explain, and predict the
world around us
Perception The process of receiving
information about and making sense oft he
world around us
Positive organizational behaviour A
perspective of organizational behaviour that
focuses on building positive qualities within
individuals or institutions as opposed to
focusing on whats wrong with them
Primacy effect A perceptual error in which we
quickly form an opinion of people based on the
first information we receive about them
Recency effect A perceptual error in which the
most recent information dominates our
perception of others
Selective attention The process of attending
to some information received by our senses and
ignoring other information

 Self-concept An individuals self-beliefs and

self-evaluations
Self-efficacy A persons belief that he or she
hast he ability, motivation, correct role
perception, and favourable situation to
complete a task successfully
Self-enhancement A persons inherent
motivation to have a positive self-concept, such
as being competent, lucky, ethical and
important
Self-fulfilling prophecy The perceptual
process in which our expectation about another
person cause that person to act more
consistently with those expectations
Self-serving bias The tendency to attribute
our favourable outcomes to internal factors and
our failures to external factors
Self-verification A persons inherent
motivation to confirm and maintain his/her
existing self-concept
Social identity theory A theory stating that
people define themselves by the groups to
which they belong or have an emotional
attachment.
Stereotyping The process of assigning traits
to people based on their membership in a social
category

CHAPTER 4:
Affective organizational commitment An
individuals emotional attachment to,
involvement in, and identification with an
organization
Attitudes The cluster of beliefs, assessed
feelings, and behavioural intentions towards a
person, object or event
Cognitive dissonance An emotional
experience caused by a perception that our
beliefs, feelings, and behaviour are incongruent
with each other
Continuance commitment An individuals
calculative attachment to an organization
Emotional dissonance The psychological
tension experienced when the emptions people
are required to display are quite different from
the emotions they actually experience at that
moment.
Emotional intelligence A set of abilities to
perceive and express emotion, assimilate
emotion in thought, understand and reason with
emotion , and regulate emotion in oneself and
others
Emotional labour The effort, planning, and
control needed to express organizationally
desired emotions during interpersonal
transactions

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 Emotions Psychological, behavioural, and

physiological episodes experienced towards an
object, person, or event that create a state of
readiness
Exit-voice-loyalty-neglect model The four
ways that employees respond to job
dissatisfaction
General adaption syndrome A model oft he
stress experience, consisting of three stages:
alarm, reaction, resistance, and exhaustion
Job satisfaction A persons evaluation of his
or her job and work context
Psychological harassment Repeated and
hostile or unwanted conduct, verbal comments,
actions, or gestures that affect an employees
dignity or psychological or physiological
integrity and that result in harmful work
environment for the employee
Service profit chain model A theory explaining
how employees job satisfaction influences
company profitability indirectly through service
quality, customer loyalty, and related factors
Stress An adaptive response to a situation
that is perceived as challenging or threatening
to the persons well-being
Stressors Environmental conditions that place
a physical or emotional demand on the person

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 Trust Positive expectations one person has

towards another person in situations involving
risk
Workaholic A person who is highly involved in
work, feels compelled to work and has a low
enjoyment of work.
CHAPTER 5:
Balanced scorecard (BSC) A goal-setting and
reward system that translates the
organizations vision and mission into specific
measurable performance goals related to
financial, customer, internal, and
learning/growth (human capital) processes.
Distributive justice Perceived fairness in the
individuals ration of outcomes to contributions
relative to a comparison of others ratio of
outcomes to contributions
Drives Hardwired characteristics of the brain
that connect deficiencies or maintain an internal
equilibrium by producing emotions to energize
individuals
Employee engagement Individuals emotional
and cognitive motivation, particularly a focused,
intense persistent, and purposive effort towards
work related goals
Equity theory A theory explaining how people
develop perceptions of fairness in the
distribution and exchange of resources

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 Expectancy theory A motivation theory based

on the idea that work effort is directed towards
behaviours that people believe will lead to
desired outcomes
Four drive theory A motivation theory based
on the innate drives to acquire bond, learn, and
defend that incorporates both emotions and
rationality
Goal setting The process of motivating
employees and clarifying their role perceptions
by establishing performance overview
Maslows needs hierarchy theory A motivation
theory of needs arranged in a hierarchy,
whereby people are motivated to fulfill a higher
need as a lower one becomes gratified
Multisource (360-degree) feedback
Information about an employees performance
collected from a full circle of people, including
subordinates, peers, supervisors and customers
Need for achievement (nAch) A learned need
in which people want to accomplish reasonably
challenging goals and desire unambiguous
feedback and recognition for their success
Need for affiliation (nAff) A learned need in
which people seek approval from others,
conform to their wishes and expectations, and
avoid conflict and confrontation

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 Need for power (nPow) A learned need in

which people want to control their environment,
including people and material resources, to
benefit either themselves or others
Needs Goal directed forces that people
experience
Organizational behaviour modification (OB Mod)
A theory that explains employee behaviour in
terms of the antecedent conditions and
consequences of that behaviour
Procedural justice Perceived fairness of the
procedure used to decide the distribution of
resources
Self-reinforcement Reinforcement that occurs
when employee has control over a reinforcer but
doesnt take it until completing self-set goals
Social cognitive theory A theory that explains
how learning and motivation occur by observing
and modelling others as well as by anticipating
the consequences of our behaviour
Strengths-based coaching A positive
organizational behaviour approach to coaching
and feedback that focuses on building and
leveraging the employees strengths rather than
trying to correct his/her weaknesses
CHAPTER 6:

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 Autonomy The degree to which a job gives

employees the freedom, independence, and
discretion to schedule their work and determine
the procedures used in completing in
Employee share ownership plans (ESOP) A
reward system that encourages employees to
buy company shares
Empowerment A psychological concept in
which people experience more selfdetermination, meaning, competence, and
impact regarding their role in the organization
Gainsharing plans A team based reward that
calculates bonuses from the work units cost
savings and productivity improvement
Job characteristics model A job design model
that relates the motivational properties of jobs
to specific personal and organizational
consequences of those properties
Job design The process of assigning tasks to a
job
Job enlargement The practice of adding more
tasks to an existing job
Job enrichment The practice of giving
employees more responsibility for scheduling,
coordinating and planning their own work

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 Job evaluation Systematically rating the worth

of jobs within an organization by measuring
skill, effort, responsibility, and working
conditions
Job specialization The result of division of
labour in which work is subdivided into separate
jobs and assigned to different people
Mental imagery The process pf mentally
practising a task and visualizing its successful
completion
Motivator-hygiene theory Herzbergs theory
stating that employees are primarily motivated
by growth and esteem needs, not by lower level
needs
Profit-sharing plans A reward system that
pays bonuses to employees on the basis of of
the previous years level corporate profits
Scientific management the practice of
systematically partitioning work into its
smallest elements and standardizing tasks to
achieve maximum efficiency
Self-leadership The process of influencing
oneself to establish the self-direction and selfmotivation needed to perform a task
Self-talk The process of talking to ourselves
about our own thoughts/actions

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 Share options A reward system that gives

employees the right to purchase company
shares at a future date at a predetermined price
Skill variety The extent to which employees
must use different skills and talents to perform
tasks within their jobs
Task identity the degree to which a job
requires completion of a whole or an identifiable
piece of work
Task significance The degree to which a job
has substantial impact on the organization
and/or larger society
CHAPTER 7:
Anchoring and adjustment heuristic A natural
tendency for people to be influenced by an
initial anchor point such that they do not
sufficiently move away from that point as new
info is provided.
Availability heuristic A natural tendency to
assign higher probabilities to objects or events
that are easier to recall from memory
Bounded rationality The view that people are
bounded in their decision-making capabilities
including access to limited information, limited
information processing and tendency towards
satisficing rather than maximizing when making
choices

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 Creativity The development of original ideas

that make a socially recognized contribution
Decision making The conscious process of
making choices among alternatives with the
intention of moving towards some desired state
of affairs
Divergent thinking Reframing aa problem in a
unique way and generating different approaches
to the issue
Employee involvement The degree to which
employees influence how their work is carried
out and organized
Escalation of commitment The tendency to
repeat an apparently bad decision or allocate
more resources to a falling course of action
Implicit favourite A preferred alternative that
the decision maker uses repeatedly as a
comparison with other choices
Intuition The ability to know when a problem
or opportunity exists and to select the best
course of action without conscious reasoning
(GUT FEELING)
Prospect theory effect A natural tendency to
feel more dissatisfaction from losing a particular
amount than satisfaction from gaining an equal
amount

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 Rational choice paradigm The view in decision

making that people should use logic and
available info to chose the alternative with the
highest value
Representativeness heuristic A natural
tendency to evaluate probabilities of events and
objects by the degree of which they resemble
other events or objects rather than an objective
probability information
Satisficing Selecting an alternative that is
satisfactory or good enough instead of
alternative with highest value
Scenario planning A systematic process of
thinking about alternative futures and what the
organization should do to anticipate and react
to those environments
Subjective expected utility The probability
(expectancy) of satisfaction (utility) resulting
from choosing a specific alternative in a decision

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