ACRONYMS

5 Dimensions of Personality
- OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism)

Organizational culture
- BVA (Beliefs, values, assumptions)

Strong cultures:
- Assets = CCF (coordination, conflict resolution, financial success)
- Liabilities = RCP (resistance to change, culture clash, pathology)

Mode of Stress Management

- AACCC (Avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising, collaborating)

Socialization
- Say Hi To Rebecca Even Out Running (selection, hazing, train, reward, expose to
culture, organizational folklore, role models)

How do groups develop?

- Fuck Sexy N Performing Anal (forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning)

Decision-making process
- ISDECIM (identify, search, develop, evaluate, choose, implement, monitor)

Hofstede’s 4 dimensions of work values

- PUMIL (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, individualisms, long vs
short term orientation)

Factors of Group Cohesiveness

- tom saved me some taxes (threat and competition, success, member diversity, size,
toughness of initiation)

Consequences of Group Cohesiveness

- Partying consolidates Society (participation, conformity, success)

Chapter 2: Organizational Behaviour and Management

What is personality?
 - person’s set of characteristics that are stables
- they determine how someone interacts with its environment
depends on:
- genetic predispositions
- one’s long term learning history
- people have a variety of personality traits
Personality and OB
- personality has a long history in OB theory
Dispositional approach
- focuses on individual dispositions and personality
- individuals are predisposed to behave in certain ways
- for example, having a good attitude is an important variable in success
Situational approach
- Organizational setting such as rewards and punishment influences the feelings, attitudes and
behaviour of people.
- Job satisfaction and other related attitudes are largely determined by situational factors like
characteristics of the work task.
Interactionist approach
- OB is a function of both the dispositional and situational approach
- to predict and understand OB we need to know something about personality and work setting
- the interactionist approach is the most widely accepted perspective within OB
Personality and the situation
- situations can be described as ​weak ​or s​ trong
- weak​ s
​ ituations roles are loosely defined
few rules
weak reinforcement, punishment and contingency
personality has the strongest effect in weak
situations
- strong​ ​situations the rules, roles and contingencies are more defined
personality has less of an impact
the extent to which personality influences people’s
attitudes and behaviour depends on the situation

Trait activation theory

- traits lead to certain behaviour only when the situation makes the need for the trait salient
- personality influences people’s behaviour when the situation calls for the personality
characteristics
Implications of the interactionist approach
 - some characteristics are useful in certain organizational situations
- there is no b
​ etter ​kind of personality
- managers need to appreciate the advantage of employee diversity
- the importance of ​fit​; putting the right person in the right job, group or organization
Five factor model of personality (OCEAN)
- openness
- conscientiousness
- extravasation sociable, talkative / withdraw, shy
important for jobs that require interpersonal
interaction where being sociable, assertive,
energetics, ambitious is important for success
- agreeableness
- neuroticism
Locus of control
a set of beliefs that one’s behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces
- high internal self-initiation, free will, personal actions
- high external fate, luck, other people
Learning
- learning occurs when practise or experience shapes one's behaviour potential
- practical skills specific job skills knowledge technical expertise
- interpersonal skills interactive skills, communication, teamwork
- intrapersonal skills problem solving, critical thinking
- cultural awareness social norms of org, company goals,
expectations, priorities
Operant learning theory
- learning by doing, operating in the situation you learn to do the task better
- positive reinforcement increase and maintain the probability of some
behaviours by the application of positive stimulus
- negative reinforcement increase and maintain the probability of some
behaviours by the application of negative stimulus
- immediate reinforcement is used for fast acquisition
best strategy: continuous or partial
- delayed reinforcement is used for a persistent effect
best strategy: short or long

Extinction
 - used when you want gradually dispose of a certain behaviour followed by the termination of
reinforcement to that behaviour or substitute for a different reinforcement for another desired
behaviour
Punishment
- the application of an aversive stimulus to decrease the probability of an unwanted behaviour
- Related problems can be temporary
can sometimes not demonstrate what is the
wanted behaviour
can provoke strong emotional reaction
- Effective punishment limit emotions involved
provide alternatives to the behaviour
punish at adequate time
Social cognitive theory (mental, thinking about the job, seeing consequences, what works,
what doesn’t, just being like a thinking person... )
- learning by observing the behaviours of others
- Manage own behaviours by thinking of the consequences of their actions, setting goals,
monitoring performance, rewarding themselves for accomplishing goals
Observational learning
- seeing the consequences they experienced, thinking what will happen if they act the same
way
- imitating same behaviour if we see a favourable consequence
Self-efficacy
- belief that people have about their abilities to successfully perform a specific task. ​Has four
sources:​ performance mastery, observation, verbal persuasion/encouragement, and
physiological state
Self-regulation
- observing own behaviour comparing to standard model, can improve learning and training
- discrepancy reduction (motivates to change behavior to reduce gap)
- discrepancy production (set even higher goals when goals are meet

Chapter 3: Perception, attribution and diversity

What is perception?:
- the process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to
environment
- people base their actions on the interpretations of reality provided by their perceptual system
rather than actual reality
- we perceive through our 5 senses
 - humans like order, that's why we create concepts and theories to bring order to what would
be chaos without perceived order
Components of perception

- each component influences the perceiver’s impression or interpretation of the target.

- perception has three components a perceiver

a target that is being perceived

some situational context in which the perception is

occurring

Perceiver

- past experiences lead the perceiver to develop expectations that affect current perceptions
- needs unconsciously influence perceptions by causing us to perceive what we wish to
perceive
- emotions, such as anger, happiness, or fear, can influence our perceptions

Perceptual defense

- The tendency for the perceptual system to defend the perceiver against unpleasant emotions
- People often “​see what they want to see​” and “​hear what they want to hear​”
- Our perceptual system works to ensure we do not see or hear things that are threatening

Target

- ambiguous targets are especially susceptible to interpretation and the addition of meaning
- perceivers have a need to resolve ambiguities
- the perceiver does not or cannot use all the information provided by the target
- reduction in ambiguity might not be accompanied by greater accuracy

Situation

- perception occurs in some situational context, and this context can affect what is perceived
- the most important effect that the situation can have is to add information about the target
- the perception of a target can change with the situation even when the perceiver and target
remain the same

· ​Bruner’s Factors that influence perception

- when encountering an unfamiliar target, we are very open to the informational cues
- we tend to look for familiar cues and start categorizing the target
- the search for new cues becomes more selective and search for cues to confirm the
categorization of the target
- as the categorization becomes stronger the perceiver will ignore or distort cues that violate
initial perceptions
 Characteristics of the perceptual process:
- Perception is selective (​ pick and choose)
- Perceivers do not use all of the available cues, and those they do use are given
special emphasis.
- Perception is efficient but this can aid and hinder perceptual accuracy.
- Perception is constant ​(target to be perceived the same over time)
- The tendency for the target to be perceived in the same way over time and across
situations.
- The experience of “getting off on the wrong foot”
- Perception is consistent ​(we want things to be the same, tendency to ignore or distort)
- The tendency to select, ignore, and distort cues so that they fit together to form a
homogenous picture of the target
- We strive for consistency in our perception of people
Basic biases
- Primacy​ (relay on early cues)
- the reliance on early cues or first impressions is known as the p
​ rimacy effect
- primacy can have a lasting impact
- primacy is a form of selectivity and its lasting effects illustrate the operation of
constancy
- Recency​ (rely on recent cues or last impressions)
- the tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions is known as
the ​recency effect
- last impressions count most
- Reliance on central traits
- people tend to organize their perceptions around central traits
- central traits are personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular
interest to a perceiver
- central traits often have a very powerful influence on our perceptions of others
- physical appearance is a common central trait in work settings

conventionally attractive people fare better than unattractive people in terms of a

variety of job-related outcomes (e.g., getting hired)

- negative associations individuals who are overweight tend to be evaluated negatively

on a number of workplace outcomes
- ​Implicit personality theory
- personal theories that people have about which characteristics go together ex. Hard
working people are also honest
- personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go
together
 - perhaps you expect hardworking people to also be honest, or people of average
intelligence to be most friendly
- if such implicit theories are inaccurate, they provide a basis for misunderstanding
- Projection​ (tendency to find familiarity)
- project thoughts and feelings to others
- the tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others.
- in some cases, projection is an efficient and sensible perceptual strategy
- projection can lead to perceptual difficulties and can serve as a form of perceptual
defence
- ​Stereotyping
- the tendency to generalize about people in a social category and ignore variations
among them
- categories on which people might base a stereotype include race, religion, age,
gender, ethnic background, social class, and occupation
- there are three specific aspects to stereotyping:
- We distinguish some category of people
- We assume that the individuals in this category have certain traits
- We perceive that everyone in this category possesses these traits
- People can evoke stereotypes with incredibly little information
- stereotypes help us develop impressions of ambiguous targets
- most stereotypes are inaccurate, especially when we use them to develop
perceptions of specific individuals
- several factors work to reinforce inaccurate stereotypes
- even incorrect stereotypes help us process information about others quickly and
efficiently
- inaccurate stereotypes are often reinforced by selective perception

Attribution theory
- process by which we assign causes or motives to explain people’s behaviour
- situational attributions
- dispositional attributions
suggest that the external situation or
environment in which the target person
exists was responsible for the behaviour
eg. bad weather, good luck, proper tools,
good advice, etc
suggest that some personality or intellectual
characteristic unique to the person is responsible for
the behaviour
eg. intelligence, greed, friendliness, or laziness
Attribution cues

- We rely on external cues and make inferences from these cues when making attributions
- consistency cues (​ engage in behaviour regularly)
- attribution cues that reflect how consistently a person engages in a behaviour
over time
- high consistency behaviour leads to dispositional attributions
- When behaviour occurs inconsistently, we begin to consider situational
- consensus cues ​(do others also engage in that behaviour)
- attribution cues that reflect how a person’s behaviour compares with that of
others
- low consensus behaviour leads to dispositional attributions
- the informational effects of low-consensus behaviour are magnified when the
actor is expected to suffer negative consequences because of the deviance
- distinctive cues​ (does the person engage that behaviour in many situations? Or is it
distinctive to one particular situation)
- attribution cues that reflect the extent to which a person engages in some
behaviour across a variety of situations
- low distinctiveness behaviour leads to a dispositional attribution.
- when a behaviour is highly distinctive, in that it occurs in only one situation,
we are likely to assume that some aspect of the situation caused the
behaviour.

Attribution biases

- Although observers often operate in a rational, logical manner in forming attributions about
behaviour, this does not mean that such attributions are always correct.
- attribution error
- the tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behaviour at
the expense of situational explanations.
- we often discount the strong effects that social cues can have on behaviour.
- we often observe people in constrained and constant situations and fail to
realize that observed behaviour is distinctive to a particular situation.
- actor-observer effect
- the propensity for actors and observers to view the causes of the actor’s
behaviour differently.
- actors are prone to attribute much of their own behaviour to situational factors
while observers are more likely to invoke dispositional causes.
- w​hy are actors prone to attribute much of their own behaviour to situational
causes?
 - self serving bias
- the tendency to take credit for successful outcomes and to deny responsibility
for failures.
- people will explain the very same behaviour differently on the basis of events
that happened ​after​ the behaviour occurred.
- self-serving bias can reflect intentional self-promotion or excuse making or it
might reflect unique information on the part of the actor.

Workforce diversity and valuing diversity

- encourage teamwork that bring minorities and majorities together

- train people to be aware of stereotypes and to value diversity
- can be competitively advantageous

Chapter 4: Values and behaviour

What is a value?
- A broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others (what we consider good or
bad)
Generations
- There are four distinctive generations in the workplace today:

– Traditionalists Respectful of authority and a high work ethic.

(1922-1945)

– Baby Boomers Optimistic workaholics (1946-1964)

– Generation X Cynical, confident, and pragmatic (1965-1980)

– Millennials (gen. Y) Confident, social, demanding of feedback, and

somewhat unfocused (1981-2000)

- Most research points to more similarities than differences in values across generations.
- Some indication that Gen X and Y are more inclined to value money, status, and rapid career
growth than are boomers.
- Gen Ys and Xers, compared to Boomers, see work as less central, value leisure more, and
are more inclined toward work-life balance.
- research shows that generations value the same things, but express it differently
- generational values are important when hiring to find the right “fit” with the organization and
increase positive work attitudes and reduce quitting

Work centrality
- Work is valued differently across cultures
 - There are cross-national differences in the extent to which people perceive work as a central
life interest
- People for whom work was a central life interest work more hours.
- Cross-cultural differences in work centrality can lead to adjustment problems for foreign
employees and managers

Hofstede’s 4 dimensions of work related values

- Geert Hofstede questioned over 116,000 IBM employees in 40 countries about their
work-related values.
- Power distance ​(superiors are accessible or not)
- the extent to which an unequal distribution of power is accepted by society
members.

- in small power distance cultures, inequality is minimized, superiors are

accessible, and power differences are downplayed.

- In large power distance cultures, inequality is accepted as natural, superiors

are inaccessible, and power differences are highlighted

- Out of 76 countries and regions, Canada and the United States rank 15 and
16, falling on the low power distance side of the average.
- Uncertainty avoidance​ (comfortability with uncertain and ambiguous situations)
- The extent to which people are uncomfortable with uncertain and ambiguous
situations.
- Strong uncertainty avoidance cultures stress rules and regulations, hard
work, conformity, and security.
- Cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance are less concerned with rules,
conformity, and security, and hard work is not seen as a virtue and risk taking
is valued.
- Canada and the United States are well below average on uncertainty
avoidance.
- Masculinity/femininity
- Masculine cultures clearly differentiate gender roles, support the dominance
of men, and stress economic performance.
- Feminine cultures accept fluid gender roles, stress sexual equality, and stress
quality of life.
- In Hofstede’s research, Japan is the most masculine society followed by
Austria, Mexico, and Venezuela.
- The Scandinavian countries are the most feminine.
- Canada ranks about mid-pack and the United States is fairly masculine falling
 about halfway between Canada and Japan.
- Individualism/collectivism
- Individualistic societies stress independence, individual initiative, and privacy.
- Collective cultures favour interdependence and loyalty to family or clan
- The United States, Australia, Great Britain, and Canada are among the most
individualistic societies.
- Venezuela, Colombia, and Pakistan are among the most collective, with
Japan falling about mid-pack.
- Subsequent work with Canadian Michael Bond that catered more to Eastern cultures resulted
in a fifth dimension:
- Long-term/short-term orientation
- Cultures with a long-term orientation stress persistence, perseverance, thrift,
and close attention to status differences.
- Cultures with a short-term orientation stress personal steadiness and stability,
face-saving, and social niceties.
- China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea tend to be characterized
by a long-term orientation.
- Canada and the United States are more short-term oriented.
- Hofstede and Bond argue that the long-term orientation, in part, explains
prolific East Asian entrepreneurship.
Exporting OB Theories
- Organizational behaviour theories, research, and practices from North America might not
translate well to other societies.
- The basic questions remain the same – it is just the ​answers​ that will differ.
- Managers in North America encourage participation in work decisions by employees which
corresponds to a fairly low degree of power distance.
- This might not transfer to cultures that value high power distance.
Importing OB theories
- Not all theories and practices that concern organizational behaviour are designed in North
America or even in the West.
- The most obvious examples are “Japanese management” techniques, such as quality circles,
total quality management, and just-in-time production.
- Difficulties can arise due to basic value differences between Japan and North America.
- Organizations need to tailor management practices to the home culture’s concerns.
Attitudes
- an ​attitude​ is a fairly stable evaluative tendency to respond consistency to some specific
object, situation, person, or category of people.
- more specific than values
 - Behaviour is most likely to correspond to attitudes when people have direct experience with
the target of the attitude and when the attitude is held confidently.
- “My job is interfering with my family life.” (Belief)
- “I dislike anything that hurts my family.” (Value)
- “I dislike my job.” (Attitude)
- “I’ll search for another job.” (Behaviour)
- not always consistent with behaviour
- Values + beliefs (can change) -> attitudes -> behaviour
Job satisfaction
- collection of attitudes and feelings that have about many facets of their jobs
- Facet satisfaction (satisfied with various/some aspects of their job)
- Overall satisfaction (summary indicator that goes over all aspects of the job)
Job Descriptive Index
- It is designed around five facets of satisfaction: people, pay, supervision, promotions, and the
work itself.
- Employees respond “yes” “no” or “?” in describing whether a particular word or phrase is
descriptive of particular facets of their jobs.
Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire 
- Respondents indicate how happy they are with various aspects of their job on a scale 
ranging from “very satisfied” to “very dissatisfied” 
Discrepancy theory
- function between job outcomes people want vs outcomes they perceive they obtained (what
you want vs what you get)
- Fairness
- Distributive (receive the outcome they think they deserve from job)
- Procedural (is the fairness that occurs when the process to determine work
outcomes is seen as reasonable)
- interactional (fairness that occurs when people feel they have received
respectful and informative communication about outcome (treatment) )
- Disposition
- people have different traits that allow them to be more or less satisfied
despite changes in discrepancy and fairness
- Mood – less intense than emotion but longer term feeling
- Emotions – Intense, short term feeling
- Job satisfaction is a function of all of the above mentioned
· ​Relationship between job satisfaction and: absenteeism, turnover, performance,
organizational citizenship behaviour, customer satisfaction
 o Job satisfaction (adequate pay, mentally challenging work, career opportunities,
friendly helpful people/colleagues) decreases absenteeism and turnover and
increases better performance
o Organizational Citizenship Behaviour – individual behaviour that is voluntary,
spontaneous, contributes to organizational effectiveness (helping co-workers,
volunteering for extra work, attention to detail)
· ​Affective, continuance, and normative commitment
o Affective commitment – commitment based on a person’s identification and
involvement with the organization (you want to be there)
o Continuance commitment – based on the cost of leaving the organization (you have to
be there)
o Normative commitment – based on the ideology of a feeling of obligation (you feel you
should be there)

Chapter 6
·​ ​Money as a motivator
o​ ​Money can be a motivator to the extent that it satisfies a variety of needs, its
valent, clearly tied to performance, it’s a controlled motivation
·​ ​Job design as a motivator
o​ ​Attempts to capitalize on intrinsic motivation
o​ ​Identify the characteristics that make some tasks more motivating than others
and utilize that in the design of jobs (job scope – Breadth (number of
activities) and Depth (degree of discretion/control)
·​ ​Job Characteristics Model:
o​ ​Skills variety Outcomes:
o​ ​Task identity - intrinsic M.
o​ ​Task significance - performance
o​ ​Autonomy - satisfaction
o​ ​Feedback

·​ ​Job enrichment
o​ ​Manipulating one or more of the five job characteristics to make the job more
interesting
·​ ​Goal-setting and Management by Objectives
o​ ​MBO – elaborate, systematic, ongoing program to facilitate goal establishment,
goal accomplishment and employee development
 o​ ​Objectives for the organization are developed by top management and diffused
down the organization through the MBO process
·​ ​Alternative work schedules and employee diversity
o​ ​Flex time
o​ ​Compressed workweek
o​ ​Job sharing and work sharing
o​ ​Telecommuting

Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Conflict and Stress

Interpersonal conflict: the process that occurs when one person, group, or
organizational subunit frustrates the goal attainment of another.

In some organizations, conflict process is managed in a collaborative way that keeps

antagonism at a minimum. In others, they are suppressed and not nearly as obvious.

Group identification and intergroup bias: people have more positive attitudes towards
people of their own group and be leery of out-group people.

Interdependence: subunits are dependant of each other to accomplish their own goals
gives potential for conflict to occur .

Differences in power, status and culture:

Conflict can erupt when parties differ significantly in power, status and culture.

Power: dependence is not mutual but one way, potential for conflict increases. A
needs B, but B doesn’t need A, thus antagonist may develop. B has power over A, and
A has nothing to which to bargain with.
Status: people are socialized to expect different levels of status. But conflict can
arise if say; junior staff is more adept with information technology, which makes
senior staff feel defensives about this reversal of roles.

Culture: two or more cultures develop in an organization and they clash. For
example, some hospital caregivers have a culture entered on efficiency and cost
effectiveness, while others are about giving excellent patient care at any cost.

Ambiguity: about goals, jurisdiction and performance criteria can lead to conflict.

Scare resources: differences in power are magnified when resources are scared.

Role overload: the requirement for too many tasks to be performed in too short a time
period.

Boundary roles: positions in which organizational members are required to interact

with members of other organizations or with the public. This can be stressful, often
called “emotional labour” because they’re dealing with other people. co

Burnout: a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, cynicism and reduced self efficacy.

(combination of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal
accomplishment among those who work with people. Paramedics, and police are
candidates for burnout.)

Relationship conflict: interpersonal tensions among individuals that have to with

their relationship per say, not the task at hand.

Task conflict: disagreements about the nature of the work to be done.

Process conflict: disagreements about how work should be carried out and be
accomplished.

Conflict dynamics: the problem because an additional problem. Because of the

tension between both parties, this become a problem on its own. Winning becomes
more important then finding a solution. Out-party people are stereotyped and image of
group or self is boosted.

Performance changes: stress or stressors can reduce job performance. Also,

motivation can actually make the person more stress because they’re motivated to do
well.

Withdrawal: w
​ ithdrawal from the stressor is one of the most basic reactions to stress. For
example, this can be in the form of absence or turnover. Withdrawal avoids confronting the
stressor head on.

Modes of managing conflict:

Avoiding:​ low assertive, low cooperation
Accommodating: l​ ow assertive, high cooperation
Competing: h
​ igh assertive, low cooperative
Compromise:​ medium assertiveness and medium cooperative
Collaborating: m
​ aximizes both assertiveness and cooperation

Conflict stimulation:​ a strategy of increasing conflict to motivate change.Not all conflicts

are bad. They can install revolutions. Some experts feel that conflict creates necessary
organizational change which is necessary for adaptation and survival:

CONFLICT --> CHANGE --> ADAPTATION --> SURVIVAL

Mediation: ​This occurs when a neutral third party helps to facilitate a negotiated agreement
by aiding the process of bargaining or by intervening in the content of the negotiation.

Arbitration: ​This occurs when a third party is given the authority to dictate the terms of
settlement of a conflict.

Stressors: e
​ nvironmental events or conditions that have the potential to induce stress.

Stress:​ a psychological reaction to the demands inherent in a stressor that has the potential
to make a person feel tense or anxious.
Stress reactions:​ the behavioural, psychological and physiological consequences of stress

Type A behaviour pattern: ​personality that includes aggressiveness, ambitious,

competitiveness, hostility, impatience, and a sense of time urgency.

Negative affectivity: ​tendency to see the world, including oneself and other people in a
negative light.High negative people tend to report more stressors in the work environment
and feel more subjective stress.

Role overload: ​the requirement for too many tasks to be performed in too short a time
period.

Defence mechanisms: a
​ psychological attempts to reduce the anxiety associated with
stress.

Job re-design: ​organizations can redesigns jobs to reduce their stressful characteristics.
For example, an executives might be given an assistant to reduce the number of tasks he or
she performs. (Increase challenge, autonomy)

Social Support: t​ he support of others can help us deal with stress, those with good social
networks are likely to cope more positively. Thus, the social network acts as a buffer against
stress. One's spouse, family, and friends as well as co-workers can provide needed social
support to stress-prone individuals. Co-workers and superiors might be the best sources of
support for dealing with work-related stress.

"Family Friendly" HR policies: ​ in order to reduce stress associated with dual careers,
child care, and elder care, many organizations are beginning to institute "family friendly"
human resource policies. These policies usually include some combination of formalized
social support (newsletters, support groups), material support (corporate daycare), and
increased flexibility (flex-time, telecommuting, and job sharing) to adapt to employee needs.

Stress management programs:​ some organizations use programs designed to help

employees “manage” work-related stress. Meditation, Muscle relaxation exercises,
Biofeedback training to control physiological processes, training in time management, think
positively

Work-life balance programs: a

​ n increasing number of organizations are providing work-life
balance programs and employees are beginning to demand them. These are programs that
are designed to help employees’ lead more productive and balanced lives and can include
mental and physical fitness programs, coffee bars, and cafeteria health food. Work-life
programs are believed to result in lower-healthcare costs in part due to stress reduction.