Chapter 1: Introduction to OB Flashcards

1
Q

manager

A

someone who accomplishes goals through other people

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2
Q

organization

A

a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a continuous basis to achieve a common goal (hospitals, police departments, sports teams, military units, churches)

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3
Q

planning

A

process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities

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4
Q

organizing

A

determining which tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made

designing the work unit’s structure

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5
Q

leading

A

a function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts

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6
Q

controlling

A

monitoring activities to ensure that they are being accomplished as planned ad correcting any serious deviations

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7
Q

Mintzberg defined these three highly interrelated roles of managers:

A

interpersonal, informational, and decisional

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8
Q

interpersonal roles

A

contains three roles: the figurehead, the leader, and the liaison

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9
Q

figurehead role (interpersonal)

A

symbolic head, required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature (hands out diplomas, touring a plant)

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10
Q

leader role (interpersonal)

A

responsible for the motivation and direction of employees

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11
Q

liaison role (interpersonal)

A

maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and information

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12
Q

informational roles

A

three roles: monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson

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13
Q

monitor (informational)

A

receives a wide variety of information; serves as nerve center of internal and external information of the organization

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14
Q

disseminator (informational)

A

transmits information received from outsiders or from other employees to members of the organization

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15
Q

spokesperson (informational)

A

transmits information to outsiders on organization’s plans, policies, actions, and results; serves as expert on organization’s industry

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16
Q

decisional roles

A

four roles: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator

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17
Q

entrepreneur (decisional)

A

searches organization and its environment for opportunities and initiates projects to bring about change

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18
Q

disturbance handler (decisional)

A

responsible for corrective action when organization faces important, unexpected disturbances

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19
Q

resource allocator (decisional)

A

makes or approves significant organizational decisions

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20
Q

negotiator (decisional)

A

responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations

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21
Q

What three skills to managers have to have to be effective?

A

human, technical, and conceptual skills

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22
Q

human skills

A

the ability to work with, understand, motivate other people, both individually and in groups

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23
Q

technical skills

A

ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise

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24
Q

conceptual skills

A

the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations

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25
Q

managers all engage in the following four activities:

A

traditional management (decision making, planning, and controlling), communication (exchanging routine information and processing paperwork), HR management (motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, and staffing/training), and networking (socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders

26
Q

Luthans and his associates showed the following about the difference between effective and successful management:

A

successful managers (ones who climb the ladder fastest) spend most of their time networking and a small portion communication with their people. Effective managers (quantity and quality of their performance/satisfaction of their people) communication was the biggest factor

27
Q

What was the ultimate takeaway from Luthans?

A

successful managers give almost the opposite emphases to traditional management, communication, HR management, and networking as do effective managers

28
Q

organizational behavior

A

field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying that knowledge toward improving the organization’s effectiveness

29
Q

What three areas of expertise does OB focus on?

A

individuals, groups, and structure

30
Q

systematic study

A

looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence

31
Q

evidence-based management (EBM)

A

basing managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence

32
Q

intuition

A

an instinctive feeling not necessarily supported by research

33
Q

Big Data: background

A

enables companies to make more targeted marketing strategies. Didn’t always used to be this way. When it was introduced, managers began to track and act on information about customer’s preferences, which was available through the internet shopping experience

34
Q

Big Data: current usage

A

big data is currently used to predict any event they can, detecting how much risk is incurred at any time, and preventing catastrophes

35
Q

Big Data: new trends

A

organizations are beginning to focus more on fast data, emphasizing a consistent influx of actionable data that can be used to guide business decisions in real time

36
Q

Big Data: limitations

A

privacy is becoming an issue, that when people know they are being surveyed constantly at work, they don’t appreciate it. Providing meaningful work to employees has surpassed the effectiveness of surveillance analytics

37
Q

What four disciplines contribute to OB outcomes?

A

psychology, sociology, anthropology, and social psychology

38
Q

contingency variables

A

situational factors or variables that moderate the relationship between two or more variables

39
Q

economic pressures (mgnt challenge)

A

the difference between good and bad management can be the difference between profit and loss, or ultimately between business survival and failure

40
Q

continuing globalization (mgnt challenge)

A

the world has become a global village, so managers have to anticipate and adapt their approaches to the global issues that are present at that time

41
Q

what are some continuing globalization issues?

A

increased foreign assignments, working with people from different cultures, overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor, and adapting to different cultural and regulatory norms

42
Q

workforce demographics (mgnt challenge)

A

longevity and birth rates, socioeconomic conditions, and economies are create a need for OB students to investigate what factors lead employees to make various choices and how their experiences effect their perception of the workplace

43
Q

workforce diversity (mgnt challenge)

A

a trend where orgs are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of employees’ gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics (CAN BE A HUGE CHALLENGE)

44
Q

customer service (mgnt challenge)

A

OB can help managers increase the success of customer interactions by showing how employee attitudes/behaviors influence customer satisfaction

45
Q

people skills (mgnt challenge)

A

must have people skills

46
Q

networked organizations (mgnt challenge)

A

they allow people to work together even though they are thousands of miles apart (this changes the manager’s job, as motivating and leading online requires a different set of skills than in person management)

47
Q

social media (mgnt challenge)

A

regulating policies in companies regarding their employee’s social media presence is a nuanced challenge

48
Q

employee well-being at work (mgnt challenge)

A

a challenge is that most people cant escape the virtual workplace, many of whom seem all alone in the cyberland. Orgs are also asking employees to put in longer hours. Because of increased responsibilities, employees want greater flexibility to deal with outside conflicts

49
Q

positive work environment (mgnt challenge)

A

aimed at increasing vitality, unlocking potential, and increasing resilience. Positive OB is pushing orgs to unlock employee strengths rather than dwell on their limitations

50
Q

ethical behavior (mgnt challenge)

A

situations where individuals are required to define right and wrong conduct are difficult to handle

51
Q

a basic OB model

A

inputs -> processes -> outcomes on three different levels: individual, group, and organizational

52
Q

inputs

A

personality, group structure, and org culture

53
Q

processes

A

actions that individuals, groups, and orgs engage in as a result of inputs and that lead to outcomes

54
Q

outcomes

A

key variables that you want to explain or predict and that are affected by other variables (task performance, attitudes and stress, citizenship behavior, and withdrawal behavior)

55
Q

withdrawal behavior

A

actions that employees take to separate themselves from the org

56
Q

org citizenship behavior

A

discretionary behavior that contributes to the psychological and social environment of the workplace

57
Q

group cohesion

A

the extent to which members of a group support and validate one another at work

58
Q

group funcitoning

A

the quantity/quality of group work output

59
Q

productivity

A

combination of effectiveness and efficiency in an org

60
Q

effectiveness

A

the degree to which an org meets the needs of the clientele and customer

61
Q

efficiency

A

the degree to which an org can achieve goals at a low cost

62
Q

org survival

A

the degree to which an org is able to exist and grow over the long term