Chapter 1: Intro to OB

Organizational behaviour: study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations Concepts play an important role in working with other people OB and the bottom line

Organizations: groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose

Organizational effectiveness: a broad concept represented by several perspectives, including the organization’s fit with the external environment, internal subsystems, configuration for high-performance, emphasis on organizational learning, and ability to satisfy the needs of key stakeholders

Open Systems Perspective

Open systems: a perspective that organizations take their sustenance from the environment and in turn, affect that environment through their output

Organizational efficiency: the amount of outputs relative to inputs in the organization’s transformation process

Organizational Learning Perspective

Organizational learning (knowledge management): a perspective that organizational effectiveness depends on the organization’s capacity to acquire, share, use, and store valuable knowledge

Intellectual capital: company’s stock of knowledge, including human capital, structural capital, and relationship capital

Organizational memory: the storage and preservation of intellectual capital – keep good employees, systematically transfer knowledge to other employees

HPWP Perspective

High performance work practices (HPWP): a perspective that effective organizations incorporate several workplace practices that leverage the potential of human capital

human capital is valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and nonsubstitutable employee involvement and job autonomy concern is that it may satisfy shareholder and customer needs at expense of

employee well-being

Stakeholder Perspective

Stakeholders: individuals, organizations, or other entities who affect, or are affected by, the organization’s objectives and actions

Companies must take into account how their actions affect others, which requires them to understand, manage, and satisfy the interests of their stakeholders

Values: relatively stable, evaluative beliefs that guide a person’s preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations

Ethics: the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad

Corporate social responsibility (CSR): organizational activities intended to benefit society and the environment beyond the firm’s immediate financial interests or legal obligations

Types of Work-related Behaviour

Task Performance Refers to goal-directed behaviors under the individual’s control that support

organizational objectives Transform raw materials into goods and services or support and maintain the

technical activitiesOrganizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)

various forms of cooperation and helpfulness to others that support the organization’s social and psychological context

Counterproductive Work Behaviours (CWBs) Voluntary behaviours that have the potential to directly or indirectly harm the

organizationJoining and Staying with the Organization

Attracting and retaining talented peopleMaintaining Work Attendance

Organizations need everyone to show up for work at schedules times Situational factors, motivation

Contemporary Challenges for OrganizationsGlobalization

Economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the worldIncreasing Workforce Diversity

Surface-level diversity: observable demographic and other overt differences in people, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, age and physical capabilities

Deep-level diversity: differences in the psychological characteristics of employees, including personalities, beliefs, values and attitudes

Can become a competitive advantage by improving decision making and team performance

Numerous communication problems and group dynamic difficultiesEmerging Employment Relationships

Work/life balance: the degree to which a person minimizes conflict between work and nonwork demands

Virtual work: work performed away from the traditional physical workplace using information technology

o Potentially reduces stresso Social isolation, reduced promotion opportunities

Anchors of Organizational Behaviour KnowledgeThe Multidisciplinary Anchor

OB should import knowledge from many disciplines, not just from its own isolated research base

Systematic Research Anchor OB should study organizations using systematic research methods; forming

research questions, systematically collecting data, and testing hypotheses against those data (evidence based management)

Contingency Anchor OB theory should recognize that the effects of actions often vary with the situation –

need to understand and diagnose the situation and select the strategy most appropriate under those conditions

Multiple Levels of Analysis Anchor OB knowledge should include three levels of analysis; individual (motivation,

perceptions, personalities, attitudes, and values), team (way people interact), organization

Chapter 2: Individual Behaviour, Personality and Values

MARS Model of Individual Behaviour and Performance

Motivation Represents the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity, and

persistence of voluntary behaviour Exerting particular effort level (intensity), for a certain amount of time (persistence),

toward a particular goal (direction)

Ability Ability: the natural aptitudes (natural talents) and learned capabilities (skills and

knowledge already required) required to successfully complete a task Competencies: skills, knowledge, aptitudes, and other personal characteristics that

lead to superior performance; challenge is to match person and job

Role Perceptions Role perceptions: accuracy of how people understand their job duties (roles)

assigned to them or expected of them

Situational Factors Conditions beyond the employee’s immediate control that constrain or facilitate

behaviour and performance

Personality in Organizations

Personality: relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize a person, along with the psychological processes behind those characteristics

External traits – observable behaviours Internal states – thoughts, values, etc. inferred from behaviours Some variability, adjust to suit the situation

Nature vs. Nurture of Personality Heredity explains about half of behavioural tendencies and 30% of temperament

preferences Minnesota studies of twins, including those separated at birth, very similar behaviour

patterns Nurture also counts – socialization, life experiences, learning Personality stabilizes over time (executive function)

Five-Factor Model of Personality “Big Five”

FFM: the five abstract dimensions representing most personality traits: conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness, and extroversion

1. Conscientiousness- careful, dependable, self-disciplined2. Agreeableness- courteous, good-natured, empathic, caring3. Neuroticism- anxious, hostile, depressed4. Openness to experience- imaginative, creative, curious, sensitive5. Extroversion- outgoing, talkative, sociable, assertive

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): a personality test that measures each of the traits in Jungs model – sensing and intuition, thinking versus feeling, perceiving and judging

Self-Concept

Self-concept: an individuals self beliefs and self evaluations People function better when their self-concept has many elements (high complexity)

that are compatible with each other (high consistency) and relatively clear

Self enhancement and Self verification Self enhancement - Individuals have better personal adjustment and experience

better health when they view their self concept in positive light Sometimes people get too confident Self verification - stabilizes our self concept providing an important anchor to guide

our thoughts and actions

Self-Evaluation Self esteem – fundamental component of self-concept because it represents a global

self-evaluation; the extent to which people like, respect, and are satisfied with themselves

Self-efficacy – refers to a person’s belief that he or she has the ability, motivation, correct role perceptions, and favourable situation to complete a task

Locus of control: a person’s general belief about the amount of control he or she has over personal life events

Social Self

Social identity theory: a theory that explains self-concept in terms of the person’s unique characteristics (personal identity) and membership in various social groups (social identity)

People define themselves in terms of the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment

Values in the Workplace

Values – stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations – serve as amoral compass that directs out motivation

Value system - hierarchy of preferences Personal values, shared values, organizational values, cultural values

Schwartz’s Values Circumplex Openness to change

o to the extent to which a person is motivated to pursue innovative ways Self-direction, stimulation

Conservationo extent to which a person is motivated to preserve the status quo

Conformity, security, tradition Self enhancement

o How much a person is motivated by self-interest Achievement, power

Self transcendenceo Motivation to promote the welfare of others and nature

Benevolence, universalism

Values congruence: the extent to which a person’s values hierarchy is similar to the values hierarchy of another entity

Person organization values incongruence – employees and organizations values differ

Espoused-enacted values congruence – how closely the values apparent in our actions are consistent with what we say we believe in

Values Across Cultures

Individualism: a cross-cultural value describing the degree to which people in a culture emphasize independence and personal uniqueness

Collectivism: a cross-cultural value describing the degree to which people in a culture emphasize duty to groups to which people belong, and to group harmony – high collectivists define themselves by their group membership and value harmonious relationships (Canadians generally have low collectivism)

Power distance: a cross-cultural value describing the degree to which people in a culture accept unequal distribution of power in a society – high power distance accept and value unequal power, low power distance expect relatively equal power sharing

Uncertainty avoidance: degree to which people tolerate ambiguity (low uncertainty avoidance) or feel threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty (high uncertainty avoidance) - High scores tend to be high in Taiwan and very high in Japan

Achievement-nurturing orientation: degree to which people in a culture emphasize competitive versus cooperative relations with other people – high achievement orientation value assertiveness, competitiveness, and materialism

Ethical Values and BehaviourThree Ethical Principles

Utilitarianism- advises us to seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people, we should choose the option providing the highest degree of satisfaction to those affected

Individual rights- reflects the belief that everyone has entitlements that let them act in a certain way – freedom of movement, security, speech, fair trial

Distributive justice- the principle suggests that people who are similar to each other should receive similar benefits and burdens

Moral intensity: degree to which an issue demands the application of ethical principles

Ethical sensitivity: a personal characteristic that enables people to recognize the presence and determine the relative importance of an ethical issue

Chapter 3: Learning in Organizations

Perception: The process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us

The Perceptual Process- Information from the world around us is filtered through the perceptual process1. Environment stimuli are received by our senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting)2. Selective Attention is next, it attains to some of the information received by our sense and ignores other information3. Selective attention and emotional marker response4. Perceptual Organization and interpretation5. Perceptual Organization and interpretation6. Attitudes and behaviour

Selective Attention: The process of attending to some information received by our sense and ignoring other information

Categorical thinking: organizing people and objects into preconceived categories that are stored in our long term memory; things are grouped together based on their similarities

Mental Models: visual or relational images in our mind representing the external world- We rely on mental models to make sense of our environment through perceptual grouping

Social Identity and Stereotyping-We define ourselves by the groups in which we belong to or have an emotional attachment with.

Social Perception: How we perceive others. Influenced by 3 activities1. Categorization: social identity is a comparison process, beginning with categorizing people into distinct groups. Ex. Albertans vs. Nova Scotians.2. Homogenization: We tend to think that people within each group are similar to each other.3. Differentiation: Social identity fulfills our inherent need to have a distinct and positive self-concept. We differentiate groups by assigning more favourable characteristics to people in our groups than to people in other groups. Ex. Good guy, bad guy.

Stereotyping in OrganizationsStereotyping: The process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a social category, 3 elements:1. Develop social categories and assign traits2. We assign people to one or more social categories based on observable information (gender, appearance...)3. People who seem to belong to the stereotyped are assigned non observable non observable traits associated with the group. Ex. Learn that someone is a professor, we assume that they are smart.

Problems with Stereotyping- They do not accurately describe every person in that social category- Most serious form of stereotype bias is: intentional discrimination or prejudiceAttribution Process- The perceptual process of deciding whether an observed behaviour or event is caused largely by internal or external factors

- Internal Factors: the person’s ability or motivation- External: lack of resources, other people, or luck

3 Factors to Decide Whether Internal or External1. Consistency: how often did the person act this way in the past?2. Distinctiveness: How often does the person act this way in other settings?3. Consensus: How often do other people act this way in similar situations?

Attribution ErrorsFundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the main cause of that person’s behaviour

Self Serving Bias: The tendency to attribute our favourable outcomes to internal factors and our failures to external factors

Self Fulfilling Prophecy: Occurs when our expectations about another person cause that person to act in a way that is consistent with those expectations1. Supervisor forms expectations about the employees future behaviour and performance2. Supervisors expectations affect his or her behaviour toward employee3. Supervisors behaviour affects employees abilities and self confidence4. Employees behaviour becomes consistent with supervisors expectations

Halo Effect: An error when our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent characteristic, colours our perception of other characteristics of that person. We use the genral impression of a person to fill in missing information about them.

Primacy Effect: An error when we quickly form an opinion of people based on the first information we receive about them. Not everyone has good first impressions.

Recency Effect: An error in which the most recent information dominates our perception of others. Ex. You recently read a chapter of a textbook; this information is going to shine through the rest.

False-Consensus Effect: An error in which we overestimate the extent to which others have beliefs and characteristics similar to our own. Similar to me effect. Use our own beliefs and abilities to categorize others

Improving PerceptionsAwareness of the biases: just knowing that they existImproving Self Awareness: provide evidence that the individuals own behaviour and decisions reflect these biases.

- 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

- Main objective is to increase the size of the open area so that both you and colleagues are aware of your perceptual limitations

Meaningful InteractionContact Hypothesis: a theory stating that the more we interact with someone, the less we rely on stereotypes to understand that person

Empathy: A persons understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situation of others

Learning in OrganizationsLearning: a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of a persons interaction with the environment

Explicit knowledge: reading information in a book

Tactic Knowledge: embedded in our actions and ways of thinking, and transmitted only through observation and experience - acquired through observation and direct experience

Behaviour modification: a theory that explains learning in terms of the antecedents and consequences of behaviour. Also known as operant conditioning and reinforcement theory A-B-Cs of Behaviour Modification: A) Antecedents B) Behaviour C) Consequences

Contingencies of Reinforcement

Positive Reinforcement: occurs when the introduction of a consequence increases or maintains the frequency or future probability of a specific behaviour

Punishment: Occurs when a consequence decreases the frequency or future probability of behaviour.

Negative Reinforcement: Occurs when the removal or avoidance of a consequence increases or maintains the frequency or future probability of a specific behaviour.

Extinction: when the target behaviour decreases because no consequence follows it.

Schedules of Reinforcement: the frequency and timing of rein forcers influence employee behaviour

Social Learning Theory: Learning by Observing

Social Learning Theory: A theory stating that much learning occurs by observing others and then modelling the behaviours that lead to favourable outcomes and avoiding behaviours that lead to punishing consequences

This form of learning occurs in 3 ways: behaviour modelling, learning behaviour consequences, and self reinforcement.

1. Behaviour modelling: people learn by observing the behaviours of a role model and critical task, remembering the important elements of the observed behaviour and then practising those behaviours2. Learning Behaviour Consequences: people learn through consequences of behaviour through logic and observation, not just through direct experience3. Self Reinforcement: Occurs whenever an employee has control over a reinforce but doesn’t take it until completing a self-set goal

Learning Orientation: a culture in which the organization rewards experimentation, accepts reasonable mistakes and encourages employees to question long-held assumptions about past practices

Knowledge AcquisitionKnowledge SharingKnowledge Use

Chapter 4: Workplace Emotions, Attitudes, Stress

Emotions- physiological, behavioural and psychological episodes experienced toward an object, person, or event that create a state of readiness

Attitudes- the cluster of beliefs, assessed feelings, and behavioural intentions toward a person object or event (called an attitude object)

Beliefs- a person’s established perceptions about the attitude object Feelings- a positive or negative evaluation of the attitude object Behavioural Intentions- represent a motivation to engage in a particular behaviour with

respect to the target Attitudes are a purely rational process in which beleiefs predict feelings, which predict

behavioural intentions, which predict behaviour

Cognitive Dissonance- occurs when we perceive an inconsistency between our beliefs, feelings and behaviour

Emotional Labour- the effort, planning and control needed to express organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions

Cultures also differ in the norms of displaying or concealing a person’s true emotions

Emotional Dissonance- occurs when required and true emotions are incompatible with one another

The larger the gap between the required and true emotions, the more employees tend to experience stress, job burnout and psychological separation from self

Emotional Intelligence- the ability to monitor our own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate between them, and to use this information to guide our thinking and actions

Self Awareness- refers to perceiving and understanding the meaning of our own emotions

Self Management- refers to managing our own emotions, something that we all do to some extent

Social Awareness- the ability to perceive and understand the emotions of other people Relationship Management- refers to managing other people’s emotions

Job Satisfaction- a person’s evaluation of his or her job context

Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect (EVLN) Model- outlines four possible outcomes of employee dissatisfaction

1. Exit- refers to leaving the organization, transferring to another work unit, or at least trying to exit the dissatisfying situation

2. Voice- refers to any attempt to change, rather then escape from, the dissatisfying situation

3. Loyalty- refers to employees who respond to dissatisfaction by patiently waiting for the problem to work itself out or get resolved by others

4. Neglect- includes reducing work effort, paying less attention to quality, and increasing absenteeism and lateness

Organizational (effective) Commitment- the employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in a particular organization

Continuance Commitment- an employee’s calculative attachment to the organization, whereby an employee is motivated to stay only because leaving would be costly

5 Strategies For Building Organizational Commitment

Justice and Commitment Shared Values Trust Organizational Comprehension Employee Involvement

Stress- an adaptive response to a situation that is perceived as challenging or threatening to the person’s well-being

General Adaption Syndrome- a model of the stress experience, consisting of three stages: alarm reaction, resistance and exhaustion

Alarm Reaction- occurs when a threat or challenge activates the physiological stress responses such as heart race increasing, muscles tighten etc.

Resistance- the second stage which activates various biochemical, physiological and behavioural mechanisms that give us more energy and engage coping mechanisms to overcome or remove the source of stress

Exhaustion- the result of having limited resistance capacity, in which there is an increased risk of physiological and psychological damage

Job Burnout- the process of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment resulting in prolonged exposure to stress

Stressors- any environmental conditions that place a physical or emotional demand on the person such as harassment and incivility, work overload and low task control

Two people exposed to the same stressor may experience different stress levels Many interventions are available to manage work-related stress such as removing the

stressor, withdrawing from the stressor, receiving social support etc.

Chapter 5: Employee MotivationMotivation: the forces within a person that affect the direction, intensity, and persistence of voluntary behaviour

Exerting particular effort level (intensity), for a certain amount of time (persistence), toward a particular goal (direction)

Employee Engagement Emotional and cognitive motivation, self-efficacy to perform the job

Drives and Needs Drives (aka primary needs, fundamental needs, innate motives)

o Neural states that energize individuals to correct deficiencies or maintain an internal equilibrium

o Prime movers of behaviour by activating emotions Needs

o Goal directed forces that people experienceo Drive-generated emotions directed toward goalso Goals formed by self-concept, social norms and experience

Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy Lowest unmet need has strongest effect When lower need is satisfied, next higher need becomes the primary motivator Self-actualization – a growth need Lack of support for theory People have different hierarchies – don’t progress through needs in the same order Needs change more rapidly than Maslow stated Contributions to motivation theory

o More holistic – integrative view of needso More humanistic – influence of social dynamics, not just instincto More positivistic

What’s wrong with models?o Wrongly assume that everyone has the same needs hierarchyo Likely that each person has a unique hierarchy

Learned needs theory Needs are amplified or suppressed through self concept, social norms, past

experiences Three learned needs

o Need for achievemento Need for affiliationo Need for power

Four Drive Theory Drive to acquire

o Drive to take/keep objects and experiences Drive to bond

o Form relationships and social commitments Drive to learn

o Satisfy curiosity Drive to defend Features:

o Innate and hardwired

o Independent of each othero Complete set

How they affect motivationo Determine which emotions are automatically tagged to incoming informationo Drives generate independent and often competing emotions that demand our

attentiono Social norms, personal values, and experience transform drive-based

emotions into goal directed choice and effort Implications

o Provide a balanced opportunity for employees to fulfill all four drives

Expectancy Theory of Motivation Increasing E to P Expectancies

o Assuring employees they have competencieso Person job matchingo Provide role clarification and sufficient resourceso Behavioural modeling

Increasing P to O Expectancieso Measure performance accuratelyo More rewards for good performanceo Explain how rewards are linked to performance

Goal Setting

The process of motivating employees and clarifying their role perceptions by establishing performance objectives

Evaluating Goal Setting and Feedback Goal setting has high validity and usefulness Limitations:

o Focuses employees on measurable performanceo Motivates employees to set easy goalso Goal setting interferes with learning process in new, complex jobs

Organizational Justice

Distributive justice: perceived fairness in the outcomes we receive relative to our contributions and the outcomes and contributions of others

Procedural justice: perceived fairness of the procedures used to decide the distribution of resources

Giving employees “voice” in the process Higher when decision maker is perceived as unbiased, relies on complete and

accurate information, applies existing policies consistently People feel better when they are treated with respect and given a full explanation of

the decision

Equity theory: explains how people develop perceptions of fairness in the distribution and exchange of resources

People determine feelings of equity by comparing their outcome/input ratio to comparison other

Main ways people correct inequity feelings when they are underrewarded: Reduce our inputs Increase our outcomes Increase the comparison others inputs Reduce comparison others outcomes Change our perceptions Change the comparison other Leave the field

Equity sensitivity: an individuals outcome/input preferences and reaction to various outcome/input ratios

Chapter 6: Applied Performance Practices

Four Reward Objectives

Membership and seniority based rewards

Potentially attract job applicants and reduce turnover Do not directly motivate job performance

Job Status-Based rewards

Job evaluation: systematically evaluating the worth of jobs within an organization by measuring their required skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions

Maintain feelings of equity and motivate employees to compete for promotions Enforces a status mentality and can encourage employees to exaggerate job duties

and hoard resources

Competency-based Rewards

Skill-based pay involves employees being rewarded for the number of skill modules mastered and jobs they can perform

Improve workplace flexibility by motivating employees to learn a variety of skills and thereby perform a variety of jobs

Reward employees who continuously learn skills that will keep them employed Often over-designed, difficult to communicate to employees Competency definitions are often vague

Performance-based Rewards Individual

o Commissions, individual bonuses or awards Team

o Many organizations have shifted their focus to teamso Gainsharing plans: form of team-based compensation that calculates

bonuses from the work unit’s cost savings and productivity improvement – encourages employees to buy company stock

Organizationalo Creates an ownership culture in which employees feel aligned with the

organization’s successo Employees may perceive weak connection between individual effort and

corporate profitso Profit-sharing plans: employees earn bonuses based on the previous

year’s level of corporate profits (less ownership but automatically adjusts employee compensation with prosperity reducing need for layoffs)

o Employee share ownership plans (ESOP): reward system that encourages employees to buy company shares, usually at a discounted price or a no-interest loan

o Share options: give employees the right to purchase shares from the company at a future date at a pre-determined price up to a fixed expiry date

o Balanced scorecard (BSC): goal-oriented performance measurement system that pays bonuses for improved results on a composite of financial, customer, internal process, and employee factors (Specific but subjective)

Improving Reward Effectiveness

Link rewards to performanceo Behaviour modification theory and expectancy theory recommend better

performance should be rewarded moreo To eliminate inconsistencies and bias, use objective performance measures

Ensure that Rewards are Relevant Use team rewards for interdependent jobs Ensure that rewards are valued Watch out for unintended consequences (i.e. fast pizza man getting into accident)

Job Design PracticesJob design: the process of assigning tasks to a job, including the interdependency of those tasks with other jobs

Job specialization: the result of division of labour in which each job includes a subset of the tasks required to complete the product or service – improves work efficiency, employees spend less time changing activities, specific skills can be matched to employees

Scientific management: systematically partitioning work into its smallest elements and standardizing tasks to achieve maximum efficiency

Introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor in early 1900’s Reduces labour “waste” by improving mechanical efficiency of work Can adversely affect employee attitudes and motivation – tasks can become trivial

and socially isolating – can cause high employee turnover/absenteeism

Motivator-hygiene theory: Hertzberg’s theory proposes that employees experience job satisfaction when they fulfill growth and esteem needs (called motivators) and experience dissatisfaction when they have poor working conditions, job security, other lower order needs (called hygiene’s) – theory has been soundly rejected

Job characteristics model: identifies five core job dimensions (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback) that produce three psychological states (meaningfulness, responsibility, knowledge of results) and result in four outcomes (work motivation, growth satisfaction, general satisfaction, work effectiveness)

Core job characteristicso Skill variety

Extent to which employees must use different skills and talents to perform tasks within their jobs

o Task identity Degree to which a job requires completion of a whole or an

identifiable piece of worko Task significance

Degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the organization and/or larger society

o Autonomy Degree to which a job gives employees the freedom, independence,

and discretion to schedule their work and determine the procedures used in completing it

o Job feedback

Job Design Practices that Motivate Job rotation: practice of moving employees from one job to another – minimizes

health risks from strain, supports multiskilling, reduces boredom Job enlargement: increasing number of tasks employees perform within their job Job enrichment: occurs when employees are given more responsibility for

scheduling, coordinating and planning their own work

Empowerment: a psychological concept in which people experience more self-determination, meaning, competence, and impact regarding their role in the organizations – consists of all four dimensions:

Self-determination – empowered employees feel that they have freedom, independence, and discretion over their work activities

Meaning – employees who feel empowered care about their work and believe that what they do is important

Competence – empowered people are confident that their ability to perform the work well and have a capacity to grow with new challenges

Impact – empowered employees view themselves as active participants in the organization; that is, their decisions and actions have an influence on the company’s success

Self leadership: the process of influencing oneself to establish the self-direction and self-motivation needed to perform a task

Self Leadership Strategies Personal Goal Setting Constructive Thought Patterns

o Self-talk: talking to ourselves about our own thoughts or actions for the purpose of increasing our self-confidence and navigating through decisions in a future event

o Mental imagery: mentally practicing a task and visualizing its successful completion

Designing natural rewards Self-monitoring Self-reinforcement

Chapter 7: Decision Making and CreativityDecision Making: “A conscious process of making choices among alternatives with the intention of moving toward a desired state of affairs” (Mcshane and Steen, 2009).

Plato 2, 500 years ago created rational choice paradigm an ideology that links decision making to ones pure logic and rational (Mcshane and Steen, 2009).

Logical decision-making is said to be one of the most important achievements. Passion and emotion can affect decision making this will be later covered in the

presentation Scottish philosophers stated the best decision is the one that pulls the greatest good

for the greatest number – utilitarianism

Rational Choice Process:

1. Identify the Problem2. Analyze decision process - Does an intermediary need to be involved ex. Boss, the law, mediator.

Programmed decisions – the problem or opportunity is fairly routine and past decisions and experiences can be applied to gain the optimal benefit from the situation

Class Involvement ask some one 2x2 = 4 easy to answer have seen simple math problems throughout life

Problem- hunger – solution – Eat Non programmed decisions – all steps of the rational choice decision making

process are needed as the situation is complex and new. Class involvement Manager asks you to chose the best and most beneficial supplier

this is not a routine decision most likely you will use the rational choice process 3. Develop list of alternative decisions and outcomes – can produce own decision process or look for already made decisions to similar problems 4. Choose best alternative – subjective expected utility is the probability (expectation) of satisfaction (utility). Thus the alternative which, reaps the most benefits should be chosen.5. Implement 6. Evaluate

Criticisms of the model: Hard to practice in reality, people these days live life on the go and do not always

have the time to go through all the steps to make a decision Difficulty recognizing what the problem actually is most important aspect. Hard to process information needed to apply paradigm

Problems with identifying problems: Stakeholder Framing: employees clients or stakeholders i.e. people who are possibly affected by decision can spin frame of mind of decision makers through persuasion.

Perpetual defence: People, Workers, Managers can interpret negative information differently some will block out negative information and others will react.

Mental Models: are “visual or relational images in out mind of the external world-vital s they help us navigate in our environments.” Our mental models and perceptions can effect us when making the right decision or seeking an opportunity. If the process doesn’t fit ones mental model it can be dismissed.

Decisive leadership: leaders must be decisive to make proper decisions. Ability to quickly develop opinions or solutions. Subsequently this may affect the quality of decisions as the time and effort to identifying the problem and the Rational choice process was most likely not used.

Solution Focused Problem: One should not be focused on just finding a solution but identify problem first. If the solution to the problem is solution-focused the real problem may not be being served. All problems do not have the same solution and vice versa. There are different circumstances to situations and solutions must be formulated with those circumstances in mind.

Effective ways to identifying problems: Awareness of diagnostic and perceptual limitations Consider other perspectives of reality – think outside own mental model Use teamwork and advice of others to make rational decisions – avoid tunnel vision

Bounded Rationality: When decisions are made decision makers usually have limited and imperfect information to chose the best alternative. Herbert Simon Organizational scholar. The Exhibit below Compares Rational choice paradigm to Bounded rationality Proce

ssingInformatio

nEvalua

tion Timing

Rational: People can process all informationRational: Choices evaluated

simultaneously

GoalsRational: Clear,

compatible, agreed upon

OB: Ambiguous, conflicting, lack

agreementOB: People process only limited informationOB: Choices

evaluated sequentially

Info Qualit

yDecisio

n Objecti

ve

Rational: People rely on factual informationRational:

Maximization -- the optimal choice

Standards

Rational: Evaluate against absolute

standardsOB: Evaluate against implicit favouriteOB: Rely on

perceptually distorted informationOB: Satisficing -- a

“good enough” choice

Problems with Information Processing: People do not carry the capacity to outline every single alternative and the

subsequent consequences in such they only evaluate a couple alternatives and their consequences.

Implicit Favourite can take toll when making a decision for instance when purchasing a car you may have one favourite or preferred type of car in which a person will compare the alternatives to this implicit favourite. This can happen consciously and non consciously. Implicit favourite can skew the actual facts aboiut the alternatives such as ignoring advantages of alternatives and flaws of the implicit favourite.

Satisficing: selecting a solution that is satisfactory or good enough rather than optima or the best

Evaluate opportunities: can be seen as solutions to problems. Rare and exciting there is emotional attachment. Process differs from problem solving. Emotional attachment can motivate the wrong choice as emotions can derail the evaluation of the problem or opportunity.

Emotions and Decision Making: as mentioned above emotions can manipulate our choices and evaluation. There are 3 main ways.

1. Emotions form early preferences: brain links specific emotions to particular alternatives quickly. These early emotions and preferences persuade the decision towards the preferred alternative. Logical analysis as well influences decisions but to change ones emotional preference the evidence supporting the logical analysis must be strong. Emotions are a motivator to preferred choice. 2. Emotions Change the Decision Evaluation process: moods and emotions can manipulate ones process of evaluating alternative. Attention to details when in negative mood – something wrong, need attention. Positive mood pay less attention to details, use programmed decisions – routine. Stereotypes and other shortcuts shorten decision process during anger. Anger more optimistic – Fear less optimistic. Emotions affect not only choice but as well evaluation.

3. Emotions as Information when Evaluation Alternatives: emotions can guide us when making decisions. Many of our emotional experiences occur below level of consciousness – humans are sensitive toward subtle emotions leads to increased self awareness of emotional intelligence when making a decision. Gut feeling and emotional reaction can take preference over facts and information. To an extent we all use emotions as information. (

Intuition – gut instinct identify a problem or opportunity immediately and select best action without reasoning or using the rational choice process

Gut feelings are emotional signals Not all signals are intuition Need immediate comparison of observations of situation and past experiences

We use past experience and knowledge as a mental model We then use these models to make intuition based decisions Gut feeling should not always be trusted can be based on poor mental models

Effective Decision Making: Be contemplative not decisive Logical evaluation Assess alternatives Use intuition and analysis coordinately Awareness of emotions and rational Teams can get too confident when making decision Divide in to smaller micro groups then meet again in one team and debate and

evaluate decisions and make proper choice Scenario Planning – anticipate future or possible situations and developing reactions

and plans to fix situation or pursue opportunity

Implementing Decisions Often forgot about Obstacle and important task When implementing decisions plans or policies can be misinterpreted The actual task of implementing the decision can be difficult May come at a cost to organization Barriers

Evaluation: People have the propensity to support the decision they implemented while

overlooking the negative aspects This is called post decisional justification Decision maker should not evaluate use a fresh thought Establish preset thought

Escalation of commitment is common in the workplace When poor decisions are repeated or when additional allocation of resources to

failing objectives occurs i.e. when British Columbia Ferry Services wanted to implement a new model of ferry

which was supposed to be faster. The plan was supposed to cost 250 million although costs escalated almost double that amount.

Causes of Escalation of commitment Self-Justification: when people are emotionally, or personally identified to a project

due to reputation or monetary values at stake they are more committed to the projects success. There is a high need for justification when this occurs thus causing need to continue the course of action.

Prospect theory effect: negative emotions are stronger than positive ones thus tend to take a risk such as escalation of commitment than to take the loss and stop the project

Perceptual blinders: Problems are sometimes not identified in the early stages, Can non consciously look over negative information, Misinterpretation

Closing Costs: Cost of ending project could be higher then continued investment or unknown, Can leave penalties, political costs, bad image for organization

Employee involvement the degree to which employees influence how their work is organized and carried out

also known as paricipitative management can improve quality and commitment recognize problems more quickly and define more accurately

creates awareness of task at hand improves likely hood of choosingn best alternative staff can feel personally responsible for decision therefore increase commitment

Contingencies of employee involvement Decision structure – programmed decisions need less employee involvement Source of decision knowledge – subordinates should be involved in some level of

decision if manager does not have enough info to make a quality decision Decision commitment - participation = commitment. Employees most likely will not

accept decision if they are not involved Risk of conflict – two types

o employee goals and norms conflict with the organizations goals then only a low level of employee involvement is advisable

o degree of involvement depends on whether employees will reach agreement on the preferred solution

Creativity: the development of original ideas that make a socially recognizable contribution Divergent thinking – reframing the problem in a unique way and generating

different approaches to the issue. Applies to all aspects of the decision process – problems, alternatives, solutions

Characteristics of creative people

Above average intelligence Persistence Relevant knowledge and experience

Independent imaginationCreative Work Environments

Learning orientationo Encourage experimentationo Tolerate mistakes

Intrinsically motivating worko Task significance, autonomy, feedback

Open communication and sufficient resources Team competition and time pressure have complex effect on creativity

Chapter 9: Communicating in Teams and Organizations Communication - The process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people1.Coordinating work activities 2.Organizational learning and decision making3.Employee well-being

Effective communication: Transmitting intended meaning (not just symbols)Communication process model

Improving Communication Coding/Decoding1.Carry the same “codebook”

2.Similar mental models of the communication context3.Familiarity with the message topic4.Proficiency with the communication channel

Communication Channel Verbal communication

Voice innotations and silence Immediate feedback Ability to adjust emotional tone

Computer mediated communication Email quickly transmitted Can be sent to many people with one click Messages can be sent and received at different times and in different time zones Email software is efficient filing cabinet Coordination Reduce stereotype biases

Problems with email Poor at communicating emotions Reduces politeness and respect Poor medium for ambiguous complex and novel situations Requires moderate level of mutual understanding between sender and receiver

Coordinating is complex on email Contributes to information overload

Social networking communication Social network communication clusters people around interests/expertise Several types of social network communication Avatar sites (e.g. Second Life) Instant messaging Wikis – collaborative web spaces in which anyone in group can write edit or remove

material from website Facebook

Nonverbal communication Actions facial gestures voice intonation physical distance Influences meaning of verbal symbols Less rule bound than verbal communication We have formal training on how to interpret and understand words but not for non

verbal actions Susceptible to misinterpretation Important part of emotional labour Most is automatic and non conscious Nonverbal actions are rarely planned they are a reaction

Emotional Contagion The automatic process of sharing another person’s emotions by mimicking their facial

expressions and other nonverbal behaviour Serves three purposes:

o 1. Provides continuous feedback to speakero 2. Increases emotional understanding of the other person’s experienceo 3. Communicates a collective sentiment -- sharing the experience

Choosing Best Communication Medium Social acceptance

o how well the medium is approved and supported by firm, teams and individuals

o norms answer why telephone main communication o Communication channel normso Individual communication channel preferenceso Symbolic meaning of the communication channel

Personal or impersonal ‘cool or not cool’ methods wouldn’t fire someone in email or text

Media richnesso The mediums data carrying capacity that is the volume and variety of

information that can be transmitted during a specific time o Communication has high richness when able to convey multiple cues

Both verbal and non verbal Allows for timely feedback from receiver to sender Allows sender to customize the message to the receiver and makes

use of complex symbols Words and phrases with multiple meanings

Face to face is the top of media richness

o Allows verbal and non verbal communication at the same time o Receive feedback almost immediately from the receiver to quickly adjust

message and style Media is lean when communication is non routine and ambiguous

Factors that override media richness Ability to multi communicate

o Engage in two types of communication at once o Internet and technology has allowed this o More varied proficiency levels o Some experts point out richness of computer mediated communication is not

fixed some people can push more information through channel because of higher proficiency

o Blackberry users can whip through email fast o new users struggle o less variation in traditional channels

social distractions of rich channels o channels with higher media richness tend to have higher social interaction

Communication barriers Perceptions Filtering Language

o Jargono Ambiguity

o Origin of language Information Overload

o Occurs when the volume of information received exceeds the persons capacity to get through it

Managing the Overload Solution 1: Increase info processing capacity

o Learn to read fastero Scan through documents more efficientlyo Remove distractions o Time management o Temporarily work longer hours

Solution 2: Reduce information loado Bufferingo Omittingo Summarizing

Cross Cultural and Gender Communication Verbal differences

o Languageo Voice intonationo Silence/conversational overlaps

Nonverbal differenceso Interpreting nonverbal meaning

o Importance of verbal versus nonverbalo Different countries cultures have different interpretations o We shake our head to say no in India it may be understood as I understand

Gender Differences in communication o Men

Engage in report talk Primary function is to be efficient and impersonal Assert power by giving direct advice View convos as negotiations relative to status and power Less sensitive to non verbal cues

o Women Higher incidence of relationship building through rapport talk Indirect requests Seek advice more quickly than men Apologize more More sensitive to verbal cues

Improving Interpersonal communication 1. Empathize2. Repeat the message3. Use timing effectively4. Be descriptive

Active listening process and strategies

Improving communication throughout hierarchy Workspace design

o Clustering people in teamso Open office arrangementso Bathroom effect making employees leave normal pod to eat lunch, go to

washroom, get mail, etc. Wikis, blogs, and e-zines

o Wikis -- collaborative document creationo Blogs -- personal news/opinion for sharingo E-zines -- rapid distribution of company news

Direct communication with managemento Management by walking around (MBWA)o Communication practice in which executives get out of their offices and learn

from others in the organization through face to face dialogue o Town hall meetings

Grapevine An unstructured and informal network founded on social relationships rather than

organizational charts or job descriptions

Transmits info rapidly throughout Early research findings

o Transmits information rapidly in all directionso Follows a cluster chain patterno More active in homogeneous groupso Transmits some degree of truth

Changes due to interneto Email becoming the main grapevine mediumo Social networks are now globalo Public blogs and forums extends gossip to everyone

Benefitso Fills in missing information from formal sourceso Strengthens corporate cultureo Relieves anxietyo Signals that problems exist

Limitationso Distortions might escalate anxietyo Perceived lack of concern for employees when company info is slower than

grapevine