OB core topics:
- Motivation
- Leader behavior and power
- Interpersonal communication
- Group structure and processes
- Attitude development and perception
- Change processes
- Conflict and negotiation
- Work design
Psychology = Measure, explain, change the behavior of humans and other animals
(individual level).
Social psychology = Combination of psychology and sociology: the way people influence
each other (group level).
Sociology = People in relation to their social environment or culture (group and
organization level).
Anthropology = study of human beings and their activities (values, attitudes, behaviors)
within the organization system (organization level).
Good place to work = exceptional financial success. Managers with great interpersonal skills
result in lower employee turnover and great firm performance.
Tasks of a manager:
- Planning (defining goals and strategy)
- Organizing (determining which tasks should be done and by whom)
- Leading (motivating employees, resolving conflicts)
- Controlling (monitoring activities)
Mintzberg’s manager roles:
- Interpersonal
- Figurehead (routine legal / social duties))
- Leader (motivation and direction of employees)
- Liaison (network of outside contacts for favors and information)
- Informational
- Monitor (nerve center of internal and external information)
- Disseminator (transmitting information from outsiders or employees to
members of the organization)
- Spokesperson (transmits information from inside to outside)
- Decisional
- Entrepreneur (searches for opportunities and initiates change)
- Disturbance handler (corrective action when unexpected disturbances occur)
- Resource allocator (makes or approves decisions)
- Negotiator (representing organization at negotiations)
OB concepts must reflect contingency variables (we can explain but hardly ever predict
due to contingencies).
OB = inputs → processes → outputs.
,Positive organizational scholarship = how organizations develop human strengths,
foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential.
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) = behavior that is not part of an
employee’s job requirements and contributes to the psychological and social environment of
the workplace. Something that benefits the organization but not directly the employee itself.
Three types of behavior that constitute performance are:
1. Task performance
2. Citizenship
3. Counterproductivity
BARS = behaviorally anchored rating scales.
Personality theories
- Aristoteles’ theory of elements: personality is rooted in four fundamental
elements.
- Freud’s resolution of child development phases: personality develops in
childhood during five psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
- Eysenck’s P-E-N: a person’s score on psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism are
influenced by biological and environmental factors.
- Catell’s 16-factor system: scored over a continuum of 16 dimensions of
personality.
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): 16 possible personality types based on 4
categories:
- Extraversion / Introversion
- Sensing / Intuition
- Thinking / Feeling
- Judging / Perceiving
- The Big Five: OCEAN
Openness to experience = level of curiosity, creativity, imagination, artistic interests,
intellect, liberalism, adventurousness
Conscientiousness = level of control, regulation, achievement striving, self-discipline,
perfection, orderliness, dutifulness, persistence
Extraversion = friendliness, assertiveness, activity level, cheerfulness, excitement-seeking
Agreeableness = cooperation and social harmony, trust, morality, altruism, modesty,
concern with others
Neuroticism = emotional (in)stability, anxiety, anger, depression, self-consciousness,
vulnerability
Type A personality = aggressively involved in a chronic struggle to achieve more in less time.
Type B personality = laid back, flexible, patient.
, The dark triad:
- Machiavellianism = pragmatic, emotionally distant, ends justify means.
- Narcissism = arrogance, self-love, self-importance, requires excessive admiration.
- Psychopathy = lack of concern for others, lack of guilt and remorse.
Situation strength theory (P*E) = cues from the environment unlock certain behaviors.
Situational strength results in psychological pressure to engage in / refrain from certain
behaviors.
Trait activation theory = existing, latent traits are activated by certain situations,
accepting both stable traits and situational variance.
Unfair discrimination:
- Discriminatory practices (denying equal opportunities)
- Sexual harassment
- Mockery and insults
- Exclusion
- Incivility
- Intimidation
Stereotype threat = the degree to which we are internally agreeing with (negative)
stereotypes and the fear of being judged when we are identified with the negative stereotype,
leading to:
- Exaggerating the stereotype
- Self-handicapping
- Overcompensation
Intersectionality conceptualizes a person or group of people as affected by a number of
discriminations and disadvantages, taking into account people’s overlapping identities and
experiences to understand the complexity of prejudices they face. E.g. race and gender: black
women do not face the same difficulties as white women, whilst both of them face inequality
compared to men.
Older people exert lower turnover and absenteeism.
Gender is not related to any differences in performance or skills.
- Glass ceiling: barrier when minorities seek career advancements.
- Glass cliff: tendency to put women in power positions during times of crisis, hence
when chance of failure is greater.
- Glass escalator: males that enter female-dominated occupations tend to rise
quicker to upper levels of leadership.
Surface level diversity: differences in easily perceived characteristics, such as race,
gender, age. May lead to stereotyping.
Deep-level diversity: differences in traits that are not directly visible, such as personality,
values, work preferences, attitude. More important in the long-run.
