Inhoudsopgave
Chapter 1: Making OB Work for Me 1
Chapter 2: Individual differences and emotions 3
Chapter 3: Social Perception and Managing Diversity 4
Chapter 4: Foundations of Employee Motivation 7
Chapter 7: Decision Making and Creativity 9
Chapter 8: Power, Influence and Politics 12
Chapter 12: Managing Human Resources 14
Chapter 18: Creating and Maintaining High-Performance Organisations 18
Chapter 9: Leadership Effectiveness 19
Chapter 5: Groups and Teams 23
Chapter 6: Managing Conflict and Negotiations 25
Chapter 10: Organisational Culture, Socialisation and Mentoring 27
Chapter 11: Managing Change and Stress 28
Chapter 16: Training Employees 32
Chapter 17: Developing Employees for Future Success 33
Chapter 14: Planning for and Recruiting Human Resources 36
Chapter 15: Selecting Employees and Placing Them in Jobs 37
Chapter 19: Managing Employees’ Performance 38
Chapter 13: Trends in Human Resource Management 39
Lecture Material 40
Guest Lecture 1: Paul Kop – Lagerwij 43
Chapter 1: Making OB Work for Me
Organisational behaviour (OB): an interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding and managing people at work.
• Effective application of OB tools; such as influence, manage and get things done through others is what is
important.
Contingency approach: using the OB concepts and tools that best suit the situation, instead of trying to rely on ‘one
best way’.
• Is the foundation of contemporary OB
• Effectively applying this approach requires knowing yourself (self-awareness)
Uncommon Sense: three weaknesses of common sense you need to be aware of and avoid
• Overreliance on hindsight: Common sense works best in well-known or stable situations with predictable
outcomes (unlike modern business situations). It focuses on the past and lacks vision for the future.
• Lack of rigor: People comfortable with common-sense responses may not apply the effort to appropriately
analyse and solve problems.
• Lack of objectivity: Common sense can be overly subjective and lack a basis in science.
Attitudes are evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, events or ideas
• Vary in complexity (e.g. attitude on the taste of apples vs attitude on the death penalty)
• Three components:
o Affective (feel)
o Cognitive (think)
o Behavioural (do)
Hard skills: the technical expertise and knowledge required to do a particular task or job function (e.g. accounting)
• Hard skills get you hired, but soft skills are what get you promoted.
Soft skills: relate to human interactions and include both interpersonal skills and personal attributes
, • Are portable skills: relevant in every job, at every level and throughout your career
• Personal attributes: attitudes, personality, teamwork, leadership
• Interpersonal skills: active listening, positive attitudes, effective communication
Ethics guides behaviour by identifying right, wrong, and in between.
• Unethical does not mean illegal: e.g. American Airlines pilots created slowdowns in flights to pressure the
company in negotiations with their union.
• Unethical behaviour damages relationships and trust; reduces cooperation, loyalty and contribution which
hurts the performance of individuals, teams and organisations.
• Ethical Dilemmas: situations with two choices, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically
acceptable manner.
• Reasons for unethical behaviour (e.g. cheating):
o Personal motivation to perform (I must be number 1)
o Pressure from a supervisor to reach unrealistic performance goals along with threats for
underperforming
o Reward system that honour unethical behaviour
o Employees’ perception of little or no consequences for crossing the line
Problem: difference or gap between an actual and a desires state or outcome.
Problem solving: systematic process for closing these gaps
• 3-Step Approach
Step 1: Define the problem
o Define problems in terms of desired outcomes: compare what you want vs what you have, and ask
yourself ‘why is this a problem?’
Step 2: Identify potential causes using OB concepts and theories
o Why or how does this cause the problem?
Step 3: Make recommendations and take action
o Map recommendations onto causes: they need to address the cause
Person-situation distinction
Person factors: infinite characteristics that give individuals their unique identities.
Situational factors: all the elements outside ourselves that influence what we do, the way we do it and the ultimate
results of our actions.
Interactional perspective: behaviour is a function of interdependent person and situational factors.
• Different people may perceive similar situations in different ways, and similar people may perceive different
situations in the same way.
Three levels at work
• Individual
• Group/team
• Organisational
Organising Framework:
• Inputs affect processes and processes affect outcomes.
• Inputs are the main drivers for outcomes
Using the organising framework for problem solving
• Step 1: define the problem - in terms of outcome at three levels
• Step 2: identify causes - in terms of inputs or processes
• Step 3: make recommendations - mapped onto causes (inputs or processes)
,Applied approaches to selecting a solution
• Resolving: choosing a satisfactory solution - one that works but is less than ideal
o E.g. bike bell is broken - scream instead of using bell when necessary
• Solving: optimal or ideal response
o E.g. get a new bike bell
• Dissolving: requires changing or eliminating the situation in which the problem occurs
o E.g. go by bus instead of bike
Chapter 2: Individual differences and emotions
Individual differences (IDs): differences in attributes (traits, behaviour) that describe each of us as a person
Intelligence: individual’s capacity for constructive thinking, reasoning and problem solving
Multiple intelligences
• Linguistic Intelligence: potential to learn and use spoken and written language
• Logical-mathematical Intelligence: potential for deductive reasoning, problem analysis and mathematical
calculation
• Musical Intelligence: potential to appreciate, compose and perform music
• Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: potential to use mind and body to coordinate physical movement
• Spatial Intelligence: potential to recognise and use patterns
• Interpersonal Intelligence: potential to understand, connect with and effectively work with others
• Intrapersonal Intelligence: potential to understand and regulate yourself
• Naturalist Intelligence: potential to live in harmony with your environment
Practical Intelligence: ability to solve everyday problems by utilising knowledge gained from previous experience
• Changing oneself to suit the environment (adaptation) à manage oneself
• Changing the environment to suit oneself (shaping) à manage others
• Finding new environment (selection) à manage tasks
Personality: physical, behavioural and mental characteristics that give individuals unique identities
• The way we look, act, think and feel are products of genetic and environmental influences (Interactionalist
perspective)
• Is stable over time, across situations and cultures
• Big Five Personality Dimensions: simplify complex models of personality à OCEAN
o Show changes after 30 years
• Proactive personality: someone unconstrained by situational forces and effects environmental change
• Personality tests: used to make decisions in hiring, training and promotion
o Reduce time and cost, reduce bias, increases pool of candidates, complement candidate information
• Core Self-Evaluations (CSEs): broad personality trait made up of four positive individuals traits
o Self-efficacy: person’s belief about their chances of successfully accomplishing a task
o Self-esteem: belief of your own self-worth
o Locus of Control: how much personal responsibility we take for our behaviour and its consequences
§ Internal locus of control: people who control the events and consequences
§ External locus of control: performance is due to circumstances beyond their control
, o Emotional stability: relaxed, secure, unworried, do not experience negative emotions under
pressure
Emotions: complex brief responses aimed at a target (felt or displayed)
Emotional intelligence: ability to monitor your own emotions and those of others and use this to guide your thinking
and actions (mixture of personality and emotions)
• Self-awareness (e.g. self-assessment, confidence)
• Self-management (e.g. self-control)
• Social awareness (e.g. empathy)
• Relationship management (e.g. teamwork, bonding)
Emotion Display Norms: rules that dictate which types of emotions are expected and appropriate for an
organisation’s members to show
Chapter 3: Social Perception and Managing Diversity
Perception: cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand surroundings
• Behaviour is based on perception of reality, not reality itself
• Influenced by:
o Characteristics of the perceiver (e.g. attitudes, motives, values)
o Characteristics of the target (e.g. similarity, closure, continuity)
§ Perceptual grouping:
§ Continuity – objects as continuous patterns
§ Closure – objects as a constant overall form
§ Proximity – objects as groups based on nearness
§ Similarity – objects as groups based on looking similar
o Characteristics of the situation (e.g. social setting, work setting)
• Model of Person Perceptions: shows key characteristics that affect perceptions
Selective attention/perception: we cannot take in all the sensory information that is coming at us
• How does our brain solve this? We only take in bits and pieces; our brain connects this to form a coherent
story (based on attitudes, emotions, personality)
• We see what we want to see à risk of incorrect conclusion
Halo effect: physical attributes influence how other people see them
• E.g. she is tall so she must have a good job
Contrast effect: perceptions can be influenced by events that happened before
• E.g. a job application success because the previous candidate was extremely bad
