Organizational Behavior Questions for Reviews

Chapter One
1. Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace?

Ans.:

Managers need a whole cadre of skills to create a productive workplace, including technical and
quantitative skills. However, leadership and communication skills are critical to organizational
success. When managers have solid interpersonal skills, there are positive work outcomes for the
organization. These outcomes include lower turnover of strong employees, improved recruitment
pools for filling employment positions, and a better bottom line.

2. Describe the manager’s functions, roles, and skills?

Ans.:

There are four main functions that fall under the purview of managers. The first is the planning
function. This function includes defining an organization’s goals, developing a strategy for achieving
those goals, and coordinating a comprehensive set of plans to implement the strategy.

The next function is organizing. This function sets forth what 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 made.

The third function is leading. This function looks at the manager’s job to direct and coordinate the
people within their area of influence.

The final function is controlling. It ensures that things are going as they should by monitoring
performance. The manager should compare the results of that monitoring with the goals that have
been set and if there are any significant deviation a potential correcting must be done.

Interpersonal roles include a subset of roles including figurehead, leader, and liaison roles. A
manager serves as a figurehead when they are performing duties that are routine of a legal or social
in nature. All managers also serve in a leadership role, including hiring, training, motivating, and
disciplining employees. And finally is the liaison; this is when the manager must maintain a network
who will work with them on gaining information and relationships.

The second grouping is informational roles. It includes, first, monitor, when a manager has to gather
and organize a wide variety of information. The manager then must decide what information is
important and what information is necessary for their team members; this translates into the role of
the disseminator. Finally, when the manager is responsible for giving information to outsiders, they
fall into the role of the spokesperson.
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 The final managerial role grouping is decisional, requiring managers to make decisions. It includes the
entrepreneur role, in this role; a manager must serve as an identifier of opportunities. They are also
responsible for taking corrective action when necessary and being the role of disturbance handler.
Managers also need to make decisions about how to allocate resources to support organizational
goals (resource allocator). Finally, they must represent their unit or organization to bargain and
obtain advantages for their own area in their role as negotiator.

There are three main areas of essential manager’s skills that help us gain a better understanding of
what managers do.

The first group is technical skills where the manager is ability to apply specialized knowledge or
expertise.

The second group is human skills in which describe the manager ability to work with others both
individuals and in groups and motivating them toward achieving organizational goals.

The final group is conceptual skills where the manager needs the mental ability to analyze and
diagnose complex problems and situations.

3. Define organizational behavior (OB)?

Ans.:

The field of organizational behavior is the study of “people skills” in that it looks at the impact that
individuals, groups, and structures have on behavior within organizations.

4. Show the value to OB of systematic study?

Ans.:

Our intuition relies on gut feelings, individual observation, and common sense. Although our intuition
is extremely useful in the decision-making process, it does not give us the complete picture. By
engaging in a systematic study of behavior, we can enhance our effectiveness by looking at
relationships, so we can better determine cause and effect and then by applying scientific evidence to
our conclusions, we are better able to predict behavior.

Use evidence as much as possible to inform your intuition and experience. That is the promise of OB.

5. Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.

Ans.:

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 The theory in OB relies on contributions from multiple behavioral disciplines. These disciplines
include Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology.

Psychology focuses on the individual level by seeking to measure, explain, and sometimes change
behaviors in individuals. This area of study offers insights in such areas as learning, training, decision
making, and employee selection.

Social Psychology moves beyond individual analysis to look at group behavior and how individuals can
influence on another. It blends together sociology and psychology and looks primarily at change,
communication, and group interactions.

Sociology looks at the relationship between individuals and their environment. Sociologists’ main
contribution to OB is through offering a better understanding of group behavior. It looks more at how
a group operates within an organizational system. One key area that sociologists contribute to in OB
is culture, a key factor in OB studies.

An Anthropologist studies societies to learn about the human beings and their activities. They help us
understand the differences between different groups in terms of their values, attitudes, and
behaviors.

6. Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB?

Ans.:

There are few absolutes in organizational behavior. When making decisions, you must always take
into account situational factors that can change the relationship between two variables. For example,
as seen in this chart, one message from a boss in an American culture can mean a completely
different thing in another culture. It is always important to take context into account.

7. Identify the challenges and opportunities managers have in applying OB concepts?

Ans.:

In the workplace today, there are many challenges and opportunities in the area of Organizational
Behavior.

 Responding to Economic Pressures

Anyone can manage during good times; it is much tougher to manage through economic struggles. Often
when there are economic pressures, managers are forced to make decisions based on resource constraints.
These situations may include laying off employees, motivating employees when there are limited
resources, and encouraging employees when they are stressed about their futures.

 Responding to Globalization
The World has become a global village, in the process; the manager’s job is changing.
As foreign assignments increase, mangers need to be able to manage a workforce that is different than
what they may be used to and may bring different needs, aspirations and attitudes to the workplace.
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 Also the individuals coming to work in your own country that come from different cultures and you will
need to find ways to accommodate their needs and help them assimilate to your workplace culture.

You may also need to do the difficult task of moving jobs outside of your country to a country with lower
labor costs. This is a difficult process logistically but also emotionally for the workers who will be losing
their jobs.

 Managing Workforce Diversity

Managers need to embrace diversity and find ways to manage it effectively. The changing demographics
have shifted management philosophy in a way that recognizes and utilizes differences to create
productivity, profitability, and welcoming cultures.

 Improving Quality and Productivity

 Improving Customer Service
 Improving People Skills
 Stimulating Innovation and Change
 Coping with “Temporariness”
 Working in Networked Organizations
 Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts
 Creating a Positive Work Environment
 Improving Ethical Behavior

8. Compare the three levels of analysis in this book’s OB model?

Ans.:

A model is an abstraction of reality – a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon. In

Organizational Behavior (OB), we utilize the representation of the world as broken down into three
levels. The first level of analysis we will look at is the individual level. At this level we look at
individual behavior. Next, recognizing that individuals make up groups, we analyze how group
behavior occurs. Finally, organizations are made up of groups of individuals so we analyze the
organization at a systems level.

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 Chapter Two
1. Describe the two major forms of workforce diversity?

Ans.:

When we look at the workplace we can recognize two levels of diversity. Surface-level diversity
represents the characteristics that are easily observed such as race, gender, age etc. Deep-level
diversity represents the aspects that are more difficult to see at first glance such as values,
personality, and work preferences. Organizations need to engage in Diversity Management to
eliminate unfair discrimination.

2. Define the key biographical characteristics and describe how they are relevant to OB?

Ans.:

Biographical characteristics represent many of the surface-level aspects of diversity and they are very
easy to identify.

Biographical characteristics typically include age, gender, and race. It can also include tenure,
religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Age is an increasingly relevant characteristic as the workforce is aging. Older workers bring with them
a wealth of knowledge, judgment, commitment to quality and experience, but they have lack of
flexibility and resistance to new technology. And the perception is that productivity often declines
with age and will impact the workplace.

In studying gender in the workplace, it has been found that there are very few differences between
men and women that impact job performance. However, women, especially those with pre-school
age children, do prefer flexible work schedules and will seek an employer who offers options in their
schedules.

Race and Ethnicity offers little explanation for differentials in workplace outcomes. It has been
shown, however, that people in the workplace do identify more with people like themselves so in
some cases there may be opportunities given to people based on the fact that they are like their
supervisor.

Tenure refers to the length of time people have been on the job and is tied to seniority. Often,
tenure is seen as a positive as it signifies that people are happy with their employment because they
have remained in their job for a long period of time. Therefore, employees with long tenure tend to
be more productive, call in sick less frequently, and don’t leave the organization as readily.

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 Religion may also impact work outcomes due to religious restrictions, such as dress and grooming.
Schedules may also conflict with the way work is typically done, such as a Muslim worker adhering to
the prayer schedule outlined in Islam.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity are not protected by federal law and as a result they are
handled differently by most employers. Often, these characteristics are dealt with just as if they were
protected characteristics in order to discourage discriminatory behavior, whether it is covered by the
law or not.

3. Define intellectual ability and demonstrate its relevance to OB?

Ans.:

Ability is defined as an individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks associated with the job.
When ability is dissected, two key factors are found. The first factor set apart is intellectual ability.
This is the ability to perform mental activities.

There are a number of measures of intellectual ability available for use by organizations. Two
representative measures are the GMA (General Mental Ability) measure and the Wonderlic Personnel
Test. The GMA takes a look at overall intelligence and is generally recognized by researchers. The
Wonderlic is generally used as a quick measure of intelligence in the hiring process. Often, it takes
less than ten minutes to complete. Depending on the requirements of the job, intelligence tests can
be used to predict success on certain job tasks. However, there has been no correlation found
between intelligence and job satisfaction.

4. Contrast the two types of ability.

Ans.:

Ability is defined as an individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks associated with the job. And
has two key factors. The first factor set apart is intellectual ability. This is the ability to perform
mental activities.

Physical Ability is the second factor of ability and represents the capacity to do tasks that demand
stamina, dexterity, strength, and other characteristics related to performance of physical tasks.

Intellectual ability is made up of many dimensions. They include number aptitude, verbal
comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial visualization, and
memory.

Number aptitude is the ability to do speedy and accurate arithmetic and will be effective in jobs
requiring mathematical ability, such as an accountant.

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 Verbal comprehension is the ability to understand what is read or heard and the relationship of
words to each other. This ability will be helpful in jobs where the manager needs to understand
policies in order to carry out their job tasks.

Perceptual speed is the ability to identify visual similarities and differences quickly and accurately.
This particular ability is helpful when an employee needs to take in a lot of information and make
decisions about the patterns, such as a detective or inspector.

Inductive reasoning is present when an individual can identify a logical sequence in a problem in
order to help find a solution. An employee who needs to make decisions about the future based on
historical information will need the ability of inductive reasoning.

Deductive reasoning is the ability to use logic and assess the implications of the argument. When
making choices between two different possible solutions to a problem, a manager would need to call
upon their deductive reasoning skills.

Spatial Visualization is when someone can imagine how an object would look if its position in space
was changed. An employee who needs to make decisions about office setup or interior design would
need to have a high level of spatial visualization ability.

Memory is the ability to retain and recall past experiences. Individuals who need to act quickly in a
situation, such as a paramedic or nurse, would need a significant degree of memory ability.

Physical abilities are needed when performance requires physical activity to complete a task. There
are three main categories of physical ability – strength, flexibility and other.

Strength factors include:

Dynamic strength: Ability to exert muscular force continuously over time.

Trunk strength: Ability to exert muscular strength using the trunk.

Static strength: Ability to exert force against external object.

Explosive strength: Ability to extend a maximum of energy in one or a series of explosive acts.

Flexibility factors include both components of:

Extent flexibility: Ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far as possible

Dynamic flexibility: Ability to make rapid, repeated flexing movements.

Other strength factors include:

Body coordination: Ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of different parts of the body.
Balance: Ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling off balance.

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 Stamina: Ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolonged effort over time.

When an organization discusses abilities, it can cause difficulty when developing policies that
recognize diversity in terms of disabilities. While it is important for the organization to strive for
diversity in the hiring process, it is important to be careful to avoid discriminatory practices during
hiring by making generalizations about people with disabilities.

5. Describe how organizations manage diversity effectively.

Ans.:

Managers must work to develop strategies, ways to utilize differences to achieve work outcomes.
Managers start by attracting, selecting, developing, and retaining employees who can operate and
excel in a workplace with diverse individuals, viewpoints, and ideas. This will help to provide for an
environment that fosters creativity and effectiveness.

Organizations are requiring employees to work in groups. Diversity can aid in group effectiveness and
it can diminish it.

Effective workforce programs that encourage diversity contain three components. First, they teach
managers about the laws they need to follow and equal employment opportunity requirements.
Second, they help managers and employees to see that a diverse workforce is better able to serve
diverse markets. Third, they take into account personal differences and approach the differences as
strengths that can be utilized to enhance performance.

6. Show how culture affects our understanding of biographical characteristics and intellectual
abilities.

Ans.:

There are many differences in biographical characteristics across cultures.

Most evidence recognizes that the structures and measures of intellectual abilities work in many
different cultures.

Diversity management is important in all cultures; however, each culture does approach diversity
differently.

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 Chapter Three
1. Contrast the three components of an attitude?

Ans.:

Attitudes are evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events. Attitudes
are made up of three components. The cognitive component is made up of the belief in the way
things are. The affective component is the more critical part of the attitude as it is calls upon the
emotions or feelings. The behavioral component describes the intention to behave in a certain way
toward someone or something. These three components work together to aid in our understanding
of the complexity of an attitude.

2. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior?

Ans.:

Sometimes we observe people who will change what they say so it doesn’t contradict their behavior.
When attitudes and behaviors don’t line up, individuals will experience cognitive dissonance. This
incongruity is uncomfortable and individuals will seek to reduce the dissonance to find consistency.

People are willing to live with some discomfort but the degree to which this is true depends upon the
importance of the elements, how much influences the individual has in the situation, and the rewards
available.

3. Moderating Variables

Ans.:

Some variables do moderate the relationship between attitude and behavior. These factors include
the importance of the attitude, the correspondence of the attitude to the behavior, the accessibility
of the attitude, the existence of social pressures on behavior, and the personal and direct
experience of the attitude.

These variables will impact the ability to predict how a certain attitude will predict behavior.

4. Compare and contrast the major job attitudes.

Ans.:

There are several major job attitudes we will look at throughout the book. The first is job satisfaction,
which is the positive feeling about the job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. The
second is job involvement. Job involvement looks at the degree to which a person identifies the job
actively participated in it, and considers performance important to self-worth. An additional job

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 attitude is psychological empowerment, the belief in the degree of influence over the job,
competence in the job, job meaningfulness and perceived autonomy of their job.

A very important job attitude is organizational commitment or identifying with a particular

organization and its goals. There are three dimensions to this job attitude – affective, continuance
commitment, and normative. Organizational commitment has been found to have some relationship
to performance and in particular for new employees. Over the years, this may be losing importance
as people are tending to be more loyal to their profession than to a given employer.

Perceived Organizational Support (POS) is the degree to which employees believe the organization
values their contribution and cares about their well-being. Perception of fairness is a key factor in
determining employees’ willingness to work hard for the organization.

Employee Engagement goes beyond just job satisfaction and includes involvement and enthusiasm
for the job. The more engaged the worker is, the more passionate they will be about their work.

5. Define job satisfaction and show how it can be measured?

Ans.:

Job satisfaction is defined as a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics. This is an important job attitude because it incorporates so many of the other
measures. There are multiple ways to measure job satisfaction, but the most accurate way is to ask
the question if people are satisfied in their jobs and provide them with a scale to report their degree
of satisfaction.
– Single global rating (one question/one answer) - Best
– Summation score (many questions/one average) - OK
People are generally satisfied in their jobs in the United States, but over the last several years, job
satisfaction has been decreasing. When work is divided up into facets, results vary. Typically,
workers are more satisfied with the work itself and coworkers, while remaining less satisfied with
promotion and pay.

6. Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction.

Ans.:

Pay has an influence on job satisfaction but not as much as one might think. Typically, once a worker
exceeds $40,000 per year, pay has limited impact on the level of satisfied workers. Personality tends
to be a bigger influence in job satisfaction levels. People who have a negative outlook on life tend to
be less satisfied with their jobs. In addition, workers who have a strong sense of self-evaluation are
more satisfied.

7. Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction.

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 Ans.:

When employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, they have four basic responses they can utilize.
These options are divided into active and passive choices. The active options are exit and voice. If
employees select to exit, they choose to leave or move in a direction of leaving the organization. In
voice, the employees will work toward active and constructive attempts to improve conditions. The
passive options are neglect and loyalty. Employees may choose to neglect their work and just allow
conditions to worsen or they may choose to remain loyal to the organization and just wait for change.

8. Outcomes of Job Satisfaction

Ans.:

When employees are satisfied with their work, there are many positive outcomes in the workplace.
However, the inverse is true as well, if employees are dissatisfied in their work, these same job
outcomes will be negatively impacted.

If a worker is satisfied in their job, they will remain in the job for a longer period of time than
dissatisfied workers. However, as we have seen recently, workers are willing to stay in jobs where
they are not satisfied because the job market is tight due to tough economic conditions.

Dissatisfied workers are more likely to cause problems in the workplace by stealing, absenteeism,
limiting productivity, and other negative work outcomes.

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