Social Rationale Quarter

Social Rationale Quarter (hereinafter, the Quarter) is the first of four lectures of Operations Quadrivium (hereinafter, the Quadrivium):

• The Quarter is designed to introduce its learners to enterprise discovery, or, in other words, to concepts related to obtaining data needed to administer the enterprise effort; and
• The Quadrivium examines concepts of administering various types of enterprises known as enterprise administration as a whole.

The Quadrivium is the first of seven modules of Septem Artes Administrativi, which is a course designed to introduce its learners to general concepts in business administration, management, and organizational behavior.

Outline

The predecessor lecture is Communication Quarter.

Concepts

1. Diversity. The extent to which members of a group are similar to, or different from, one another.
   • Surface-level diversity. Easily perceived differences that may trigger certain stereotypes, but that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel.
   • Surface-level diversity. Differences in easily perceived characteristics, such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, or disability, that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel but may activate certain stereotypes.
     1. Biographical characteristic. A personal characteristic -- such as age, gender, race, and length of tenure -- that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records. These characteristics are representative of surface-level diversity.
     2. Race. The biological heritage (including skin color and associated traits) that people use to identify themselves.
   • Deep-level diversity. Differences in values, personality, and work preferences that become more important for determining similarity as people get to know each other.
   • Deep-level diversity. Differences in values, personality, and work preferences.
   • Discrimination. Noting of a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group.
   • Discrimination. When someone acts out their prejudicial attitudes toward people who are the targets of their prejudice.
2. Culture attribute.
   • Power distance. A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
   • Collectivism. A national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.
   • Individualism. A national culture attribute that describes the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups.
   • Long-term orientation. A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift, and persistence.
   • Short-term orientation. A national culture attribute that emphasizes the present and accepts change.
   • Masculinity. A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which the culture favors traditional masculine work roles of achievement, power, and control. Societal values are characterized by assertiveness and materialism.
   • Femininity. A national culture attribute that indicates little differentiation between male and female roles; a high rating indicates that women are treated as the equals of men in all aspects of the society.
   • Uncertainty avoidance. A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them.
3. Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness project (GLOBE project). The research project that studies cross-cultural leadership behaviors.
4. Cultural attitude.
   • Parochialism. Viewing the world solely through your own perspectives, leading to an inability to recognize differences between people.
   • Geocentric attitude. A world-oriented view that focuses on using the best approaches and people from around the globe.
   • Ethnocentric attitude. The parochial belief that the best work approaches and practices are those of the home country.
   • Polycentric attitude. The view that the managers in the host country know the best work approaches and practices for running their businesses.
5. Conflict. A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about.
   • Conflict. Perceived incompatible differences that result in interference or opposition.
   • Traditional view of conflict. The view that all conflict is bad and must be avoided.
   • Human relations view of conflict. The view that conflict is a natural and inevitable outcome in any group.
   • Interactionist view of conflict. The view that some conflict is necessary for a group to perform effectively.
6. Conflict process. A process that has five stages: (1) conflict potential, potential opposition or incompatibility, (2) cognition and personalization, (3) intentions, (4) behavior, and (5) outcomes.
7. Conflict potential.
   • Dyadic conflict. Conflict that occurs between two people.
   • Intergroup conflict. Conflict that occurs between different groups or teams.
   • Interrole conflict. A situation in which the expectations of an individual's different, separate groups are in opposition.
   • Intragroup conflict. Conflict that occurs within a group or team.
   • Process conflict. Conflict over how work gets done.
   • Process conflict. A conflict over how work gets done.
8. Conflict personalization.
   • Felt conflict. Emotional involvement in a conflict that creates anxiety, tenseness, frustration, or hostility.
   • Perceived conflict. Awareness by one or more parties of the existence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise.
9. Conflict intention.
   • Collaborating. A situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties.
   • Competing. A desire to satisfy one's interests, regardless of the impact on the other party of the conflict.
   • Compromising. A situation in which each party to a conflict is willing to give up something.
   • Accommodating. The willingness of one party in a conflict to place the opponent's interests above his or her own.
   • Avoiding. The desire to withdraw from or suppress a conflict.
10. Conflict outcome.
    • Functional conflict. Conflict that supports the goals of the group and improves its performance.
    • Functional conflict. A conflict that supports a group's goals and improve its performance.
    • Dysfunctional conflict. Conflict that hinders group performance.
    • Dysfunctional conflict. A conflict that prevents a group from achieving its goals.

• Social identity theory. Perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups.
• Surface acting. Hiding one's inner feelings and forgoing emotional expressions in response to display rules.
• Deep acting. Trying to modify one's true inner feelings based on display rules.

• Social loafing. The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.
• Social loafing. The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.
• Boundary spanning. When individuals form relationships outside their formally assigned groups.
• Cohesiveness. The degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group.
• Cultural intelligence. Cultural awareness and sensitivity skills.
• Defensive behavior. Reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change.
• Dominant culture. A culture that expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization's members.
• Ethics. Principles, values, and beliefs that define what is right and wrong behavior.
• Ethnicity. Social traits (such as cultural background or allegiance) that are shaped by a human population.
• Faultiness. The perceived divisions that split groups into two or more subgroups based on individual differences such as sex, race, age, work experience, and education.
• Filtering. A sender's manipulation of information so that it will be seen more favorably by the receiver.
• Filtering. The deliberate manipulation of information to make it appear more favorable to the receiver.
• Formal group. A designated workgroup defined by an organization's structure.
• Glass ceiling. The invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top management positions.
• Global mind set. Attributes that allow a leader to be effective in cross-cultural environments.
• Impression management. The process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form of them.
• Institutions. Cultural factors that lead many organizations to have similar structures, especially those factors that might not lead to adaptive consequences.
• National culture. The values and attitudes shared by individuals from a specific country that shape their behavior and beliefs about what is important.
• Mindfulness. Objectively and deliberately evaluating the emotional situation in the moment.
• Outgroup. The inverse of an ingroup, which can mean everyone outside the group, but more usually an identified other group.
• Reference group. An important group to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform.
• Persuasion skills. Skills that enable a person to influence others to change their minds or behavior.
• Political skill. The ability to influence others in such a way as to enhance one's objectives.
• Psychopathy. The tendency for a lack of concern for others and lack of guilt or remorse when actions cause harm.
• Prejudice. A preconceived belief, opinion, or judgment toward a person or a group of people.
• Stereotyping. Judging a person based on a perception of a group to which that person belongs.
• Stereotyping. Judging a person based on a perception of a group to which that person belongs.
• Stereotyping. Judging someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which that person belongs.
• Strong culture. A culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared.
• Referent. A person, system, or self against which individuals compare themselves to assess equity.
• Relationship conflict. Conflict based on interpersonal relationships.
• Relationship conflict. A conflict based on interpersonal relationships.

Methods

• Means, motive, and opportunity

Sciences

• Social psychology. An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology to focus on the influence of people on one other.
• Sociology. The study of people in relation to their social environment and culture.
• Anthropology. The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.

Practices

The successor lecture is Group Decisions Quarter.