Organizational Behavior by Neck, Houghton, Murray

Organizational Behavior by Neck, Houghton, Murray is the Organizational Behavior: A Critical-Thinking Approach textbook authored by Christopher P. Neck, Arizona State University, Jeffery D. Houghton, West Virginia University, and Emma L. Murray and published in 2017 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

• Ability diversity. The representation of people with different levels of mental and physical abilities within an organization.
• Achievement-oriented leadership. Leadership behavior characterized by setting challenging goals, improving performance, and assisting training.
• Acquired needs theory. Theory that suggests three main categories of needs: need for achievement, need for affiliation, and need for power.
• Active listening. The act of concentrating on the true meaning of what others are saying.
• Adjourning. The stage when individuals either leave the team or have no reason to be in further contact with their teammates.
• Affects. The range of feelings in form of emotions and moods that people experience.
• Age diversity. People of all different ages included within the workplace.
• Analyzer strategy. The means by which organizations try to maintain current products and services with a limited amount of innovation.
• Anchoring and adjustment heuristic. A process whereby people base their decisions on the first piece of information they are given without taking other probabilities into account.
• Antecedents of conflict. Factors that set the scene for potential dispute.
• Anthropology. The study of people and their activities in relation to societal, environmental, and cultural influences.
• Arbitrator. A neutral third party officially assigned to settle a dispute.
• Assertiveness. The use of demands or threats to persuade someone to carry out a task.
• Attitude. A learned tendency to consistently respond positively or negatively to people or events.
• Attribution theory. A theory that holds that people look for two causes to explain the behavior of others: internal attributions, which are personal characteristics of others, and external attributions, which are situational factors.
• Authentic leadership. A pattern of leadership behavior based on honesty, practicality, and ethicality.
• Autocratic style. A leadership style based on making decisions without asking for suggestions from others.
• Availability heuristic. A rule of thumb for making judgments on examples and events that immediately spring to mind.
• Awareness of others. The way we are aware (or unaware) of the feelings, behaviors, personalities, likes, and dislikes in other people.
• BATNA. The best possible alternative to a negotiable agreement.
• Behavioral goals (proximal goals). Short-term goals.
• Behavioral leadership perspective. The belief that specific behaviors distinguish leaders from nonleaders.
• Big Five Model. Five basic dimensions of personality to include neuroticism and frequently used to evaluate and assess people in the workplace.
• Bonus pay. A pay plan that rewards employees for recent performance rather than historical performance.
• Bounded rationality. The idea that we are restricted by a variety of constraints when making decisions.
• Brainstorming. The process of generating creative, spontaneous ideas from all members of a group without any criticism or judgment.
• Bureaucracy. An organizational style characterized by formalized rules and regulation, specialized routine tasks, division of labor, and centralized authority.
• Ceremonies. Events that reinforce the relationship between employees and the organization.
• Chain of command. The flow of authority and power from the highest to the lowest levels of the organization.
• Change hindrances. Obstacles that impede progress and make it difficult for the organization to adapt to different situations.
• Channel richness. The capacity to communicate and understand information between people and organizations.
• Charismatic leadership. The ability of a leader to use his or her personality or charm to inspire, motivate, and acquire loyalty and commitment from employees.
• Classical conditioning. A conditioning concept developed by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov that suggests that learning can be accomplished through the use of stimuli.
• Cluster chain. A type of communication that occurs when a group of people broadcast information within a larger group.
• Coalition building. Gathering the support of others as a reason for another person to agree to a request.
• Coercive power. A strategy by which a person controls the behavior of others through punishments, threats, or sanctions.
• Cognitive dissonance. The inconsistency between a person's beliefs, attitudes or behaviors.
• Cohesion. The degree to which team members connect with each other.
• Common-information bias. The inclination to overemphasize information held by the majority of group members while failing to consider other perspectives held by the minority.
• Communication. The act of transmitting thoughts, processes, and ideas through a variety of channels.
• Competence. The ability to perform work tasks successfully.
• Competing values framework. A procedure that provides a way to identify, measure, and change organizational culture.
• Competitive advantage. The edge that gives organizations a more beneficial position than their competitors and allows them to generate more profits and retain more customers.
• Complete rationality. The assumption that we take in to account every single criterion or possible alternative to make a decision.
• Compliance. The behavior of targets of influence who agree to readily carry out the requests of the leader.
• Compressed workweeks. A work arrangement that gives employees the benefit of an extra day off by allowing them to work their usual number of hours in fewer days per pay period.
• Conceptual skill. The capacity to see the organization as a whole and understand how each part relates to each other and how it fits into its overall environment.
• Conciliator. A neutral third party who is informally assigned to persuade opponents to communicate.
• Confirmation bias. The tendency to seek out information that fuels our preexisting views and to discount information that conflicts with our worldview.
• Conflict. A clash between individuals or groups in relation to different opinions, thought processes, and perceptions.
• Consideration. A behavioral leadership style demonstrated by leaders who develop mutual trust and respect and actively build interpersonal relationships with their followers.
• Consultation. The offer of participation or consultation in the decision-making process.
• Content theories. Theories that explain why people have different needs at different times and how these needs motivate behavior, such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Alderfer's ERG theory, McClelland's need theory, and Herzberg's two-factor theory.
• Contingency leadership perspective. The view that the effectiveness of the leader relates to the interaction of the leader's traits or behaviors with situational factors.
• Contingency thinking. The approach that describes actions as dependent on the nature of the situation; one size does not fit all.
• Continuous reinforcement. A reinforcement schedule in which a reward occurs after each instance of a behavior or set of behaviors.
• Contrast effect. An effect that takes place when people rank something higher or lower than they should as a result of exposure to recent events or situations.
• Coping. The effort to manage, reduce, or minimize stressors.
• Correlation. A reciprocal relationship between two or more factors.
• Counterculture. Values that differ strongly from those of the larger organization.
• Counterproductive work behaviors. Voluntary behaviors that purposefully disrupt or harm the organization.
• Creative potential. The skills and capacity to generate ideas.
• Creativity. The generation of meaningful ideas by individuals or teams.
• Critical thinking. The ability to use intelligence, knowledge, and skills to question and carefully explore situations and arrive at thoughtful conclusions based on evidence and reason.
• Cross-cultural leadership. The process of leading across cultures.
• Cross-functiaonal team. A group of workers from different units with various areas of expertise, assembled to address certain issues.
• Culture shock. Feelings of nervousness, doubt, and confusion arising from being in a foreign environment.
• DADA syndrome. Four stages -- denial, anger, depression, and acceptance -- experienced by individuals when they are faced with unwanted change.
• Decentralization. The distribution of power across all levels of the organization.
• Decision making. The action or process of identifying a strategy to resolve problems.
• Deep acting. Efforts to change your actual emotions to better match the required emotions of the situation.
• Deep-level diversity. Differences in verbal and nonverbal behaviors that are not as easily perceived because they lie below the surface, such as differences in attitudes, values, beliefs, and personality.
• Defender strategy. The means by which organizations focus on stability and efficiency of their internal operations to protect their market from new competitors.
• Delegating. The act of giving most of the responsibility to followers while still monitoring progress.
• Delphi technique. A method of decision making in which information is gathered from a group of respondents within their area of expertise.
• Departmentalization. A process of grouping people with related job duties, skills, and experiences into different areas within the overall organizational structure.
• Dependent variable. Factor affected by independent variables.
• Differing perceptions. The way in which our interpretations of situations clashes with the perceptions of others.
• Directive leadership. A leadership style characterized by implementing guidelines, managing expectations, setting definite performance standards, and ensuring that individuals follow rules.
• Display rules. Basic norms that govern which emotions should be displayed and which should be suppressed.
• Distress. High levels of stressors that have destructive and negative effects on effort and performance.
• Distributive bargaining. A strategy that involves two parties trying to claim a "fixed pie" of resources.
• Distributive justice. The degree to which people think outcomes are fair.
• Diversity hindrances. Obstacles that limit the range of employees in organizations.
• Division of labor. The degree to which certain jobs are divided into specific tasks.
• Divisional strategy. A plan that focuses on how the different departments of the organization comply with the company's vision.
• Divisional structure (sometimes called multidivisional structure). An organizational structure that groups employees by products and services, geographic regions, or customers.
• Dominant culture. Set of core values shared by the majority of organizational employees.
• Downward communication. Messages sent from the upper levels of the organizational hierarchy to the lower levels.
• Dysfunctional conflict. A dispute or disagreement that has negative effects on individuals or teams.
• Ease-of-recall bias. The propensity to over-rely on information recollected from memory when making a decision.
• Electronic communication. The ability to transmit messages through e-mail, Skype, videoconferencing, blogs, fax, instant messaging, texting, and social networking.
• Emotional contagion. A phenomenon in which emotions which are experienced by few people of a work group are spread to the others.
• Emotional dissonance. A discrepancy between the emotions a person displays and the emotions he or she actually feels.
• Emotional intelligence. The ability to understand emotions in oneself and others in order to effectively manage one's own behaviors and relationships with others.
• Emotional labor. The process of managing one's feelings to present positive emotions even when they are contrary to one's actual feelings.
• Emotional regulation. A set of processes through which people influence their own emotions and the ways in which they experience and express them.
• Emotional stability. The extent to which we can remain calm and composed.
• Emotion-focused coping. An effort to try to change a person's emotional reaction to a stressor by using positive language and distracting techniques.
• Emotions. Intense feelings directed at a specific object or person.
• Employee engagement. A connection with the organization and passion for one's job.
• Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Plans in which employees purchase stock, often at below market price as a part of their benefits.
• Empowering leadership. A behavioral type of leadership that empowers leaders to help develop the individual skills and abilities of their followers. Also known as "Super Leadership".
• Equity theory. Theory that holds that motivation is based on our perception of fairness in comparison with others.
• ERG theory. Theory that suggests that people are motivated by three categories of needs arranged in the form of a hierarchy.
• Escalation of commitment. The increased commitment to a decision despite negative information.
• Ethical dilemma. A conflict between two or more morally unpleasant alternatives.
• Ethical leadership. A means of influencing others through personal values, morals, and beliefs.
• Ethics. Moral principles that guide our behavior.
• Ethnicity. Sociological factors such as nationality, culture, language, and ancestry.
• Ethnocentrism. The tendency to believe that your culture or ethnicity is superior to everyone else's.
• Eustress. Moderate levels of stressors that have constructive and positive effects on effort and performance.
• Evidence-based management. The practice of using research-based facts to make decisions.
• Exchange. The promise of rewards to persuade another person to co-operate.
• Expatriate. An employee who lives and works in a foreign country on a temporary basis.
• Expectancy theory. Theory that holds that people will choose certain behaviors over others with the expectation of a certain outcome.
• Expectancy. The probability that the amount of work effort invested by an individual will result in a high level of performance.
• Expert power. The ability to influence the behavior of others through the amount of knowledge or expertise possessed by an individual on which others depend.
• Exploitative innovation. The enhancement and reuse of existing products and processes.
• Exploratory innovation. Risk taking, radical thinking, and experimentation.
• External adaptation. A pattern of basic assumptions shared between employees of the goals, tasks, and methods that need to be achieved, together with ways of managing success and failure.
• External forces. Outside influences for change.
• External locus of control. The extent to which people believe their performance is the product of circumstances which are beyond their immediate control.
• Extinction. A reinforcement contingency in which a behavior is followed by the absence of any consequence, thereby reducing the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated in the same or similar situations.
• Extrinsic rewards. External awards to employees such as salary, bonuses, and paid vacations.
• Filtering. The process of screening and then manipulating a message from a sender before passing it on to the intended receiver.
• First mover. An organization that wins competitive advantage by being the first to establish itself in a particular market.
• Flextime. Flexible working hours in which employees customize their own work hours within limits established by management.
• Followership. Individuals' capacity to cooperate with leaders.
• Formal networks. The transmission of messages established and approved by the organizational hierarchy.
• Formalization. The degree to which rules and procedures are standardized in an organization.
• Forming. A process whereby team members meet for the first time, get to know each other, and try to understand where they fit in to the team structure.
• Framing error. The tendency to highlight certain aspects of a situation depending on whether they are positive or negative to solve a problem while ignoring other aspects.
• Free agents. Independent workers that supply organizations with short-term talent for projects or time-bound objectives.
• Functional conflict. A constructive and healthy dispute between individuals or groups.
• Functional strategy. A set of rules determining how each department will implement the strategic plan.
• Functional structures. Organizational structures that group employees according to the tasks they perform for the organization.
• Fundamental attribution error. The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the impact of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.
• Gain sharing. A system whereby managers agree to share the benefits of cost savings with staff in return for their contribution to the company's performance.
• Gender diversity. The way different genders are treated in the workplace.
• Glass ceiling. An invisible barrier that limits one's ability to progress to more senior positions.
• Globalization. The integration of economy, trade, and finance on an international scale.
• Goal-setting theory. Theory that suggests that human performance is directed by conscious goals and intentions.
• Gossip chains. A type of communication that occurs when one individual creates and spreads untrue or inaccurate information through the organization.
• Grafting. A process of hiring experts to bring their knowledge to a firm.
• Grapevine. An unofficial line of communication between individuals or groups.
• Group. Three or more people who work independently to attain organizational goals.
• Groupthink. A psychological phenomenon in which people in a cohesive group go along with the group consensus rather than offering their own opinions.
• Halo effect. A perception problem through which we form a positive or negative bias of an individual based on our overall impressions of that person.
• Heuristics. Shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that allow us to make judgments and decisions quickly and efficiently.
• Hierarchy of needs theory. Maslow's theory that suggests people are motivated by their desire to satisfy specific needs, and that needs are arranged in a hierarchy with physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization needs at the top.
• High-context cultures. Cultures in which meaning is conveyed through body language, nonverbal cues, and the circumstances in which the communication is taking place.
• High-involvement management. The way managers empower employees to make decisions, provide them with extensive training and the opportunities to increase their knowledge base, share important information, and provide incentive compensation.
• Hindsight bias. The tendency to overestimate the ability to predict an outcome of an event.
• HIPOs. High-potential employees who are flexible, committed, and motivated.
• Human capital inimitability. The degree to which the skills and talents of employees can be emulated by other organizations.
• Human capital rareness. The skills and talents of an organization's people that are unique in the industry.
• Human capital value. The way employees work toward the strategic goals of an organization to achieve competitive advantage.
• Human capital. People's skills, knowledge, experience, and general attributes.
• Human skills. The ability to relate to other people.
• Hygiene factors. Sources of job satisfaction such as salary, status, and security.
• Hypothesis. A statement that specifies the relationships between the two variables.
• Idealized influence. Behavior that gains the admiration, trust, and respect of followers, who in turn follow the leader's example with their own actions.
• Impact. The feeling of making a difference.
• Implicit followership theories. Preconceived notions about the types of behaviors that characterize followers and nonfollowers.
• Implicit leadership theories. Hypotheses that explore the extent to which we distinguish leaders and nonleaders based on underlying assumptions, stereotypes, and beliefs.
• Impression management. The process by which we attempt to influence the perceptions others may have of us.
• Independent variables. Factors that remain unchanged.
• Individual differences. The degree to which people exhibit behavioral similarities and differences.
• Individualist-collectivist. The degree to which employees believe they have the right to live their lives as they see fit, choose their own values, and act on their own judgment.
• Individualized consideration. Leader behavior associated with creating mutual respect or trust and a genuine concern for the needs and desires of others.
• Informal networks. A casual form of sharing information between employees across company divisions.
• Information control. A hard influencing tactic in which key information is withheld in order to manipulate outcomes.
• Information overload. Exposure to an overwhelming amount of information.
• Information technology (IT). A set of tools, processes, systems, and data communications based on microelectronic technology, designed to disseminate information to provide support to individuals in an organization.
• Ingratiation. A strategy of winning favor and putting oneself in the good graces of others before making a request.
• In-group exchange. Interaction that occurs when leaders and followers develop good working relationships based on mutual trust, respect, and a sense of sharing common fates.
• Initiating structure. A behavioral leadership style demonstrated by leaders who define the roles of the employees, set clear guidelines and procedures, and establish distinct patterns of organization and communication.
• Innovation. The creation and development of a new product or service.
• Inspirational appeals. The use of emotions to raise enthusiasm for the task by appealing to the values and ideals of others.
• Inspirational motivation. Leadership behaviors that promote commitment to a shared vision of the future.
• Instrumentality. The probability that good performance will lead to various work outcomes.
• Integrative bargaining. A strategy that involves both parties negotiating a win-win solution.
• Intellectual stimulation. Stimuli that encourage people to think and promote intelligence, logic, and problem solving.
• Interdependence. The extent to which team members rely on each other to complete their work tasks.
• Intergroup development. The process of finding ways to change the attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes that employees may have of each other.
• Intermittent reinforcement. Reinforcement schedule in which a reward does not occur after each instance of a behavior or set of behaviors.
• Internal forces. Inside influences for change.
• Internal integration. A shared identity with agreed-upon methods of working together.
• Internal locus of control. The degree to which people believe they control the events and consequences which affect their lives.
• Intrinsic motivation. The performance of tasks for our own innate satisfaction.
• Intuition. An unconscious process of making decisions based on imagination and possibilities.
• Job characteristics model. Five core dimensions of jobs: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.
• Job content-based pay. A salary paid based on the evaluation of a job's worth.
• Job design. A method of setting duties and responsibilities of a job with the intention of improving productivity and performance.
• Job enlargement. An increase in the range of tasks and duties associated with a job.
• Job enrichment. An increase in the scope of a job to make it more complex, interesting, stimulating, and satisfying for employees.
• Job rotation. A process of periodically moving staff employees from one job to another.
• Job satisfaction. The degree to which an individual feels positive or negative about a job.
• Job sharing. An employment option in which one full-time job is divided among two or more people according to predetermined hours.
• Justice approach. A way to base decisions on the basis of the fairness.
• Lack of participation error. The inclination to exclude certain people from the decision-making process.
• Laissez-faire leadership. Leadership behavior that fully delegates responsibility to others.
• Lateral communication. Messages sent between and among the same hierarchical levels across organizations.
• Leader emergence. The natural occurrence of someone becoming the leader of a leaderless group.
• Leader-exchange theory. A theory of leadership that focuses on the relationships between leaders and their group members.
• Leader-member relations. Relationships that reflect the degree of confidence, trust, and respect that exists between subordinates and their leaders.
• Leader's position power. The level of power a leader possesses to reward or punish, or promote and demote.
• Leadership grid. An approach that plots concern for production on the horizontal axis and concern for people on the vertical axis where 1 is the least concern and 9 is the greatest concern.
• Leadership prototypes. Behaviors that people associate with leadership.
• Leadership. The process of providing general direction, from a position of influence, to individuals or groups toward the successful attainment of goals.
• Learning organization. An organization that facilitates the acquisition, distribution, and retention of knowledge to enable it to react to change.
• Learning. An ongoing process through which individuals adjust their behavior based on experience.
• Least preferred coworker questionnaire (LPC questionnaire). An instrument that purports to measure whether a person is task oriented or relationship oriented.
• Legitimate power. The degree to which a person has the right to ask others to do things that are considered within the scope of their authority.
• Localization. The process of adapting certain functions to accommodate the language, culture, or governing laws of a country.
• Locus of control. The extent to which people feel they have influence over events.
• Long-term orientation. The measurement of values such as perseverance, respect for tradition, and thrift.
• Low-context cultures. Cultures that depend on explicit messages conveyed through the spoken or written word.
• Machiavellianism. A philosophy that describes people who manipulate others and use unethical practices for personal gain.
• Manifest conflict stage. The stage at which people engage in behaviors that provoke a response.
• Matrix structure. An organizational structure that combines both functional and divisional departmentalization together with dual lines of authority.
• Meaningfulness. The value of work tasks in line with a person's own self-concepts and ideals.
• Mechanistic model. A formalized structure based on centralization and departmentalization.
• Mediator. A neutral third party who attempts to assist parties in a negotiation to find a resolution or come to an agreement using rational arguments and persuasion.
• Mergers and acquisition hindrances. Obstacles that make it difficult for two organizations to join together.
• Merit pay. A pay plan consisting of a pay rise which is linked directly to performance.
• Mimicry. The process of learning from the successful practices of others.
• Model. A simplified snapshot of reality.
• Moods. Generalized positive or negative feelings of mind.
• Motivation. Forces from within individuals that stimulate and drive them to achieve goals.
• Motivators. Sources of job satisfaction such as achievement, recognition, and responsibility.
• Need for achievement. Need to perform well against a standard of excellence.
• Need for affiliation. Need to be liked and to stay on good terms with most other people.
• Need for competence. The motivation derived from stretching and exercising our capabilities.
• Need for power. Desire to influence people and events.
• Need for self-determination. The state of motivation and control gained through making efforts that are not reliant on any external influences.
• Negative affect. A mood dimension that consists of emotions such as nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poises the low end.
• Negative reinforcement. A reinforcement contingency through which behaviors are followed by the removal of previously experienced negative consequences, resulting in the likelihood that the behavior will occur again in the same or similar situations.
• Negotiation. The process of reaching an agreement that both parties find acceptable.
• Neuroticism. A personality trait that involves being tense, moody, irritable, and temperamental.
• Neutralizing. The substitution of leadership attributes that do not affect follower outcomes.
• Nominal group technique. A structured way for team members to generate ideas and identify solutions in which each member is asked the same question in relation to a work issue and requested to write as many answers as possible. Answers are read aloud and voted upon.
• Non-programmed decisions. New or nonroutine problems for which there are no proven answers.
• Nonverbal communication. The transmission of wordless cues between people.
• Norming. The process by which team members resolve the conflict and begin to work well together and become more cohesive.
• Norms. The informal rules of a team's behavior that govern the team.
• Observable culture. The components of culture that can be seen in an organization.
• Open systems theory. The assumption that organizations are systems that interact with their environments to obtain resources or inputs and transform them into outputs returned to the environment for consumption.
• Operant conditioning. The process of forming associations between learning and behavior by controlling its consequences.
• Operational planning. The process of aligning the strategic plan to the day-to-day tasks required in the running of the organization.
• Operations technology. The combination of processes, knowledge and techniques that creates product or service value for an organization.
• Oral communication. The ability to give and exchange information, ideas, and processes verbally, either one on one or as a group.
• Organic model. A less formalized structure based on decentralization and cross-functional teams.
• Organization structural innovation. The introduction or modification of work assignments, authority relationships, and communication and reward systems within an organization.
• Organization. A structured arrangement of people working together to accomplish specific goals.
• Organizational behavior modification. The use of behavioral techniques to reinforce positive work behavior and discourage unhelpful work behavior.
• Organizational behavior. A field of study focused on understanding, explaining, and improving attitudes of individuals and groups in organizations.
• Organizational citizenship behavior. Discretionary and voluntary behavior that is not a part of the employee's specific role requirements and is not formally rewarded.
• Organizational cultural lag. The deficit in organizations that fail to keep up with new emerging innovations.
• Organizational culture. A pattern of shared norms, rules, values, and beliefs that guide the attitudes and behaviors of its employees.
• Organizational design. The process of creating or changing a structure of an organization to integrate people, information, and technology.
• Organizational development (OD). A deliberately planned system that uses behavioral science knowledge to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization.
• Organizational justice. The perception of fairness in workplace practices.
• Organizational language. Words or metaphors and expressions specific to an organization.
• Organizational politics. Behavior that is not formally sanctioned by the organization and that is focused on maximizing our self-interest, often at the expense of the organization or other employees.
• Organizational strategy. The process of creating, evaluating, and implementing decisions and objectives to achieve long-term competitive success.
• Organizational structure. A framework of work roles that helps shape and support employee behavior.
• Outcomes conflict stage. The stage that describes the consequences of the dispute.
• Out-group exchange. Interaction that occurs when leaders and followers fail to create a sense of mutual trust, respect, or common fate.
• Participating. Leadership behavior in which both leaders and followers work together and share in the decision-making responsibilities of the task.
• Participative leadership. A leadership style that favors consulting with followers and considering their input in decision making.
• Part-time workers ([[similar to free agents). Independent workers who supply organizations with part-time talent for projects or time-bound objectives.
• Path-goal leadership theory. A theory that proposes that leadership effectiveness depends on the degree to which the leader enhances the performance of followers by guiding them on a defined track towards achieving their goals.
• People innovation. Changes in the beliefs and behaviors of individuals working in an organization.
• Perceived inequity. The sense of feeling under-rewarded or over-rewarded in comparison with others.
• Perceived/felt conflict stage. The stage at which emotional differences are sensed and felt.
• Perception. The process by which we receive and interpret information from our environment.
• Performance goals (distal). Long-term goals set into the future.
• Performance-based pay. A financial incentive awarded to employees for meeting certain goals or objectives.
• Performing. The way in which a team is invested towards achieving its goals and operates as a unit.
• Personal appeals. Requests to cooperate on the basis of friendship or as a personal favor.
• Personal conception traits. The degree to which individuals relate to and think about their social and physical environment and their personal beliefs regarding a range of issues.
• Personality traits. Characteristics that describe our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
• Personality. A stable and unique pattern of traits, characteristics, and resulting behaviors that gives an individual his or her identity.
• Person-organization fit. The degree of compatibility between job candidates and organizations.
• Piece rate. A pay plan in which workers are paid a fixed sum for each unit of production completed.
• Political science. The study of the behavior of individuals and groups within a political environment.
• Political skill. The ability to understand and influence others for the good of the organization.
• Pooled interdependence. An organizational model in which each team member produces a piece of work independently of the other members.
• Positive affect. A mood dimension that consists of emotions such as excitement, self-assurance, and cheerfulness at the high end and boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end.
• Positive organizational behavior. The strengths, virtues, vitality, and resilience of individuals and organizations.
• Positive reinforcement. A reinforcement contingency through which behaviors followed by positive consequences, are more likely to occur again in the same or similar situations.
• Power distance. The extent to which people in different societies accept the way power is distributed.
• Power. The capacity to influence the actions of others.
• Practiced creativity. The ability to seize opportunities to apply creative skills in the workplace.
• Primacy effect. A perception problem through which an individual assesses a person quickly on the basis of the first information encountered.
• Proactive personality. The tendency for individuals to take the initiative to change their circumstances.
• Problem-focused coping. A type of coping that aims at reducing or eliminating stressors by attempting to understand the problem and seeking practical ways in which to resolve it.
• Problem-solving team. A group of workers coming together for a set amount of time to discuss specific issues.
• Procedural justice. The degree to which people perceive the implementation of company policies and procedures to be fair.
• Process conflict. The clash in viewpoints in relation to how to carry out work.
• Process consultation. An intervention that involves increasing group awareness and/or understanding.
• Process gains. Factors that contribute to team effectiveness.
• Process innovation. The introduction of new or improved operational and work methods.
• Process losses. Factors that detract from team effectiveness.
• Process theories. Theories that describe the cognitive processes through which needs are translated into behavior, such as equity theory, expectancy theory, and goal-setting theory.
• Processing. The act of understanding and remembering what is being said as well as making an effort to empathize with the speaker's feelings and thoughts and the situation at hand.
• Product innovation. The development of new or improved goods or services that are sold to meet customer needs.
• Production-oriented leader. A leader who tends to focus more on the technical or task aspects of the job.
• Productive forgetting. The ability to abandon a solution that isn't working in favor of a new one.
• Profit sharing. Sharing profits with employees of an organization by the owners.
• Programmed decisions. Automatic responses to routine and recurring situations.
• Projecting. A process through which people ascribe their own personal attributes onto others.
• Projection bias. The inclination to believe other people think, feel, and act the same way we do.
• Prospector strategy. A means through which organizations focus on innovation, creativity, and flexibility and take high risks to accelerate growth and gain competitive advantage.
• Psychological empowerment. The extent to which employees feel a sense of personal fulfillment and intent when carrying out tasks, together with a belief that their work contributes to some larger purpose.
• Psychology. The scientific study of the human mind that seeks to measure and explain behavioral characteristics.
• Punishment. A reinforcement contingency that discourages undesirable behavior by administering unpleasant consequences.
• Quality of worklife (QWL). The relationship between the employees and the workplace.
• Race. Identifying biological factors such as skin, hair, or eye color.
• Randomness error. The tendency for people to believe they can predict the outcome of chance events based on false information or superstition.
• Rational appeals. The use of logic, reason, and evidence to convince another person that cooperation in a task is worthwhile.
• Reactor strategy. A means through which organizations respond to environmental threats and opportunities rather than following a defined plan.
• Recency effect. A perception problem through which we use the most recent information available to assess a person.
• Reciprocal interdependence. An organizational model in which team members work closely together on a piece of work, consulting with each other, providing each other with advice, and exchanging information.
• Referent power. The degree to which a leader can influence others through their desire to identify and be associated with them.
• Reinforcement theory. A theory that states that behavior is a function of its consequences and is determined exclusively by environmental factors such as external stimuli and other reinforcers.
• Reinforcement. The application of consequences to establish patterns of behavior.
• Relationship conflict. The clash in personalities between two or more individuals.
• Representativeness heuristic. A shortcut that bases a decision on our existing mental prototype and similar stereotypes.
• Resistance to change. The unwillingness to accept or support modifications in the workplace.
• Responding. The way active listeners provide feedback to the speaker.
• Reward power. The extent to which someone uses incentives to influence the actions of others.
• Rights approach. A decision-making method based on using moral principles that least infringe on the entitlements of others.
• Risk-taking propensity. The tendency to engage in behaviors that might have positive or negative outcomes.
• Rituals. Formalized actions and planned routines.
• Satisficing decisions. Solutions that aim for acceptable results rather than for the best or optimal ones.
• Scanning. The search for solutions from outside consultants, competitors, and other successful firms.
• Scientific management. Early 20th century theory introduced by Frederick Taylor and his colleagues that analyzes workflow through systematic observation or reasoning.
• Selective attention. The tendency to selectively focus on aspects of situations that are most aligned with our own interests, values, and attitudes.
• Self-awareness. Being aware of our own feelings, behaviors, personalities, likes, and dislikes.
• Self-concept. The beliefs we have about who we are and how we feel about ourselves.
• Self-determination. The understanding of skills, knowledge, and strengths that enable a person to make choices and initiate work tasks.
• Self-efficacy. The belief we have in our ability to succeed in a specific task or situation.
• Self-esteem. The beliefs we have about our own worth following the self-evaluation process.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy. The way a person behaves based on pre-existing expectations about another person or situation so as to create an outcome that is aligned with those expectations.
• Self-leadership. A process whereby people intentionally influence their thinking and behavior to achieve their objectives.
• Self-managing team. A group of workers who manage their daily duties under little to no supervision.
• Self-monitoring. Adjusting our behavior to accommodate different situations.
• Self-regulation. A process whereby people set goals, creating a discrepancy between the desired state and the current state.
• Self-serving bias. The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors and put the blame for failures on external factors.
• Selling. Leadership behavior characterized by support provided to followers through communication and "selling" them the aims of the task in order to gain commitment.
• Seniority-based pay. Guaranteed wages and salary increases based on the amount of time the employee has spent with the organization.
• Sensing. The way listeners pay attention to the signals sent from the speaker.
• Sensitivity training. A type of program designed to raise awareness of group dynamics and any existing prejudices toward others.
• Sequential interdependence. An organizational model in which one team member completes a piece of work and passes it on to the next member for their input, similar to an assembly line.
• Servant leadership. A pattern of leadership that places an emphasis on employees and the community rather than on the leader.
• Sexual orientation. A person's sexual identity and the gender(s) to which she or he is attracted.
• Shared leadership. A style of leadership that distributes influence among groups and individuals to achieve organizational or team goals.
• Short-term orientation. The measurement of values such as meeting social obligations and avoiding embarrassment or shame.
• Silent authority. An influencing tactic that relies on unspoken but acknowledged power.
• Simple structures. Organizational structures, common in small organizations where is there is one central authority figure, usually a business owner, who tends to make decisions.
• Situational leadership model. A leadership model that proposes leaders should adapt their leadership style based on the types of people they are leading and the requirements of the task.
• Skill-based pay. A system of pay that rewards employees for the acquisition and the development of new skills that lead to enhanced work performance.
• Social cognitive theory. A theory that proposes that learning takes place through the observation, imitation, and the modeling of others within a social context.
• Social facilitation. The tendency for individuals to perform tasks better when they are in the presence of others.
• Social loafing. A phenomenon wherein people put forth less effort when they work in teams than when they work alone.
• Social psychology. The social science that blends concepts from sociology and psychology and focuses on how people influence each other in a social setting.
• Socialization. The process through which an organization communicates its values to new employees.
• Sociology. The study of the behavior of groups and how they relate to each other in a social setting.
• Sociotechnical systems. The interaction between human behavior and technical systems.
• Span of control. The number of direct reports to a given manager following an expansion.
• Spiritual leadership. A values-based style of leadership that motivates employees through faith, hope, and vision and encourages positive social emotions such has forgiveness and gratitude.
• Standardization. The degree to which employees are expected to follow the same rules and policies everywhere.
• Stereotypes. An individual's fixed beliefs about the characteristics of a particular group.
• Stories. Narratives based on real organizational experiences that have become embellished over time and illustrate core cultural values.
• Storming. A phase during which, after a period of time, tension may arise between members and different personalities might clash, leading to tension and conflict in the team.
• Strategic OB approach. The idea that people are the key to productivity, competitive edge, and financial success.
• Strategic planning. The process through which a focus on the desired future sets out defined goals and objectives to translate the vision into reality.
• Stressors. Environmental stimuli that place demands on individuals.
• Subcultures. Groups in an organization who share different values to those held by the majority.
• Subordinate characteristics. Situational contingencies such as anxiety, inflexibility, perceived ability, locus of control, and close-mindedness.
• Substitutes for leadership model. A model that suggests certain characteristics of the situation can constrain the influence of the leader.
• Sunk cost bias. The decision to continue an investment based on past investments of time, effort, and/or money.
• Supportive leadership. A leadership behavior characterized by friendliness and concern for the welfare of others.
• Surface acting. A person suppresses their true feelings while displaying the organizationally desirable ones.
• Surface-level diversity. Easily perceived differences between people, such as age/generation, race/ethnicity, gender, and ability.
• Symbols. Objects that provide meaning about a culture.
• Synergy. The concept that the total amount of work produced by a team is greater than the amount of work produced by individual members working independently.
• Tactical planning. The short-term actions and plans to implement the strategy.
• Task characteristics. Situational contingencies outside the follower's control, such as team dynamics, authority systems, and task structure.
• Task conflict. The clash between individuals in relation to the direction, content, or goal of a certain assignment.
• Task structure. The degree to which job assignments are defined.
• Team. A group of people brought together to use their individual skills on a common project or goal.
• Technical skill. The aptitude to perform and apply specialized tasks.
• Technology. The development of scientific knowledge as applied to machinery and devices.
• Telecommuting. Working from home or from a remote location on a computer or other advanced telecommunications that are linked to the office.
• Telling. A leadership behavior characterized by giving clear instructions and guidance to followers, informing them exactly how and when to complete the task.
• Theory. A set of principles intended to explain behavioral phenomena in organizations.
• Three-component model of creativity. A model proposing that individual creativity relies on domain-relevant skills and expertise, creativity-relevant processes, and intrinsic task motivation.
• Trait leadership perspective. A theory that explores the relationship between leaders and personal qualities and characteristics and how they differentiate leaders from nonleaders.
• Transactional leadership. A behavioral type of leadership that proposes that employees are motivated by goals and equitable rewards.
• Transforming. The process that occurs when people begin to make peace with their doubts and uncertainties and begin to embrace the new direction of the company External forces. Outside influences for change.
• Triadic reciprocal model of behavior. A model that shows human functioning shaped by three factors that are reciprocally related: reinforcement, cognitive processes, and behavior.
• Trust. The dependence on the integrity, ability, honesty, and reliability of someone or something else.
• Two-factor theory (motivation-hygiene theory or dual theory). The impact of motivational influences on job satisfaction.
• Type A orientation. The way people are characterized as competitive, impatient, aggressive, and achievement oriented.
• Type B orientation. The way people are characterized as relaxed, easygoing, patient, and noncompetitive.
• Uncertainty avoidance. The degree to which people are able to deal with the unexpected and how they cope with uncertainty in unstructured environments.
• Unobservable culture. The components that lie beneath the surface of an organization, such as company values and assumptions.
• Upward appeals. The argument that the task has been requested by higher management, or a request to higher management to assist in gaining cooperation.
• Upward communication. Messages sent from the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy to the higher levels.
• Utilitarian approach. Action that results in the greater good for the majority of people.
• Valence. The value individuals place on work outcomes.
• Value chain. The sequence of activities carried out by organizations to create valued goods and services to consumers.
• Vicarious learning. A process of learning by watching the actions or behaviors of another person.
• Virtual teams. Groups of individuals from different locations work together through e-mail, video conferencing, instant messaging, and other electronic media.
• Visibility. The awareness of others regarding your presence in an organization.
• Visionary leadership. A behavioral type of leadership that creates visions to motivate, inspire, and stimulate employees.
• Wellness program. A personal or organizational effort to promote health and well-being through providing access to services like medical screenings, weight management, health advice, and exercise programs.
• Workplace diversity. The degree to which an organization represents different cultures.
• Written communication. Messages communicated through the written word, such as e-mails, reports, memos, letters, and other channels.
• ZOPA. The zone of possible agreement, the area where two sides in a negotiation may find common ground.