WGU C715 Organizational Behavior Final
Exam Questions and Answers Updated
2026/2027 Version | Verified Answers
1. Theory X - ANSWER ✅ The assumption that employees dislike work, are
lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform
2. Theory Y - ANSWER ✅ The assumption that employees like work, are
creative, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
3. two-factor theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that relates intrinsic factors to job
satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. Also called
motivation-hygiene theory.
4. hygiene factors - ANSWER ✅ Factors—such as company policy and
administration, supervision, and salary—that, when adequate in a job,
placate workers. When these factors are adequate, people will not be
dissatisfied.
5. McClelland's theory of needs - ANSWER ✅ A theory that states
achievement, power, and affiliation are three important needs that help
explain motivation.
6. McClelland's 3 needs - ANSWER ✅ 1. Need for achievement (nAch) 2.
Need for power (nPow) 3. Need for affiliation (nAff)
,7. Need for affiliation (nAff) - ANSWER ✅ The desire for friendly and close
interpersonal relationships.
8. Need for power (nPow) - ANSWER ✅ The need to make others behave in a
way in which they would not have behaved otherwise.
9. Need for achievement (nAch) - ANSWER ✅ The drive to excel, to achieve
in relationship to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
10.self-determination theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory of motivation that is
concerned with the beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful
effects of extrinsic motivation.
11.cognitive evaluation theory - ANSWER ✅ A version of self-determination
theory which holds that allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that had
been previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the overall level of
motivation if the rewards are seen as controlling.
12.self-concordance - ANSWER ✅ The degree to which peoples' reasons for
pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values.
13.job engagement - ANSWER ✅ The investment of an employee's physical,
cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.
14.goal-setting theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that specific and
difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance.
,15.management by objectives (MBO) - ANSWER ✅ A program that
encompasses specific goals, participatively set, for an explicit time period,
with feedback on goal progress.
16.self-efficacy - ANSWER ✅ An individual's belief that he or she is capable
of performing a task.
17.reinforcement theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that behavior is a
function of its consequences.
18.behaviorism - ANSWER ✅ A theory that argues that behavior follows
stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.
19.social-learning theory - ANSWER ✅ The view that we can learn through
both observation and direct experience.
20.equity theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that individuals compare
their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to
eliminate any inequities.
21.distributive justice - ANSWER ✅ Perceived fairness of the amount and
allocation of rewards among individuals.
22.organizational justice - ANSWER ✅ An overall perception of what is fair in
the workplace, composed of distributive, procedural, and interactional
justice.
, 23.procedural justice - ANSWER ✅ The perceived fairness of the process used
to determine the distribution of rewards.
24.interactional justice - ANSWER ✅ The perceived degree to which an
individual is treated with dignity, concern, and respect.
25.expectancy theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that the strength of a
tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation
that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of
that outcome to the individual.
26.Group - ANSWER ✅ Two or more individuals, interacting and
interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.
27.Formal Group - ANSWER ✅ A designated work group defined by an
organization's structure.
28.Informal Group - ANSWER ✅ A group that is neither formally structured
nor organizationally determined; such a group appears in response to the
need for social contact.
29.Social Identity Theory - ANSWER ✅ Perspective that considers when and
why individuals consider themselves members of groups.
30.Ingroup Favoritism - ANSWER ✅ Perspective in which we see members of
our ingroup as better than other people, and people not in our group as all
the same.
Exam Questions and Answers Updated
2026/2027 Version | Verified Answers
1. Theory X - ANSWER ✅ The assumption that employees dislike work, are
lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform
2. Theory Y - ANSWER ✅ The assumption that employees like work, are
creative, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
3. two-factor theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that relates intrinsic factors to job
satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. Also called
motivation-hygiene theory.
4. hygiene factors - ANSWER ✅ Factors—such as company policy and
administration, supervision, and salary—that, when adequate in a job,
placate workers. When these factors are adequate, people will not be
dissatisfied.
5. McClelland's theory of needs - ANSWER ✅ A theory that states
achievement, power, and affiliation are three important needs that help
explain motivation.
6. McClelland's 3 needs - ANSWER ✅ 1. Need for achievement (nAch) 2.
Need for power (nPow) 3. Need for affiliation (nAff)
,7. Need for affiliation (nAff) - ANSWER ✅ The desire for friendly and close
interpersonal relationships.
8. Need for power (nPow) - ANSWER ✅ The need to make others behave in a
way in which they would not have behaved otherwise.
9. Need for achievement (nAch) - ANSWER ✅ The drive to excel, to achieve
in relationship to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
10.self-determination theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory of motivation that is
concerned with the beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful
effects of extrinsic motivation.
11.cognitive evaluation theory - ANSWER ✅ A version of self-determination
theory which holds that allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that had
been previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the overall level of
motivation if the rewards are seen as controlling.
12.self-concordance - ANSWER ✅ The degree to which peoples' reasons for
pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values.
13.job engagement - ANSWER ✅ The investment of an employee's physical,
cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.
14.goal-setting theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that specific and
difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance.
,15.management by objectives (MBO) - ANSWER ✅ A program that
encompasses specific goals, participatively set, for an explicit time period,
with feedback on goal progress.
16.self-efficacy - ANSWER ✅ An individual's belief that he or she is capable
of performing a task.
17.reinforcement theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that behavior is a
function of its consequences.
18.behaviorism - ANSWER ✅ A theory that argues that behavior follows
stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner.
19.social-learning theory - ANSWER ✅ The view that we can learn through
both observation and direct experience.
20.equity theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that individuals compare
their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to
eliminate any inequities.
21.distributive justice - ANSWER ✅ Perceived fairness of the amount and
allocation of rewards among individuals.
22.organizational justice - ANSWER ✅ An overall perception of what is fair in
the workplace, composed of distributive, procedural, and interactional
justice.
, 23.procedural justice - ANSWER ✅ The perceived fairness of the process used
to determine the distribution of rewards.
24.interactional justice - ANSWER ✅ The perceived degree to which an
individual is treated with dignity, concern, and respect.
25.expectancy theory - ANSWER ✅ A theory that says that the strength of a
tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation
that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of
that outcome to the individual.
26.Group - ANSWER ✅ Two or more individuals, interacting and
interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.
27.Formal Group - ANSWER ✅ A designated work group defined by an
organization's structure.
28.Informal Group - ANSWER ✅ A group that is neither formally structured
nor organizationally determined; such a group appears in response to the
need for social contact.
29.Social Identity Theory - ANSWER ✅ Perspective that considers when and
why individuals consider themselves members of groups.
30.Ingroup Favoritism - ANSWER ✅ Perspective in which we see members of
our ingroup as better than other people, and people not in our group as all
the same.
