91 questions and answers from understated literature
Organizational Behavior
University of Melbourne
2024/2025
Literature:
1. Organizational Behaviour Timothy Campbell Timothy Judge
2. Organizational Behaviour David A. Buchanan Andrzej Huczynski
PS I cant get over this: Word always changes BEHAVIOUR into BEHAVIOR. I
found out the one without the ‘U’ is British / ‘OU’ is USA. Little bit of
trivia…Have fun with this great set of questions!
,Contents
What Is Organizational Behaviour?..............................................................3
Why Organizational Behaviour Matters.......................................................3
Values..........................................................................................................3
Personality...................................................................................................3
Perception....................................................................................................4
Visual Perception.........................................................................................4
Self-Perception.............................................................................................4
Social Perception.........................................................................................4
Attributions..................................................................................................5
Individual Differences and Ethics.................................................................5
Individual Differences around the Globe.....................................................5
Conflict and Negotiation..............................................................................5
Values and Individual Differences................................................................6
Personality Traits and Work Behavior..........................................................6
Managing Conflict........................................................................................6
Personality and Cultural Differences............................................................7
Leveraging Formal and Informal Solutions..................................................8
Conflict and Negotiation..............................................................................8
Perception and Organizational Behavior......................................................9
Personality and Individual Differences.........................................................9
Managing Organizational Change................................................................9
Values and Cultural Differences.................................................................10
Ethical Behavior and Decision-Making.......................................................10
Leadership in Organizational Change........................................................11
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation..........................................................11
Leveraging Solutions in Change Management..........................................11
Individual Differences Across the Globe....................................................11
Additional Insights.....................................................................................12
,What Is Organizational Behaviour?
Q1: What is the definition of Organizational Behaviour (OB)? A1:
OB is the systematic study and application of knowledge about how
individuals and groups act within the organizations where they work.
Q2: Which disciplines does OB draw from? A2: OB draws from
psychology, sociology, economics, political science, and medical science.
Q3: What are the three key levels of analysis in OB? A3: The
individual level, the group level, and the organizational level.
Why Organizational Behaviour Matters
Q4: Why does OB matter to individuals? A4: OB can help individuals
become more engaged organizational members, improve relationships,
reduce stress, make better decisions, and work effectively within a team.
Q5: Why do employers care about OB? A5: Employers value OB
because it includes skills such as communication, honesty, interpersonal
skills, motivation, and a strong work ethic, which are crucial for evaluating
job candidates.
Q6: Why do organizations care about OB? A6: Organizations that
value their employees and engage in effective OB practices are more
profitable and successful.
Values
Q7: What are values? A7: Values are stable life goals that people have,
reflecting what is most important to them.
Q8: What are terminal values? A8: Terminal values refer to end states
people desire in life, such as a prosperous life and world peace.
Q9: What are instrumental values? A9: Instrumental values deal with
views on acceptable modes of conduct, such as being honest and ethical,
and being ambitious.
Personality
Q10: What is personality? A10: Personality encompasses the relatively
stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns a person has.
Q11: What is the Big Five model of personality traits? A11: The Big
Five model includes openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness, and neuroticism.
, Q12: How does personality change over time? A12: Personality can
change over long periods, such as becoming more socially dominant,
conscientious, and emotionally stable between the ages of 20 and 40.
Perception
Q13: What is perception? A13: Perception is the process by which
individuals detect and interpret environmental stimuli.
Q14: What is selective perception? A14: Selective perception means
paying attention to parts of the environment while ignoring other parts.
Q15: What is the self-enhancement bias? A15: Self-enhancement
bias is the tendency to overestimate our performance and capabilities and
see ourselves in a more positive light than others see us.
Visual Perception
Q16: How does visual perception affect our behavior in
organizations? A16: Faulty visual perception can make witness
testimony biased and lead to wrong inferences about people’s behaviors
in organizations.
Q17: What is an example of visual perception bias? A17: The
tendency to see a white triangle in a figure where it is not actually
present.
Self-Perception
Q18: What is the self-effacement bias? A18: Self-effacement bias is
the tendency to underestimate our performance, undervalue our
capabilities, and see events in a more negative light.
Q19: What is the false consensus error? A19: The false consensus
error is the tendency to overestimate how similar we are to other people.
Social Perception
Q20: What are stereotypes? A20: Stereotypes are generalizations
based on group characteristics.
Q21: What is a self-fulfilling prophecy? A21: A self-fulfilling prophecy
occurs when people behave as if an established stereotype is accurate,
leading to reactive behavior that confirms the stereotype.