WGU C715 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR STUDY GUIDE
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔halo effect - ✔✔The tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on
the basis of a single characteristic.
✔✔contrast effect - ✔✔Evaluation of a person's characteristics that is affected by
comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the
same characteristics.
✔✔stereotyping - ✔✔Judging someone on the basis of one's perception of the group to
which that person belongs.
✔✔self-fulfilling prophecy - ✔✔A situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a
second person, and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in
ways consistent with the original perception.
✔✔decisions - ✔✔Choices made from among two or more alternatives.
✔✔problem - ✔✔A discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired
state.
✔✔rational - ✔✔Characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within
specified constraints.
✔✔rational decision-making model - ✔✔A decision-making model that describes how
individuals should behave in order to maximize some outcome.
✔✔Steps in the rational decision-making model - ✔✔1. Define the problem. 2. Identify
the decision criteria. 3. Allocate weights to the criteria. 4. Develop the alternatives. 5.
Evaluate the alternatives. 6. Select the best alternative.
✔✔bounded rationality - ✔✔A process of making decisions by constructing simplified
models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their
complexity.
✔✔intuitive decision making - ✔✔An unconscious process created out of distilled
experience.
✔✔anchoring bias - ✔✔A tendency to fixate on initial information, from which one then
fails to adequately adjust for subsequent information.
✔✔confirmation bias - ✔✔The tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past
choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgments.
,✔✔availability bias - ✔✔The tendency for people to base their judgments on information
that is readily available to them.
✔✔escalation of commitment - ✔✔An increased commitment to a previous decision in
spite of negative information.
✔✔randomness error - ✔✔The tendency of individuals to believe that they can predict
the outcome of random events.
✔✔risk aversion - ✔✔The tendency to prefer a sure gain of a moderate amount over a
riskier outcome, even if the riskier outcome might have a higher expected payoff.
✔✔hindsight bias - ✔✔The tendency to believe falsely, after an outcome of an event is
actually known, that one would have accurately predicted that outcome.
✔✔utilitarianism - ✔✔A system in which decisions are made to provide the greatest
good for the greatest number.
✔✔whistle blowers - ✔✔Individuals who report unethical practices by their employer to
outsiders.
✔✔creativity - ✔✔The ability to produce novel and useful ideas.
✔✔three-component model of creativity - ✔✔The proposition that individual creativity
requires expertise, creative thinking skills, and intrinsic task motivation.
✔✔Motivation - ✔✔The processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction,
and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
✔✔Maslow's hierarchy of needs. - ✔✔1. Physiological 2.Safety 3. Social 4. Esteem 5.
Self-actualization
✔✔hierarchy of needs - ✔✔Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of five needs—physiological,
safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization—in which, as each need is substantially
satisfied, the next need becomes dominant.
✔✔lower-order needs - ✔✔Needs that are satisfied externally, such as physiological
and safety needs.
✔✔self-actualization - ✔✔The drive to become what a person is capable of becoming.
✔✔higher-order needs - ✔✔Needs that are satisfied internally, such as social, esteem,
and self-actualization needs.
, ✔✔Theory X - ✔✔The assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike
responsibility, and must be coerced to perform
✔✔Theory Y - ✔✔The assumption that employees like work, are creative, seek
responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
✔✔two-factor theory - ✔✔A theory that relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and
associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. Also called motivation-hygiene theory.
✔✔hygiene factors - ✔✔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.
✔✔McClelland's theory of needs - ✔✔A theory that states achievement, power, and
affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation.
✔✔McClelland's 3 needs - ✔✔1. Need for achievement (nAch) 2. Need for power
(nPow) 3. Need for affiliation (nAff)
✔✔Need for affiliation (nAff) - ✔✔The desire for friendly and close interpersonal
relationships.
✔✔Need for power (nPow) - ✔✔The need to make others behave in a way in which
they would not have behaved otherwise.
✔✔Need for achievement (nAch) - ✔✔The drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a
set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
✔✔self-determination theory - ✔✔A theory of motivation that is concerned with the
beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful effects of extrinsic motivation.
✔✔cognitive evaluation theory - ✔✔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.
✔✔self-concordance - ✔✔The degree to which peoples' reasons for pursuing goals are
consistent with their interests and core values.
✔✔job engagement - ✔✔The investment of an employee's physical, cognitive, and
emotional energies into job performance.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔halo effect - ✔✔The tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on
the basis of a single characteristic.
✔✔contrast effect - ✔✔Evaluation of a person's characteristics that is affected by
comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the
same characteristics.
✔✔stereotyping - ✔✔Judging someone on the basis of one's perception of the group to
which that person belongs.
✔✔self-fulfilling prophecy - ✔✔A situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a
second person, and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in
ways consistent with the original perception.
✔✔decisions - ✔✔Choices made from among two or more alternatives.
✔✔problem - ✔✔A discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired
state.
✔✔rational - ✔✔Characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within
specified constraints.
✔✔rational decision-making model - ✔✔A decision-making model that describes how
individuals should behave in order to maximize some outcome.
✔✔Steps in the rational decision-making model - ✔✔1. Define the problem. 2. Identify
the decision criteria. 3. Allocate weights to the criteria. 4. Develop the alternatives. 5.
Evaluate the alternatives. 6. Select the best alternative.
✔✔bounded rationality - ✔✔A process of making decisions by constructing simplified
models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their
complexity.
✔✔intuitive decision making - ✔✔An unconscious process created out of distilled
experience.
✔✔anchoring bias - ✔✔A tendency to fixate on initial information, from which one then
fails to adequately adjust for subsequent information.
✔✔confirmation bias - ✔✔The tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past
choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgments.
,✔✔availability bias - ✔✔The tendency for people to base their judgments on information
that is readily available to them.
✔✔escalation of commitment - ✔✔An increased commitment to a previous decision in
spite of negative information.
✔✔randomness error - ✔✔The tendency of individuals to believe that they can predict
the outcome of random events.
✔✔risk aversion - ✔✔The tendency to prefer a sure gain of a moderate amount over a
riskier outcome, even if the riskier outcome might have a higher expected payoff.
✔✔hindsight bias - ✔✔The tendency to believe falsely, after an outcome of an event is
actually known, that one would have accurately predicted that outcome.
✔✔utilitarianism - ✔✔A system in which decisions are made to provide the greatest
good for the greatest number.
✔✔whistle blowers - ✔✔Individuals who report unethical practices by their employer to
outsiders.
✔✔creativity - ✔✔The ability to produce novel and useful ideas.
✔✔three-component model of creativity - ✔✔The proposition that individual creativity
requires expertise, creative thinking skills, and intrinsic task motivation.
✔✔Motivation - ✔✔The processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction,
and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
✔✔Maslow's hierarchy of needs. - ✔✔1. Physiological 2.Safety 3. Social 4. Esteem 5.
Self-actualization
✔✔hierarchy of needs - ✔✔Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of five needs—physiological,
safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization—in which, as each need is substantially
satisfied, the next need becomes dominant.
✔✔lower-order needs - ✔✔Needs that are satisfied externally, such as physiological
and safety needs.
✔✔self-actualization - ✔✔The drive to become what a person is capable of becoming.
✔✔higher-order needs - ✔✔Needs that are satisfied internally, such as social, esteem,
and self-actualization needs.
, ✔✔Theory X - ✔✔The assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike
responsibility, and must be coerced to perform
✔✔Theory Y - ✔✔The assumption that employees like work, are creative, seek
responsibility, and can exercise self-direction.
✔✔two-factor theory - ✔✔A theory that relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and
associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. Also called motivation-hygiene theory.
✔✔hygiene factors - ✔✔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.
✔✔McClelland's theory of needs - ✔✔A theory that states achievement, power, and
affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation.
✔✔McClelland's 3 needs - ✔✔1. Need for achievement (nAch) 2. Need for power
(nPow) 3. Need for affiliation (nAff)
✔✔Need for affiliation (nAff) - ✔✔The desire for friendly and close interpersonal
relationships.
✔✔Need for power (nPow) - ✔✔The need to make others behave in a way in which
they would not have behaved otherwise.
✔✔Need for achievement (nAch) - ✔✔The drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a
set of standards, and to strive to succeed.
✔✔self-determination theory - ✔✔A theory of motivation that is concerned with the
beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful effects of extrinsic motivation.
✔✔cognitive evaluation theory - ✔✔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.
✔✔self-concordance - ✔✔The degree to which peoples' reasons for pursuing goals are
consistent with their interests and core values.
✔✔job engagement - ✔✔The investment of an employee's physical, cognitive, and
emotional energies into job performance.
