WGU C715 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR EXAM
EVALUATION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔value system - ✔✔A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual's values in terms
of their intensity.
✔✔terminal values - ✔✔Values that we work towards (happiness, self-respect, family
security, recognition)
✔✔instrumental values - ✔✔Core values that are permanent in nature (honesty,
sincerity, ambition, independence)
✔✔personality Job-fit theory - ✔✔A theory that identifies six personality types and
proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines
satisfaction and turnover.
✔✔power distance - ✔✔where society accepts that power in institutions and
organizations is distributed unequally.
✔✔individualism - ✔✔where people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members
of groups.
✔✔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.
✔✔masculinity - ✔✔where culture favors traditional masculine work roles of
achievement, power, and control.
✔✔femininity - ✔✔indicates little differentiation between male and female roles; where
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.
✔✔long-term orientation - ✔✔A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future,
thrift, and persistence.
✔✔short-term orientation - ✔✔A national culture attribute that emphasizes the past and
present, respect for tradition, and fulfillment of social obligations. people value the here
and now; they accept change more readily and don't see commitments as impediments
to change.
,✔✔heredity - ✔✔factors determined at conception; one's biological, physiological, and
inherent psychological makeup.
✔✔Perception - ✔✔A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
✔✔attribution theory - ✔✔An attempt to determine whether an individual's behavior is
internally or externally caused.
✔✔fundamental attribution error - ✔✔The tendency to underestimate the influence of
external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making
judgments about the behavior of others.
✔✔self-serving bias - ✔✔The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes
to internal factors and put the blame for failures on external factors.
✔✔selective perception - ✔✔The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the
basis of one's interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
✔✔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 - ✔✔Causing something to happen by believing it will come
true.
✔✔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 less-than-perfect form of rationality in which decision
makers cannot be perfectly rational because decisions are complex and complete
information is unavailable or cannot be fully processed
✔✔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 - ✔✔A human behavior pattern in which an individual or
group facing increasingly negative outcomes from some decision, action, or investment
nevertheless continues the same behavior rather than alter course.
✔✔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.
EVALUATION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔value system - ✔✔A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual's values in terms
of their intensity.
✔✔terminal values - ✔✔Values that we work towards (happiness, self-respect, family
security, recognition)
✔✔instrumental values - ✔✔Core values that are permanent in nature (honesty,
sincerity, ambition, independence)
✔✔personality Job-fit theory - ✔✔A theory that identifies six personality types and
proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines
satisfaction and turnover.
✔✔power distance - ✔✔where society accepts that power in institutions and
organizations is distributed unequally.
✔✔individualism - ✔✔where people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members
of groups.
✔✔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.
✔✔masculinity - ✔✔where culture favors traditional masculine work roles of
achievement, power, and control.
✔✔femininity - ✔✔indicates little differentiation between male and female roles; where
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.
✔✔long-term orientation - ✔✔A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future,
thrift, and persistence.
✔✔short-term orientation - ✔✔A national culture attribute that emphasizes the past and
present, respect for tradition, and fulfillment of social obligations. people value the here
and now; they accept change more readily and don't see commitments as impediments
to change.
,✔✔heredity - ✔✔factors determined at conception; one's biological, physiological, and
inherent psychological makeup.
✔✔Perception - ✔✔A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
✔✔attribution theory - ✔✔An attempt to determine whether an individual's behavior is
internally or externally caused.
✔✔fundamental attribution error - ✔✔The tendency to underestimate the influence of
external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making
judgments about the behavior of others.
✔✔self-serving bias - ✔✔The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes
to internal factors and put the blame for failures on external factors.
✔✔selective perception - ✔✔The tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the
basis of one's interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
✔✔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 - ✔✔Causing something to happen by believing it will come
true.
✔✔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 less-than-perfect form of rationality in which decision
makers cannot be perfectly rational because decisions are complex and complete
information is unavailable or cannot be fully processed
✔✔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 - ✔✔A human behavior pattern in which an individual or
group facing increasingly negative outcomes from some decision, action, or investment
nevertheless continues the same behavior rather than alter course.
✔✔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.
