MAN study guide

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University of Texas *

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336

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Management

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Jun 18, 2024

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INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: What are the two major determinants of individual behavior? When is each factor relatively more important in predicting individual behavior? - The two determinants are situation and person. If the situation is strong, then the situation is a stronger determinant of the person. - Strong situation: red light b/c everyone will react the same. Weak citation: yellow light b/c behavior will vary person to person. What are the 4 facets of situational strength? If a particular situation is described to you, be able to diagnose whether it is a weak or a strong situation and which facet is most relevant in that situation. - Clarity: cues about expected behaviors are available and interpretable. - Consistency: cues regarding how to act are self-reinforcing and not conflicting - Constraints: the extent to which an individual is not inhibited by outside forces - Consequences: the extent of which the implications for an individual’s behavior Which is the most important individual difference in predicting job performance? Is this factor likely to matter more for jobs that have relatively simple tasks or relatively complex tasks? Why? - General mental ability/intelligence is the single largest predictor of individual job performance. This factor is likely to matter more for jobs that have relatively complex tasks as simple tasks shouldn’t require a lot of intelligence. How much variation in performance can be predicted by personality? How much variation in individual performance can be explained by cognitive ability? - Cognitive ability can explain about 25% of the variance in job performance. Personality can explain about 10-15% of the variance in job performance. Describe one similarity and one difference between the concept of self-efficacy and the concept of internal locus of control. - One similarity between the concept of self-efficacy and internal locus of control is that they both deal with behavior of job performance. One difference is that self-efficacy is before job performance, it predicts how hard one is to work based on their goals, while locus of control is after job performance, it shows how one would act if they fail. What are some flaws with using personality tests during the hiring process? Describe three flaws with the MBTI as a personality assessment.

- Three flaws with the MBTI as a personality test is 1) it is missing a personality dimension, 2) it’s not very reliable as outcomes are different, and 3) it’s unable to predict important outcomes. Define each of the Big 5 Factors of personality. Imagine you are a hiring manager and due to time limitations you can only assess one out of the Big 5 personality traits. Based on a job description, be able to choose the most relevant personality trait. - Openness to experience: the extent to which someone seeks new experiences and is tolerant of change - Conscientiousness: how an individual approaches goals - Extraversion: the degree to which a person can tolerate sensory stimulation from people and situations - Agreeableness: the degree to which we take other’s opinions into account - Neuroticism: how we respond to stress/negative experiences If someone’s behavior is described, be able to correctly identify the Big 5 personality trait that is being demonstrated. For the most part, there is no universally beneficial personality trait. But there is one exception. Which Big 5 personality trait tends to be uniformly helpful across a variety of jobs? What outcomes does this personality predict? - Conscientiousness tends to be uniformly helpful across a variety of jobs as it predicts how effective one is in their job. What are the two types of fit that matter when it comes to personality? - Person-job fit and person-person fit. What is a work attitude? Why are work attitudes important? What are two examples of widely-studied work attitudes and how are they different from each other? - A work attitude refers to our opinions, beliefs, and feelings about aspects of our environment. Work attitudes are important because they have the greatest potential to influence our behavior. Two examples of work attitudes are job satisfaction and organizational commitment. They are different from each other as job satisfaction refers to the feelings people have toward their job, while organizational commitment is the emotional attachment people have toward the company they work for. What are organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and how are they different from job performance? What factors predict OCBs? How do these factors differ from the factors that are most predictive of job performance? - Organizational citizenship behaviors are voluntary behaviors employees perform to help others and benefit the organization. It differs from job performance as it does not

depend so much on one’s general mental abilities. How we are treated, our personality, job attitudes, and age are factors that predict OCBs. These factors differ from the factors that are most predictive of job performance, as they don’t include mental ability and stress. What are the three components that enable creativity? Which component of creativity can managers most easily influence? What are some practices or techniques for boosting this component of creativity? - The three components that enable creativity are fluency, flexibility, and originality. Managers can most easily influence fluency. Brainstorming and setting high idea quotas are popular methods for boosting this component of creativity. MOTIVATION: Describe Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and identify two limitations of the theory. - Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is based on a simple premise: human beings have needs that are hierarchically ranked, which go from psychological → safety → social → esteem → and self actualization needs. So once, the basic lower needs are satisfied, it no longer serves as a motivator. Two limitations of the theory are: only one need is dominant at a given time and that once a need is satisfied, it no longer serves as a motivator. Someone can want both psychological and safety needs at the same time. What is the two-factor model of motivation? How do the cases of Lincoln Electric or Google undermine the model? - The two-factor model of motivation includes hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors included company policies, supervision, working conditions, salary and security. Motivators included achievement, recognition, interesting work, increased responsibility, advancement and growth. What is McClelland's theory of motivation? How is it fundamentally different from all other models of motivation? What is the implication of this distinction for how leaders should manage employees? - According to McClelland’s needs theory of motivation, individuals acquire three types of needs as a result of their life experiences; the needs for achievement, the needs for affiliation, and the need for power. This is fundamentally different from all other models of motivation as the Thematic Apperception Test is used to assess the dominant need. The implication of this distinction for how leaders should manage employees is that they need to understand the dominant needs of their employees to be able to motivate them.

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Name one difference between needs-based models of motivation and process-based models of motivation. - Need based models describe motivated behavior as individuals’ efforts to meet their needs where the manager’s job is to identify what people need and make the work environment a means of satisfying these needs. While process-based models of motivation use the mental processes of employees as the key to understanding employee motivation. What is unique about equity theory compared to the other models of motivation? How is equity theory related to justice theory? - Compared to the other models of motivation, the equity theory is unique because it looks at the perception of fairness as a motivator. This theory is related to justice theory because it deals with outcome fairness. Refers to the degree to which the outcomes received from the organization are perceived to be fair. What is the difference between procedural justice and interactional justice? Be able to identify situations in which either form of justice is violated. - Procedural justice refers to the degree to which fair decision-making procedures are used to arrive at a decision; like layoffs, employee selection, pay decisions, performance appraisals, and etc. (Bad situation: choosing a name out of a hat for promotion choosing). Interactional justice refers to the degree to which people are treated with respect, kindness, and dignity in interpersonal interactions. What are the three components of expectancy theory? Which of the three components does the piecework approach at Lincoln Electric most directly target? - According to the expectancy theory, individual motivation to put forth more or less effort is determined by a rational calculation in which individuals evaluate their situation. The three components of it are: expectancy, instrumentality, and valence. Expectancy : whether the person believes that high levels of effort will lead to outcomes of interest such as performance or success. Instrumentality : the degree to which the person believes that performance is related to secondary outcomes such as rewards. Valence : the value of the rewards awaiting the person as a result of performance. Lincoln Electric most directly targeted instrumentality because if the project is complete, then they get money. What problems can high-powered incentives create? How did Lincoln Electric minimize these problems? - High powered incentives can create a risk averse environment that diminishes creativity. They tend to focus employee energy on goal-directed efforts, and behaviors such as helping team members or being a good citizen of the company may be neglected. Lincoln Electric minimized

How is job characteristics theory different from most other models of motivation? What does it assume is the most important driver of employee motivation? What are task identity and skill variety? Compare and contrast job characteristics theory to the two-factor model of motivation. - Job characteristics theory is different from other models of motivation as it has five core job characteristics, leading to three critical psychological states, which lead to work-related outcomes. According to it, the most important driver of employee motivation is autonomy. Task identity refers to the degree to which a person is in charge of completing an identifiable piece of work from start to finish. Skill variety refers to the extent to which the job requires a person to utilize multiple high-level skills. The two-factor model says that there’s 2 categories that lead to motivation while job characteristics theory says that there are different layers that lead to one another. What is the difference between autonomy and empowerment? - Autonomy is the degree to which a person has the freedom to decide how to perform his or her tasks. While empowerment may be defined as the removal of conditions that make a person powerless. Explain two ways in which Google and Lincoln Electric are different in how they motivate their employees, and explain two ways in which Google and Lincoln Electric are similar in how they motivate their employees. List two reasons why Google and Lincoln Electric employ distinct approaches to motivating employees. - Google created a unique work environment that attracts, motivates, and retains the best players in the field. They encourage employee risk taking and innovation. Lincoln Electric is more about competition while google is more about teamwork and innovation. They’re similar in which both companies have an emphasis on skill and have an emphasis on the culture of the workplace. They employ distinct approaches because Lincoln E. is about skill while google is about innovation. What are SMART goals? Why do SMART goals motivate people? What are the potential downsides of using SMART goals? - SMART goals are specific, measureable, aggressive, realistic, and time bound. They motivate people because goals give us direction, give energy and tell them not to stop until the goal is accomplished, they provide a challenge, and urge people to think outside the box and rethink how they are working. The potential downsides of using SMART goals are that they hamper employee performance if employees are lacking skills needed to reach their goals, goal setting may prevent employees from adapting and changing their behaviors in response to unforeseen threats, goals focus employee attention on the activities that are measured, and they can lead to unethical behaviors. How can organizations align the goals of individual employees?

- Organizations align the goals of individual employees by setting company-wide goals derived from corporate strategy, determining team and department-level goals, collaboratively setting individual-level goals that align with corporate strategy, developing an action plan, and periodically reviewing performance and revising goals. What are the characteristics of effective performance appraisal systems? How should managers conduct performance appraisal meetings? - The characteristics of effective performance appraisal systems are adequate notice, fair hearing, and judgment based on evidence. Adequate notice involves letting employees know what criteria will be used in the appraisal. Fair hearing means ensuring that there is two-way communication. Judgment based on evidence involves documenting performance problems as opposed to personal opinions. Managers should conduct performance appraisal meetings by giving feedback in a constructive manner, increase employee participation, and be knowledgeable about the employee’s performance. If a scenario were presented, be able to diagnose which performance appraisal best practice is violated. What is the difference between labor costs and labor rates? Why is it important that managers know the difference? Why do managers often confuse labor rates and labor costs? - Labor costs are a function of both labor rates and productivity, while labor rates are straight wages divided by time. It is important that managers know the difference because when they assume that it is the same thing, then they assume that by cutting labor rates they are cutting labor costs. They are often confused because labor rates are a convenient target that managers want to impact. They are highly visible and easy to compare to competitors’ rates, so it seems easier to cut wages rather than cutting other costs. DECISION MAKING: What are the two systems of thinking? How are they different from each other? Give an example of a decision that is likely to be made using each system. - The two systems of thinking are automatic decisions and nonprogrammed decisions. Automatic decisions are decisions that occur when we develop an automated response to them. For example: a restaurant having complaints that are a recurring problem, where their response to them becomes a programmed decision. Nonprogrammed decisions are unique decisions that require conscious thinking, information gathering and careful consideration of alternatives. For example: Mcdonald’s offering healthier alternatives after growing customer concerns regarding the unhealthy aspects of their food.

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What is a heuristic? What is a bias? How are they related? - Heuristics are cognitive tools we use to simplify decision making like a rule of thumb. A bias is a cognitive partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation due to (over)reliance on heuristics. What is escalation of commitment? List an example. Why do people escalate commitment? How can escalation of commitment be avoided? - Escalation of commitment occurs when individuals continue on a failing course of action after information reveals it may be a poor path to follow. An example is someone buying a car that turns out to need something fixed every week and instead of selling it, the person spends hours of their time and money fixing it in hopes of recovering their initial investment. People escalate commitment because decision makers may not want to admit that they’re wrong and they may incorrectly believe that spending more time and energy might somehow help them recover their losses. It can be avoided by setting strict turning back points. What is anchoring and adjustment bias? List an example. Why do people commit this bias? How can it be avoided? - Anchoring refers to the tendency for individuals to rely too heavily on a single piece of information. For example, job seekers falling into the trap of focusing on a desired salary while ignoring other aspects of the job offer such as additional benefits. People commit this bias because people are not good at perceiving things in absolute terms, only in relative terms. It can be avoided by setting high goals, gaining expert perspectives, and making the first offer in negotiations. What is the availability bias? Why does it occur? How can it be avoided? - Availability bias is the tendency to base decisions on information readily available in memory. It occurs because people settle for the first acceptable solution and because information search is costly. It can be avoided if judgements can be nudged back in the direction of true probabilities. What is the overconfidence bias? List an example. - The overconfidence bias occurs when individuals overestimate their ability to predict future events. For example, 82% of the drivers surveyed feel they are in the top 30% of safe drivers. What is framing bias? Why does it occur?

- Framing bias refers to the tendency of decision makers to be influenced by the way that a situation or problem is presented/people prefer to avoid losses rather than seeking gains. It occurs because of evolutionary arguments around loss of life. What is the status quo bias? Why does it exist? How is it different from escalation of commitment? - The status quo bias is the tendency for people to stick to the current default option. It exists because of ego-affirming “things are fine the way they are,” it takes energy and resources to change, and future benefits of change are uncertain. It is different from escalation of commitment as people stick to the same behavior to avoid any risks, while escalation of commitment is taking the risk of keeping a commitment to unsuccessful courses of action due to sunk costs. Be able to diagnose which bias is at play when presented with a scenario about faulty decision making. Describe the Prescriptive Model of the Decision Making process by outlining each of the steps using an example (e.g., deciding which car to buy). Why does this process help to minimize the potential for bias (at which step in the model do faulty decisions tend to be made)? 1. Identify the problem (e.g., car broke down) 2. Define objectives (e.g., buy a new car) 3. Identify and weight criteria (e.g., price, fuel economy, safety, features) 4. Generate alternatives (e.g., honda civic, toyota corolla, nissan altima) 5. Evaluate alternatives (e.g., 1. Civic, 2. Corolla, 3. Altima) 6. Make a choice (e.g., civic) 7. Implement choice (e.g., buy civic) 8. Follow up (e.g., does it work?) → problem solved This process helps to minimize the potential for bias because at step 3 in the model, faulty decisions tend to be made based on biases and opinions from others rather than facts. How does national culture affect decision making? - National cultures affect decision making as some national cultures value quick decision making, while others believe in taking time to arrive at a decision.

MAN study guide

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