Trends and challenges in management relating to organizational behavior

Discussion of organizational culture. The major theories of personality. Social perception, its elements and common barriers. Individual and organizational influences on ethical behavior. The psychophysiology of the stress response.
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1. Discuss the 7 trends and challenges in management relating to organizational behavior

There are many trends within the workplace and around the globe that have and will continue to affect the workplace and your career.

Ethical Challenges

The challenge is to continue to think about business ethics on a day-to-day basis and institute cultures that support ethical decision making. OB research finds that the most important determinant of whether a company acts ethically is whether it has a culture of consistently ethical behavior and if leaders are committed to this ethical behavior.

Lack of Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a concept that is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization's interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in and enthusiastic about their work. Engaged employees are those who are performing at the top of their abilities and happy about it.

It is clear that engagement is both a challenge and an opportunity for OB.

Technology

Technology has transformed the way work gets done and has created many great opportunities. We are more connected by technology than ever before. Technology has also brought a great deal of challenges to individuals and organizations alike. The technology trend contains challenges for organizational behavior.

Flattening World

There are few barriers to information today, which has created huge opportunities around the globe. A major challenge for individuals in the flattened world is learning how to evaluate the quality of the information they find.

Sustainability and Green Business Practices

Now businesses are undergoing a great deal of “green washing,” which refers to the marketing of products or processes as green to gain customers, without truly engaging in sustainable business practices. SBP are those that meet the present needs without compromising the needs of future generations. The challenge is to reconcile the accountability that publicly owned firms have in generating wealth for their shareholders while attending to the triple bottom line.

Aging Workforce and the Millennial Generation

The aging trend has been predicted for decades. The challenge for organizational behavior is to keep individuals from different generations communicating effectively and managing people across generational lines despite different values placed on teamwork, organizational rewards, work-life balance, and desired levels of instruction.

The Global Marketplace for Staffing: Outsourcing

Outsourcing refers to having someone outside the formal ongoing organization doing work previously handled in-house. The challenge for organizational behavior is managing teams consisting of different nationalities separated not only by culture and language but also in time and space.

2. Describe Hofstede's 5 cultural dimensions

Hofstede found five dimensions of cultural differences that formed the basis for work-related attitudes.

Individualism versus collectivism

Individualism - a cultural orientation in which people belong to loose social frameworks and their primary concern is for themselves and their families. Collectivism - a cultural orientation in which individuals belong to tightly knit social frameworks, and they depend strongly on large, extended families or clans.

Power distance

Power-distance is the degree to which a culture accepts unequal distribution of power. In countries with high power distance, bosses are afforded more power simply because they are the bosses. In countries with low power distance, people believe that inequality in society should be minimized.

Uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which a culture tolerates ambiguity and uncertainty. Cultures wit high UA are concerned with security and tend to avoid conflict. People have a need for consensus. Cultures with low UA are more tolerant of ambiguity. People are more willing to take risk and more tolerant of individual differences.

Masculinity versus femininity

Masculinity - the cultural orientation in which assertiveness and materialism are valued. Femininity - the cultural orientation in which relationships and concern for others are valued. Men and women are expected to assume both assertive and nurturing roles.

Time orientation

Whether a culture's values are oriented toward the future (long-term) or toward the past and present (short-term).

3. Discuss the benefits and problems with diversity

Diversity - all forms of individual differences, including culture, gender, age, ability, religion, personality, social status, and sexual orientation. Managing diversity is a battle to value the differences that individuals bring to the workplace.

Benefits	Problems
· attracts and retains the best human talent · improves marketing efforts · promotes creativity and innovation · results in better problem solving · enhances organizational flexibility	· resistance to change · lack of cohesiveness · communication problems · interpersonal conflicts · slowed decision making

4. Describe the Rotary Club's 4 way ethics test

Paul Harris and four business colleagues, who founded Rotary International, made an effort to address ethical and moral behavior right from the beginning. They developed the four-way test, which is now used throughout the world.

The four-way test, of what we think, say, or do:

1. Is it the truth?

2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3. Will it build GOODWILL and better friendships?

4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

5. Explain the 4 theories of personality

Four major theories of personality are the trait theory, psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory, and the integrative approach.

Trait theory - the personality theory that states that in order to understand individuals, we must break down behavior patterns into a series of observable traits. Gordon Allport, a leading trait theorist, saw traits as broad, general guides that lend consistency to behavior.

Psychodynamic theory - the personality theory that emphasizes the unconscious determinants of behavior. Sigmund Freud saw personality as the interaction among three elements of personality: the id, ego, and superego.

Humanistic theory - the personality theory that emphasizes individual growth and improvement. Carl Rogers believed that all people have a basic drive toward self-actualization, which is the quest to be all you can be.

Integrative approach - the broad theory that describes personality as a composite of an individual's psychological processes.

6. Discuss social perception and its elements (perceiver, target, situation, barriers)

Social perception is the process of interpreting information about another person.

Model for social perception

Barriers:

Selective perception

Stereotyping

First-impression error

Projection

Self-fulfilling prophecy

7. Identify 5 common barriers to social perception

Selective perception - the process of selecting information that supports our individual viewpoints while discounting information that threatens our viewpoints.

Stereotyping - a generalization about a group of people.

First-impression error - the tendency to form lasting opinions about an individual based on initial perceptions.

Projection - overestimating the number of people who share our own beliefs, values and behaviors.

Self-fulfilling prophecy - the situation in which our expectations about people affect our interaction with them in such a way that our expectations are fulfilled.

8. Discuss Hofstede's 8 dimensions of organizational culture

1. Means oriented vs. goal oriented

*means = how matters; risk averse; low effort

*goal = results matter, risky

2. Internally driven vs. externally driven

*internally = I know best - ethics driven

*externally = customer knows best - service

3. Easy goi...