Organizational Behavior is a study that investigates the impact of individuals,

groups, and structure on behavior within organizations; its purpose (goal) is

to apply such knowledge toward improving organizations effectiveness.
Managers apply this knowledge to help them manage their organizations
more effectively.

Contingency or the contingency approach; an approach taken by OB

that considers behavior within the context in which it occurs.

The importance of OB;

a) Personality is a stable pattern of behavior and consistent internal states that

determine how an individual reacts to and interacts with others. Personality
attributes give us a framework for predicting behavior. Personality affects
how people react to others, and the types of jobs that they may desire.

Self-monitoring is a personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to

adjust their behavior to the external situational factors….

Locus of controls can be internal or external, people with an external locus of

control believe their lives are controlled by outside forces (luck or chance)
conversely, those with an internal locus of control believe they are
responsible for their destiny…

b) There are many types of reinforcement, positive, negative punishment and

extinction…

While consequences have an effect on behavior, the timing of those

consequences or reinforcements is also important. There are two main types
of reinforcement: continuous and intermittent.

Continuous reinforcement is reinforced each and every time it is

demonstrated, where as intermittent reinforcement is reinforced often
enough to make the behavior worth repeating but not every time it is
 demonstrated…..experienced vs. inexperienced subordinate (self-
management)…

When a perceiver encounters an unfamiliar target, the perceiver is very open to

the informational cues contained in the target and the situation surrounding it.

Information is needed on which to base perceptions of the target and to resolve

any ambiguity.

a)

b) Hofstede’s 4 dimensions of cultural differences are:

Power distance a national attribute that describes the extent to

which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is
distributed unequally

Individualism is the degree to which people prefer to act as

individuals rather than as members of groups. Collectivism
emphasizes a tight social framework in which people expect others in
groups to look after them and protect them.

Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which people in different

countries prefer structured over unstructured situations. Cultures low
on uncertainty avoidance are more accepting of ambiguity and are less
rule-oriented, take more risks and more readily accept change.

Long-term vs. short-term orientation: people in a culture with

long-term orientation value virtues such as thrift and persistence that
are oriented to future rewards, where as in a culture with short-term
orientation, people value virtues related to the past and present such
as saving face and honoring social obligations.
c) Organizations have introduced diversity training programs to improve cultural
awareness; the belief is that people with higher cultural intelligence have an
easier time dealing with people from other cultures hence a more successful
cross-cultural interaction.