Question 1
Workforce diversity is whereby the employees that are hired in a firm comprise of people from different gender, ethnicities, races and religious backgrounds. It aims at ensuring that at the workforce there is a variety in the kind of people working. It is a major concern in the postmodern era since it helps to reduce various forms of bias and mistreatment to employees. It minimizes nepotism, tribalism and other types of prejudice. It also indicates the equality in the organization and hence enhances the corporate image of the firm.
Question 2
Cognitive dissonance is a dilemma concerning one’s beliefs, professional practices and behavior. James is a scientist at the firm that is responsible for pollution of the river with toxins. Reporting the firm to the relevant authorities would amount to a conflict of interest. However, as a member of that society he is obliged to have the best interest of other citizens at heart. He may use his position as a scientist, however, to impact positive change. This may include suggesting that the toxins be treated or disposed in another manner. This would alter his dissonance and he would at least feel that he has tried to mitigate the situation. He may also call for a special meeting with the safety department to ensure that the effluence released is clean. If all this effort fails, he may anonymously tip the health department in the area for the effluence to be checked for safety levels.
Question 3
Job satisfaction is the non-monetary gratification that an employee enjoys from working for a certain organization. It usually involves the satisfaction that an employee derives while not at work or from social associations from work. Job involvement involves the specific activities that an employee does in carrying his duties. It is different from job satisfaction since it is mandatory and relates expressly to work-related matters only. Organizational commitment is the belief in the goals, mission and vision of the organization by its employees. It involves a conscious effort made by such employees in ensuring that the set goals are achieved with the stipulated time.
Question 4
Although Jeff earns significantly more than Clara does, Clara has higher levels of job satisfaction. This is because for one to enjoy one’s job it is necessary for one to be able to spend the money earned with one’s family. Clara is free to attend her child’s events and she has a senior post at the firm, hence has a lot of time in her hands. While measuring job satisfaction the comments made while off the job and the response of the family to the parent’s availability are very crucial. Satisfied works are motivated to come back to work week after week. Dissatisfied workers do not socialize a lot with other people other than those whom they work with. They can easily shift to another job if they have the opportunity, even if with slightly less pay.
Question 5
One of the causes of job satisfaction is the existence of a culture in the workplace. This involves of creation close friendships among employees. Good relations between juniors and their supervisors also results in high levels of job satisfaction. Employees also derive a lot of satisfaction from doing interesting work. The existence of a fair and efficient award system for due effort really encourages employees and makes them to enjoy the workplace. Minimal stress, even without high pay, is another major cause of job satisfaction, in the workplace.
Question 6
The denial of her vacation days automatically demotivates Elisa. She might develop sloppiness in her job. This means she may become more ineffective. If her job entails dealing with clients, she might be rude or impatient with clients. Lateness may also become a common thing for her- both in reporting for work and in meeting deadlines. Upon being caught in in utter manifestation of defiance of the rules of the workplace, the result may be catastrophic. If openly confronted by her boss, she may become enraged and in the spur of the moment decide to quit her job.
Question 7
Affect (also affection) is an experience of a certain intensity that is non-conscious and mostly uncontrollable. An emotion is an expression of inner emotions in a manner that is either feigned or genuine. Mood, on the other hand, is a combination of the environment and the feelings of an individual to determine their emotional predisposition.
Question 8
Felt emotions are a consequence of how one genuinely reacts to a situation. They are not visible to other and can be hidden. Displayed emotions are those that are openly expressed by an individual. They may or may not be genuine, depending on an individual’s mastery of masking his or her true emotions.
Question 9
EI is a measure of emotional intelligence of an individual. EI is useful in selecting the representatives since the will be dealing with customers. This means that they must be tolerant and have inborn public relations skills. Temperament is especially crucial in such jobs and EI can be a good indicator of temperament and reaction to certain tough and emotionally challenging situations. However, the test is largely theoretical and relies upon determining the mood of a person and hence knowing how to respond. This ought not to be the only determinant of selecting the right interviewee. Some people can deliver on their work objectively without necessarily having to be too much of a people-person. Technical qualifications are also an important factor that ought to be considered.
Question 10
Jack can change his leadership mode to one where he deems his employees as his peers. This would make them appreciate him as one who is not egotistic and hence motivate them to work harder. Furthermore, since the Chinese view negative emotions positively, he might overload them with a lot of work and they will just see it as a challenge that can be overcomed. This may be through having them work late and on weekends.
Question 11
Core self-evaluation has a tremendous effect on the performance. It usually motivates one to determine personal goals as far as delivery on the job is concerned. This reduces the need for supervision. The quality of work increases and this improves the employee’s efficiency in the workplace. However, in some instance it may reveal under appreciation of the employee by the employer hence demotivating the worker.
Question 12
Self-monitoring is the progressive assessment of one’s performance against preset goals. This involves periodic intervals for doing so in an aim at ensuring that the overall performance of an individual improves without any supervision (Luthans, 489).
Question 14
When judging others the most common short cuts are stereotyping and selective perception. This is the making of assumptions based on a larger group and applying the same to a specific individual. The halo effect also results in judging others since it results in the derivation of a conclusion based on another non-related one. One may also judge other using the contrast effect to evaluate an individual based on comparison with another one.
Question 15
The most common source of error is the use of confirmation bias that simply reaffirms our choices. The use of the information that is received first as the sole basis for decision-making results in anchoring bias. The over belief in one’s ability and expertise may result in errors due to overconfidence bias. The reliance only on information that is available results in errors due to availability errors.
Question 16
According to the two-factor theory, employees can be motivated by ensuring that they are adequately provided with the motivating factors or intrinsic factors. However, it is necessary for the hygiene factors to be present to ensure there is no dissatisfaction. The variation of motivating factors varies the level of satisfaction (McShane e.tal, 278).
Question 18
Management by objectives is the use of preset goals for each employee or group of employees to assess their performance. Goal setting theory requires that organizations operate on visionary levels and the use of specific goals to attain the vision through a conscious mission.
Question 24
The main sources of power according the status characteristics theory depend on what an individual has to offer. Personal characteristics may give one such power especially good looks, charisma and intelligence. The individual’s contribution to the group especially on good ideas is another source of power. The ability to provide the necessary resource, mainly financial, is also another source of power within a group and it raises the status of such an individual over other group members.
Question 25
Groupthink is the theoretical thinking mentality that stems from being in a group and the pressure to do as the group wills. Group shift concerns to the change in the ideas that are followed by a majority of the members in the group based on dominance or pecking order.
Works Cited
McShane, Steven L, and Glinow M. A. Y. Von. Organizational Behavior. Boston: McGraw-Hill
Irwin, 2010. Print.
Luthans, Fred. Organizational Behavior. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.
