Ch02

Organizational Organizational Behavior, 9/EBehavior, 9/E

Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Schermerhorn, Hunt, and OsbornOsborn

Prepared by

Michael K. McCuddy

Valparaiso University

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 2 2

Chapter 2 Study Questions

What is a high-performance organization?What is multiculturalism, and how can

workforce diversity be managed?How do ethics and social responsibility

influence human behavior in organizations?

What are key OB transitions in the new workplace?


Study Question 1: What is a high-performance organization?

High-performance organizations.– Value and empower people, and respect diversity.– Mobilize the talents of self-directed work teams.– Use cutting-edge technologies to achieve success. – Thrive on learning and enable members to grow and

develop.– Are achievement-, quality-, and customer-oriented, as

well as being sensitive to the external environment.



Stakeholders. – The individuals, groups, and other

organizations affected by an organization’s performance.

Value creation. – The extent to which an organization

satisfies the needs of strategic constituencies.





Total quality management (TQM).– A total commitment to:

• High-quality results.• Continuous improvement.• Customer satisfaction.

– Meeting customers’ needs.– Doing all tasks right the first time.– Continuous improvement focuses on two questions:

• Is it necessary?• If so, can it be done better?



Human capital. – The economic value of people with job-relevant

abilities, knowledge, ideas, energies, and commitments.

Knowledge workers.– People whose minds rather than physical capabilities

create value for the organization. Intellectual capital.

– The performance potential of the expertise, competencies, creativity, and commitment within an organization’s workforce.



Empowerment. – Allows people, individually and in groups, to

use their talents and knowledge to make decisions that affect their work.

Social capital. – The performance potential represented in the

relationships maintained among people at work.



Learning and high-performance cultures. – Uncertainty highlights the importance of

organizational learning.– High-performance organizations are designed

for organizational learning.– A learning organization has a culture that

values human capital and invigorates learning for performance enhancement.




Study Question 2: What is multi-culturalism, and how can workforce diversity be managed?

Workforce diversity. – Describes differences among people with respect to

age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical ability, and sexual orientation.

Multiculturalism.– Refers to pluralism and respect for diversity and

individual differences in the workplace. Inclusivity.

– The degree to which the organization’s culture respects and values diversity.



Diversity biases in the workplace. – Prejudice.– Discrimination.– The glass ceiling effect.– Sexual harassment.– Verbal abuse.– Pay discrimination.





Managing diversity. – Developing a work environment and organizational

culture that allows all organization members to reach their full potential.

A diversity mature organization is created when: – Managers ensure the effective and efficient utilization

of employees in pursuit of the corporate mission.– Managers consider how their behaviors affect

diversity. Well-managed workforce diversity increases

human capital.


Study question 3: How do ethics and social responsibility influence human behavior in organizations?

Ethical behavior.– “Good” or “right” as opposed to “bad”

or “wrong” in a particular setting.

The public demands that people in organizations act according to high moral standards.


Study question 3: How do ethics and social responsibility influence human behavior in organizations? Immoral managers.

– Do not subscribe to any ethical principles; pursuit of self-interest.

Amoral managers.– Ethics is simply not on this manager’s “radar

screen.”Moral managers.

– Incorporate ethical principles and goals into their personal behavior .




Study question 3: How do ethics and social responsibility influence human behavior in organizations?Ways of thinking about ethical behavior.

– Utilitarian view –– the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

– Individualism view –– best serving long-term self-interests.

– Moral-rights view –– respects and protects the fundamental rights of all human beings.

– Justice view –– fair and impartial in the treatment of all people.



Different types of justice.– Procedural justice –– properly following rules

and procedures in all cases.

– Distributive justice –– treating people the same under a policy, regardless of demographic differences.

– Interactional justice –– treating people affected by a decision with dignity and respect.



Ethical dilemmas.– Occur when someone must choose

whether or not to pursue a course of action that, although offering the potential of personal or organizational benefit or both, may be considered unethical.



Rationalizations for unethical behavior.– Pretending the behavior is not really unethical

or illegal.– Saying the behavior is really in the

organization’s or person’s best interest.– Assuming the behavior is acceptable if others

don’t find out about it.– Presuming that superiors will support and

protect you.


Study question 3: How do ethics and social responsibility influence human behavior in organizations?Organizational social responsibility.

– The obligation of organizations to behave in ethical and moral ways as institutions of the broader society.

– Managers should commit organizations to:• Pursuit of high productivity.• Corporate social responsibility.

– A whistleblower exposes others’ wrongdoings in order to preserve high ethical standards.


Study question 4: What are key OB transitions in the new workplace?

Corporate governance and ethics leadership.– Society expects and demands ethical decisions

and actions from businesses and other social institutions.

– Corporate governance.• The active oversight of management decisions,

corporate strategy, and financial reporting by Boards of Directors.



Corporate governance and ethics leadership (cont.).– Ethics leadership.

• Making business and organizational decisions with high moral standards that meet the ethical test of being “good” and not “bad,” and of being “right” and not “wrong.” .

– Integrity.• Acting in ways that are always honest, credible,

and consistent in putting one’s values into practice.



Positive organizational behavior.– Quality of work life.

• The overall quality of human experience in the workplace.

• Commitment to quality of work life is an important value within organizational behavior.

• Theory Y provides the theoretical underpinnings for contemporary quality of work life concepts.



Positive organizational behavior (cont.).– Positive organizational behavior focuses on

practices that value human capacities and encourage their full utilization.

– Positive organizational behavior is based on the core capacities of:

• Confidence.• Hope.• Optimism.• Resilience.



Globalization, job migration, and organizational transformation.– Globalization.

• The worldwide interdependence of resource flows, product markets, and business competition.

– Job migration.• The shifting of jobs from one nation to another.



Globalization, job migration, and organizational transformation (cont.).– Global outsourcing.

• Involves employers cutting back on domestic jobs and replacing them with contract workers in other nations.

– Job migration and global outsourcing have contributed to organizations redesigning themselves for high performance in a changed world.



Personal management and career planning.– Shamrock organizations.

• Relatively small core group of permanent, full-time employees with critical skills.

• Outside operators contracting to core group to perform essential daily activities.

• Part-timers hired by core group on an as-needed basis.



Personal management and career planning (cont.).– Personal management.

• Understand one’s self, exercising initiative, accepting responsibility, working well with others, and continually learning from experience.

– Self-monitoring.• Observing and reflecting on one’s own behavior

and acting in ways that adapt to the situation.


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