GUIA DE ESTUDIO 1er EXAMEN PARCIAL

REHU 4408 (9 abril 2018)

Javier F. Pagán Irizarry, PhD

Abajo se incluye una serie de preguntas que servirán para preparar el repaso para el

examen parcial del lunes 9 de abril de 2018. SOLO ENFOQUE EL REPASO EN EL

MATERIAL AQUÍ CONTENIDO E IGNORE TODO LO DEMAS. Algunas preguntas

contenidas en el examen no estarán fundamentadas en este repaso, toda vez que para

poder responder las mismas, usted tendrá que aplicar la lógica en el proceso de análisis.

Como observarán, formará parte del examen el material relacionado con el curso que

esté en las lecturas contenidas en los capítulos del libro de texto, así como aquel material

discutido por el profesor en clase, aunque el mismo no esté incluido en tales lecturas. El

examen contiene un total de 50 preguntas (25 selección múltiple y 25 cierto/falso @ 2pts

c/u = 100.) Se incluye una pregunta de bono (5pts) al final de la prueba.

1. ¿Qué es conducta organizacional?

 Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior in organizations. It is

an academic discipline devoted to understanding individuals, teams, interpersonal

processes, and organizational dynamics.

 The real importance of OB boils down to how it helps you develop the skills needed

for a successful career in our ever-changing world. This is a time in which the
 normal complexities of human behavior in organizations are ramped up by an

environment of constant change and the growing influence of social technology

2. Defina el concepto de diversidad cultural o “workforce diversity.” ¿Cuáles son las

dimensiones primarias y secundarias de la diversidad? ¿Por qué resulta relevante

hoy día prestarle atención a este concepto? ¿Cuáles son las consecuencias de

ignorar la diversidad en el área de trabajo? (estereotipos/prejuicio, discrimen).

¿Qué es la profecía auto-realizada [“self-fulfilling prophecy”]?

 Workforce diversity is the presence of individual differences based on gender,

ethnicity, age, able-bodiedness, and sexual orientation.

 The primary dimensions of diversity are the following: age, ethnicity, gender,

physical abilities/qualities, race and sexual orientation.

 Secondary dimensions of diversity are those that can be changed, and include, but

are not limited to: educational background, geographic location, income, marital

status, military experience, parental status, religious beliefs, and work

experiences.

 It also highlights multiculturalism as an attribute of organizations that emphasize

pluralism, and genuine respect for diversity and individual differences.

 Organizations benefit when the variety of ideas and perspectives of a diverse

workforce help them deal with complexity through innovation and adaptability.
 A key issue in any organization is inclusion—the degree to which the culture

embraces diversity and is open to anyone who can perform a job, regardless of

their diversity attributes.

 One of the most common simplifying devices in perception is the stereotype. It

occurs when we identify someone with a group or category, and then use the

attributes perceived to be associated with the group or category to describe the

individual. Although this makes matters easier for us by reducing the need to deal

with unique individual characteristics, it is an oversimplification. Because

stereotypes obscure individual differences, we can easily end up missing the real

individual. For managers this means not accurately understanding the needs,

preferences, and abilities of others in the workplace.

 Prejudice is the display of negative, irrational, and superior opinions and attitudes

toward persons who are different from ourselves.

 Self-fulfilling prophecy: the tendency to create or find in another situation or

individual that which you expected to find in the first place. A self-fulfilling prophecy

is sometimes referred to as the “Pygmalion effect,” named for a mythical Greek

sculptor who created a statue of his ideal mate and then made her come to life.

Self-fulfilling prophecies can have both positive and negative outcomes. In effect,

they may create in work and personal situations that which we expect to find.

Suppose you assume that team members prefer to satisfy most of their needs

outside the work setting and want only minimal involvement with their jobs.

Consequently, you assign simple, highly structured tasks designed to require little

involvement.
 Self-fulfilling prophecies can also have a positive side. In a study of army tank

crews, one set of tank commanders was told that some members of their assigned

crews had exceptional abilities whereas others were only average. However, the

crew members had been assigned randomly so that the two test groups were equal

in ability. Th e commanders later reported that the so-called “exceptional” crew

members performed better than the “average” ones. Th e study also revealed that

the commanders had given more attention and praise to the crew members for

whom they had the higher expectations.

3. Defina el concepto de personalidad. ¿Qué aspectos la componen o la influencian?

Existen varios conceptos teóricos que discuten este tema. Familiarizarse con los

mismos. Reconocer y definir las diferentes dimensiones que se utilizan para

clasificar la personalidad de un individuo (ej: extroversión, introversión, etc).

 The term personality encompasses the overall combination of characteristics that

capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts to and interacts with

others. It combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a

person looks, thinks, acts, and feels.

 Five Personality Traits:

o Extraversion—the degree to which someone is outgoing, sociable, and

assertive. An extravert is comfortable and confident in interpersonal

relationships; an introvert is more withdrawn and reserved.

 o Agreeableness—the degree to which someone is good-natured,

cooperative, and trusting. An agreeable person gets along well with others;

a disagreeable person is a source of conflict and discomfort for others.

o Conscientiousness—the degree to which someone is responsible,

dependable, and careful. A conscientious person focuses on what can be

accomplished and meets commitments; a person who lacks

conscientiousness is careless, often trying to do too much and failing, or

doing little.

o Emotional stability—the degree to which someone is relaxed, secure, and

unworried. A person who is emotionally stable is calm and confident; a

person lacking in emotional stability is anxious, nervous, and tense.

o Openness to experience—the degree to which someone is curious, open to

new ideas, and imaginative. An open person is broad-minded, receptive to

new things, and comfortable with change; a person who lacks openness is

narrow-minded, has few interests, and is resistant to change.

4. Perspectivas teóricas bajo las cuales se fundamenta el campo de la actividad la

conducta organizacional:

► Gerencia Científica (Taylor, y demás tratadistas) ¿cuál es su aportación

fundamental
  The history of scholarly interest in job design can be traced in part to

Frederick Taylor’s work with scientific management in the early

1900s. Taylor and his contemporaries wanted to create management

and organizational practices that would increase people’s efficiency

at work. Their approach was to study a job carefully, break it into its

smallest components, establish exact time and motion requirements

for each task to be done, and then train workers to do these tasks in

the same way repeatedly. Taylor’s principles of scientific

management can be summarized as follows:

o 1. Develop a “science” for each job that covers rules of motion,

standard work tools, and supportive work conditions.

o 2. Hire workers with the right abilities for the job.

o 3. Train and motivate workers to do their jobs according to the

science.

o 4. Support workers by planning and assisting their work using

the job science

► Movimiento de Relaciones Humanas (Elton Mayo, Maslow)

 Elton Mayo developed a matrix which he used to illustrate the

likelihood that a given team would be successful. His matrix

demonstrates the role that varying combinations of group norms and

group cohesiveness play in team effectiveness. The following are the

 four combinations of Mayo theory and the effect of each on team

dynamics:

o 1. Groups with low norms and low cohesiveness are

ineffective; they have no impact, since none of the members

are motivated to excel, according to Mayo's theory.

o 2. Groups with low norms and high cohesiveness have a

negative impact, since fellow members encourage negative

behavior (e.g., gangs).

o 3. Groups with high norms and low cohesiveness have some

degree of positive impact through individual member

accomplishments.

o 4. Groups with high norms and high cohesiveness have the

greatest positive impact, Mayo's theory predicts, since group

members encourage one another to excel.

 Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology

comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as

hierarchical levels within a pyramid.

 Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that people are motivated to achieve

certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others.

Our most basic need is for physical survival, and this will be the first

thing that motivates our behavior. Once that level is fulfilled the next
 level up is what motivates us, and so on.

► Teoría de la Contingencia

 One contingency theory that differs from the others in how it

handles the issue of fi t between leader style and the situation is

Fiedler’s LPC (least-preferred co-worker) model. Fiedler’s LPC

model suggests that a manager’s leadership style does not

change. A manager has a certain style and that is the style he or

she must work with. Therefore, instead of modifying their style,

managers need to match (i.e., leader-match) the situation to their

style.

 A match can be achieved in two ways: by selecting managers

with the appropriate style to fit the situation, or by training

managers to change the situation to make it fit their leadership

style. In the latter case, Fiedler developed leader-match training,

which Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other organizations used for
 training managers to diagnose the situation and match their style

to it. Several studies have been designed to test this leader match

training. Although they are not uniformly supportive, more than a

dozen such tests found increases in work unit effectiveness

following the training.

5. Familiarizarse con los conceptos de “glass-ceiling effect,” efecto halo,

estereotipos, diversidad cultural, dimensiones primarias y secundarias de la

diversidad cultural, distinción entre programas de diversidad cultural y acción

afirmativa.

 Glass Ceiling Effect, an invisible barrier or “ceiling” that prevents women and

minorities from rising above a certain level of organizational responsibility.

 A halo effect occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is used to develop

an overall impression of that individual or situation. Like stereotypes, these

distortions are more likely to occur in the organization stage of perception.

 Halo effects are particularly important in the performance appraisal process

because they can influence a manager’s evaluations of subordinates’ work

performance.

 Affirmative action policies are those in which an institution or organization actively

engages in efforts to improve opportunities for historically excluded groups in

American society. Affirmative action policies often focus on employment and

 education. In institutions of higher education, affirmative action refers to admission

policies that provide equal access to education for those groups that have been

historically excluded or underrepresented, such as women and minorities.

Controversy surrounding the constitutionality of affirmative action programs has

made the topic one of heated debate.

6. Definición de percepción y los problemas que puede causar en el área de empleo;

concepto de atribución (definición y las consecuencias en el empleo cuando

buscamos tratar de explicar el comportamiento o acciones de otros; ¿cómo se

afecta el proceso de toma de decisiones basado en el proceso perceptual?

 Perception is the process by which people select, organize, interpret, retrieve, and

respond to information from the world around them. It is a way of forming

impressions about ourselves, other people, and daily life experiences. It also

serves as a screen or filter through which information passes before it influences

people. Because perceptions are influenced by many factors, different people may

perceive the same situation quite differently. Since people behave according to

their perceptions, the consequences of these differences can be great in terms of

what happens next.

 Perception can lead to stereotypes.

 Attribution theory helps us understand how people perceive the causes of events,

assess responsibility for outcomes, and evaluate the personal qualities of the

people involved.

 According to attribution theory, three factors influence this internal or external

determination of causality: distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency.

Distinctiveness considers how consistent a person’s behavior is across different

situations. If Jake’s performance is typically low, regardless of the technology with

which he is working, we tend to assign the poor performance to an internal

attribution—there’s something wrong with Jake. If the poor performance is

unusual, we tend to assign an external cause to explain it—there’s something

happening in the work context.

 Consensus considers how likely all those facing a similar situation are to respond

in the same way. If all the people using the same technology as Jake perform

poorly, we tend to assign his performance problem to an external attribution. If

others do not perform poorly, we attribute Jake’s poor performance to internal

causation.

 Consistency concerns whether an individual responds the same way across time.

If Jake performs poorly over a sustained period, we tend to give the poor

performance an internal attribution. If his low performance is an isolated incident,

we may well attribute it to an external cause.

7. Definición del concepto de motivación; familiarizarse con los dos grupos

principales de teorías (contextuales [“content”] incluyendo a Maslow, F. Hertzberg,

 McLelland y D. McGreggor y procesales [“process”] de motivación, incluyendo a

John Stacey Adams y Victor Vroom con las teorías de equidad y teoría de las

expectativas. Reconocer varias de las estrategias que se han desarrollado

basándose en todos estos conceptos teóricos (sistemas de salario y beneficios;

ascensos; rotación; ampliación de tareas; enriquecimiento de tareas; gerencia

participativa, entre otras).

 a. Motivation is the internal process leading to behavior to satisfy needs. The

reason people do what they do is meet their needs or wants. Managers often view

motivation as an employee’s willingness to put effort and commitment to achieve

organizational objects.

 b. Content motivation theories: focus on identifying people’s needs to

understand what motivates them.

 Four types of content theory:

i. Needs hierarchy: (Maslow’s theory of motivation), it’s based five needs.

(1940s) Piramide de necesidades (PSBES)

ii. ERG Theory : (Clayton Alderfer )Es la pirámide de Maslow reorganizada

en tres niveles de necesidad: 1)existence (physiological and safety needs), 2)

relatedness (social), and 3) growth (esteem and self actualization).

iii. Two-factor theory: Frederick Herzberg’s (1950s) classification of needs as

hygiene and motivators. classifies two needs that he calls factors. Herzberg

combines lower-level needs (physiological, safety, social/existence, and

relatedness) into one classification he calls hygiene: and he combines higher-level

 needs (self-esteem, self-actualization, growth) into one classification he calls

motivators.

 hygiene’s are also called extrinsic factors because attempts to motivate come from

outside the job itself.

 motivator called intrinsic factors because motivation comes for the job itself

 To motivate: Herzberg says that you must first ensure that hygiene factor is

adequate. Once employees are satisfied with the environment, they can be

motivated though their jobs. The method called JOB ENRICHEMENT increases

motivation.

 iv. Manifest needs theory: is McClelland’s classification of needs as

achievement, power, and affiliation. It’s a personality-based approach to

motivation. He doesn’t have a classification for lower-level needs. He believes

needs are based on personality and are developed as people interact with the

environment.

 Adams' Equity Theory acknowledges that subtle and variable factors affect an

employee's assessment and perception of their relationship with their work and

their employer.

 The theory is built-on the belief that employees become de-motivated, both in

relation to their job and their employer, if they feel as though their inputs are greater

than the outputs. Employees can be expected to respond to this is different ways,

including de-motivation (generally to the extent the employee perceives the

disparity between the inputs and the outputs exist), reduced effort, becoming

disgruntled, or, in more extreme cases, perhaps even disruptive.

 VROOM: The expectancy theory of motivation provides an explanation as to why

an individual chooses to act out a specific behavior as opposed to another. This

cognitive process evaluates the motivational force (MF) of the different behavioral

options based on the individual's own perception of the probability of attaining his

desired outcome. Thus, the motivational force can be summarized by the following

equation:

 MF = Expectancy X Instrumentality X ∑ (Valence(s))

NO SE CONCEDERAN PRORROGAS PARA ESTE EXAMEN.

NOTA: El examen está diseñado para contestarse en el tiempo que dura la clase (1hr.

40mins, como máximo). Los estudiantes que necesiten acomodo razonable, y cuenten con

la Certificación de OAPI, tendrán tiempo adicional para contestar el examen, de ser

necesario.

Repaso

1er Ex Parcial REHU 4408

9 abril 2018

JPagánIrizarry