Organizational Behavior & Performance Flashcards
7 cards from real SIOP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Organizational Behavior & Performance flashcards as text
Which concept from social identity theory BEST explains why employees show in-group favoritism toward colleagues from their own department?
Answer: Intergroup bias driven by group membership identification
Social identity theory explains that people categorize themselves as group members and favor in-group members to maintain a positive social identity.
A cross-functional team repeatedly fails to perform well despite talented members. The MOST likely explanation from a team effectiveness perspective is:
Answer: Poor process: inadequate coordination, communication, and role clarity
Team performance failures in skilled teams typically stem from process losses — poor coordination, unclear roles, and ineffective communication — rather than individual capability gaps.
Affective commitment to an organization is BEST defined as:
Answer: An emotional attachment and sense of belonging to the organization
Affective commitment reflects employees' emotional attachment to and identification with their organization, representing the 'want to stay' component of Meyer and Allen's three-component model.
In Lewin's force field analysis, organizational change is facilitated by:
Answer: Reducing restraining forces or increasing driving forces, or both
Lewin's model suggests change occurs when the balance of forces shifts — either by strengthening drivers, weakening resistors, or both simultaneously.
Which theory of motivation proposes that individuals compare their output-to-input ratio to that of a referent other, and act to restore balance when inequity is perceived?
Answer: Equity theory
Adams' Equity Theory posits that perceived unfairness in the ratio of one's contributions to outcomes (compared to a referent) motivates corrective behavior.
An organization's espoused values conflict with its enacted values — what employees actually experience daily. This gap MOST directly undermines:
Answer: Organizational trust and psychological safety
When stated values differ from lived experience, employees perceive hypocrisy, which erodes trust and psychological safety within the organization.
Research on transformational leadership consistently shows its strongest effect on which of the following outcomes?
Answer: Followers' extra-role performance and motivation beyond expectations
Transformational leadership is most strongly linked to followers' intrinsic motivation, extra-role behaviors, and performance beyond contractual expectations.