Human capital is one of the most important assets of organizations. This kind of capital includes knowledge, skill, ability and experience of individuals

Organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. Culture also includes the organization’s vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits

Organizational climate is the shared perceptions of and the meaning attached to the policies, practices, and procedures employees experience and the behaviors they observe getting rewarded and that are supported and expected.

The correct answer is B.

Type A personality is characterized by impatience, a chronic sense of time urgency, enhanced competitiveness, aggressive drive, and often some hostility”. The theory further describes Type B individuals, who generally live at lower stress levels, work steadily, and enjoy achievement but not become stressed out when not achieving in contrast to Type A personalities. Some of the major traits of Type B personality pattern are: relaxed, flexible with situations, too casual and laid back attitude, and emotional and expressive (Friedman and Rosenman, 1974). The correct answer is Choice B

Managing organizational behavior in today’s organizations is especially challenging for organizations which face many outstanding rapid changes in their external environment. These challenges can be grouped into four; which are;

1. increasing globalization
2. need to understand diverse workforce
3. advancing technology
4. managing ethical issues

These challenges should be addressed by organizations with increasing sensitivity for managing their human resources.

Challenge I. Increasing Globalization

Although globalization has many benefits (increase in sales due to activities in countries other than domestic country and reduction of costs, are the most outstanding ones), it also bring along some important risks in terms of OB. First, because the foreign managers might have different views about the organizational purposes and strategies, the coordination of global activities might arouse as a risk and the conflicts might occur due to inadequate communication. In order to manage the risks associated with this, the organizations rotate their managers to other countries in which they have operations; by this way, they can directly gain information about the problems and other necessary issues. These managers called as expatriate managers (also briefly called as ‘expat’), help the organizations to coordinate their activities in foreign countries with respect to organizational procedures and standards. On the other hand, global organizations should also consider the risks of terrorism; environmental disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and other crises. Global organizations might become the targets for terrorist attacks due to their country of origin. The threat of terrorism has an important but negative effect on global operations. It is not only about damaging the foreign organizations’ property which is indicated as a symbol of the organization’s countryof-origin; but there is the threat of kidnapping or murdering organizations’ managers or employees. Furthermore, global organizations are also found to be responsible of environmental destruction (i.e. pollution, global warming). Besides to these, the challenge of managing an increasingly diverse workforce is related to globalization.

Challenge II. Need to Understand Diverse

Globalization created a competitive environment which organizations may respond with new products that meet the changing customer demands. Companies ensure the development of new ideas, through diversity. Diversity of workforce brings different perspectives, due to interaction of different skills, talents and experiences of employees, which is an important driver of creativity leading to innovation. New ideas and products develop as a result of multiple ideas. Being aware of this, organizations handle diversity management as an ongoing activity. On the other hand, a culturally diverse workforce helps organizations to overcome language and cultural barriers. In addition, organizations could also benefit from generational diversity, by creating mentorship and coaching programs for younger generations.

Challenge III. Advancing Technology

By increasing productivity, reducing production costs and prices, and helping to raise real wages, the process of innovation initiated by technological progress can help to transform economies and improve living standards. Recent technologies helped to increase effectiveness by product quality improvement and low-costs, and in addition, creativity and innovation also enhanced effectiveness. In accordance, advances of technology have tremendous effects on organizational behavior. First of all, the technological progress in all fields creates automation at workplace. This implies substantial transformations at workplace and changes for all employees. This means that an important portion of existing jobs would be lost and new jobs would be gained. This requires development of new skills for employees. Because new technology usage brings new skill requirements, continuous training is essential. Since technological change is so rapid, organizations should find ways for their employees to constantly make them learn and adapt these changes.

Challenge IV. Managing Ethical Issues

Ethics is important for OB because it can enhance or reduce the motivation, loyalty and well-being of employees. Concern for ethical issues increased due to major corporate scandals. Ethical norms and standards within the organization specify the actions of organizations for making profits, therefore it is necessary to document these principles as code of ethics. For fulfilling their actions ethically, organizations should establish an ethical code and create a system based on rewards and punishments for the enforcement of their ethical code. Developing ethical codes help organizations to protect their reputations. These codes are important for managers and employees to understand how to behave when faced with ethical issues. However, since the distinction between ethical and unethical behavior is not clear, ethical codes may not be comprehensive, and as a result organizations probably face ethical dilemmas.

As can be understood from the information, the correct answer is E. All of the following answer choices i.e. “increasing globalization”, “need to understand diverse workforce”, “advancing technology”  and “managing ethical issues” are the challenges for Organizational Behaviour in changing environment.

Cognitive theory   posits that people develop their thinking patterns as their life unfolds. Accordingly, cognitions affect how the person interprets and internalizes life’s events. Cognitive theory is an approach to psychology that attempts to explain human behavior by understanding your thought processes.

As a result of increasing global economy, organizations’ workforce has more cultural diversity. Employees are working in teams with others who have different national origins, or they need to cooperate with them who work in the subsidiaries of their companies located in different countries. Therefore, team performance and effective communication among others arise as important OB topics

When we talk about artifacts, we refer to observable phenomena; everything employees see, hear, do, and talk about as well as the way they talk about them.

Espoused values are less visible than artifacts but they will still have concrete expressions, such as a declaration of corporate values.

Unlike espoused values, basic assumptions are unconscious; they are taken-for-granted beliefs, habits of perception, thought, and feeling.

The correct answer is C.

Internally caused behaviors are those we believe to be under the personal control of the individual. Externally caused behavior is what we imagine the situation forced the individual to do. Distinctiveness refers to whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations. If everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way, we can say the behavior shows consensus. An observer looks for consistency in a person’s actions. Does the person respond the same way over time? Coming in 10 minutes late for work is not perceived in the same way for an employee who hasn’t been late for several months as it is for an employee who is late two or three times a week. The more consistent the behavior, the more we are inclined to attribute it to internal causes. Individuals and organizations also tend to attribute their own successes to internal factors such as ability or effort, while blaming failure on external factors such as bad luck or unproductive co-workers. People also tend to attribute their success to internal factors, but tend to attribute their failures to the external factors. This is called as the self-serving bias. The correct answer is Choice D.

Focusing on the highest level of leadership is not wrong. Top management teams have control over the strategy and operations of their organizations. They make the decisions and set the targets, they are the ones who choose which values to emphasize and which rules and policies to prioritize, and they determine the procedures to follow.

Schwartz (1987) distinguished between two views of organizations. The first one, which he defined as clockwork, represents an organization where everyone knows what the organization is about; and the other one, defined as snakepit, represents an organization where nobody knows what is going on.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory is the first motivation theory which is determined as the basis of later theories. Maslow defined his theory as the starting point with lack of empirical evidence and offered research questions which were needed to explore for future studies. According to Maslow, there are four significant characteristics of the theory which dominate human behavior (Maslow, 1943);

1. When a need in the bottom line is satisfied, this need no longer exists and higher order need is aroused. Here, the gratification is as important as the deprivation of need.
2. Actions of the need satisfaction when it is first activated will be different from the next time it is aroused. Also, “those who are deprived in the past will react differently to current satisfactions than the one who has never been deprived” (p.6).
3. Most members of the world are partially satisfied and unsatisfied of their basic needs. Here, relativity of need level (varying degree of needs) needed to be considered.
4. A motivational determinant of each behavior is determined by several or all of the basic needs. One person can be motivated to eat food because of his stomach and at the same time for his comfort.

Maslow has been criticized because of his theory’s methodological concerns. His model was widely accepted since empirical studies started. These studies resulted that people do not go through the hierarchy in the same order as Maslow asserted. One might try to satisfy his/her esteem needs without fulfillment of love needs. Although his theory has empirical concerns he contributed the literature by offering a holistic and humanistic perspective. He was pioneered as the founder of positive psychology. The correct answer is Choice B.

Organizational climate is concerned with (more) observable properties of the environment, such as policies, practices and managerial decisions, and the way they are interpreted. Organizational culture is, on the other hand, about the (less) tangible, (more) symbolic properties of the environment within an organization including values and assumptions. The correct answer is E.

In today’s conditions, engineering discipline impacts OB field in terms of occupational health and safety which has became a popular area of
research.

Intensity is described as the “inner force which directs person towards the goal”.

Organizational citizenship behavior was coined by Organ and his colleagues. It is defined as “individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization."

The correct answer is E.

The first important sub-process is the stimulus or situation that is present. Perception begins when a person is confronted with a stimulus or a situation. This confrontation may be with the immediate sensual stimulation or with the total physical and sociocultural environment. In addition to the situation-person interaction, there are the internal cognitive processes of registration, interpretation, and feedback. During the registration phenomenon, the physiological (sensory and neural) mechanisms are affected; the physiological ability to hear and see will affect perception. Interpretation is the most significant cognitive aspect of perception. It means that a person recognizes and evaluates the target or the situation. The other psychological processes will affect the interpretation of a situation. For example, in an organization, employees’ interpretations of a situation are largely dependent on their learning and motivation and their personality. The last sub-process is the feedback. Feedback is the response that a person received from the perceptual target or the situation. Later, follow the behavior and consequences. The correct answer is Choice C.

Mobbing is defined as systematic psychological abuse of an individual or group; the ultimate purpose of mobbing is making the individual leave the organization as a result of damaging the reputation, honor and integrity of the individual.

Motivated behavior is a three-level process:
• Inner force which directs person towards the goal (intensity)
• Purposive actions to attain the goal (direction)
• Reaching the goal persistently (persistence) (Robbins and Judge, 2012).

Social perception is the process by which people come to know and understand each other.

The correct answer is A.