N
Narcissism, the tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement
Need for achievement (nAch), the drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a set of standards, and to thrive to succeed
Need for affiliation (nAff), the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships
Need for power (nPow), the need to make others behave in a way in which they would not have behaved otherwise
Negative affect, a mood dimension that consists of emotions such as nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end
Neglect, dissatisfaction expressed through allowing conditions to worsen
Negotiation, a process in which two or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree on the exchange rate for them
Neutralizers, attributes that make it impossible for leader behavior to make any difference to follower outcomes
Nominal group technique, a group decision-making method in which individuals meet face-to-face to pool their judgments in a systematic but independent fashion
Normative commitment, an obligation to remain with the organization for moral or ethical reasons
Norming stage, the third stage in group development, characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness
Norms, acceptable standards of behavior that are shared by the group’s members
O
Openness to experience, a personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination, sensitivity, and curiosity
Organic model, a structure that is flat, uses cross-hierarchical and cross-functional teams, has low formalization, possesses a comprehensive information network, and relies on participative decision making
Organizational behavior (OB), afield of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have on a behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness
Organizational climate, the shared perceptions organizational
members have about their organization and work environment
Organizational commitment, the degree to which an
employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization
Organizational culture, a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations
Organizational demography, the degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of service in an organization, and the impact of this attribute on turnover
Organizational development (OD), a collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seeks to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being
Organizational justice, an overall perception of what is fair in the workplace, composed of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice
Organizational politics, the use of power to affect decision making in an organization, often based on self-serving and organizationally unsanctioned behaviors
Organizational structure, how job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated
P
Participative management, a process in which subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors
Perceived conflict, awareness by one or more parties of the existence of conditions that create opportunities for conflicts to arise
Perceived organizational support (POS), the degree to which employees believe the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being
Perception, a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment
Perceptual distortions, errors in perceiving situations based on phenomena like overconfidence bias, anchoring bias, confirmation bias, availability bias, escalation of commitment, risk aversion, and hindsight bias
Performing stage, the fourth stage in group development, during which the group is fully functional
Personal power, influence derived from an individual’s characteristics
Personality, the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others
Personality traits, Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior
Personality—job fit theory, a theory that identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines satisfaction amid turmoil
Piece-rate pay plan, plan in which employees are paid fixed sum for each unit of production completed
Political behavior, activities that are not required as part of one’s formal role in the organization but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization
Politicking, when people use their influence to taint the facts in an ambiguous environment to support their goals and interests
Politics, when employees convert their power into action to exert influence, earn rewards, and advance their careers.
Position power, influence derived from one formal structural position in the organization; includes power to hire, fire, discipline, promote, and give salary increases
Positive affect, a mood dimension consisting of positive emotions such as excitement, self-assurance, and cheerfulness on the high end and boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end
Positive organizational culture, a culture that emphasizes building on employee strengths, rewards more than it punishes, and emphasizes individual vitality and growth
Positivity offset, the tendency of most individuals to experience a mildly positive mood at zero input (when nothing in particular is going on)
Power, a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes
Power distance, degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally
Power tactics, ways in which individuals translate power bases into specific actions
Prearrival stage, the period of learning in the socialization process that occurs before a new employee joins the organization
Proactive personality, people who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs
Problem-solving teams, a group of 5 to 12 employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment
Procedural justice, the perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of rewards
Process conflict, conflict over how work gets done
Process consultation (PC), a meeting in which a consultant assists a client in understanding process events with which he or she must deal and identifying processes that need improvement
Production-oriented leader, a leader who emphasizes technical or task aspects of the job
Profit-sharing plans, organization-wide program that distributes compensation based on some established formula designed around a company’s profitability
Psychological empowerment, employees’ belief in the degree to which they affect their work environments, their competence, the meaningfulness of their jobs, and the perceived autonomy in their work
Psychology, the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals
Pygmalion effect, a form of self-fulfilling prophecy in which believing something can make it true