2.11 Key Terms

Absenteeism refers to unscheduled absences from work.

Agreeableness is the degree to which a person is affable, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm.

Attitude refers to our opinions, beliefs, and feelings about aspects of our environment.

Conscientiousness refers to the degree to which a person is organized, systematic, punctual, achievement-oriented, and dependable.

EQ refers to a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and behavior.

Exit interviews involve a meeting with the departing employee to determine reasons for leaving and feelings toward an organization.

Extraversion is the degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, sociable, and enjoys socializing.

False consensus error is the tendency to overestimate how similar we are to other people and assume that our behaviors, attitudes and beliefs are commonly shared by a larger number of people than they really are.

First impressions are mental images formed about a person based on our perception of “who they are” during an initial encounter.

General mental ability is also known as cognitive ability or intelligence, and often abbreviated as “g.” General mental ability can be divided into several components—reasoning abilities, verbal and numerical skills, and analytical skills.

Intelligence quotient (IQ) measures an individual’s mental ability based on a score derived from standardized intelligence tests.

Job satisfaction refers to the degree of contented feelings people have toward their job.

Leadership development (plural) looks at developing leadership amongst a group of individuals.

Leader development (singular) is developing one individual’s ability to lead.

Neuroticism refers to the degree to which a person is anxious, irritable, temperamental, and moody.

Openness is the degree to which a person is curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas.

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) are voluntary behaviors employees perform to help others and benefit the organization.

Organizational commitment is the emotional attachment people have toward the company they work for.

Perception may be defined as the process by which individuals detect and interpret environmental stimuli.

Personality encompasses a person’s relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns.

Person-job fit is the degree to which a person’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands.

Person-organization fit refers to the degree to which a person’s personality, values, goals, and other characteristics match those of the organization.

Proactive personality refers to a person’s inclination to fix what is wrong, change things, and use initiative to solve problems.

Psychological capital includes positive emotions gained through self- awareness and self-management such as hope, optimism and resilience to increase one’s ability to cope with the demands of life and work.

Psychological contract is the unspoken, informal understanding that an employee will contribute certain things to the organization (e.g., work ability and a willing attitude) and will receive certain things in return (e.g., reasonable pay and benefits).

Relationship management refers to our ability to communicate clearly, maintain good relationships with others, connect with those from other cultures, work well in teams, and manage conflict.

Selective perception occurs when we sort through the variety of stimuli in our environment by paying selective attention to those things that confirm our previous beliefs while ignoring those which do not.

Self-awareness refers to a person’s ability to evaluate and understand their own feelings, thoughts, desires, and actions.

Self-effacement bias (or modesty bias) is the tendency to underestimate our performance and capabilities and to see events in a way that puts us in a more negative light.

Self-efficacy is a belief that one can perform a specific task successfully.

Self-enhancement bias is the tendency to overestimate our performance and capabilities and see ourselves in a more positive light than others see us.

Self-esteem is the degree to which a person has overall positive feelings about himself or herself.

Self-fulfilling prophecy happens when an established stereotype or false belief causes those expectations to be fulfilled in a way that confirms the stereotypic behavior.

Self-management (self-leadership) is dependent upon our self-awareness and refers to our ability to manage our emotions,  follow through with commitments, and take initiative.

Self-monitoring refers to the extent to which a person is capable of monitoring his or her actions and appearance in social situations.

Self-talk refers to our internal dialogue, or the thoughts we have about ourselves and situations throughout the day. Positive self-talk can increase our ability to lead ourselves into a better space emotionally.

Social awareness is our ability to understand social cues and includes having empathy along with recognizing power structure and unwritten workplace dynamics. Social awareness is akin to social radar.

Stereotypes are generalizations based on a group characteristic.

Turnover refers to the number and rate of employees leaving an organization during a certain period of time.

Values refer to people’s stable life goals, reflecting what is most important to them. Values are established throughout one’s life as a result of accumulating life experiences, and values tend to be relatively stable.