Organizational Behavior Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of Organizational Behavior distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

PiqCue — piqcue.com/organizational-behavior/cheatsheet

Quick Reference

Motivation Theories

Frameworks explaining why people exert effort at work. Content theories (Maslow's Hierarchy, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory) identify what motivates, while process theories (Expectancy Theory, Equity Theory) explain how motivation works through cognitive evaluation of effort, performance, and rewards.

Organizational Culture

The shared values, beliefs, assumptions, and norms that shape behavior and practices within an organization. Edgar Schein described culture at three levels: observable artifacts, espoused values, and underlying basic assumptions.

Leadership Styles

Distinct approaches leaders use to guide, direct, and influence their followers. Major frameworks include transformational leadership (inspiring vision and change), transactional leadership (rewards and corrections), servant leadership (prioritizing followers' growth), and situational leadership (adapting style to follower readiness).

Group Dynamics

The behavioral and psychological processes that occur within or between social groups in organizations. This includes stages of group development (Tuckman's model: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning), roles, cohesion, and social loafing.

Job Satisfaction

A positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences. It is influenced by factors such as the work itself, pay, promotion opportunities, supervision quality, and relationships with coworkers. High job satisfaction is linked to lower turnover and absenteeism.

Organizational Justice

The perception of fairness in organizational processes, outcomes, and interpersonal treatment. It includes distributive justice (fairness of outcomes), procedural justice (fairness of processes), and interactional justice (fairness of interpersonal treatment during procedures).

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to recognize, understand, manage, and effectively use emotions in oneself and others. Daniel Goleman popularized the concept as comprising self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, arguing it is as important as cognitive intelligence for leadership effectiveness.

Power and Politics

Power is the capacity to influence others' behavior and can stem from formal position (legitimate, reward, coercive power) or personal attributes (expert, referent power). Organizational politics involves the use of power and influence tactics to advance individual or group interests, sometimes outside formally sanctioned channels.

Organizational Change

The process by which organizations move from a current state to a desired future state. Kurt Lewin's three-stage model (unfreeze, change, refreeze) and John Kotter's eight-step model are widely used frameworks. Change management addresses resistance, communication, and sustaining new practices.

Decision-Making in Organizations

The process of choosing among alternatives in organizational contexts. Herbert Simon's concept of bounded rationality shows that decision-makers satisfice rather than optimize due to limited information and cognitive capacity. Group decision-making introduces phenomena like groupthink and the Abilene paradox.

Key Terms at a Glance

Absenteeism:The habitual pattern of absence from work or duty, often used as an indicator of employee dissatisfaction or disengagement.

Bounded Rationality:Herbert Simon's concept that decision-makers operate within the limits of available information, cognitive capacity, and time, leading to satisficing rather than optimizing.

Charismatic Leadership:A leadership style in which the leader inspires devotion and enthusiasm through personal charm, vision, and extraordinary qualities.

Cognitive Dissonance:The mental discomfort experienced when holding contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes simultaneously, often motivating individuals to change one element to reduce the inconsistency.

Conflict Management:The practice of identifying and handling disputes in a rational, balanced, and effective way. Common strategies include competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating.

Distributive Justice:The perceived fairness of the outcomes or allocations that individuals receive in an organization, such as pay, promotions, and assignments.

Emotional Intelligence:The capacity to recognize, understand, manage, and effectively use one's own and others' emotions in interpersonal interactions.

Employee Engagement:The degree of enthusiasm, dedication, and absorption an employee feels toward their work and organization, associated with higher productivity and retention.

Group Cohesion:The degree to which members of a group are attracted to one another and motivated to stay in the group, influencing communication, conformity, and performance.

Hygiene Factors:In Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, workplace conditions (salary, supervision, policy) whose absence causes dissatisfaction but whose presence does not motivate beyond a neutral state.

Job Enrichment:The redesign of jobs to increase task variety, autonomy, responsibility, and feedback, aimed at enhancing intrinsic motivation and satisfaction.

Leader-Member Exchange (LMX):A theory describing the quality of the dyadic relationship between a leader and each follower. High-quality exchanges involve trust, respect, and mutual obligation.

Locus of Control:The degree to which individuals believe they control events in their lives. Internal locus: believe they control outcomes. External locus: believe outside forces determine outcomes.

Motivation:The set of forces that initiate, direct, and sustain behavior toward a goal. In OB, major theories include Maslow's hierarchy, Herzberg's two-factor theory, and expectancy theory.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior:Voluntary, discretionary behaviors by employees that go beyond formal job requirements and contribute positively to organizational functioning.

Get study tips in your inbox

We'll send you evidence-based study strategies and new cheat sheets as they're published.

We'll notify you about updates. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.