WGU Updated Organizational-Behavior Exam Questions and Answers by ekam

Organizational Behavior distinguishes between transformational andtransactional leaders. Transactional leaders guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. They function primarily through a series of "transactions" or exchanges where the leader provides something the followers want in return for their performance.

One of the primary characteristics of transactional leadership iscontingent reward, which involvespromising rewards for good performanceand recognizing accomplishments. Other characteristics include management by exception (active or passive), where the leader intervenes only when standards are not met. Options A, B, and C describe transformational leaders, who inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization and are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on followers. While transformational leadership is often celebrated for driving innovation and change, transactional leadership remains essential for maintaining the day-to-day stability and efficiency of an organization by ensuring that employees are rewarded for meeting specific, tangible targets.

Attribution theory is a cornerstone of social perception in the workplace, explaining how we judge people differently depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behavior. When we observe an individual’s behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally caused (under the person's control) or externally caused (forced by the situation). According to Harold Kelley’s model, this determination depends on three specific factors: distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency.

Distinctivenessrefers to whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations. If Employee B is late for work but is generally reliable in all other tasks, the behavior has high distinctiveness, suggesting an external cause (like a traffic jam).Consensusoccurs if everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way. If every employee who took the same route as Employee B was also late, consensus is high, pointing to an external cause.Consistencylooks at whether the person responds the same way over time. If Employee B is late every single day, consistency is high, which usually leads the observer to attribute the behavior to internal causes (like a lack of discipline). By analyzing these three dimensions, Employee A forms a perception that dictates their reaction—whether that be empathy for a one-time external delay or disciplinary action for a recurring internal habit.

Motivation in the workplace is often driven by a system of rewards, which are generally categorized into intrinsic and extrinsic types.Intrinsic rewardsare internal to the individual and come from the work itself; examples include a sense of accomplishment, personal growth, or the satisfaction of completing a difficult task. These are self-granted rewards.

Extrinsic rewards, conversely, are tangible rewards given by another person (usually a manager or the organization) to an employee for performing a specific task or behavior. These include salary increases, bonuses, promotions, benefits, and even smaller tokens like a free lunch. In this scenario, the free lunch is a physical, external incentive provided by the manager to reinforce the employee's positive performance. While intrinsic rewards are essential for long-term engagement and "meaningful" work, extrinsic rewards like a free meal are effective for immediate reinforcement and recognizing specific achievements. According to reinforcement theory, providing such a reward immediately following a desired behavior (doing well at work) increases the probability that the behavior will be repeated. Because the lunch is an external, tangible benefit provided by the manager rather than an internal feeling of satisfaction derived from the task itself, it is classified as an extrinsic reward.

In Organizational Behavior, values are often classified using the Rokeach Value Survey, which distinguishes betweenTerminal ValuesandInstrumental Values. Terminal values represent the ultimate goals or "end-states" an individual hopes to achieve, such as prosperity (economic success), well-being, and world peace. These are the destinations toward which a person works. In contrast, instrumental values are the "modes of conduct" or the means by which one achieves those terminal goals.

In this specific scenario, "autonomy and self-reliance" are categorized as instrumental values because they describe the behavioral methods an employee uses to navigate the workplace and eventually reach their terminal goals, such as economic success or personal well-being. For example, an employee might use autonomy (an instrumental value) as a tool to gain the efficiency required to achieve prosperity (a terminal value). Understanding this distinction is vital for managers because while terminal values tell us what the employee wants to achieve, instrumental values tell us how they prefer to behave in order to get there. Autonomy and self-reliance are practical approaches to work life rather than the final life-goals themselves, thus fitting the definition of instrumental values perfectly.