Chapter Three Foundations of Individual Behavior

Chapter Three

Foundations of Individual Behavior

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 3-2

Chapter Objectives

• Explain the nature of the individual-organizational relationship.

• Define personality and describe personality attributes that affect behavior in organizations.

• Discuss individual attitudes in organizations and how they affect behavior.

• Describe basic perceptual processes and the role of attributes in organizations.


Chapter Objectives (continued)

• Discuss the causes and consequences of stress and describe how stress can be managed.

• Describe creativity and its role in organizations.

• Explain how workplace behaviors can directly or indirectly influence organizational effectiveness.


Understanding Individuals in Organizations

• The Psychological Contract– A person’s set of expectations regarding what he or

she will contribute to the organization and what the organization will provide in return.

• Unlike a business contract, a psychological contract is not written on paper, nor are all of its terms explicitly negotiated.

• Nature of the Psychological Contract– Contributions and Inducements

• Individual’s contributions to the organization- effort, skills, ability, time, loyalty,

• Organization’s inducements to the individual, such as pay and career opportunities.


Figure 3.1: The Psychological Contract


The Person-Job Fit

• Person-Job Fit– The extent to which the individual’s contributions

match the organization’s inducements.– In theory, each employee has a specific set of

needs that he or she wants fulfilled and a set of job-related behaviors and abilities to contribute.

– If the organization can take perfect advantage of those behaviors and abilities and exactly fulfill the employee’s needs, it will have achieved a perfect person-job fit.


The Nature of Individual Differences

• Individual Differences are personal attributes that vary from one person to another:

• Physical• Psychological• Emotional

• Individual differences are neither good nor bad.

• Whenever an organization attempts to assess or account for individual differences among its employees, it must also be sure to consider the situation in which behavior occurs.


Personality and Individual Behavior

• Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another.

• Managers should strive to understand basic personality attributes and the ways they can affect people’s behavior in organizational situations, as well as their perceptions of and attitudes toward the organization.


The “Big Five” Personality Traits

• In recent years, researchers have identified five fundamental personality traits that are especially relevant to organizations.

• Because these five traits are so important and receive so much attention, they are referred to as the “Big Five” personality traits.


The “Big Five” Personality Traits (continued)

• Agreeableness– The ability to get along with others

• Conscientiousness– The number of goals on which a person

focuses

• Negative Emotionality– A trait characterized by moodiness and

insecurity


The “Big Five” Personality Traits (continued)

• Extraversion– The quality of being comfortable with

relationships; the opposite extreme, introversion, is characterized by more social discomfort

• Openness– The capacity to entertain new ideas and to

change as a result of learning new information


Figure 3.2: The “Big Five” Personality Framework


The Myers-Briggs Framework

• The Myers-Briggs Framework differentiates people in terms of four general dimensions.

1. Extroversion (E) Versus Introversion (I)2. Sensing (S) Versus Intuition (N)3. Thinking (T) Versus Feeling (F)4. Judging (J) Verses Perceiving (P)

• To use this framework, the organization has people complete a questionnaire designed to measure their personalities on each dimension.


Other Personality Traits at Work

• Locus of Control– The extent to which people believe their

circumstances are a function of either their own actions or external factors beyond their control.

• Self-Efficacy– A person’s beliefs about his or her capabilities to

perform a task.

• Authoritarianism– The belief that power and status differences are

appropriate within hierarchical social systems such as organizations.


Other Personality Traits at Work(continued)

• Machiavellianism– People who behave to gain power and control the

behavior of others.

• Self-Esteem– The extent to which a person believes she or he is

a worthwhile and deserving individual.

• Risk Propensity– The degree to which an individual is willing to take

chances and make risky decisions.


Emotional Intelligence

• The concept of emotional intelligence refers to the extent to which people:– are self-aware– can manage their emotions– can motivate themselves– can express empathy for others– possess social skills


Emotional Intelligence (continued)

• Self-Awareness – The basis for the other components that refers to

one’s capacity for being aware of how one is feeling.

• Managing Emotions– One’s capacity to balance anxiety, fear, and anger so

they do not overly interfere with getting things accomplished.

• Motivating Oneself– The ability to remain optimistic and continue striving

in the face of setbacks, barriers, and failure.

.


Emotional Intelligence (continued)

• Empathy– A person’s ability to understand how others

are feeling even without being explicitly told.

• Social Skills– This refers to a person’s ability to get along

with others and to establish positive relationships.


Attitudes

• A person’s complexes of beliefs and feelings about specific ideas, situations, or other people.

• Important because they are the mechanism through which most people express their feelings.

• 3 components:1. affective component – reflects feelings and emotions an

individual has toward a situation.

2. cognitive component – derives from knowledge an individual has toward a situation.

3. intentional component – reflects how an individual expects to behave toward or in the situation.


Cognitive Dissonance

• The anxiety a person experiences when she or her simultaneously possesses two sets of knowledge or perceptions that are contradictory or incongruent.– For example, a person who has vowed to never

work for a large company but instead open a small firm, may find herself seeking a job with a large company as the result of financial setbacks.

– To reduce this dissonance, the individual might tell herself that the situation is only temporary and she can go back out on her own in the near future.


Work-Related Attitudes

• Job Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction– The extent to which a person is gratified or fulfilled by

his or her work.• While high levels of satisfaction may not lead to high levels of

performance, satisfied employees tend to be absent less often, make positive contributions, and stay with the organization.

• Organizational Commitment– A person’s identification with and attachment to the

organization.• A person with high levels of commitment is likely to see

herself as a true member of the organization and overlook minor sources of dissatisfaction.


Affect and Mood in Organizations

• Positive Affectivity– People who possess positive affectivity are upbeat

and optimistic, have an overall sense of well-being, and see things in a positive light.

• Negative Affectivity– People characterized by negative affectivity are

generally downbeat and pessimistic, see things in a negative light, and seem to be perpetually in a bad mood.


Perception and Individual Behavior

• Perception– The set of processes by which an individual

becomes aware of and interprets information about the environment.

• Basic Perceptual Processes– Selective perception

• The process of screening out information that we are uncomfortable with or that contradicts our beliefs.

– Stereotyping • The process of categorizing or labeling people on the

basis of a single attribute.


Figure 3.3: Basic Perceptual Processes


Stress and Individual Behavior

• Stress– An individual’s response to a strong stimulus (a

stressor.)

• Type A vs. Type B Individuals– Type A individuals are extremely competitive, are

very devoted to work, and have a strong sense of time urgency.

– Type B individuals are less competitive, are less devoted to work, and have a weaker sense of time urgency.


Figure 3.4: The General Adaptation Syndrome


Causes and Consequences of Stress

• Causes of Stress– Physical Demands

• Stressors associated with the job setting (i.e., too hot, too cold, poorly designed office, too little social interaction, etc.)

– Role Demands• Stress can result from either role ambiguity or role conflict

that people experience in groups.

– Interpersonal Demands• Stressors associated with relationships that confront

people in organizations. For example, group pressures regarding restrictions of output and norm conformity can lead to stress.


Causes and Consequences of Stress (continued)

• Consequences of Stress– The results of stress may be positive or

negative.– The negative consequences may be

behavioral, psychological, or medical.

• Burnout• Burnout is a sense of exhaustion that develops

when someone experiences too much stress for an extended period of time.


Creativity in Organizations

• Creativity– The ability to generate new ideas of

conceive of new perspectives on existing ideas.


Figure 3.5: The Creative Process


Types of Workplace Behavior

• Performance Behaviors– The total set of work-related behaviors that the

organization expects the individual to display.– They derive from the psychological contract.

• For some jobs performance behaviors can be narrowly defined and easily measured (i.e. an assembly line worker,who remains at the workstation and attaches parts.)

• For many other jobs, performance behavior is more diverse and much more difficult to assess (a researcher at a major pharmaceutical company.)


Types of Workplace Behavior (continued)

• Withdrawal Behaviors– Absenteeism occurs when an individual does not

show up for work. – Turnover occurs when people quit their jobs.

• Dysfunctional Behaviors– Work-related behaviors that detract from

organizational performance.

• Organizational Citizenship– Extent to which the individual's behavior makes a

positive overall contribution to the organization.

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Chapter Three Foundations of Individual Behavior