M&OB - Individual Behavior

MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR

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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.


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.


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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.

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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 (cont’d)

• 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 (cont’d)

• 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


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(cont’d)

• 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 (cont’d)

• 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.

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Emotional Intelligence (cont’d)

• 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.


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.


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