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Chapter 9
Basic Elements of Individual Behavior in
Organizations
Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able
to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Explain the nature of the individual-organization
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 attributions in organizations.
Discuss the causes and consequences of stress
and describe how it can be managed.
Learning Objectives (cont’d)
6.
7.
Describe creativity and its role in
organizations.
Explain how workplace behaviors can
directly or indirectly influence
organizational effectiveness.
Outline

Understanding Individuals in Organizations




Personality and Individual Behavior

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The Psychological Contract
The Person-Job Fit
The Nature of Individual Differences
The “Big Five” Personality Traits
The Myers-Briggs Framework
Other Personality Traits at Work
Emotional Intelligence
Attitudes and Individual Behavior


Work-related Attitudes
Affect and Mood in Organizations
Outline (cont’d)

Perceptions and Individual Behavior

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
Stress and Individual Behavior
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Causes and Consequences
Managing Stress
Creativity in Organizations

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Basic Perceptual Processes
Perception and Attribution
The Creative Individual
The Creative Process
Enhancing Creativity in Organizations
Types of Workplace Behavior

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Performance Behaviors
Withdrawal Behaviors
Organizational Citizenship
Understanding Individuals
in Organizations

The Psychological Contract

The overall set of expectations held by an
individual with respect to what he or she will
provide (contributions) to the organization and
what the organization will provide in return
(inducements).
Understanding Individuals
in Organizations (cont’d)

The Person-Job Fit

The extent to which the contributions made by
the individual match the inducement offered
by the organization.
 Each employee has a specific set of needs
to be fulfilled and a set of job-related
behaviors to contribute.
 The degree to which the organization can
take advantage of those behaviors and, in
turn, fulfill an employee’s needs will
determine the level of person-job fit.
Understanding Individuals
in Organizations (cont’d)

The Person-Job Fit (cont’d)

Reasons for poor person-job fit:
 Organizational selection procedures are
imperfect.
 Both people and organizations change over
time.
 Adopting new technologies changes the skills
needed by employees.
 Each individual is unique and each job is
unique.
The “Big Five” Personality Traits

Agreeableness

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Conscientiousness
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The extent to which a person is poised, calm,
resilient, and secure.
Extraversion


The number of goals on which a person focuses.
Negative emotionality


A person’s ability to get along with others.
A person’s comfort level with relationships.
Openness

A person’s rigidity of beliefs and range of interests.
The “Big Five”
Model of Personality
The Myers-Briggs Framework

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

A questionnaire used to differentiate personalities on
the dimensions of the MB framework:
1.
Extroversion (E) versus Introversion (I)

2.
Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N)

3.
logic and reason versus emotion and feelings
Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P)


concrete versus conceptual
Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F)

4.
sociable versus solitary
completion versus continuing participation
Useful to determine communication styles and interaction
preferences; has questionable reliability and validity.
Other Personality Traits at Work

Locus of Control


The extent to which people believe that their
behavior has a real effect on what happens to them.
 Internal locus of control—individuals who
believe they are in control of their lives.
 External locus of control—individuals believe
that external forces dictate what happens to
them.
Self-Efficacy

A person’s belief about his or her capabilities to
perform a task. High self-efficacy individuals believe
they can perform well while low self-efficacy
individuals doubt their ability to perform.
Other Personality Traits at Work
(cont’d)

Authoritarianism


Machiavellianism

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The extent to which an individual believes that
power and status differences are appropriate
within hierarchical social systems like
organizations.
Individual behavior directed at gaining power and
controlling the behavior of others.
Self-Esteem

The extent to which a person believes she/he is a
worthwhile individual.
Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

The extent to which people are self-aware, can
manage their emotions, can motivate themselves,
express empathy, and possess social skills
 Persons with high EQs may perform better on
jobs that require interaction and directing
others.
 EQ can be developed and is not biologically
based.
Attitudes and Individual
Behavior

Attitudes


Complexes of beliefs and feelings that people have
about specific ideas, situations, or other people.
The Three Components of Attitudes:


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Affective component reflects the feelings and
emotions an individual has toward a situation (i.e.,
how we feel).
Cognitive component is derived from perceived
knowledge (i.e., why we feel the way we feel).
Intentional component is how a person expects to
behave in a given situation (i.e., what we intend do
about the situation).
Attitudes and Individual Behavior
(cont’d)

Cognitive Dissonance

The mental discomfort that individuals
experience
when their own attitudes are in conflict
with their intended behavior.
Work-Related Attitudes

Job Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction


An attitude that reflects the extent to which an
individual is gratified or fulfilled by his or her work.
Job Satisfaction and Work Behaviors

Job satisfaction is influenced by personal, group, and
organizational factors.
 Satisfied employees are absent from work less often,
make positive contributions, and stay with the
organization.
 Dissatisfied employees are absent from work more
often, may experience stress which disrupts
coworkers, and are continually looking for another
job.
Work-Related Attitudes (cont’d)

Job Satisfaction and Work Behaviors

High levels of job satisfaction do not
necessarily lead to high job performance.
Work-Related Attitudes (cont’d)

Organizational Commitment


An attitude that reflects an individual’s
identification with and attachment to an
organization.
Organizational Commitment and Work
Behaviors

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Employee commitment strengthens with an
individual’s age, years with the organization,
sense of job security, and participation in decision
making.
Committed employees have highly reliable habits,
plan a longer tenure with the organization, and
muster more effort in performance.
Affect and Mood in
Organizations

Positive Affectivity


A tendency to be relatively upbeat and optimistic,
have an overall sense of well-being, see things in
a positive light, and seem to be in a good mood.
Negative Affectivity

A tendency to be generally downbeat and
pessimistic, tend to see things in a negative way,
and seem to be in a bad mood.
Perception and
Individual Behavior

Perception


The set of processes by which an individual
becomes aware of and interprets information.
Selective Perception


The process of screening out information that we
are uncomfortable with or that contradicts our
beliefs.
If selective perception causes someone to ignore
important information it can become quite
detrimental.
Perception and
Individual Behavior (cont’d)

Stereotyping


The process of categorizing or labeling
people on the basis of a single attribute
(e.g., gender and race.)
Stereotyping may cost the organization
valuable talent, violate federal anti-bias
laws, and is unethical.
Perceptual Processes
Perception and Perceptual
Processes

Attribution


A mechanism through which we observe behavior
and attribute a cause to it.
How Behavioral Attributions Are Formed:

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Consensus
 Do other people in the same situation behave the
same way?
Consistency
 Does this person behave the same way at different
times?
Distinctiveness
 Does this person behave the same way in other
Stress and
Individual Behavior

Stress

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A person’s response to a strong
stimulus (i.e., a stressor.)
General Adaptation Syndrome
(GAS)

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The general cycle of the stress
process.
Stage 1 Alarm
 Panic, wondering how
to cope, and a feeling
of helplessness.
Stress and
Individual Behavior (cont’d)

General Adaptation
Syndrome (GAS) (cont’d)


Stage 2 Resistance
 Individual is actively
resisting the effects of
the stressor.
Stage 3 Exhaustion
 Prolonged exposure to
stress causes an
individual to give up.
The General
Adaptation Syndrome
Stress and Individual Behavior
(cont’d)

Personality Types

Type A personality
 Extremely competitive, aggressive,
devoted to work, have a strong sense
of time urgency, impatient.
 Have a lot of drive and want to
accomplish as much as possible as
quickly as possible.
Stress and Individual Behavior
(cont’d)

Personality Types

Type B personality
 Less competitive, less devoted
to work, have a weaker sense
of time urgency.
 Less likely to experience
personal stress or to come into
conflict with other people.
 More likely to have a balanced,
relaxed approach to life.
Causes of Work Stress
Causes and Consequences
of Stress (cont’d)

Negative personal
consequences



Behavioral—smoking,
alcoholism,
overeating, drug
abuse.
Psychological—sleep
disturbances,
depression.
Medical—heart
disease, stroke,
backaches, ulcers,
skin conditions.

Negative work-related
consequences

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Poor quality work
output and lower
productivity.
Job dissatisfaction,
low morale, and a lack
of commitment.
Withdrawal through
indifference and
absenteeism.
Consequences of Stress

Burnout

A feeling of exhaustion that may
develop when someone
experiences too much stress for an
extended period of time.
Stress Management
Strategies for Individuals
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Regular Exercise
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Relaxation
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Allows individuals to adapt and deal with their
stress.
Time Management
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Reduces tension and stress, and improves selfconfidence and feelings of optimism.
Reduces stress by prioritizing activities to
accomplish them in their order of importance.
Support Groups

Socializing away from work reduces stress.
Stress Management and
Organizations

Arguments for helping employees cope
with stress:
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Organizations are partly responsible for
employee stress.
Organizations bear the costs of stress-related
insurance claims.
Employees are more productive when
organizational wellness/stress management
programs are used to promote healthy
employee activities that reduce stress.
Creativity in Organizations

Creativity


The ability of an individual to generate new ideas or to
conceive of new perspectives in existing ideas.
The Creative Individual


Background experiences and creativity
 Many creative individuals were reared in creative
environments.
Personal traits and creativity
 Creative persons have personal traits of openness,
an attraction to complexity, high levels of energy,
independence, autonomy, strong self-confidence,
and a strong belief in their own creativity.
Creativity in Organizations
(cont’d)

The Creative Individual

Cognitive abilities and creativity
 Most creative people are highly
intelligent.
 They are both divergent and
convergent thinkers, a skill they use to
see differences and similarities in
situations, phenomena, and events.
The Creative Process

Preparation

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Formal education and training is
used to “get up to speed.”
Experiences on the job provide
additional knowledge and ideas.
Incubation

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A period of conscious concentration
during which knowledge and ideas
acquired during preparation mature
and develop.
Incubation can be helped by
pauses in rational thought.
The Creative Process (cont’d)

Insight

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A spontaneous breakthrough in which the creative
person achieves a new understanding of some
problem or situation.
Patterns of thought coalesce into a new
understanding.
Verification


Determines the validity or truthfulness of the insight.
Tests are conducted and prototypes are built to see if
the insight leads to the expected results.
The Creative Process (cont’d)

Enhancing Creativity in
Organizations

Make creativity part of the
organization’s culture.
 Set goals for revenues
from creative products
and services.
 Reward creative success;
refrain from punishing
creative failures—some
ideas work out as expected,
others don’t.
Types of Workplace Behavior

Workplace Behavior


A pattern of action by the
members of an organization
that directly or indirectly
influences organizational
effectiveness.
Performance Behaviors

The total set of work-related
behaviors an organization
expects an individual to
display.
Types of Workplace Behavior (cont’d)

Withdrawal Behaviors


Absenteeism occurs when an individual
does not show up for work when expected
for legitimate or feigned reasons.
 Absenteeism may be a symptom of
other work-related problems.
Turnover occurs when individuals quit their
jobs for work-related or personal reasons.
Types of Workplace Behavior (cont’d)

Organizational Citizenship


The behavior of individuals that makes a positive
overall contribution to the organization.
The determinants of organizational citizenship is a
complex mosaic of individual, social, and
organizational variables.
 The personality, attitudes, and needs of the
individual.
 The social context, or work group, in which the
individual works.
 An organization (and its culture) capable of
rewarding citizenship behaviors.
Types of Workplace Behavior (cont’d)

Dysfunctional Behaviors

Behaviors that detract from, rather than
contribute to, organizational performance.
 Absenteeism and turnover
 Theft and sabotage
 Sexual and racial harassment
 Politicized behavior
 Intentionally misleading others
 Spreading malicious rumors
 Workplace violence