Fundamentals of Management

Sixth Edition

Robbins and DeCenzo

with contributions from Henry Moon
C H AP T E R

8
2008 Prentice Hall, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Part IV: Leading

Foundations of Individual
and Group Behavior
PowerPoint Presentation by Charlie Cook
The University of West Alabama

Toward Explaining and Predicting Behavior

Organizational Behavior (OB) Defined:
The study of the actions of people at work

The Focus of OB
Individual behaviors

Personality, perception, learning, and motivation

Group behaviors

Norms, roles, team-and conflict

The Goals of OB
To explain behavior
To predict behavior

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

82

Behaviors of Interest to OB
Employee Productivity
The efficiency and effectiveness of employees

Absenteeism
The election by employees to attend work

Turnover
The exit of an employee from an organization

Organizational Citizenship
Employee behaviors that promote the welfare of the

organization

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

83

Understanding Employees
Attitudes
Valuative statements concerning objects, people, or

events
Cognitive component
The beliefs, opinions, knowledge, and information held by a
person
Affective component
The emotional, or feeling, segment of an attitude
Behavioral component
An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or
something

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

84

Job-Related Attitudes
Job Satisfaction
An employees general attitude toward his or her job.

Job Involvement
The degree to which an employee identifies with his

or her job, actively participates in it, and considers

his or her job performance important for self-worth.

Organizational Commitment
An employees orientation toward the organization in

terms of his or her loyalty to, identification with, and

involvement in the organization.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

85

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Cognitive Dissonance
Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or

between behavior and attitudes

Inconsistency is uncomfortable and individuals will seek a

stable state with a minimum of dissonance.

Desire to reduce dissonance is determined by:

The importance of the elements creating the

dissonance.
The degree of influence the individual believes he or

she has over the elements.

The rewards that may be involved.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

86

Fostering Positive Job Attitudes

Managers can reduce dissonance by:
Creating the perception that the source of the

dissonance is externally imposed and uncontrollable.

Increasing employee rewards for engaging in the
behaviors related to the dissonance.

Satisfied workers are not necessarily more

productive workers.
Assisting employees in successful performance of

their jobs will increase their desired outcomes and

lead to increased job satisfactionfocusing on
productivity as a means rather than an ends.
2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

87

Personality and Behavior

Personality
Is the combination of the psychological traits that

characterize that person.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

A method of identifying personality types uses four

dimensions of personality to identify 16 different

personality types.

Big Five Model

Five-factor model of personality that includes

extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,

emotional stability, and openness to experience.
2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

88

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Extroversion versus Introversion (EI)
An individuals orientation toward the inner world of ideas (I) or

the external world of the environment (E).

Sensing versus Intuitive (SN)

An individuals reliance on information gathered from the

external world (S) or from the world of ideas (N).

Thinking versus Feeling (TF)

Ones preference for evaluating information in an analytical

manner (T) or on the basis of values and beliefs (F).

Judging versus Perceiving (JP).

Reflects an attitude toward the external world that is either task

completion oriented (J) or information seeking (P).

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

89

The Big Five Model of Personality

1. Extroversion

the degree to which someone is sociable,

talkative, and assertive.

2. Agreeableness

the degree to which someone is goodnatured, cooperative, and trusting.

3. Conscientiousness

the degree to which someone is

responsible, dependable, persistent, and
achievement oriented.

4. Emotional stability

the degree to which someone is calm,

enthusiastic, and secure (positive) or
tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure
(negative).

5. Openness to
experience

the degree to which someone is

imaginative, artistically sensitive, and
intellectual.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

810

What Is Emotional Intelligence (EI)?

Emotional Intelligence (EI)
An assortment of noncognitive skills, capabilities,

and competencies that influence a persons ability to

cope with environmental demands and pressures.

Dimensions of EI
Self-awareness own feelings
Self-management of own emotions
Self-motivation in face of setbacks
Empathy for others feelings
Social skills to handle others emotions

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

811

Personality Traits And Work-related

Behaviors
Locus of Control
A personality attribute that measures the degree to

which people believe that they are masters of their

own fate.

Machiavellianism (Mach)
A measure of the degree to which people are

pragmatic, maintain emotional distance, and believe

that ends can justify means.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

812

Personality Traits And Work-related

Behaviors (contd)
Self-Esteem (SE)
An individuals degree of life dislike for him- or

herself

Self-Monitoring
A measure of an individuals ability to adjust his or

her behavior to external, situational factors

Propensity for Risk Taking

The willingness to take chancesa preference to

assume or avoid risk

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

813

Key Points of Hollands Model

There do appear to be intrinsic differences in
personality among individuals.
There are different types of jobs.
People in job environments congruent with their
personality types should be more satisfied and
less likely to resign voluntarily than people in
incongruent jobs.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

814

Personality Characteristics of Entrepreneurs

Proactive Personality
High level of motivation
Internal locus of control
Need for autonomy

Abundance of self-confidence

Self-esteem

High energy levels

Persistence

Moderate risk taker

Problem solver

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

815

Perception
Perception
A process by which individuals organize and interpret

their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to

their environment.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

816

Influences on Perception
Personal
Characteristics

Target
Characteristics

Attitudes

Relationship of a target

Personality

to its background
Closeness and/or
similarity to other things
The context in object is
seen
Other situational
factors.

Motives
Interests
Past experiences
Expectations

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

817

How Do Managers Judge Employees?

Attribution Theory
A theory based on the premise that we judge people

differently depending on the meaning we attribute to

a given behavior.

Internally caused behavior is believed to be under the

control of the individual.

Externally caused behavior results from outside causes; that

is, the person is seen as having been forced into the
behavior by the situation.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

818

Interpreting Behavior
Distinctiveness
Whether an individual displays a behavior in many

situations or whether it is particular to one situation.

Consensus
If the individual responds in the same way as

everyone else faced with a similar situation

responds.

Consistency
The individual engages in the same behaviors

regularly and consistently over time.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

819

Judgment Errors
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate the influence of

external factors and overestimate the influence of

internal or personal factors when making judgments
about the behavior of others.

Self-Serving Bias
The tendency for individuals to attribute their own

successes to internal factors while putting the blame

for failures on external factors.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

820

Learning
Learning Defined
Any relatively permanent change in behavior that

occurs as a result of experience.

Operant Conditioning (B. F. Skinner)

Argues that voluntary, or learned, behavior is a

function of its consequences.

Reinforcement increases the likelihood that behavior will be

repeated; behavior that is not rewarded or is punished is
less likely to be repeated.

Rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the

desired response.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

821

Learning (contd)
Social Learning Theory
The theory that people can learn through observation

and direct experience; by modeling the behavior of

others.

Modeling Processes
Attentional processes
Retention processes
Motor reproduction processes
Reinforcement processes

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

822

Shaping Behavior
Shaping Behavior
Systematically reinforcing each successive step that

moves an individual closer to a desired behavior

Ways To Shape Behavior:

Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

823

Foundations Of Group Behavior

What is a Group?
Two or more interacting and interdependent

individuals who come together to achieve particular

objectives

Basic Concepts of Group Behavior

Role

A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone in

a given position in a social unit

Norms

Acceptable standards (e.g., effort and performance, dress,

and loyalty) shared and enforced by the members of a group

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

824

Foundations Of Group Behavior (contd)

Status
A prestige grading, position, or rank within a group
May be informally conferred by characteristics such as
education, age, skill, or experience.
Anything can have status value if others in the group admire
it.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

825

Group Effects
Size
Size is a benefit or a hindrance depending on the

criteria considered.
Social loafing: the tendency of individuals in a group
to decrease their efforts when responsibility and
individual achievement cannot be measured.

Group Cohesiveness
The degree to which members of a group are

attracted to each other and share goals

Size, work environment, Length of time in existence, grouporganization, and goal congruency affect group
cohesiveness.

2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. All

826