Chapter 2

Foundations of
Individual Behavior
 1. Individual ability

 ability is an individual’s current capacity to

perform the various tasks in a job. Overall
abilities are essentially made up of two sets of
factors: intellectual and physical.
 intellectual abilities :The capacity to do
mental activities—thinking, reasoning, and
problem solving.
 Cont...

 Physical Abilities: The capacity to do tasks demanding

stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.
 Nine Basic Physical Abilities
 Strength Factors
1. Dynamic strength: Ability to exert muscular force
repeatedly or continuously over time
2. Trunk strength: Ability to exert muscular strength using the
trunk(particularly abdominal) muscles
3. Static strength: Ability to exert force against external
objects
Cont...

4. Explosive strength: Ability to expend a maximum of

energy in one or a series of explosive acts
 Flexibility Factors
5. Extent flexibility : Ability to move the trunk and back
muscles as far as possible
6. Dynamic flexibility: Ability to make rapid, repeated
flexing movements
 Other Factors
7. Body coordination: Ability to coordinate the
simultaneous actions of different parts of the body
Cont…

8. Balance: Ability to maintain equilibrium

despite forces pulling off balance
9. Stamina: Ability to continue maximum
effort requiring prolonged effort over time
2. Values, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction

 2.1 Values: Basic convictions that a specific

mode of conduct or end-state of existence is
personally or socially preferable to an opposite
or converse mode of conduct or end-state of
existence.
 Value System: A hierarchy based on a ranking
of an individual’s values in terms of their
intensity.
 Importance of Values

 Provide understanding of the attitudes,

motivation, and behaviors of individuals and
cultures.
 Influence our perception of the world around us.
 Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong.”
 Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others.
 2.2 Attitudes

 Attitudes: Evaluative statements or judgments

concerning objects, people, or events.
 are evaluative statements—either favorable or
unfavorable—about objects, people, or events. They
reflect how we feel about something. When I say “I
like my job,” I am expressing my attitude about work.
2.2.1 Components of attitudes

 Cognitive component: The opinion or belief

segment of an attitude. e.g: My pay is low
 Affective Component: The emotional or
feeling segment of an attitude. e.g: I am angry
over how little I’m paid.
 Behavioral Component: An intention to
behave in a certain way toward someone or
something. e.g: I’m going to look for another
job that pays better
2.2.2Types of Attitudes

 Job Satisfaction: A collection of positive and/or

negative feelings that an individual holds toward his or
her job.
 Job Involvement: Identifying with the job, actively
participating in it, and considering performance
important to self-worth.
 Organizational Commitment: Identifying with a
particular organization and its goals, and wishing to
maintain membership in the organization.
2.2.3 The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

 Cognitive Dissonance: Any incompatibility

between two or more attitudes or between
behavior and attitudes.
 No individual, of course, can completely avoid
dissonance. You know cheating on your income
tax is wrong, but you fudge the numbers a bit
every year and hope you’re not audited. Or you
tell your children to floss their teeth, but you don’t
do it yourself.
2.3 Job Satisfaction

 Measuring Job Satisfaction

A. Single global rating: is a response to one
question, such as “All things considered, how
satisfied are you with your job?” Respondents
circle a number between 1 and 5 on a scale
from “highly satisfied” to “highly dissatisfied.”
Cont…

B. Summation score: It identifies key elements

in a job such as the nature of the work,
supervision, present pay, promotion
opportunities, and relationships with co-
workers. Respondents rate these on
standardized scale, and researchers add the
ratings to create an overall job satisfaction
score.
 2.3.1The Effect of Job Satisfaction on
Employee Performance

 Satisfaction and Productivity

– Satisfied workers aren’t necessarily more productive.
– Worker productivity is higher in organizations with more
satisfied workers.
 Satisfaction and Absenteeism
– Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.
 Satisfaction and Turnover
– Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
– Organizations take actions to retain high performers and
to weed out lower performers.
2.3.2 How Employees Can Express
Dissatisfaction

 Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the

organization.

 Voice: Active and constructive attempts to

improve conditions.

 Loyalty: Passively waiting for conditions to

improve.

 Neglect: Allowing conditions to worsen.

2.3.4 Job Satisfaction and OCB

 Satisfaction and Organizational

Citizenship Behavior (OCB)
– Satisfied employees who feel fairly treated
by and are trusting of the organization are
more willing to engage in behaviors that go
beyond the normal expectations of their job.
2.3.5 Job Satisfaction and Customer
Satisfaction

 Satisfied employees increase customer

satisfaction because:
– They are more friendly, upbeat, and responsive.
– They are less likely to turnover which helps build
long-term customer relationships.
– They are experienced.
 Dissatisfied customers increase employee job
dissatisfaction.
 3. Personality

 Personality: refers to a person’s unique and

relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and
actions
 The sum total of ways in which an individual
reacts and interacts with others.
 Personality is an interaction between biology,
environment and situation
– Genetic studies suggest heritability of personality
– Other studies suggest learned components of
personality
3.1Measures of Personality
 Interviews
– Unstructured: “Tell me about yourself…”
– Structured: Set list of questions
 Observation: Psychologist learns about
personality by observing the person
 Objective tests: self-inventories that involve
paper and pencil tests
 Projective tests: subjects reveal aspects of their
personality when they talk about ambiguous
stimuli
 3.2 The “Big 5” personality type
 Modern personality research argues for 5 basic
personality traits (OCEAN)
 Openness: whether a person is open to new
experiences
 Conscientiousness: whether a person is disciplined and
responsible
 Extroversion: whether a person is sociable, outgoing
and affectionate
 Agreeableness: whether a person is cooperative,
trusting, and helpful
 Neuroticism: whether a person is unstable and prone to
insecurity
Cont…
 Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB

 Locus of control
 Machiavellianism
 Self-esteem
 Self-monitoring
 Risk taking
Cont…

 Locus of Control: The degree to which people

believe they are masters of their own fate.
 Internals: Individuals who believe that they
control what happens to them.
 Externals: Individuals who believe that what
happens to them is controlled by outside forces
such as luck or chance.
Cont…

 Machiavellianism (Mach): Degree to which an

individual is pragmatic(realistic), maintains
emotional distance, and believes that ends can
justify means.
Conditions Favoring High Machs
• Direct interaction
• Minimal rules and regulations
• Emotions distract for others
Cont…

 Self-Esteem (SE): Individuals’ degree of liking

or disliking themselves.
 Self-Monitoring: A personality trait that
measures an individuals ability to adjust his or
her behavior to external, situational factors.
 Risk-Taking
 High Risk-taking Managers
– Make quicker decisions
– Use less information to make decisions
– Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial organizations
 Low Risk-taking Managers
– Are slower to make decisions
– Require more information before making decisions
– Exist in larger organizations with stable environments
 Risk Propensity(tendency)
– Aligning managers’ risk-taking propensity to job requirements
should be beneficial to organizations.
 4. Perception and Individual Decision Making

4.1. Perception: A process by which individuals

organize and interpret their sensory impressions
in order to give meaning to their environment.
• People’s behavior is based on their perception of what
reality is, not on reality itself.
• The world as it is perceived is the world that is
behaviorally important.
 4.1.1. Errors and Biases in Attributions

 Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency

to underestimate the influence of external
factors and overestimate the influence of
internal 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.
Cont…

 Selective Perception: People selectively

interpret what they see on the basis of their
interests, background, experience, and
attitudes.
 Halo Effect: Drawing a general impression
about an individual on the basis of a single
characteristic
 Cont…

 Contrast Effects: Evaluation of a person’s

characteristics that are affected by comparisons
with other people recently encountered who rank
higher or lower on the same characteristics.
 Projection: Attributing one’s own characteristics
to other people.
 Stereotyping: Judging someone on the basis of
one’s perception of the group to which that
person belongs.
 4.1.2. Specific Applications in
Organizations

 Employment Interview: Perceptual biases of

raters affect the accuracy of interviewers’
judgments of applicants.
 Performance Expectations: Self-fulfilling
prophecy (pygmalion effect): The lower or higher
performance of employees reflects preconceived
leader expectations about employee capabilities.
Cont…

 Ethnic Profiling: A form of stereotyping in

which a group of individuals is singled out—
typically on the basis of race or ethnicity—for
intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or investigation.
 Performance Evaluations: Appraisals are
often the subjective (judgmental) perceptions of
appraisers of another employee’s job
performance.
Cont…

 Employee Effort: Assessment of individual

effort is a subjective judgment subject to
perceptual distortion and bias.
 4.2. How Are Decisions Actually Made
in Organizations

 Bounded Rationality: Individuals make decisions

by constructing simplified models that extract the
essential features from problems without capturing
all their complexity.
 How/Why problems are identified
– Visibility over importance of problem
 Attention-catching, high profile problems
 Desire to “solve problems”
– Self-interest (if problem concerns decision maker)
Cont…

 Alternative Development
– Satisficing: seeking the first alternative that solves
problem.
– Engaging in incremental rather than unique problem
solving through successive limited comparison of
alternatives to the current alternative in effect.
4.2.1. Common Biases and Errors
 Overconfidence Bias: Believing too much in our own
decision competencies.
 Anchoring Bias: Fixating on early, first received
information.
 Confirmation Bias: Using only the facts that support our
decision.
 Availability Bias: Using information that is most readily at
hand.
 Representative Bias: Assessing the likelihood of an
occurrence by trying to match it with a preexisting
category.
Cont…

 Escalation of Commitment: Increasing

commitment to a previous decision in spite of
negative information.
 Randomness Error: Trying to create meaning
out of random events by falling prey to a false
sense of control or superstitions.
 Hindsight Bias: Falsely believing to have
accurately predicted the outcome of an event,
after that outcome is actually known.
4.2.3. Organizational Constraints on
Decision Makers

 Performance Evaluation: Evaluation criteria

influence the choice of actions.
 Reward Systems: Decision makers make
action choices that are favored by the
organization.
 Formal Regulations: Organizational rules and
policies limit the alternative choices of decision
makers.
Cont…

 System-imposed Time Constraint:

Organizations require decisions by specific
deadlines.
 Historical Precedents: Past decisions
influence current decisions.
4.2.4. Ethics in Decision Making

 Ethical Decision Criteria

– Utilitarianism: Seeking the greatest good for the
greatest number.
– Rights: Respecting and protecting basic rights of
individuals such as whistleblowers.
– Justice: Imposing and enforcing rules fairly and
impartially.
 4.2.5. Ways to Improve Decision
Making

1. Analyze the situation and adjust your decision making

style to fit the situation.
2. Be aware of biases and try to limit their impact.
3. Combine rational analysis with intuition to increase
decision-making effectiveness.
4. Don’t assume that your specific decision style is
appropriate to every situation.
5. Enhance personal creativity by looking for novel
solutions or seeing problems in new ways, and using
analogies.