Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 8/e
Stephen P. Robbins
Chapter 2
Foundations of
Individual Behavior
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© 2005 Prentice-Hall
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1) List the dominant values in today's
workforce
2) Describe the relationship between
satisfaction and productivity
3) Explain the theory of cognitive dissonance
4) Summarize the relationship between
attitudes and behavior
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After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
5) Explain how two people can see the
same thing and interpret it differently
6) Summarize attribution theory
7) Outline the learning process
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Psychological Contributions to
OB
Values
Attitudes
Perception
Learning
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Values
• Represent basic conviction 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."
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Value Systems
• Represent a prioritizing of individual
values
• Identified by the relative importance an
individual assigns to such values as
freedom, pleasure, self-respect,
honesty, obedience, and equality
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Rokeach Value Survey
• Terminal values refers to desirable
end-states of
existence
• Goals that a person
would like to
achieve during his
or her lifetime
• Instrumental
values - refers to
preferable modes of
behavior, or means
of achieving the
terminal values
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Examples of Terminal Values
Terminal Values
• A comfortable life (a prosperous life)
• A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution)
• A world of peace (free of war and conflict)
• A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
• Equality (brotherhood and equal opportunity for all)
• Family security (taking care of loved ones)
• Freedom (independence, free choice)
• Happiness (contentedness)
• Inner harmony (freedom from inner conflict)
• Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life)
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Examples of Instrumental Values
Instrumental Values
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Ambitious (hardworking, aspiring)
Capable (competent, effective)
Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)
Clean (neat, tidy)
Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)
Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
Honest (sincere, truthful)
Imaginative (daring, creative)
Logical (consistent, rational)
Loving (affectionate, tender)
Obedient (dutiful, respectful)
Polite (courteous, well mannered)
Responsible (dependable, reliable)
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• People in the same occupations or
categories (e.g., corporate
managers, union members,
parents, students) tend to hold
similar values.
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Contemporary Work Cohorts
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Veterans
Boomers
Xers
Nexters
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Veterans
• Tend to be loyal to their employer
• Likely to place the greatest importance
on a comfortable life and family security
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Boomers
• Place a great deal of
emphasis on
achievement and material
success
• Believe that ends can
justify means
• Sense of
accomplishment and
social recognition rank
high with them
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Xers
• Have been shaped
by globalization,
two-career parents,
MTV, AIDS, and
computers
• Value flexibility, life
options, and the
achievement of job
satisfaction
• Enjoy team-oriented
work
• Less willing to make
personal sacrifices for
the sake of their
employer
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Nexters
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Grew up during prosperous times
Seek financial success
Enjoy teamwork but are also self-reliant
Emphasize freedom and comfortable
life
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Ethical Behavior
• Managers consistently report that
the action of their bosses is the
most important factor influencing
ethical and unethical behavior in
their organizations.
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Hofstede’s Framework for
Assessing Cultures
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Power distance
Individualism vs. collectivism
Achievement vs. nurturing
Uncertainty avoidance
Long-term vs. short-term orientation
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Globe Framework for
Assessing Cultures
• Assertiveness
• Future orientation
• Gender
differentiation
• Uncertainty
avoidance
• Power distance
• Individualism/
collectivism
• In-group collectivism
• Performance
orientation
• Humane orientation
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Attitudes
• Evaluative statements—either favorable
or unfavorable—concerning objects,
people, or events
• Reflect how one feels about something
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OB Focus
• Job satisfaction
• Job involvement
• Organizational commitment
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• Job satisfaction refers to a
collection of feelings that
an individual
holds toward
his or her job
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What Determines Job
Satisfaction?
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Mentally challenging work
Equitable rewards
Supportive working conditions
Supportive colleagues
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Are Satisfied Workers More Productive
Than Dissatisfied Workers?
• If satisfaction does have a positive effect on
productivity, that effect is fairly small.
• Productivity is more likely to lead to
satisfaction.
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Satisfaction and OCB
• Job satisfaction
comes down to
conceptions of
fair outcomes,
treatment, and
procedures.
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Reducing Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance occurs when
there are inconsistencies between
a person’s attitudes or between a
person’s behavior and attitudes
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Attitude-Behavior Relationship
Examples:
• Importance of the attitude
• Its specificity
• Its accessibility
• Whether there exist social pressures
• Whether a person has direct experience
with the attitude
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• Important attitudes are ones that reflect
fundamental values, self-interest, or
identification with individuals or groups
that a person values.
• The more specific the attitude and the
more specific the behavior, the stronger
the link between the two.
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Perception
• Perception is a process by which
individuals organize and interpret
their sensory impressions in order
to give meaning to their
environment
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Factors Influencing Perception
• Factors can reside:
– in the perceiver
– in the object or target being
perceived
– in the context of the situation in
which the perception is made
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Attribution Theory
• When we observe an individual’s
behavior, we attempt to determine
whether it was internally or externally
caused.
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Attribution Theory
(1)Distinctiveness
(2)Consensus
(3)Consistency
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Fundamental
Self-serving bias attribution error tendency for individuals
tendency to
to attribute their own
underestimate the
successes to internal
influence of external
factors such as ability
factors and
or effort while putting
overestimate the
the blame for failure on
influence of internal or
external factors such
personal factors
as luck
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Shortcuts to Judging Others
• Selectivity - choosing bits of data
depending on the interests, background,
experience, and attitudes of observer
• Assumed Similarity - perceptions of
others more influenced by what the
observer is like or thinks
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Shortcuts to Judging Others
• Stereotyping - basing perception on
group membership or association
• Halo Effect - drawing a general
impression on the basis of a single
characteristic, such as intelligence,
sociability, or appearance
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Learning
• Any relatively
permanent
change in
behavior that
occurs as a result
of experience
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Environment
Law of Effect
Modeling
The
Learning
Process
Shaping
Behavior
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Key Variables Affecting
Individual Behavior
Values
Motivation
Attitudes
Perception
Individual
Behavior
Personality
Learning
Ability
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Summary
1) Listed the dominant values in today's
workforce
2) Described the relationship between
satisfaction and productivity
3) Explained the theory of cognitive
dissonance
4) Summarized the relationship between
attitudes and behavior
2-40
© 2005 Prentice-Hall
Summary
5) Explained how two people can see the
same thing and interpret it differently
6) Summarized attribution theory
7) Outlined the learning process
2-41
© 2005 Prentice-Hall