Chapter Two
Individual Behaviour in the Organization
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Foundation of Individual Behavior
Understanding of individual behavior begins with a
review of the major psychological contributors such
as:
Perception
Attitude
Personality
Emotions and moods
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Individual Behavior
• Behavior refers to the response made by the individual.
The response may be the result of influence of external
factors.
• The external factor is termed as stimulus and the action
taken by the individual is known as response.
• Both heredity and environment determine the behavior of
an individual.
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What is Individual Difference?
 It is the ways in which people differ from each other
 Individual difference may be grouped into two
categories: personality differences and difference in
ability
 Everybody
wants
to
understand
others
behavior.
Understanding others behavior help the persons to
influence them.
3
With Whom You Want to Work?
Others Acceptance of My Capacity (C)
High
Low
C√
CX
Low
PX
PX
CC√X
CX
P√
P√
Others Acceptance of My Personality (P)
High
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• But before we understand others, we need to understand
ourselves – self-awareness.
Each individual has four sets of personality characteristics.
• One set open self, which includes such characteristics as
working hard, the individual is well aware of and so are others.
• A second set is unknown (blind self) is unknown to the
individual but obvious to others.
• A third set is known to the individual but not others is
Concealed self. These are situations that you have elected not to
share, perhaps because of a lack of trust.
• Finally, there is a fourth set blind area, which is not known to
the individual or to others, such as why you are uncomfortable
at office parties.
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Self-awareness & Others Understanding
My Own Perceptions
Things I Know
About Myself
Other Persons’
Perceptions
Things
Others Know
About Me
Things
Others Do
not Know
About Me
Things I Do not
Know About Myself
The Open Self
The Blind Self
Characteristics
Apparent to me
& to Others
Characteristics
not Apparent
to me
The Concealed
Self
Characteristics
Known to me but
Kept Hidden
from Others
The Unknown
Self
The Blind
Area
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FACTORS INFLUENCING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE

Perception

Attitude

Personality

Ability and Skills
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1. Concept of Perception
OB deals with human behavior at work place and
perception is an important determinant of behavior.
Perception is the process of gathering information
through our senses, organizing and making sense of it.
Perception may be defined as the way a person sees
the universe and feels about certain elements in a
situation.
 E.g. Happy employees are productive. It may or it may not.
Perception can provide false interpretations of
sensory information.
 Incorrect perceptions are called illusions. Illusions may take place in
two ways: due to physical processes (mirages) & cognitive processes.8
Concepts of 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.
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Discussion Question
How do you explain that individuals may look
at the same thing, yet perceive it differently?
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Factors Influencing Perception
Factors in the perceiver (perceiver variable)
 Attitudes, Motives
 Self-concept, Experience, etc.
Factors in the target (subject characteristics)
 Status, Appearance
 Sound and Background of the Target, etc.
Factors in the situation (situational variables)
 Social context, Organizational roles
 Work setting, Time, etc.
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Attribution Theory: Judging Others
• Our perception and judgment of others is significantly
influenced by our assumptions of the other person’s internal
state.
– When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to
determine whether it is internally or externally caused.
• Internal causes are under that person’s control
• External causes are not under the person’s control
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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
– We blame people first, not the
situation
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 Self-Serving Bias
◦The tendency for individuals to attribute
their own successes to internal factors
while putting the blame for failures on
external factors
◦It is “our” success but “their” failure
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Barriers to Accurate Perception
Similar-to-me effect or projection
Selective perceptions
Halo effect
Contrast effects
Stereotyping
Primacy effect
Recency effect
Distortion
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False-consensus effect (similar-to-
me effect): A perceptual error in
which we overestimate the extent to
which others have beliefs and
characteristics similar to our own
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• 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
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 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
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 Stereotyping
Judging someone on the
basis of one’s perception of
the group to which that
person belongs
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 Primacy effect: A perceptual
error in which we quickly form an
opinion of people on the basis of
the first information we receive
about them.
 Recency effect: A perceptual
error in which the most recent
information dominates our
perception of others
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 Perceptual distortion: refers to a situation where a
person perceives different stimuli in a different way
than they are actually supposed to be perceived,
sometimes knowingly sometimes unknowingly...
- It is a process by which information about the worldas received by the senses is falsely analysed and is not
meaningful. Can include hallucinations, imagery, and
illusions
- Example: if a person believes someone dislikes them
because of the way they dress, when in reality, that is
the persons own insecurity that he or she has about him
or herself.
DEVELOPING PERCEPTUAL SKILLS

Getting feedback & receiving feedback

Having empathy

Having positive attitudes

Enhancing self-concept

Avoiding common biases

Communication

Correct use of attribution
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2. CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE
Attitude is general evaluations people make about themselves,
other persons, objects, or issues.
 It is a positive or negative evaluation towards an object (person,
thing, event, issue.
 Positive attitude :- Positive mental attitude is a psychological term
which describes a mental phenomenon in which the central idea is
that one can increase achievement through optimistic thought
processes.
 Negative attitude :-A negative attitude is characterized by a great
disdain for everything. Someone who constantly points out the
negative in everything (pessimistic).

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Attitudes
Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects,
people, or events
Three components of an attitude:
Affective
Cognitive
The opinion or
belief segment of
an attitude
The emotional or
feeling segment
of an attitude
Behavioral
Attitude
An intention to behave
in a certain way toward
someone or something
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The Components of an Attitude
Cognitive = evaluation
My supervisor gave a promotion
to a co-worker who deserved it less
than me. My supervisor is unfair.
Affective = feeling
I dislike my supervisor!
Negative attitude
Toward supervisor
Behavioral = action
I’m looking for other work; I’ve
complained about my supervisor to anyone
who would listen.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE

Attitude can be characterized in Different ways:
Changes with time & situation
Related to feelings & beliefs of people
Effects one’s behavior positively or negatively
Affect perception
Learned through experiences
May be unconsciously held
FORMATION OF ATTITUDE
Experience with Object: Attitude can develop from a personally
rewarding or punishing experience with a object.
 Learning: Formation of attitude by observing or learning
behavior of others and consequences of that behavior.
 Family and Peer Groups: A person may learn attitudes through
imitation of parents.
 Neighborhood: Involves being told what attitudes to have by
parents, schools, community organizations, religious doctrine,
friends, etc.
 Economic Status: Our Economical and occupational positions
also contribute to attitude formation.
 Mass Communication: Television, Radio, Newspaper and
magazine feed their audiences large quantities of information.
 genetic factors….etc.

METHODS TO BRING ATTITUDE CHANGE
 Providing

Information
Fear arousal and reduction- but have no long lasting effect.
 Resolving
Discrepancies
 Influence
of Friends, Peers and the society
 Communication
 Cooperative
 Participation
approach
in decesion making
WHY STUDY ATTITUDES?
Attitudes are important because they:

strongly influence our social thought

help to organize and evaluate stimuli (e.g., categorizing stimuli as
positive or negative)

presumably have a strong effect on behavior

help to predict people’s behavior in wide range of contexts (e.g.,
voting, organizational work, interpersonal relations)
Cognitive Dissonance
• Cognitive
Dissonance:
Any
incompatibility between two or
more attitudes or between
behavior and attitudes
– Individuals seek to reduce this
uncomfortable gap, or dissonance,
to reach stability and consistency
– Consistency is achieved by
changing the attitudes, modifying
the behaviors, or through
rationalization e.g. smoker
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Discussion Question
Is It Possible to Predict Attitude from Behavior?
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How Attitudes will Influence the Workplace
1. Job Satisfaction: refers to an individual’s
general attitude towards his/her job.
 When people speak of employee attitudes,
they usually mean job satisfaction , which
describes a positive feeling about a job,
resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics.
 A person with a high level of job
satisfaction holds positive feelings about
his or her job, while a person with a low
level holds negative feelings.
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2. Job Involvement
is the degree to which an
employee identifies with
their work, actively
participates in it, and derives
a sense of self-worth from it.
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3. Organizational
Commitment: The degree
to which an employee
identifies with a particular
organization and its goals
and wishes to maintain
membership in the
organization.
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Organizational Citizenship
Refers to the behavior of individuals who make a
positive contribution to the organization
Consider for example, an employee who does work
that is acceptable in terms of both quality and quantity.
However, she refuses to work over time, won’t help
newcomers learn the ropes, and is generally unwilling
to make any contribution beyond the strict
performance of her job. This person may be seen as a
good performer but she is not likely to be seen as a
good organizational citizen.
Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
• Job Performance
– Satisfied workers are more productive AND
more productive workers are more satisfied!
– The causality may run both ways.
• Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
– Satisfaction influences OCB through
perceptions of fairness.
• Customer Satisfaction
– Satisfied frontline employees increase
customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Reduced Absenteeism
– Satisfied employees are moderately less likely
to miss work.
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3. Personality of an Individual
(Individual Personality and
Organization)
537
What is Personality?
• Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological
attributes that distinguish one person from another.
• A longstanding debate among psychologists – often
expressed as nature vs. nurture – is the extent to which
personality attributes are inherited from our parents (the
nature argument) or shaped by our env’t. (Nurture
agreement)..
• In reality both biological and environmental factor play
important role in shaping our personalities.
• Although their debate is beyond the scope of our
discussion here, managers should strive to understand
basic personality attributes
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PERSONALITY ….

Personality is the study of the characteristics traits of an individual,
relationships between these traits, and the way in which a person
adjust to other people & situations.

Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts
& interacts with others (Robbins).

Personality is the pattern of relatively enduring ways that a person
feels, thinks, & behaves. It is a factor in accounting why employees
have favorable or unfavorable attitudes towards their jobs &
organizations (George & Jones).

Personality has been shown to influence career choice, job
satisfaction, stress, leadership, & some aspects of job performance
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Based on the above definitions personality characteristics are:

Personality refers both physical & psychological qualities.

It is unique in the sense that no two individuals are same in terms of their
personality.

Personality is the manner of adjustment of individual to the organization,
environment and the group.

It is a qualitative aspect. Certain techniques exist to quantify it indirectly.

Personality is dynamic. It changes with the time & situation.

Personality is a system. It has input, processing and output.

Personality influences goal achievement & performance of an individual.
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DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
Nature
Biological Heritage

Personality
Nurture
Life Experiences
Nature Biological Factors
Heredity- physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, color of skin, hair &
eye balls, temperament, skills, abilities, etc.
 Brain
 Physical Feature – height, color, facial attraction, muscle strength influences
ones self-concept.


Nurture



Family Factors
Socialization
Birth Order

Environmental Factors (Social & Cultural Factors)
 Situational Factors
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THE INTERACTION OF PERSONALITY & SITUATIONAL FACTORS
Both personality & situational factors affect Organizational behavior. It is
the interaction of personality & situational factors that determines how people
think, feel, & behave in general &, specifically, how they do so within an
organization.
Feelings
Personality
Thoughts
Attitudes
Behavior
Situational Factors
(Job requirements,
rules, etc.)
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PERSONALITY TYPES
Extrovert-Introvert Personality Types (Carl Jung)
- Extrovert individual are outgoing, sociable, & assertive.
- Introverts are quiet & shy.
Type A & Type B Personality

Type A: A person with desire to change, extremely competitive,
strong sense of urgency, impatient & can be hostile.

Type B: A person who tends to be easygoing & relaxed.
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The Big Five Personality Traits
• Psychologists have identified literally thousands of
personality traits and dimensions that differentiate one
person for the others.
• But in recent years, researchers identified five
fundamental traits that are especially relevant to
organizations.
• Because these five traits are so important and because
they are currently receiving so much attention, they are
now commonly called big five personality traits:
Agreeableness,
Conscientiousness,
Negative
emotionality, Extraversion, and Openness
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The Big Five Model of Personality …
Extroversion
• Sociable, gregarious, and assertive
• Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting
Agreeableness
• Responsible, dependable, persistent, and
organized
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability
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Openness to Experience
• Calm, self-confident, secure under stress (positive),
versus nervous, depressed, and insecure under stress
(negative)
• Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive
1. Agreeableness
• Agreeableness: refers to a person’s ability to get along with
others.
• It causes some people to be gentle, cooperative, forgiving,
understanding, and good natured in their dealing with
others. But it results in others being irritable, short
tempered, uncooperative, and generally antagonistic
towards other people.
• Researchers have not yet fully investigated the effects of
agreeableness, but it seems likely that higher agreeable
people are better at developing good working relationship
with coworkers, subordinates, and higher level managers;
where as less agreeable people are not likely to have
particularly good working relationships
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2. Conscientiousness
• Conscientiousness: refers to the number of goals on
which a person focuses.
• People who focus on relatively few goals at a time are
likely to be organized, systematic, careful, thorough,
responsible, and self disciplined.
• Others however, tend to pursue a wider array of goals,
and as result, are more disorganized, careless, and
irresponsible, as well as less thorough and less self
disciplined
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3. Negative Emotionality
• Negative emotionality: this is the third of the big five
personality traits.
• Negative emotionality is characterized by moodiness and
insecurity.
• People with less negative emotionality are relatively
poised, calm, resilient, and secure; people with more
negative emotionality are more excitable, insecure,
reactive, and subject extreme mood swings.
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4. Extroversion
• Extroversion: reflects person’s comfort level with
relationships.
• Extroverts are sociable, talkative, assertive, and open
to establishing relationship with others.
• Introverts are much less sociable, talkative, assertive,
and reluctant to begin new relationships..
• Research suggests that extroverts tends to be higher
overall performer than introverts, and that they are
more likely to be attracted jobs based on personal
relationships, such as sales and marketing positions.
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5. Openness
• Openness: reflects person’s rigidity of beliefs and
range of interests.
• People with high level of openness are willing to
listen to new ideas and to change their own ideas,
believes, and attitudes in response to new
information. They also tend to have broad interests,
curious, imaginative and more creative.
• On the other hand, people with low level of openness
tend to less receptive to new ideas and less willing to
change their minds. Further they tend to fewer and
narrower interest to and to be less curious and
creative.
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4. Affect, Emotions, and Moods
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Emotion
• Emotions are conscious mental reactions (such as
anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong
feelings usually directed toward a specific object and
typically accompanied by physiological and
behavioral changes in the body
Emotion
• Negative emotions: can be described as any feeling which
causes you to be miserable and sad. These emotions make you
dislike yourself and others, and reduce your confidence and
self-esteem,
and
general
life
satisfaction.
Emotions that can become negative are hate, anger, jealousy
and sadness. Yet, in the right context, these feelings are
completely natural. Negative emotions can dampen our
enthusiasm for life, depending on how long we let them affect
us and the way we choose to express them.
A few of the most commonly felt negative emotions are:Fear,
anger, disgust, sadness,
rage,
loneliness, Melancholy,
Annoyance
Emotion
• Positive emotions: are emotions that we typically find
pleasurable to experience. The Oxford Handbook of Positive
Psychology defines them as “pleasant or desirable situational
responses… distinct from pleasurable sensation and
undifferentiated positive affect” (Cohn & Fredrickson, 2009).
• Basically, this definition is stating that positive emotions are
pleasant responses to our environment (or our own internal
dialogue) that are more complex and targeted than simple
sensations.
• Some common positive emotions include: Love, Joy,
Satisfaction, Contentment, Interest, Amusement, Happiness,
Serenity and Awe
Do Emotions Make Us Irrational?
• The famous astronomer Carl Sagan once wrote, “Where we
have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves.”
• These observations suggest rationality and emotion are in
conflict, and that if you exhibit emotion you are likely to act
irrationally.
• One team of authors argues that displaying emotions such as
sadness to the point of crying is so toxic to a career that we
should leave the room rather than allow others to witness it.
• These perspectives suggest the demonstration or even
experience of emotions can make us seem weak, brittle, or
irrational.
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Do Emotions Make Us Ethical?
• Like decision making in general, most ethical
decision making was based on higher-order cognitive
processes.
• Many researchers believe that emotions have evolved
in part to encourage us to obey society's moral rules
so that we can effectively live together in groups. For
example, self-conscious emotions such as guilt,
shame, and embarrassment motivate people to follow
society's moral norms.
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Sources of Emotions and Moods
-
Personality
Weather
Stress
Social activities
Sleep
Exercise
Age
Gender
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Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional Intelligence or emotional quotient or EQ: is the
ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions
in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively,
empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse
conflict.
• Intellectual ability or your intelligence quotient (IQ) isn't
enough on its own to achieve success in life. Yes, your IQ
can help you get into college, but it's your EQ that will
help you manage the stress and emotions when facing your
final exams. IQ and EQ exist in tandem and are most
effective when they build off one another.
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Emotional Intelligence
•
•
-
It is commonly defined by four attributes:
Self-management
Self-awareness
Social awareness
Relationship management
Emotional intelligence affects:
Your performance at school or work
Your physical health/stress
Your mental health/anxiety and depression – loneliness
Your relationships
Your social intelligence
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Emotional Intelligence (EI) to control
our emotions
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Advantages of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence in the workplace;
• Helps to take control of the conflicts.
• Creates a positive working environment and
contributes to teamwork
• Develops a common vision among team members
• Helps to perform successful change management
• Helps to control stress
• Improves communication and collaboration
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Emotion Regulation:
Have you ever tried to cheer yourself up when you’re
feeling down, or calm yourself when you’re feeling
angry? If YES, you are engaged in Emotion Regulation
• The central idea behind emotion regulation is to
identify and modify the emotions you feel
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Strategies to regulate your emotions
Emotion Regulation:
Thinking about more pleasant things,
suppressing negative thoughts,
distracting yourself,
reappraising the situation, or
engaging in relaxation techniques.
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Effects of Positive Emotions/Moods
Emotion Regulation:
Enhances creativity
Improves decision making,
A leader with positive emotions buys the
attention of his/her subordinates
Job attitudes: “Never take your work home
with you,”. You might damage the emotions of
your family at home too.
The display of emotions is important to social
behavior like negotiation and customer
service.
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Summary of Organizational Behavior