Foundations Of Individual
Behavior
Chapter 2
Aim of this chapter
To explain the relationship between ability
and job performance
 Contrast three components of attitude
 Discuss similarities and diffreneces
between job satisfaction and job
attributes
 Discuss the causes and consequences of
job satisfaction
 Understand how to shape behavior of
others
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Foundations of Behavior
 Ability
 Attitude
 Learning
Ability
Individuals capacity to perform various
tasks In a job.
 Managers are interested in knowing how
the people differ in abilities
 Managers use this knowledge to increase
the likelihood that an employee perform
his job well.

Intellectual Ability
Encompasses mental activity – thinking,
reasoning and problem solving(most imp
predicators)
 Intelligent people are more creative and
good performers.
 Smart people learn jobs quickly and are
more adaptable to changing circumstances.
 They invent solutions to improve
performance.
 Correlation between intelligence and job
satisfaction is zero.

Ability and Job Fit
Employee performance is enhanced when
an employee and position are well
matched.This is ability to fit into the job.
 Employee Performance – interaction
between job requirements and employee’s
abilities.
 Case 1: lack required ability
 Case 2: match the ability
 Case 3: ability exceeds job requirement

When Fit is Poor ?
Lacking required abilities result in failure
of employees.
 When employee has more ability than
job requirement – Employee frustrated by
limitations of job.
 Pay depends on employee’s skills.So if
highly skilled the organization will be
paying more for less work

ATTITUDES
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Attitudes are evaluative statement – either
favourable or unfavourable – related to
objects,people and events.
They reflect how one feels about something
Understand attitudes : Questions to be
considered …..
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What are the main components of attitude ?
How consistent are attitudes ?
Does behavior follow from attitudes ?
What are the major job attitudes ?
What are the main components of
attitude ?

Three components of attitude
 Cognition – cognitive component
 Affect – affective component
 Behavior – behavioral component

Eg : “I hate john because he discriminates
minorities “
Example :
An employee did not get the promotion
instead a co-worker got it.
 Cognition – employee thought that he
deserved the promotion
 Affect – the employee dislikes the
supervisor
 Behavior – looking for another job

How consistent are attitudes ?
Individuals reconcile divergent attitudes
and align their attitudes to their behavior
– so that they appear rational and
consistent.
 When there is a inconsistency the
individual changes the behavior or
attitude.

Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
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1950’s Leon Festinger proposed the theory
of cognitive dissonance- linkage between
attitude and behavior
Cognitive dissonance refers to any
inconsistency that an individual might
perceive between two or more attitudes or
between behavior and attitude
Festinger argued that any form of
inconsistency is uncomfortable and the
individuals attempt to reduce the dissonance
Impossible to avoid dissonance.
(not included) Attributes of
Dissonance
Importance of elements.
 Degree of influence – influence indiv has
over elements
 rewards

Does Behavior always follow from
Attitudes ?
In 1960 research – low degree of
relationship between attitudes and
behavior.
 Recent research – attitudes predict future
behavior.
 Relationship can be enhanced by taking
moderating variable into account.

How do people cope with
resonance?
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Reduce dissonance with three attributes :
Importance of elements creating dissonance
– If element less important then ignored
The degree of influence the individuals
believes he or she has over the elements will
affect how they react to dissonance.
The rewards involved in dissonance –
Rewards influence to what extent the
employee is motivated to reduce dissonance
Moderating Variables :
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Importance of attitude – Important attribute reflect
fundamental values,self interest and identification with
individuals and groups that a person values.Important attitude
show strong relationship to behavior.
Its specificity – More specific attitude ,more specific behavior
the stronger link between the two.
Accessibility – Attitudes that are remembered are the ones
likely to predict behavior.
The existence of social power – Discrepancies between
attitude and behavior are more likely to occur when there is a
social pressure to behave in a certain way
Cont…
A person’s direct experience with
attitude: The attitude behavior
relationship is likely to be much stronger
if attitude refers to something with which
the individual has direct experience.
 Self perception Theory – Looking at
whether behavior influences attitude.

Job Attitudes
Job Satisfaction
Job Involvement
Organizational Commitment
Job Satisfaction :
 It is defined as a positive feeling about one’s
job resulting from evaluation of its
characteristics.
 A person with high level of job satisfaction
holds positive feeling about the job
 Dissatisfied person - negative attitude
towards job
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Job Involvement
The degree to which people identify
psychologically with their job and
consider perceived performance level
important to self worth.
 Employee with high job involvement –
strongly identify and care for the work
they do.

Pyschological empowerment
The degree to which they affect their
work environment, their competence
,meaningfulness of their jobs and
autonomy of work.
 Good managers Empower their
employees
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 By involving them in decision
 Making them feel their work is important
 Giving them discretion to do their own thing
Organizational commitment
The state in which an employee identifies
with a particular organization and its
goals and wishes to maintain membership
in the organization is referred to as
organizational commitment.
 High job involvement – identifying with
one’s specific job.
 High organizational commitment –
identifying with one’s employee
organization.

Dimensions of Organizational
Commitment
Affective commitment – An emotional
attachment to the organization and belief
in values.
 Continuance commitment – Perceived
economic value of staying with an
organization compared to leaving it.
 Normative commitment – An obligation
to stay with an organization for moral and
ethical reasons.
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In a nutshell
Organizational commitment related to job
productivity.
 Negative relationship between organizational
commitment and absenteeism.
 Affective commitment is more strongly
related to organizational outcomes.
 Affective commitment was a significant
predicator of various outcomes.
 Continuance commitment is not a strong
commitment.
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Perceived organizational support
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People perceive organization as
supportive when the following is
true……….
◦ Rewards are deemed fair
◦ Employees have voice in decision
◦ The supervisors are supportive
Employee engagement
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Individuals involvement with satisfaction with
and enthusiasm for the work they do.
Factors that assess employee engagement :
◦ The availability of resources and opportunities to
learn new skills
◦ Whether they feel their work is important and
meaningful
◦ Whether their interactions with their coworkers
and supervisors were rewarding

Engagement relates to job
satisfaction,organizational
commitment,job involvement, or intrinsic
motivation