Chapter 2
Foundations of individual behavior
• Ob model
• Dependent variables: productivity,
satisfaction, absence, turnover, citizenship,
and satisfaction
• Independent variables: individual-level
variables, group-level variables,
organization systems levels variables
• Individual-level variables:
– Biographical characteristics;
– Ability;
– Leaning;
– Personality characteristics;
– Emotions;
– Values & attitudes;
– Motivations;
– Perceptions
Biographical Characteristics
• Age
• Gender
• Tenure
Biographical Characteristics
• Age
– Aged population
– Aged workforce
– Aged employees
• Work behavior
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Age-turnover relationship
Age-absenteeism relationship
Age-productivity relationship
Age-job satisfaction relationship
Biographical Characteristics
• Gender
– Gender-productivity relationship
• Male-female differences
– Physical difference
– Mental difference
– Gender-turnover relationship
– Gender-absenteeism relationship
• Work schedule preference
Biographical Characteristics
• Tenure
– The term of office or service
• Tenure
– Seniority-productivity
– Seniority-absenteeism
– Seniority-turnover
• Individual-level variables:
– Biographical characteristics;
– Ability;
– Leaning;
– Personality characteristics;
– Emotions;
– Values & attitudes;
– Motivations;
– Perceptions
Ability
• Are we created equal?
• Knowing how people differ in abilities
• Knowing people’s strength & weakness
Ability
• “an individual’s capacity to perform the
various tasks in a job”
– Intellectual abilities
– Physical abilities
Intellectual Ability
• Thinking, reasoning, and problem solving
– Information procession
• Basic dimensions of intellectual abilities
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Aptitude
Verbal comprehension
Perceptual speed
Inductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning
Spatial visualization
Memory
Intellectual ability
• Cognitive intelligence
– Ability to comprehend complex things
• Social intelligence
– Ability to relate to others
• Emotional intelligence
– Ability to identify, understand, and manage
emotions
• Cultural intelligence
– Ability to function in cross-cultural situations
How to define successful
performance?
Performance = Ability X Motivation
Ability-Job fit
• Individual-level variables:
– Biographical characteristics;
– Ability;
– Leaning;
– Personality characteristics;
– Emotions;
– Values & attitudes;
– Motivations;
– Perceptions
Learning
• Learning involves changes
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• Change must be relatively permanent
• Learning takes place when there is a
change in actions
Learning theories
• Classical conditioning
– Stimuli vs. response
– Passive response
• Operant conditioning
– Behavior = f (learned consequences)
– Voluntary participation
• Social learning
– Observational learning
– Perception & attitude in learning
Shaping Behavior
• Communication
– Learned consequences
• Change in behavior
• Reinforecment
– Positive reinforcemen
• Following a response with something pleasant
– Punishment
• Following a response with something unpleasant
Organizational applications
• Well pay vs. sick pay
• Employee discipline
• Developing training programs