MGTO120s
Understanding Human Behavior
Jian Liang
MGTO, HKUST
1
Where We Are
Management
Basic
Concepts
(Ch1)
Retrospect
Context
(ch2)
(ch3,4,& 5)
Organize
Plan
Organize
(Ch10,11
(Ch 10,
(ch6,
(Ch 10
& 13)
7,8,& 9) 11,12,13)
Lead
Lead
Control
Foundation of
Behavior
(Ch14)
2
Learning Objectives
o
Why Look at Individual Behavior?
•
•
•

Describe the focus and the goals of organizational
behavior.
Explain why the concept of an organization as an
iceberg is important to understanding
organizational behavior.
Define the five important employee behaviors
that managers want to explain, predict, and
influence.
Attitudes
•
•
•
Describe the three components of an attitude.
Discuss three job-related attitudes.
Describe the impact of job satisfaction has on
employee behavior.
3
Learning Objectives (cont’d)

Attitudes (cont’d)
•

Explain how individuals reconcile
inconsistencies between attitudes and behavior.
Personality
•
•
•
Understand the Big Five Model and MBTI of
personality.
Describe the five personality traits that have
proved to be most powerful in explaining
individual behavior in organizations.
Explain how emotions and emotional
intelligence impact behavior.
4
Learning Objectives (cont’d)

Perception
•
•
•
•
Explain how an understanding of perception
can help managers better understand
individual behavior.
Describe the key elements of attribution theory.
Discuss how the fundamental attribution error
and self-serving bias can distort attributions.
Name three shortcuts used in judging others.
5
Managing Employees’ Behavior

A manager’s success depend on



To explain why employees engage in
some behaviors rather than others
To predict how employees will respond to
various actions the manager might take
To influence how employee behave
6
The Organization as an Iceberg
7
Important Employee Behaviors
 Employee

Productivity
A performance measure of both efficiency
and effectiveness
 Absenteeism

The failure to report to work when expected
 Turnover

The voluntary and involuntary
permanent withdrawal from
an organization
8
Important Employee Behaviors

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)


Discretionary behavior that is not a part of an
employee’s formal job requirements, but which
promotes the effective functioning of the
organization.
Help others, constructive involvement in
organizational activity, volunteering for extended
job activities.
9
Psychological Factors Affecting Behavior

Attitudes

Personality

Perception

Learning
Employee
Productivity
 Absenteeism
 Turnover
 Organizational
Citizenship
 Job Satisfaction

10
Attitudes
Attitudes
Evaluative
statements or
judgments
concerning
objects,
people, or
events.
Cognitive Component
The opinion or belief segment
of an attitude.
Affective Component
The emotional or feeling segment
of an attitude.
Behavioral Intention
An intention to behave in a certain way
toward someone or something.
11
Types 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.
12
Mean Score
of the Work
Job
Centrality
Index in
Japan, USA
and Germany
involvement
Note: Adapted from MOW, 1987, p83.
13
Measuring Job Satisfaction

Global
Job in General Scale
 and others…


Facets
Job Descriptive Index
 Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire
 and others…

14
15
Why job satisfaction is important?
The good Samaritan study





A pay telephone
Psychologists randomly put coins in the coin
return slot, so that some of the people used
the phone actually did discover money.
A young woman walks by the phone with her
arms full of books. She pretended to stumble
and drop them on the group.
People who found money were four times as
likely to stop and help the woman pick up the
books
When we feel good, we tend to do good!
16
How Employees Can Express
Dissatisfaction
Exit
Behavior directed toward
leaving the organization.
Voice
Active and constructive
attempts to improve
conditions.
Loyalty
Neglect
Passively waiting for
conditions to improve.
Allowing conditions to
worsen.
17
How about people’s job satisfaction in Hong Kong?
http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/puo/CityUMember/Story/
Story.aspx?id=20060502095602
http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/puo/CityUMember/Story/
Story.aspx?id=20050414121816
Small thinking: How can we explain the change of job satisfaction?
18
Don’t Overestimate Job Satisfaction



Correlation analyses: satisfaction
and performance are weakly related
Causal analysis suggests that
performance is more likely to cause
satisfaction than vice versa (a
productive worker is a happy
worker)
Happy workers may not be
productive workers!
19
Cognitive Dissonance

Any incompatibility or inconsistency between
attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.


Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and
individuals will try to reduce the dissonance.
The intensity of the desire to reduce the
dissonance is influenced by:



The importance of the factors creating the dissonance.
The degree to which an individual believes that the
factors causing the dissonance are controllable.
Rewards available to compensate for the dissonance.
20
An Example: Expatriates in China
Expatriates in China earn 20 to 50 times what
the local Chinese earn (Leung, Smith, Wang,
& Sun, 1996) and, in some cases, the
housing allowance of a foreign employee is
more than the salary of a local employee of
similar rank (DeLisle & Chin, 1994:19).
Image a local HR manager, who provide such
offering package to expatiates, will he has
any dissonance? How to reduce it?
21
An Application: Attitude Surveys
Attitude Surveys
Eliciting responses from employees through
questionnaires about how they feel about their jobs,
work groups, supervisors, and the organization.
22
Sample Attitude Survey
23
An Example Survey in a Hong Kong Firm
Chun Wo Holdings Limited
24
Personality


The unique combination of
psychological
characteristics (measurable
traits) that affect how a
person reacts and interacts
with others.
It affects how and why
people behave the way
they do
25
The Big Five Model of Personality Model
Extroversion
Sociable, gregarious, and assertive
Agreeableness
Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting.
Conscientiousness
Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized.
Emotional Stability
Calm, self-confident, secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed,
and insecure (negative).
Openness to Experience
Imaginativeness, artistic, sensitivity, and intellectualism.
26
Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI)


A personality type diagnostic instrument
Indicates
 Communication style
 Decision-making style
 Attitudes towards time, goals, conflict
 Social preferences
27
Type Theory Preferences and Descriptors
EXTROVERSION - E
Outgoing
Interacting
Gregarious
Publicly impressive
Speaks, then thinks
INTROVERSION – I
SENSING - S
Practical
Specific
Feet on the ground
Details
Concrete
INTUITING – N
Quiet
Reserved
Concentrating
Reflective
Thinks, then speaks
General
Abstract
Head in the clouds
Possibilities
Theoretical
28
Type Theory Preferences and Descriptors
THINKING – T
Analytical
Clarity
Head
Justice
Rules
JUDGING - J
Structured
Time oriented
Decisive
Organised
Makes Lists/uses them
FEELING - F
Subjective
Harmony
Heart
Mercy
Circumstances
PERCEIVING – P
Flexible
Open ended
Exploring
Spontaneous
Makes lists/loses them
29
Characteristics Frequently Associated with Each Type
ISTJ
ISFJ
INFJ
INTJ
“Doing what should be
done”
Organiser, compulsive,
private, trustworthy, rules
and regulations, practical
“A high sense of duty”
Amiable, works behind the
scenes, ready to sacrifice,
accountable, prefers “doing”
“An inspiration to others”
Reflective/introspective, quietly
caring, creative, linguistically
gifted, psychic
“Everything has room for
improvement”
Theory based, skeptical, “my
way,” high need for
competency, sees world as a
chessboard
Most reponsible
Most loyal
Most contemplative
Most independent
ISTP
ISFP
INFP
INTP
“Ready to try anything
once”
Very observant, cool and
aloof, hands on practicality,
unpretentious, ready for
what happens
“Sees much but shares little”
Warm and sensitive,
unassuming, short-range
planner, good team member, in
touch with self and nature
“Performing noble service to aid
society”
Strict personal values, seeks
inner order/peace, creative,
nondirective, reserved
“A love of problem solving”
Challenges others to think,
absentminded professor,
competency needs, socially
cautious
Most pragmatic
Most artistic
Most idealistic
Most conceptual
ESTP
ESFP
ENFP
ENTP
“The ultimate realist”
Unconventional approach,
fun, gregarious, lives for
here and now, good at
problem solving
“You only go around once in
life”
Sociable, spontaneous, loves
surprises, cuts red tape,
juggles multiple projects/events,
quip master
“Giving life an extra squeeze”
People oriented, creative, seeks
harmony, life of party, more starts
than finishes
“One exciting challenge after
another”
Argues both sides of a point to
learn, brinkmanship, tests the
limits, enthusiastic, new ideas
Most spontaneous
Most generous
Most optimistic
Most independent
ESTJ
ESFJ
ENFJ
ENTJ
“Life’s administrators”
Order and structure,
“Hosts and hostesses of the
world”
“Smooth-talking persuaders”
Charismatic, compassionate,
“Life’s natural leaders”
Visionary, gregarious,30
Thinking vs. Judging


60 percent of the world’s leaders are T-Js
Even in systems that are very feeling
oriented (clergy), T-Js managers rise to the
top
 because most decisions must be handled
objectively in organizations
 TJ strengths: organized/carry through
and get the job done
31
Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)


Thinking
-Impersonal, objective, logical judgments
-Rely on argumentation and objective criteria
-60% of all men
Feeling
-Subjective, personal judgments
-Good at persuasion
-60% of all women
32
MBTI and Job Preferences

Certain types lend themselves to certain professions
 INFJ
Doctor
 ENFP
Psychologist
 ESTP
Police and detectives
 ISTP
Engineers
 INTP
Computer programmers
 ENTJ
Managers, Scientists
 ENFJ
Clergy, writers/artists
 ESFP
Receptionist, salesperson, child care
workers
 INTJ
University professors, Lawyers, Life
scientists
33
Major Personality Attributes

Locus of control

Self-esteem

Self-monitoring

Risk taking

Type A personality
34
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.
35
Self-Esteem and Self-Monitoring
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.
36
Risk-Taking

High Risk-taking Managers




Low Risk-taking Managers




Make quicker decisions
Use less information to make decisions
Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial
organizations
Are slower to make decisions
Require more information before making decisions
Exist in larger organizations with stable
environments
Risk Propensity

Aligning managers’ risk-taking propensity to job
requirements should be beneficial to organizations.
37
Personality Types
Type A’s
1. are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;
2. feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place;
3. strive to think or do two or more things at once;
4. cannot cope with leisure time;
5. are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in
terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire.
Type B’s
1. never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its
accompanying impatience;
2. feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements
or accomplishments;
3. play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their
superiority at any cost;
4. can relax without guilt.
38
Personality-Job Fit Theory (Holland)


An employee’s job satisfaction and likelihood of
turnover depends on the compatibility of the
employee’s personality and occupation.
Key points of the theory:
 There
are differences in personalities.
 There are different types of jobs.
 Job satisfaction and turnover are related to
the match between personality and job for an
individual.
39
Achieving Person-Job Fit
Personality-Job Fit
Theory (Holland)
Identifies six personality
types and proposes that
the fit between personality
type and occupational
environment determines
satisfaction and turnover.
Personality Types
• Realistic
• Investigative
• Social
• Conventional
• Enterprising
• Artistic
40
Holland’s
Typology of
Personality
and
Congruent
Occupations
41
Personality Assessment





Personality inventories
Projective techniques
The Rorschach techniques
The TAT
Physiological, perceptual and
cognitive measures
42
Example Inkbot Figure
43
44
A Small Test
Which kind of person are you?
45
Human Perception

Perception


A process by which individuals give meaning (reality)
to their environment by organizing and interpreting
their sensory impressions.
Factors influencing perception:



The perceiver’s personal characteristics—interests,
biases and expectations
The target’s characteristics—distinctiveness, contrast,
and similarity)
The situation (context) factors—place, time,
location—draw attention or distract from the target
46
Factors
Influence
Perception
47
From Man to Woman
48
A Small Test
What Do You See?
49
How We Perceive People
Attribution Theory
When individuals observe
behavior, they attempt to
determine whether it is
internally or externally
caused.
• "The devil made me do it
• "I'm guilty, grant me
forgiveness."
50
Why attribution is important
Consider this chain of events.
 The world asks me, "Why?"
 I provide an attribution.
If you get 65 percent, how to
interpret the result? What if 95
percent?
 My future behavior depends on the
type of attribution.
51
How do individuals make attribution?
Consensus: do all or only a few people
respond to the stimulus in the same way as
the target person?
 Distinctiveness: does the target person
respond in the same way to other stimuli
as well?
 Consistency: does the target person
always respond in the same way to this
stimulus?

52
Attribution theory
53
How We Perceive People (cont’d)
Attribution


Theory (cont’d)
Fundamental attribution error
 The tendency to underestimate the influence
of external factors and to overestimate the
influence of internal or personal factors.
Self-serving bias
 The tendency of individuals to attribute their
successes to internal factors while blaming
personal failures on external factors.
54
Frequently Used Shortcuts
Selective Perception
People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of
their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
Assumed Similarity
Assuming that others are more like us than they actually
are.
Stereotyping
Judging someone on the basis of our perception of a
group he or she is a part of.
Halo Effect
Forming a general impression of a person on the basis of
a single characteristic of that person
55
An Illustration
How are people biased at the workplace?
56
Summary




Important working behavior
The importance of job satisfaction and its
impacts on employees
How to apply personality models to
achieve person-job fit
How do people make attribution, and
why we usually make mistakes in our
perception
57