978-0134527604 Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

Understanding and Managing Individual Behavior

Have you ever wondered why the people around you are behaving the way they are?

People differ in their behaviors, and even the same person can behave one way one day

and a completely different way another day. Managers need to understand individual

behavior. Focus on the following learning objectives as you read and study this chapter.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Identify the focus and goals of individual behavior in organizations.

2. Explain the role that attitudes play in job performance.

4. Describe perception and factors that influence it.

5. Discuss learning theories and their relevance in shaping behavior.

• Develop your skill at shaping behavior.

It’s Your Career

Self Awareness: You Need to Know Yourself Before You Can Know Others

Do you know your real self? Many of us don’t. Knowledge of your strengths and

weaknesses can help you gain insights into areas you want to change and improve. And

it can help you better understand how others see you. The following identifies five key

elements of your personality. Understanding how you rate on these elements is critical to

your self-awareness:

• Introversion vs. Extroversion. Are you quiet and reserved? If so, you are

probably best described as an introvert. In contrast, are you outgoing, sociable,

and assertive? This characterizes extroverts.

• Thinking vs. Feeling. In making decisions, do you put the emphasis on reason

and logic? If so, your preference is for thinking. If you make decisions by

emphasizing human values, emotions, and your personal beliefs, then your focus

is on feelings.

• Internal Control vs. External Control. Do you believe that you’re the master of

your own fate? If so, you have an internal locus of control. If you believe that

what happens to you is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance, you

have an external locus of control.

• Organized vs. Disorganized. Are you conscientious, responsible, dependable,

and consistent? If so, then you’d be organized. Are you easily distracted,

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unreliable, and have difficulty meeting deadlines and commitments? If so, then

you’d be classified as disorganized.

• Open to Change vs. Comfortable with the Familiar. Finally, do you tend to be

creative, curious, and enjoy new experiences? You’d be open to change. If

1. Seek feedback. Find individuals you trust and seek their honest feedback.

2. Reflect. Review your experiences, situations, and actions to better understand

CHAPTER OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines numerous factors that influence employee behavior and

their implications for managers.

15.1 FOCUS AND GOALS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Organizational behavior is the study of how people act at work. The visible

2. Group behavior

1. Employee productivity: a performance measure of both

efficiency and effectiveness.

3. Turnover: the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal

from an organization.

4. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB): discretionary

5. Job satisfaction: an employee’s general attitude toward his or

her job.

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6. Counterproductive workplace misbehavior: any intentional

15.2 ATTITUDES AND JOB PERFORMANCE

1. The cognitive component of an attitude is the part of an attitude

3. The behavioral component of an attitude is that part of an

attitude that refers to an intention to behave in a certain way.

1. How satisfied Are Employees? In general, U.S. workers report that

2. Satisfaction and Productivity. Following the Hawthorne Studies,

3. Satisfaction and Absenteeism. Research on job attitudes shows a

4. Satisfaction and Turnover. The strongest variable related to job

satisfaction is turnover.

5. Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction. Job satisfaction has

6. Job Satisfaction and OCB. Organizational citizenship behavior is

the discretionary behavior that is not part of an employee’s formal

7. Job Satisfaction and Counterproductive Behavior. While it is

difficult to predict how employees will respond, managers need to

be aware that dissatisfied employees may engage in misbehavior

or violence at work.

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1. Research about perceived organizational support—employees’

2. High levels of perceived organizational support lead to increased

job satisfaction and lower turnover.

1. Highly engaged employees are passionate about and deeply

connected to their work. Disengaged employees have essentially

“checked out” and don’t care.

2. The desire to reduce dissonance is determined by (a) the

3. Individuals reduce dissonance either by changing their behavior,

concluding that the dissonant behavior is not so important after all,

by changing the attitude or by identifying compatible factors that

1. The implication for managers from understanding attitudes is that

2. Employees will try to reduce dissonance when they are required to

do things that are at odds with their attitudes, but studies show

that this feeling is reduced if the rewards are high enough or there

is a belief that the dissonance is externally imposed and therefore

uncontrollable.

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LEADER MAKING A DIFFERENCE

When Carolyn McCall took on the top position at EasyJet the U.K.-based airline was

struggling with low employee morale, poor performance, and a general distrust of

management. McCall immediately took steps to build loyalty among employees. In 2015,

McCall was voted the Most Admired Leader in Britain by Management Today magazine.

McCall claims that emotional intelligence and being able to relate to people is an

important skill in her success as a leader.

What can you learn from this leader making a difference?

15.3 PERSONALITY

Personality is defined is the unique combination of emotional, thought, and

1. Social interaction: extrovert (E) or introvert (I)

3. Preference for decision-making: feeling (F) or thinking (T)

4. Style of making decisions: perceptive (P) or judgmental (J)

Combining these preferences provides descriptions for about 16 different

1. Research has shown that important relationships exist

2. The personality traits in the Big Five Model are listed

below:

a. Extraversion

2. Machiavellianism is the degree to which people are pragmatic,

maintain emotional distance, and believe that ends justify means.

4. Self-monitoring is an individual’s ability to adjust his or her

behavior to external situational factors.

5. Risk-taking refers to an individual’s willingness to take risks.

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6 Other Personality Traits.

a. People with proactive personalities identify

opportunities, show initiative, take action, and preserver

until meaningful change occurs.

b. Resilience refers to an individual’s ability to overcome

challenges and turn them into opportunities.

D. Personality Types in Different Cultures. Do these personality types

transfer across cultures? Although no common personality types are

1. Emotional intelligence is composed of five dimensions:

a. Self-awareness

2. Research has shown that emotional intelligence is positively

related to job performance at all organizational levels.

FUTURE VISION: Increased Reliance on Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to an assortment of non-cognitive skills, capabilities, and

competencies that influence a person’s ability to cope with environmental demands and

pressures. People who understand their own emotions and are good at reading others’

emotions are found to have emotional intelligence and may be more effective in their

jobs as managers. In a survey of critical skills for the workforce in 2020, social

intelligence ranked second on a list of the most critical skills. By the same token,

employees who have strong technical skills but are weak on emotional intelligence will

find it increasingly difficult to find and hold a job.

The following discussion questions are posed:

Talk About It 1: Why do you think the ability to get along with others is so critical?

Talk About It 2: How can you develop this ability?

Student answers to these questions will vary.

F. Implications for Managers. The benefit of a manager’s understanding

personality differences is clearly seen in the area of employee selection.

Just as individual personalities differ, so do jobs. Efforts have been made

to match the proper personalities with the proper jobs.

2. The key points of his model: Intrinsic differences in personality

probably do exist among individuals; there are different types of

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15.4 PERCEPTION

Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory impressions in

1. The perceiver

3. The situation

B. Attribution Theory is a theory that explains how we judge people

1. Distinctiveness refers to whether an individual displays different

behavior in different situations.

2. Consensus refers to whether an individual who is faced with a

3. Consistency refers to the congruency in a person’s actions, that is,

5. One of the most interesting findings of attribution theory is that

there are errors or biases that distort attributions.

a. The fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency

1. Assumed similarity is the belief that others are like oneself.

3. Halo effect refers to a general impression of an individual based

on a single characteristic.

15.5 LEARNING

Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result

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1. B. F. Skinner is the psychologist most often associated with

operant conditioning theory.

2. Operant conditioning theory proposes that behavior is determined

3. Skinner argued that creating pleasing and desirable

4. People will most likely engage in desired behaviors if they receive

positive reinforcement for doing so.

2. Retention processes. A model’s influence depends upon how well

an individual remembers the model’s action.

3. Motor reproduction processes. After a person has observed a new

4. Reinforcement processes. Individuals will be motivated to exhibit

modeled behavior if positive rewards are provided.

2. Negative reinforcement is reinforcing a desired behavior with the

termination or withdrawal of something unpleasant.

4. Extinction involves eliminating any reinforcement that is

maintaining a behavior.

D. Implications for Managers. From learning theory, managers should

recognize that employees will learn while doing a job. A key question: Will

managers manage employees’ learning through the rewards the

managers allocate and the examples they set, or will managers allow

learning to occur haphazardly?

15-1. Does the importance of knowledge of OB differ based on a manager’s level in the

organization? If so, how? If not, why not? Be specific.

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15–2. Explain why the concept of an organization as an iceberg is important.

Like the iceberg that sunk the Titanic, the real danger of icebergs is not what lies on top,

15-3. Define the six important employee behaviors.

Employee productivity is a performance measure of both efficiency and effectiveness.

Absenteeism is the failure to report to work. Turnover is the voluntary and involuntary

15-4. Describe the three components of an attitude and explain the four job-related

attitudes.

15-5. Contrast the MBTI and the Big Five model. Describe five other personality traits

that help explain individual behavior in organizations.

The MBTI focuses on learning styles and measures four dimensions: social interaction,

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15-6. Explain how an understanding of perception can help managers better understand

individual behavior. Name three shortcuts used in judging others.

15-7. Describe the key elements of attribution theory. Discuss the fundamental

attribution error and self-serving bias.

Attribution theory depends on three factors. Distinctiveness is whether an individual

displays different behaviors in different situations (that is, is the behavior unusual).

15-8. Describe operant conditioning and how managers can shape behavior.

Operant conditioning argues that behavior is a function of its consequences. Managers

can use it to explain, predict, and influence behavior. Managers can shape behavior by

using positive reinforcement (reinforcing a desired behavior by giving something

pleasant), negative reinforcement (reinforcing a desired response by withdrawing

something unpleasant), punishment (eliminating undesirable behavior by applying

penalties), or extinction (not reinforcing a behavior to eliminate it). (LO: 5, Discuss

learning theories and their relevance in shaping behavior, AACSB: Analytical thinking)

PERSONAL INVENTORY ASSESSMENTS

Student answers to these questions will vary.

ETHICS DILEMMA

Student answers to these questions will vary.

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This chapter’s ethical dilemma explores a situation in which a hiring manager allows his

outside knowledge of an applicant’s behavior to influence hiring decision making. The

hiring manager’s prior favorable impression of an applicant who did not perform as well

as other applicants in the interview process ultimately led to the job being offered to the

applicant. Students should consider whether this was fair to the other applicants. Should

outside knowledge of an applicant be permitted? Might the hiring manager’s outside

knowledge of the applicant actually be more valuable than the interview process?

15–11. What ethical issues might arise for Bill in hiring Robert?

15-12. How could Bill have approached the hiring decision?

(LO: 6, Discuss contemporary issues in organizational behavior, AACSB: Reflective

thinking)

SKILLS EXERCISE: DEVELOPING YOUR SHAPING BEHAVIOR SKILL

SKILLS EXERCISE: DEVELOPING YOUR

SHAPING BEHAVIOR SKILL

Managers are responsible for teaching employees the behaviors that are most critical to

their, and the organization’s, success. This involves ‘shaping’ the behavior of

employees, beginning with teaching skills and having them reinforced. In this exercise,

students are given seven steps to practice their shaping skills. Students are then asked

to imagine that their assistant is ideal in all respects but one—he or she is hopeless at

taking phone messages for you when you’re not in the office. Students are asked to

think about the factors contributing to this behavior and develop a shaping strategy by

determining what can change—the available technology, the task itself, the structure of

the job, or some other element of performance. (LO: 5, Discuss learning theories and

their relevance in shaping behavior, AACSB: Written and oral communication)

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WORKING TOGETHER: TEAM EXERCISE

In this exercise students are asked to understand how employee attitudes might affect

productivity. Students are asked to take on the leadership role of a mid-sized

manufacturing company and explore why production is dropping among frontline

managers. Working in groups of three or four, students should develop an attitude

survey to give to employees that will provide feedback on the numerous changes that

have been made in the company over the last few years. (LO: 2, Explain the role that

attitudes play in job performance, AACSB: Analytical thinking)

MY TURN TO BE A MANAGER

• Write down three attitudes you have. Identify the cognitive, affective, and

behavioral components of those attitudes. (LO: 2, Explain the role that attitudes

play in job performance, AACSB: Reflective thinking)

• If you’ve never taken a personality or career compatibility test, contact your

school’s testing center to see if you can take one. When you get your results,

evaluate what they mean for your career choice. Have you chosen a career that

“fits” your personality? What are the implications? (LO: 3, Describe different

personality theories, AACSB: Reflective thinking)

• Like it or not, each of us is continually shaping the behavior of those around us.

For one week, keep track of how many times you use positive reinforcement,

negative reinforcement, punishment, or extinction to shape behaviors. At the end

of the week, look at your results. Which one did you tend to use most? What

were you trying to do; that is, what behaviors were you trying to shape? Were

your attempts successful? Evaluate. What could you have done differently if you

were trying to change someone’s behavior? (LO: 5, Discuss learning theories

and their relevance in shaping behavior, AACSB: Reflective thinking)

• Find two companies that have been recognized for their employee engagement

efforts. Compare the different strategies each company uses to build and engage

their workforce. Are any the same? Different? Why do you think each company

has been successful with employee engagement? (LO: 2, Explain the role that

attitudes play in job performance, AACSB: Analytical thinking)

•

ANSWERS TO CASE APPLICATION 1

QUESTIONS

ANSWERS TO CASE APPLICATION 1

QUESTIONS

Student answers to these questions will vary.

Great Place to Work

15-13. What is your impression of an “employee-friendly” culture? Would this work in

other organizations? Why or why not? What would it take to make it work?

15–14. How might an understanding of organizational behavior help CEO Jim Goodnight

lead his company? Be specific. How about first-line company supervisors? Again, be

15–15. What do you think has contributed to SAS’s low turnover? Why is low turnover

good for a company?

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of turnover is employee benefits. Employees with such great benefits would likely exhibit

continuance commitment, a feeling that leaving the organization would result in a loss of

positive outcomes. (LO: 2, Explain the role that attitudes play in job performance,

AACSB: Reflective thinking)

15–16. Look back at the statements made by the SAS employee on the Best Companies

survey. What does that tell you about the importance of understanding individual

behavior?

15–17. What is your impression of an “employees first” culture? Would this work in other

organizations? Why or why not? What would it take to make it work?

15–18. Why do satisfied employees provide better customer service?

15-19. What kind of questions do you think Virgin asks in their annual employment

engagement survey? What questions do you think they should include?

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15-20. Why is it important for Virgin to offer a variety of resources to create a supportive