4. Perception and Trust
Trust is the expectation that another person will not act to take advantage of us regardless
of our ability to monitor or control them. Trust is critical to long-term relationships and is
positively related to job performance.
Case Study: What do Do When the Boss Releases His or Her Inner
Toddler
Summary: The case begins by outlining a scenario of VPs reporting monthly sales when the president of
the company throws a chair at a VP reporting low monthly sales results, stating, “Next time, I won’t
miss.” Consultant Lynn Taylor calls bosses like this Terrible Office Tyrants, or TOTs: managers who
can’t control their power when they’re placed under stress. Taylor provides 20 common traits
characterizing TOTs, including bragging and bullying. Taylor offers some concrete coping techniques for
subordinates of TOTS, including putting everything in writing and being a star performer.
1. According to some experts, the sort of behavior recorded here is more prevalent in the business
world than in the rest of society. Assuming that this is true, why do you suppose that’s the case?
Answers will vary but some possible arguments are that persons exhibiting this behavior likely would
2. Are you something of a perfectionist? Are you easily frustrated? How will suited are you—at
this point in your life—to the task of managing other people?
3. How might attitudes, values, and perceptions affect the behaviors illustrated in this case?
Attitudes are formed by a variety of forces, including the Big Five personality traits. The chair-
4. How would stress come into play?
IV. STRESS IN ORGANIZATIONS
The finally element of individual behavior we will discuss in this chapter is stress. Many people
think of stress as a simple problem. In reality, however, stress is complex and often misunderstood.
A. The Nature of Stress
The text defines stress as a person’s adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive
psychological or physical demands on that person.
Given the underlying complexities of this definition, we need to examine its components
carefully.
1. The Stress Process
Much of what we know about stress today can be traced to the pioneering work of Dr. Hans
Selye, whose most important contributions include his identification of the general
adaptation syndrome and the concepts of eustress and distress.
2. Distress and Eustress
One type of stress, eustress, is the pleasurable stress that accompanies positive events like
receiving a bonus or a promotion.
B. Common Causes of Stress
Many things can cause stress. Figure 4.7 shows two broad categories: organizational stressors
and life stressors. It also shows three categories of stress consequences: individual
consequences, organizational consequences, and burnout.
1. Organizational Stressors
Organizational stressors are various factors in the workplace that can cause stress.
Four general sets of organizational stressors are task demands, physical demands, role
demands, and interpersonal demands.
The physical demands of a job are its physical requirements on the worker; these demands
are a function of the physical characteristics of the setting and the physical tasks the job
involves. One important element is temperature. Others include strenuous labor
requirements, office design, the amount of social interaction, poor lighting, inadequate
work surfaces, or shift work.
Role demands can also be stressful to people in organizations. A role is a set of expected
behaviors associated with a particular position in a group or organization. As such, it has
both formal (i.e., job-related and explicit) and informal (i.e., social and implicit)
requirements. Individuals perceive role expectations with varying degrees of accuracy and
then attempt to enact that role.
C. Consequences of Stress
Referring back to Figure 4.7, stress can produce individual consequences, organizational
consequences, and burnout. Many of the factors listed are obviously interrelated.
1. Individual Consequences
The individual consequences of stress are the outcomes that mainly affect the individual,
and may produce behavioral, psychological, and medical consequences.
2. Organizational Consequences
Other results of stress have even more direct consequences for organizations. These include
decline in performance, withdrawal, and negative changes in attitudes. Employee violence
is a potential individual consequence of stress.
D. Managing and Controlling Stress
Many strategies have been developed to help manage stress in the workplace. Some are for
individuals, and others are geared toward organizations.
1. Individual Coping Strategies
Many strategies for helping individuals manage stress have been proposed. Exercise is one
method of managing stress. A related method of managing stress is relaxation. Time
2. Organizational Coping Strategies
Organizations are also increasingly realizing that they should be involved in managing their
employees’ stress.
Two basic organizational strategies for helping employees manage stress are institutional
programs and collateral programs.
E. Work–Life Balance
1. Fundamental Work–Life Relationships
Work–life relationships can be characterized in any number of ways.
Common dimensions include such things as an individual’s current job (including working
hours, job satisfaction, and so forth), his or her career goals (the person’s aspirations, career
2. Balancing Work–Life Linkages
Balancing work–life linkages is, of course, no easy thing to do. The important thing is to
recognize the potential trade-offs in advance so that they can be carefully weighed and a
Summary and Application
Attitudes, values and emotions, perception, and stress are all important factors that influence
organizational behavior. The three most important job-related attitudes are job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, and employee engagement.
There are many different kinds of values that can be held by people. Not surprisingly, then, it is somewhat
common for an individual to have conflicting values. Values also differ across cultures in different parts
of the globe. Emotions, affect, and mood are also important contributors to behavior.
Discussion Questions
1. If your boss was not sure it would be worth the investment to change the company’s hiring
practices to include an evaluation of applicants’ attitudes, what would you tell him or her?
Students may point out that attitudes and values about work influence job satisfaction. Someone with
2. Do you think that it would be easy to influence a subordinate’s attitudes, values, or emotions?
Why? Which would have the largest influence on the employee’s behavior? Why?
It is easier to influence a subordinate’s emotions. Attitudes are formed over the course of a person’s
3. What are the components of an individual’s attitude? Relate each component to an attitude you
currently have about something.
From the dispositional view of attitudes, the three components are affect, cognition, and intention.
4. Do terminal or instrumental values have a larger influence on your behavior at work? Explain.
Terminal values reflect our goals that are subject to change, whereas instrumental values are our
5. Think of a person you know who seems to have positive affectivity. Think of another who has
more negative affectivity. How constant are they in their expressions of mood and attitude?
6. How does perception affect behavior? What stereotypes do you form about people? Are they
good or bad?
Perception is the set of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information
about the environment. People are constantly interacting with others by first perceiving others, then
7. Recall a situation in which you made attributions and describe them using the framework
supplied in Figure 4.5.
8. Do you consider yourself a Type A or a Type B person? Why? Do you think a person who is a
Type A can change to become more like a Type B? If so, how?
Type A people tend to be more competitive, more aggressive, more dedicated to work, and more
impatient than Type B people and to have a strong sense of time urgency. Type B people tend to be
9. What are the major stressors for a student? What consequences are students most likely to
suffer as a result of too much stress?
10. Do you agree that a certain degree of stress is necessary to induce high energy and motivation?
Most students will recall examples of people in stressful situations who found the strength to do
Understand Yourself Exercise—Negative Affectivity
To complete this activity, students must have completed and scored the negative affectivity self-
assessment on page 132. The activity tells students to spend two minutes discussing a recent major news
story with their partner. Consider having a list of recent major news stories ready to share with students to
prompt their discussion. (Assigning a specific news story to pairs or the entire class is not recommended,
as some students may not be familiar with the assigned story.)
Group Exercise—The Effect of Emotion on Team Performance
Learning Objective: Explain why emotions are important to organizations.
Task: In teams, students role-play a particular emotion. Students identify each team’s role by reading the
description below:
Role 1: Grouchy, negative affect
Teams spend the next few minutes discussing the best ways for the manager of a local McDonald’s
restaurant to improve employees’ job engagement and decide on three ideas.
Questions:
1. Did your emotion influence your own performance or behavior in your team?
Video Exercise
Videos and questions can be found in the eBook and MindTap video folder.
Recycline Preserve: Strategy and the Partnership Advantage
Summary: Recycline began in 1996 when founder Eric Hudson designed an innovative toothbrush out of
all-recycled material. Today, Recycline’s ecofriendly product line, Preserve, includes a range of personal
1. What roles do attitudes, values, and emotions play at a firm like Recycline? What role do your
existing attitudes about recycling affect how you see a company like Recycline?
2. What is your perception of CEO Eric Hudson? On what do you base your perception? What is
the public’s perception of green products according to marketing Director C.A. Webb? Why do
some people have that perception, and what can Recycline do to change it?
Different people will often perceive a person or situation differently, both in what they selectively
perceive and how they organize and interpret what is perceived. Students will construct perceptions of
3. Would you want to work for Recycline? Why or why not?
Student’s answers will vary for this question.
Now What?
Imagine meeting with a subordinate who has been working at Happy Time Toys for a month and can’t yet
meet the company’s goals. The subordinate tried hard to perform well during the training session to look
OB Concepts Applied: self-efficacy; learning and performance goal orientations; learning styles; person-
job fit; supplementary fit; realistic job preview
Discussion Questions
1. What attitudes did the employee develop about his performance on the job? How were they
formed?
Joe felt like he could not perform the job as well as others. He stated that he did well in training and
2. What role do attributions play in how the employee responded to challenges of learning to do
his job? What role do attributions play in how a manager might respond to a subordinate’s
performance?
For Joe, he is trying to explain why he did so well in training yet seems unable to master the job now
that he is actually performing the job. Joe sees other workers making their daily production levels
3. In what ways does fairness influence how the subordinate responded to the situations you
viewed?
Joe did not feel that the “hang in there, it will get better” method was fair because he quit. He left
4. What other solutions might you have suggested to address the situation? Explain your answer
using concepts form the chapter.
Student’s answers will vary. I feel the offer of a two-week mentor or coach is good solution,