ATTRIBUTION

THEORY
AND
SPECIFIC APPLICATION IN AN
ORGANIZATION

Presented By:
Abhishek Panda-111
Rohan Sinha-113
Aakash Bhatia-21
 Contents
ATTRIBUTION THORY DEFINITION
TYPES OF ATTRIBUTION
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ATTRIBUTIONS(KELLYS MODEL)
COMMON ATTRIBUTION ERRORS
SHORTCUTS USED IN FORMING IMPRESSIONS OF OTHERS
SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS IN ORGANIZATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 DEFINITION
Attribution theory is a theory about how people explain things.

Attribution refer to the way people try to understand the behavior of

others or interpret events around them.

Attribution theory seeks to explain how and why people make these
causal attributions.
 Types Of Attribution

CATEGORY 1 CATEGORY 2 CATEGORY 3

INTERNAL STABLE CONTROLLABLE

EXTERNAL UNSTABLE UNCONTROLLABLE
 Internal vs. External
In an internal, or dispositional, attribution, people infer that an event
or a persons behavior is due to personal factors such as traits,
abilities, or feelings.

In an external, or situational, attribution, people infer that a persons

behavior is due to situational factors.
 Stable vs. Unstable
Researchers also distinguish between stable and
unstable attributions.

When people make a Stable attribution, they infer

that an event or behavior is due to stable, unchanging
factors.

When making an Unstable attribution, they infer that

an event or behavior is due to unstable, temporary
factors.
 Controllable vs. Uncontrollable
If something is controllable, we can alter it if we wish to do so.

If something is uncontrollable, it is outside our sphere of influence.

 Factors That Influence
Attributions(Kellys model)
Distinctiveness : Consistency :

Distinctiveness the Consistency refers to

consideration given to the measure of whether
how consistent a an individual responds
persons behavior is the same way across
across different time.
situations

Consensus : Consensus - refers to the likelihood that all

those facing the same situation will have
similar responses.
 Common Attribution Errors

Self-
Fundament
serving
al Error
Bias
 The Fundamental Attribution Error
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency
to attribute other peoples behavior to internal factors
such as personality traits, abilities, and feelings.
The fundamental attribution error is also called
the correspondence bias, because it is assumed
that other peoples behavior corresponds to their
personal attributes.
When explaining their own behavior, on the other hand, people
tend to attribute it to situational factors.
 The Self-Serving Bias
The self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute successes to internal
factors and failures to situational factors.

This bias tends to increase as time passes after an event.

Therefore, the further in the past an event is, the more likely people
are to congratulate themselves for successes and to blame the
situation for failures.
Shortcuts Used in Forming Impressions
of Others
 Cont.
Selective Perception happens when a person selectively interprets
what he sees on the basis of his interests, background, experience,
and attitudes. It is impossible for a person to assimilate everything he
sees, hears, smells, touches or tastes. Only a limited number of
stimuli can be taken in. As a result, people engage in selective
perception, but the process is affected by personal interests,
background, experience and attitude of the perceiver.
Cont..
Halo Effect occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is used to
develop an overall impression of the person or situation. In short, this occurs
when we draw a general impression on the basis of a single characteristic.
Contrast Effects evaluations of a persons characteristics that are affected
by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or
lower on the same characteristics. Here, we do not evaluate a person in
isolation. Our reaction to one person is influenced by other persons we have
recently encountered.
Cont..

Stereotyping judging someone on the basis of ones perception of

the group to which that person belongs. Generalization is not without
advantages. It is a means of simplifying a complex world, and it
permits us to maintain consistency. The problem, of course, is when
we inaccurately stereotype.
Specific Applications in Organizations
Cont
Employment Interview - during an interview the interviewers make an perceptual
judgement and draw early impressions. As a result information elicited early in the
interview carries greater weight than does information elicited later.

Performance Expectations - Self-fulfilling prophecy (pygmalion effect): The lower

or higher performance of employees reflects preconceived leader expectations about
employee capabilities.
Cont..
Performance Evaluations - Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental)
perceptions of appraisers of another employees job performance.
Employee Effort - Assessment of individual effort is a subjective judgment subject to
perceptual distortion and bias.
Ethnic Profiling - A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals is singled
outtypically on the basis of race or ethnicityfor intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or
investigation.
 Bibliography
Organizational Behavior - V S P Rao.
Organization Behavior -Johhn M Ivancevich ,Robert Konopaske
and Michael T Matteson
Organization Behavior - Stephen P. Robbins , Timothy A. Judge
and Neharika Vohra
http://www.simplypsychology.org/attribution-theory.html
Google Images
THANK YOU!
T

THE END!