Chapter Fifteen

Basic Elements of Individual Behavior in Organizations

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Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Explain the nature of the individual-organization relationship. 2. Define personality and describe personality attributes that affect behavior in organizations. 3. Discuss individual attitudes in organizations and how they affect behavior. 4. Describe basic perceptual processes and the role of attributions in organizations. 5. Discuss the causes and consequences of stress and describe how it can be managed. 6. Describe creativity and its role in organizations. 7. Explain how workplace behaviors can directly or indirectly influence organizational effectiveness.
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Understanding Individuals in Organizations

The Psychological Contract
The overall set of expectations held by an individual with respect to what he or she will contribute to the organization and what the organization will provide in return.

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Figure 15.1: The Psychological Contract

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Understanding Individuals in Organizations (contd)

The Person-Job Fit
Reasons for poor person-job fit:
Organizational selection procedures are imperfect. Both people and organizations change over time. Adopting new technologies changes the skills needed by employees. Each individual is unique and each job is unique.

Individual Differences
Personal attributes that vary from one person to another.
Physical, psychological, or emotional.

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Personality and Individual Behavior

Personality The relatively stable set of psychological and behavioral attributes that distinguish one person from another. The Big Five Personality Traits Agreeablenessa persons ability to get along with others. Conscientiousnessthe number of goals on which a person focuses. Negative emotionalitythe extent to which a person is calm, resilient, and secure. Extraversiona persons comfort level with relationships. Opennessa persons rigidity of beliefs and range of interests.
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Figure 15.2: The Big Five Model of Personality

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The Myers-Briggs Framework

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
A popular questionnaire that some organizations use to assess personality types.
Is a useful method for determining communication styles and interaction preferences. Has questionable validity and reliability.

Personality Types
Extraversion (E) versus Introversion (I) Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N) Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F) Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P)

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Other Personality Traits at Work

Locus of Control
The extent to which people believe that their behavior has a real effect on what happens to them.
Internal locus of controlindividuals who believe they are in control of their lives. External locus of controlindividuals believe that external forces dictate what happen to them.

Self-Efficacy
A persons belief about his or her capabilities to perform a task. High self-efficacy individuals believe they can perform well while low selfefficacy individuals doubt their ability to perform.
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Other Personality Traits at Work (contd)

Authoritarianism
The extent to which an individual believes that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social organizations.

Machiavellianism
Behavior directed at gaining power and controlling the behavior of others.

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Other Personality Traits at Work (contd)

Self-Esteem
The extent to which a person believes she/he is a worthwhile individual.

Risk Propensity
The degree to which an individual is willing to take chances and make risky decisions.

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Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, or EQ
The extent to which people are self-aware, can manage their emotions, can motivate themselves, express empathy for others, and possess social skills.

Dimensions of EQ
Self-awareness Managing emotion Motivating oneself Empathy Social skill

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Attitudes and Individual Behavior

Attitudes
Complexes of beliefs and feelings that people have about specific ideas, situations, or other people.

Attitudinal Components
Affective component
Feelings and emotions toward a situation (i.e., how we feel).

Cognitive component
Perceived knowledge (i.e., why we feel the way we feel).

Intentional component
Expected behavior in a given situation (i.e., what we intend do about the situation).
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Attitudes and Individual Behavior

Cognitive Dissonance
The conflict individuals experience among their own attitudes. The affective and cognitive components of the individuals attitude are in conflict with intended behavior.

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Work-Related Attitudes
Job Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction
An attitude that reflects the extent to which an individual is gratified or fulfilled by his or her work.

Job Satisfaction and Work Behaviors

Job satisfaction is influenced by personal, group, and organizational factors. Satisfied employees are absent less often, make positive contributions, and stay with the organization. Dissatisfied employees are absent more often, may experience stress which disrupts coworkers, and may be continually looking for another job. High levels of job satisfaction do not necessarily lead to high job performance.
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Work-Related Attitudes (contd)

Organizational Commitment
An attitude that reflects an individuals identification with and attachment to an organization.

Organizational Commitment and Work Behaviors

Employee commitment strengthens with an individuals age, years with the organization, sense of job security, and participation in decision making. Committed employees have highly reliable habits, plan a longer tenure with the organization, and muster more effort in performance.
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Affect and Mood in Organizations

Positive Affectivity
A tendency to be relatively upbeat and optimistic, have an overall sense of well-being, see things in a positive light, and seem to be in a good mood.

Negative Affectivity
A tendency to be generally downbeat and pessimistic, tend to see things in a negative way, and seem to be in a bad mood.

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Perception and Individual Behavior

Perception
The set of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information.

Selective Perception
The process of screening out information that we are uncomfortable with or that contradicts our beliefs. If selective perception causes someone to ignore important information it can become quite detrimental.

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Figure 15.3: Perceptual Processes

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Perception and Individual Behavior

Stereotyping
The process of categorizing or labeling people on the basis of a single attribute (e.g., gender and race). Stereotyping may cost the organization valuable talent, violate federal anti-bias laws, and is likely unethical.

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Perception and Attribution

Attribution
A mechanism through which we observe behavior and attribute a cause to it.

Ways in Which Attributions Are Formed:

Consensus Consistency Distinctiveness

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Stress and Individual Behavior

Stress
A persons response to a strong stimulus (i.e., a stressor).

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

The general cycle of the stress process. Stage 1 Alarm Stage 2 Resistance Stage 3 Exhaustion

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Stress and Individual Behavior (contd)

Personality Types
Type A personality
Extremely competitive (aggressive), devoted to work, have a strong sense of time urgency (impatient). Have a lot of drive and want to accomplish as much as possible as quickly as possible.

Type B personality
Less competitive, less devoted to work, have a weaker sense of time urgency. Less likely to experience personal stress or to come into conflict with other people. More likely to have a balanced, relaxed approach to life.

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Figure 15.4: The General Adaptation Syndrome

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Figure 15.5: Causes of Work Stress

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Causes and Consequences of Stress (contd)

Consequences of Stress
Negative personal consequences
Behavioral Psychological Medical

Negative work-related consequences

Poor quality work output and lower productivity. Job dissatisfaction, low morale, and a lack of commitment. Withdrawal through indifference and absenteeism.

Burnout
A feeling of exhaustion that may develop when someone experiences too much stress for an extended period of time.
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Managing Stress
Stress Management Strategies for Individuals
Regular exercise
reduces tension and stress, and improves selfconfidence and feelings of optimism.

Relaxation
allows individuals to adapt and better deal with their stress.

Time management
reduces stress by prioritizing activities to accomplish them in their order of importance.

Support groups
socializing away from work reduces stress.

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Managing Stress (contd)

Stress Management Strategies for Organizations
Organizations are partly responsible for stress. Organizations also bear the costs of stress-related claims. Organizational wellness/stress management programs can be used to promote healthful employee activities and derive the benefits of increased organizational productivity.

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Creativity in Organizations
Creativity
The ability of an individual to generate new ideas or to conceive of new perspectives in existing ideas.

The Creative Individual

Background experiences and creativity
Many creative individuals were reared in creative environments.

Personal traits and creativity

Creative persons have personal traits of openness, an attraction to complexity, high levels of energy, independence, autonomy, strong self-confidence, and a strong belief in their own creativity.
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Creativity in Organizations
The Creative Individual
Cognitive abilities and creativity
Most creative people are highly intelligent. They are both divergent and convergent thinkers, a skill they use to see differences and similarities in situations, phenomena, and events.

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The Creative Process

Preparation
Formal education and training is used to get up to speed. Experiences on the job provide additional knowledge and ideas.

Incubation
A period of less intense conscious concentration during which knowledge and ideas acquired, during reparation, mature and develop. Incubation can be helped by pauses in rational thought.
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The Creative Process (contd)

Insight
A spontaneous breakthrough in which the creative person achieves a new understanding of some problem or situation. Patterns of thought coalesce into a new understanding.

Verification
Determines the validity or truthfulness of the insight. Tests are conducted and prototypes are built to see if the insight leads to the expected results.

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The Creative Process (contd)

Enhancing Creativity in Organizations
Make creativity part of the organizations culture.
Set goals for revenues from creative products and services.

Reward creativity; refrain from punishing creative failures.

Some ideas work out as expected, others dont work out as intended.

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Types of Workplace Behavior

Workplace Behavior
A pattern of action by the members of an organization that directly or indirectly influences organizational effectiveness.

Performance Behaviors
The total set of work-related behaviors an organization expects an individual to display.

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Types of Workplace Behavior

Withdrawal Behaviors
Absenteeism occurs when an individual does not show up for work when expected for legitimate or feigned reasons. Absenteeism may be a symptom of other work-related problems. Turnover occurs when individuals quit their jobs for work-related or personal reasons.

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Types of Workplace Behavior (contd)

Organizational Citizenship
The behavior of individuals that makes a positive overall contribution to the organization.
The determinants of organizational citizenship is a complex mosaic of individual, social, and organizational variables.
The personality, attitudes, and needs of the individual. The social context, or work group, in which the individual works.

An organization (and its culture) capable of rewarding citizenship behaviors.

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Key Terms
contributions psychological contract inducements individual differences personality openness conscientiousness negative emotionality extraversion Big Five personality traits locus of control self-efficacy authoritarianism Machiavellianism self-esteem risk propensity attitudes cognitive dissonance emotional intelligence (EQ) job satisfaction or dissatisfaction
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Key Terms
organizational commitment negative affectivity perception selective perception stereotyping attribution stress Type B Type A General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) burnout creativity workplace behavior absenteeism turnover organizational citizenship dysfunctional behaviors

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