Individual Behavior

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Chapter 15

• Individual Behavior

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Planning Ahead Chapter 15

• How do perceptions influence individual behavior?
• What should we know about personalities in the
  workplace?
• How do attitudes influence individual behavior?
• What are the dynamics of stress and stress
  management?

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How do Perceptions influence Individual Behavior?

• Basic background on work
• Work can be a turn-on or a turn-off.
• People may work under conditions that dont
  provide satisfaction ? but this it doesnt have
  to be this way..
• Valuing people and creating jobs and work
  environments that respect peoples needs and
  potential will benefit everyone.

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How do Perceptions influence Individual Behavior?

• Perception.
• The process through which people receive and
  interpret information from the environment.
• People can perceive the same things or situations
  differently.
• People behave on the basis of their perceptions.

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Figure 15.1 Perception and Communication.
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Psychological Contract

• Person-job fit begins here.
• A set of expectations held by an individual about
  what will be given and received in the employment
  relationship.
• An ideal work situation is one with a fair
  psychological contract.
• Balance of contributions and inducements.

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Components in the Psychological Contract
Offers Contributions
Individual
Serving needs of the Organization Effort Loyalty
Time Commitment Creativity
Serving needs of the individual Pay
Opportunity Training Respect Benefits
Security
Organization
Offers Inducements
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How do Perceptions influence Individual Behavior?

• Perception and attribution.
• Attribution
• The process of developing explanations for
  events.
• Fundamental attribution error
• Occurs when observers blame anothers performance
  failures or problems on internal factors rather
  than external factors.
• Self-serving bias
• Occurs because individuals blame their personal
  performance failures or problems on external
  factors and attribute their successes to internal
  factors.

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How do Perceptions influence Individual Behavior?

• Perceptual tendencies and distortions
• Stereotypes.
• Occur when someone is identified with a group or
  category, and then oversimplified attributes
  associated with the group or category are used to
  describe the individual.
• Halo effects.
• Occur when one attribute is used to develop an
  overall impression of a person or situation.

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How do Perceptions influence Individual Behavior?

• Perceptual tendencies and distortions
• Selective perception.
• The tendency to single out for attention those
  aspects of a situation or attributes of a person
  that reinforce or appear consistent with ones
  existing beliefs, values, or needs.
• Projection.
• The assignment of personal attributes to other
  individuals.

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How do Perceptions influence Individual Behavior?

• Perceptual tendencies and distortions
• Projection.
• The assignment of personal attributes to other
  individuals.
• Impression management
• The systematic attempt to influence how others
  perceive us.

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What should we know about Personalities in the
Workplace?

• Personality
• The combination or overall profile of
  characteristics that makes one person unique from
  others.
• Big Five personality traits
• Extroversion.
• The degree to which someone is outgoing,
  sociable, and assertive.
• Agreeableness.
• The degree to which someone is good-natured,
  cooperative, and trusting.
• Conscientiousness.
• The degree to which someone is responsible,
  dependable, and careful.

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What should we know about Personalities in the
Workplace?

• Big Five personality traits
• Emotional stability.
• The degree to which someone is relaxed, secure,
  and unworried.
• Openness.
• The degree to which someone is curious, receptive
  to new things, and open to change.

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Other Personality Traits that affect Work Behavior

• Locus of control.
• The extent to which people believe they are in
  control of their destinies versus believing that
  that what happens to them is beyond their
  control.
• Authoritarianism.
• The degree to which a person defers to authority
  and accepts status differences.
• Machiavellianism.
• The extent to which someone is emotionally
  detached and manipulative in using power.

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Other Personality Traits that affect Work Behavior

• Problem-solving styles.
• The ways people gather and evaluate information
  for decision making.
• Self-monitoring.
• The degree to which someone is able to adjust and
  modify behavior in response to the situation and
  external factors.

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Components in the Psychological Contract
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability
Agreeableness

Extroversion
Openness
Individual Personality Variations
Locus of control
Self-monitoring
Authoritarianism
Machiavellianism
Problem- solving style
Big Five
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Work Attitudes and Behavior

• Attitude.
• A predisposition to act in a certain way toward
  people and things in ones environment.
• Components of attitudes
• Cognitive component.
• Affective or emotional component.
• Behavioral component.
• Cognitive dissonance.
• The discomfort a person feels when attitudes and
  behavior are inconsistent.

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Work Attitudes and Behavior

• Job satisfaction.
• The degree to which an individual feels
  positively or negatively about various aspects of
  work.
• Common aspects of job satisfaction
• Pay.
• Coworkers.
• Supervision.
• Work setting.
• Advancement opportunities.
• Workload.

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Work Attitudes and Behavior

• Strong and positive relationship between
  satisfaction and absenteeism and turnover.
• Satisfaction-related concepts having quality of
  work life implications
• Job involvement
• The extent to which an individual is dedicated to
  a job.
• Organizational commitment
• Loyalty of an individual to the organization.

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Work Attitudes and Behavior

• Job performance.
• The quantity and quality of task
  accomplishments by an individual or group at
  work.
• Individual performance equation
• Performance begins with ability.
• Performance requires support.
• Performance involves effort.

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HIGH PERFORMANCE EQUATION
PERFORMANCE

ABILITY
SUPPORT
X
X
EFFORT
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Quality of Work Life

• The overall quality of human experiences in the
  workplace.
• An important component of quality of life.
• Poor management practices can diminish QWL and
  overall quality of life.
• Managers should create work environments wherein
  people have positive experiences and perform
  well.

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What are the Dynamics of Stress and Stress
Management?

• Stress
• A state of tension experienced by individuals
  facing extraordinary demands, constraints, or
  opportunities.
• Stressors
• Things that cause stress
• Originate in work, personal, and nonwork
  situations.
• Have the potential to influence work attitudes,
  behavior, job performance, and health.

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What are the Dynamics of Stress and Stress
Management?

• Work factors as potential stressors
• Includes
• Excessively high or low task demands.
• Role conflicts or ambiguities.
• Poor interpersonal relationships.
• Too slow or too fast career progress.
• Work-related stress syndromes
• Set up to fail.
• Mistaken identity.

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What are the Dynamics of Stress and Stress
Management?

• Personal factors as potential stressors
• Includes needs, capabilities, and personality.
• Stressful behavior patterns of the Type A
  personality
• Always moving, walking, and eating rapidly.
• Acting impatient, hurrying others, disliking
  waiting.
• Doing, or trying to do, several things at once.
• Feeling guilty when relaxing.
• Trying to schedule more in less time.
• Using nervous gestures such as a clenched fist.
• Hurrying or interrupting the speech of others.

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What are the Dynamics of Stress and Stress
Management?

• Nonwork factors as potential stressors
• Includes
• Family events.
• Economics.
• Personal affairs.
• Spill-over effect on the stress an individual
  experiences at work.

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What are the Dynamics of Stress and Stress
Management?

• Consequences of stress
• Constructive stress.
• Acts as a positive influence.
• Can be energizing and performance enhancing.
• Destructive stress.
• Acts as a negative influence.
• Breaks down a persons physical and mental
  systems.
• Can lead to job burnout and/or workplace rage.

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Figure 15.4 Potential negative consequences of a
destructive job stress-burnout cycle.
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What are the Dynamics of Stress and Stress
Management?

• Personal wellness
• The pursuit of personal and mental potential
  though a personal health-promotion program.
• A form of preventative stress management.
• Enables people to be better prepared to deal with
  stress.

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Chapter 15 Review

• How do perceptions influence individual behavior?
• What should we know about personalities in the
  workplace?
• How do attitudes influence individual behavior?
• What are the dynamics of stress and stress
  management?