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Part I The Individual in the Organization 10 CHAPTER 2-FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR CHAPTER OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter,students should be able to:1.List the dominant values in todays workforce.2.Describe the relationship between satisfaction and productivity.3.Explain the theory of cognitive dissonance.4.Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior.5.Explain how two people can see the same thing and interpret it differently.6.Summarize attribution theory.7.Outline the learning process.LECTURE OUTLINE I.VALUES A.Introduction 1.Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.2.Value systems contain a moral flavor in that they carry an individuals ideas as to what is right,good,or desirable.3.Value systems represent a prioritizing of individual values.4.Values are identified by the relative importance an individual assigns to them,such as freedom,pleasure,self-respect,honesty,obedience,and equality.B.Types of Values 1.Rokeach Value Survey(RVS)a)Milton Rokeach created the Rokeach Value Survey.b)The RVS consists of two sets of values,with each set containing eighteen individual value items.c)One set,terminal values,refers to desirable end-states of existence.These are the goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime.d)The other set,instrumental values,refers to preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving the terminal value.(1)Exhibit 2-1 gives common examples for each of these sets.e)RVS values vary among groups.(1)People in the same occupations or categories(e.g.,corporate managers,union members,parents,and students)tend to hold similar values.2.Contemporary Work Cohorts a)A four-group model that attempts to capture the unique values of different cohorts or generations in the U.S.workforce.(1)Exhibit 2-2 proposes that employees can be segmented by the era in which they entered the workforce.(2)Because most people start work between the ages of 18 and 23,the eras also correlate closely with the chronological age of employees.b)“Veterans”are workers who grew up influenced by the Great Depression,and so on,who entered the workforce from the through the 1950s and early 1960s.(1)They believe in hard work,the status quo,and authority figures.(2)Once hired,they tend to be loyal to their employer.(3)They are likely to place the greatest importance on a comfortable life and family security.Part I The Individual in the Organization 12 7.We might look forward to higher ethical standards in business over the next decade or two merely as a result of changing values within the managerial ranks.D.Values Across Cultures 1.A Comparison of American and Japanese Cultures a)American children are taught early the values of individuality and uniqueness.b)A significant part of an American students education is to learn to think,analyze,and question.c)Japanese children are indoctrinated to be team players,to work within the group,and to conform.d)Japanese counterparts are rewarded for recounting facts.e)The average U.S.worker is more competitive and self-focused than the Japanese worker.2.A Framework for Assessing Cultures a)A widely referenced approach for analyzing variations among cultures has been done by Geert Hofstede.(1)He found that managers and employees vary on the following five value dimensions of national culture:b)Power distance (1)The degree to which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.c)Individualism vs.collectivism(1)Individualism is the degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups.(2)Collectivism is the opposite or the equivalent of low individualism.d)Quantity of life vs.quality of life(1)Quantity of life is the degree to which values like assertiveness,the acquisition of money and material goods,and competition prevail.(2)Quality of life is the degree to which people value relationships and show sensitivity and concern for the welfare of others.e)Uncertainty avoidance(1)The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations.(2)In countries that score high on uncertainty avoidance,people have an increased level of anxiety that manifests itself in great nervousness,stress,and aggressiveness.f)Long-term vs.short-term orientation(1)People in long-term orientation countries look to the future and value thrift and persistence.(2)A short-term orientation values the past and present and emphasizes respect for tradition and social obligations.g)Exhibit 2-3 summarizes how a number of countries rate on these five dimensions.3.Implications for OB.a)Most of the concepts that currently make up OB have been developed by Americans using American subjects within domestic contexts.(1)Therefore not all OB theories and concepts are universally applicable to managing people around the world.II.ATTITUDES A.Introduction Chapter 2 Foundations of Individual Behavior 13 1.Attitudes are evaluative statementseither favorable or unfavorableconcerning objects,people,or events.2.They reflect how one feels about something.3.OB focuses on a very limited number of job-related attitudesjob satisfaction,job involvement(the degree to which a person identifies with his or her job and actively participates in it),and organizational commitment(an indicator of loyalty to,and identi-fication with,the organization).a)Job satisfaction has received the bulk of attention.B.Job Satisfaction 1.Job satisfaction refers to an individuals general attitude toward his or her job.a)A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive attitudes toward the job.b)A person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative attitudes about that job and has a low level of satisfaction.2.What Determines Job Satisfaction?a)The most important factors conducive to job satisfaction are mentally challenging work,equitable rewards,supportive working conditions and supportive colleagues.b)Employees tend to prefer jobs that give them opportunities to use their skills and abilities and that offer a variety of tasks,freedom,and feedback on how well they are doing.c)Employees want pay systems and promotion policies that they perceive as just,unambiguous,and in line with their expectations.d)Employees are concerned with their work environment for both personal comfort and job facilitation.(1)They prefer physical surroundings that are safe,comfortable,clean,and have a minimum degree of distractions.e)For most employees,work also fills the need for social interaction,therefore,friendly and supportive co-workers lead to increased job satisfaction.3.Satisfaction and Productivity a)This topic has attracted a lot of attention and interest.b)The early views were a happy worker is a productive worker.c)A more careful analysis indicates that if satisfaction does have a positive effect on productivity,that effect is fairly small.(1)The introduction of moderating variables,however,has improved the relationship.d)Currently,on the basis of a comprehensive review of the evidence,it appears that productivity is more likely to lead to satisfaction rather than the other way around.4.Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior(OCB)a)Early discussions of OCB assumed that it was closely linked with satisfaction.b)More recent evidence,however,suggests that satisfaction influences OCB,but through perceptions of fairness.c)There is a modest overall relationship between job satisfaction and OCB;satisfaction is unrelated to OCB when fairness is controlled for.d)Job satisfaction comes down to conceptions of fair outcomes,treatment,and procedures.(1)If employees perceive organizational processes and outcomes to be fair,trust develops.(2)When employees trust the employer,they are more willing to voluntarily engage in behaviors that go beyond formal job requirements.C.Reducing Dissonance Part I The Individual in the Organization 14 1.Cognitive dissonance occurs when there are inconsistencies between two or more of a persons attitudes or between a persons behavior and attitudes.a)The theory of cognitive dissonance suggests that people seek to minimize dissonance and the discomfort it causes.2.A persons desire to reduce dissonance is determined by the importance of the elements creating the dissonance,the degree of influence the individual believes he or she has over the elements,and the rewards that may be involved in dissonance.a)If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant,the pressure to correct this imbalance will be low.b)The degree of influence that individuals believe they have over the elements involved will have an impact on how they will react to the dissonance.c)If they perceive the dissonance to be an uncontrollable resultsomething that they cant changethey are not likely to be receptive to attitude change.3.Rewards also influence the degree to which individuals are motivated to reduce dissonance.a)The tension inherent in high dissonance may be reduced if accompanied by a high reward.4.Organizational Implications a)It can help to predict the propensity to engage in both attitudinal and behavioral change.b)The greater the dissonanceafter it has been moderated by importance,choice,and reward factorsthe greater the pressure to reduce it.D.The Attitude-Behavior Relationship 1.The early research on the relationship between attitudes(A)and behavior(B)assumed a causal relationship;that is,the attitudes people hold determine what they do.2.In the late 1960s,however,this assumed relationship between attitudes and behavior(A-B)was challenged by a review of the research.a)A reviewer of a number of studies concluded that attitudes were either unrelated to behavior or,at best,only slightly related.b)More recent research has demonstrated that there is indeed a measurable relationship if moderating contingency variables are taken into consideration.3.Concentration on both specific attitudes and specific behaviors improves our chances of finding significant A-B relationships.a)The more specific the attitude we are measuring and the more specific we are in identifying a related behavior,the greater the probability that we can show a relationship between A and B.4.Social constraints also moderate behavior.a)Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior may occur because the social pressures on the individual to behave in a certain way are exceptionally powerful.5.Of course,A and B may be at odds for other reasons.a)Individuals can and do hold contradictory attitudes at a given time.III.PERCEPTION A.Introduction 1.Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.2.Research consistently demonstrates that different individuals may look at the same thing yet perceive it differently.B.Factors Influencing Perception Chapter 2 Foundations of Individual Behavior 15 1.A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception.2.These factors can reside in the perceiver,in the object or target being perceived,or in the context of the situation in which the perception is made.3.Personal characteristics affecting perception include attitudes,personality,motives,interests,past experiences,and expectations.4.Characteristics of the target being observed can affect what is perceived.5.Because targets are not looked at in isolation,the relationship of a target to its background influences perception as does our tendency to group close things and similar things together.C.Attribution Theory 1.Much of the research on perception is directed at inanimate objects.a)OB is concerned with human perception.b)Our perception and judgment of a persons actions will be significantly influenced by the assumptions we make about that persons internal state.2.Attribution theory develops explanations of how we judge people differently depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behavior.3.The theory suggests that when we observe an individuals behavior,we attempt to deter-mine whether it was internally or externally caused.a)That determination depends on three factors:(1)distinctiveness,(2)consensus,and(3)consistency.b)Internally caused behaviors are believed to be under the personal control of the individual.c)Externally caused behavior results from outside causes;that is,the person is seen as forced into the behavior by the situation.4.Distinctiveness refers to whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations.a)What we want to know is whether this behavior is unusual.b)If it is,the observer is likely to give the behavior an external attribution.c)If this action is not unique,it will probably be judged as internal.5.If everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds in the same way,we can say the behavior shows consensus.a)From an attribution perspective,if consensus is high,you would be expected to give an external attribution to the employees tardiness.b)If other employees who took the same route made it to work on time,you would conclude the tardiness had an internal cause.6.Consistency.Does the person respond the same way over time?a)The more consistent the behavior,the more the observer is inclined to attribute it to internal causes.7.We look at actions and judge them within their situational context.a)If you have a reputation as a good student yet fail one test in a course,the instructor is likely to disregard the poor exam.b)Why?He or she will attribute the cause of this unusual performance to external conditions.8.Another important finding from attribution theory is that errors or biases distort attributions.a)There is substantial evidence that when we judge the behavior of other people,we tend to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal or personal factors.(1)This is called the fundamental attribution error.Part I The Individual in the Organization 16 b)Individuals also tend to attribute their own successes to internal factors such as ability or effort while putting the blame for failure on external factors such as luck.(1)This is called the self-serving bias and suggests that feedback provided to employees in performance reviews will be predictably distorted by recipients depending on whether it is positive or negative.D.Shortcuts to Judging Others 1.People in organizations do make judgments about others all the time.a)To make the task easier,individuals take shortcuts.2.Individuals cannot assimilate all they observe,so they use selectivity.a)Selective perception allows us to“speed read”others but not without the risk of drawing an inaccurate picture.3.Assumed similarity,or the“like me”effect,results in an individuals perception of others being influenced more by what the observer is like than by what the person being observed is actually like.4.When we judge someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs,we are using the shortcut called stereotyping.5.When we draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic such as intelligence,sociability,or appearance,a halo effect is operating.IV.LEARNING A.Introduction 1.Almost all complex human behavior is learned.If we want to explain,predict,or control behavior,we need to understand how people learn.2.A more accurate definition of learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience.a)Exhibit 2-4 summarizes the learning process.3.First,learning helps us adapt to,and master,our environment.a)By changing our behavior to accommodate changing conditions,we become responsible citizens and productive employees.4.Learning is built upon the law of effect,which says that behavior is a function of its consequences.a)Behavior that is followed by a favorable consequence tends to be repeated;behavior followed by an unfavorable consequence tends not to be repeated.b)Consequence,in this terminology,refers to anything a person considers rewarding(i.e.,money,praise,promotions,a smile).5.Two theories,or explanations,of how we learn.a)Shaping b)Modeling 6.When learning takes place in graduated steps,it is shaped.a)Much of our learning has been done by shaping.b)When we speak of“learning by mistakes,”we are referring to shaping.We try,we fail,and we try again.7.In addition,much of what we have learned is the result of observing others and modeling our behavior after them.a)Modeling can produce complex behavioral changes quite rapidly.V.IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS A.Introduction 1.Exhibit 2-5 summarizes the discussion of individual behavior.Chapter 2 Foundations of Individual Behavior 17 a)Although they are not permanently fixed,an employees values,attitudes,and personality are essentially givens at the time he or she enters an organization.b)Ability has also been added to our model to acknowledge that an individuals behavior is influenced by the talents and skills that person holds when he or she joins the organization.B.Values 1.Knowledge of an individuas value system can provide insight into his or her attitudes.2.Given that peoples values differ,managers can use the Rokeach Value Survey to evaluate job applicants and determine if their values align with the dominant values of the organization.a)An employees performance and satisfaction are likely to be higher if his or her values fit well with the organization.3.Managers are more likely to appreciate,evaluate positively,and allocate rewards to employees who“fit in,”and employees are more likely to be satisfied if they perceive that they do“fit in.”C.Attitudes 1.Managers should be interested in their employees attitudes because attitudes influence behavior.2.Research on the satisfaction-productivity relationship suggests that the goal of making employees happy on the assumption that doing so will lead to high productivity is probably misdirected.a)Managers would get better results by directing their attention primarily to what will help employees become more productive.3.Managers should also be aware that employees will try to reduce cognitive dissonance.a)If employees are required to engage in activities that appear inconsistent to them or are at odds with their attitudes,the pressures to reduce the resulting dissonance are lessened when the employee perceives the dissonance as externally imposed and thus beyond his or her control or if the rewards are significant enough to offset the dissonance.D.Perception 1.Managers need to recognize that their employees react to perceptions,not to reality.2.Employees naturally organize and interpret what they see;inherent in this process is the potential for perceptual distortion.3.Managers need to pay close attention to how employees perceive both their jobs and management practices.E.Learning 1.The issue is whether managers are going to let employee learning occur randomly or whether they are going to manage learningthrough the rewards they allocate and the examples they set.2.If marginal employees are rewarded with pay raises and promotions,they will have little reason to change their behavior.3.Similarly,managers should realize that employees will look to them as models.SUMMARY 1.The dominant values in todays workforce vary with the work cohort the individual belongs to:Veterans,Boomers,Xers,or Nexters.Exhibit 2-2 outlines the values for each group.Part I The Individual in the Organization 18 2.Job satisfaction refers to an individuals general attitude toward his or her job.There has been a lot of discussion about job satisfaction and productivity.The early views were“a happy worker is a productive worker.”A more careful analysis indicates that if satisfaction does have a positive effect on productivity,that effect is fairly small.Currently,on the basis of a comprehensive review of the evidence,it appears that productivity is more likely to lead to s
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