Unit 2: Foundations of

Individual Behavior
Instructor: Pham Thi Bich Ngoc, PhD

Explain the nature of the individual-organization
relationship
Factors influence employee behavior
Biographical characteristics
Abilities
Personality
Values
Attitudes
Learning
Perceptions
Implications for managers
Objectives

Psychological Contract

A persons overall set of expectations regarding
what he or she will contribute to the organization
and what the organization, in return, will provide
to the individual
Individuals contribute effort, skills, ability, time,
loyalty
Organizations provide inducements in the form
of tangible/intangible rewards
Individual-organization relationship
Psychological Contract
A persons overall set of expectations regarding what
he or she will contribute to the organization and
what the organization, in return, will provide to the
individual
Individuals contribute effort, skills, ability, time,
loyalty
Organizations provide inducements in the form of
tangible/intangible rewards
Increasing globalization of business also complicates
the management of psychological contracts. The
psychological contract becomes even more complex
for employees who take international assignments
Psychological Contract

Individual-organization relationship

The Person-Job Fit.
Part of managing the psychological contract is making
sure that the contributions made by the individual fit
with the inducements offered by the organization.
Hiring processes, training programs, performance
appraisal systems, and other organizational processes
are techniques that organizations can use to assist in
helping the person fit the job.
Individual Differences:
The basic categories of individual differences include
personality, attitudes, perception, and creativity
Factors influence Individual Behavior
Biographical characteristics
Abilities
Personality
Values
Attitudes
Learning
Perceptions

Biographical Characteristics
Age: age and job performance were unrelated for all types of jobs
Gender: No significant consistent male/female differences in
problem-solving ability, analytical skills, motivation, leadership and
learning ability
Marital status: maried employees have fewer absences, less
turnover, and are more satisfied on the job
Tenure: Seniority is negatively related to absenteeism. Tenure and
satisfaction are positively related.
Ability, Intellect, and Intelligence
Ability
An individuals capacity to perform
the various tasks in a job.
Intellectual Ability
The capacity to do mental activities.
Physical ability.
Ability-Job
Fit
The Ability-Job Fit
Employees
Abilities
Jobs Ability
Requirements
What is Personality?
Personality consists of stable
characteristics which explain why a
person behaves in a particular way.
Personality Determinants
Personality Determinants
Heredity
Environment
Situation
Personality and Organizations
The Big Five Personality Traits
A set of fundamental traits that are especially
relevant to organizations
Agreeableness The ability to get along with others
Conscientiousness The number of goals on which a person focuses
Neuroticism Experiencing anger, anxiety, moodiness/insecurity
Extraversion The quality of being comfortable with relationships
Openness The capacity to entertain new ideas and to change
as a result of new information
The Big Five
Model
315
Personality and Organizations (contd)
The Myers-Briggs Framework
Differentiation across four general dimensions
Sensing
Intuiting
Judging
Perceiving
Sixteen personality classifications result from the
higher and lower positions of the general dimensions
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular
questionnaire used to assess personality types
Communications styles
Interaction preferences
316
Personality and Organizations (contd)
Emotional Intelligence (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 emotions
Motivating oneself
Empathy
Social skills
Major Personality Attributes
Influencing OB
Locus of control
Machiavellianism
Self-esteem
Self-monitoring
Propensity for risk taking
Achieving Personality-Job Fit
Personality Types
Realistic
Investigative
Social
Conventional
Enterprising
Artistic
Hollands
Typology of
Personality
and
Congruent
Occupations
Definition: Mode of conduct or end state is personally or
socially preferable (i.e., what is right & good)
Terminal Values
Desirable End States
Instrumental Values
The ways/means for achieving ones terminal values

Value System: A hierarchy based on a ranking of an
individuals values in terms of their intensity.

Values
Importance of Values
Provide understanding of the attitudes,
motivation, and behaviors of individuals
and cultures.
Influence our perception of the world
around us.
Represent interpretations of right and
wrong.
Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others.
Attitudes
Attitudes
- Evaluative statements
or judgments
concerning objects,
people, or events.
- A persons complexes of
beliefs and feelings
about specific ideas,
situations, other people

Affective Component
The emotional or feeling segment
of an attitude.
Cognitive component
The opinion or belief segment
of an attitude.
Behavioral Component/Intention
An intention to behave in a certain
way toward someone or something.
Types of Attitudes
Job Involvement

Organizational Commitment

Job Satisfaction

Types of Attitudes, contd.
Employee Engagement
.
Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
The Effect of Job Satisfaction on
Employee Performance
Satisfaction and Productivity
Satisfaction and Absenteeism
Satisfaction and Turnover
Responses to Job Dissatisfaction
The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance
Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or
between behavior and attitudes.
Individuals seek to reduce this gap, or dissonance

How to reduce cognitive dissonance?
Learning
Learning
Involves change
Is relatively permanent
Is acquired through experience
Theories of Learning
Key Concepts
Unconditioned stimulus
Unconditioned response
Conditioned response
Theories of Learning (contd)
Key Concepts
Reflexive (unlearned) behavior
Conditioned (learned) behavior
Reinforcement
Theories of Learning (contd)
Theories of Learning (contd)
Key Concepts
Reinforcement is required to change behavior.
Some rewards are more effective than others.
The timing of reinforcement affects learning speed and
permanence.
Types of Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction

Schedules of Reinforcement (contd)
Fixed-ratio
What Is Perception, and Why Is It
Important?
.A process by which we assign
causes or motives to explain
peoples behavior
.an explanation of the cause of behavior: how
people explain the causes of their own and other
peoples behavior
Factors That
Influence
Perception
Person Perception: Making
Judgments About Others
Distinctiveness: shows different behaviors in different situations.
Consensus: response is the same as others to same situation.
Consistency: responds in the same way over time.
That determination however depends on 3 factors:
Errors and Biases in Attributions
Errors and Biases in Attributions
(contd)
Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging
Others
Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others
Recency Effects
The tendency to remember recent
information. If the recent information
is negative, the person or object is
evaluated negatively
Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging
Others
Creativity in Organizations
Creativity is a persons ability to
generate new ideas or to conceive
of new perspectives on existing
ideas.
Common Attributes of Creative
Individuals
Background Experiences and Creativity
Personal Traits and Creativity: openness, an attraction
to complexity, high levels of energy, autonomy, self-confidence
Cognitive Abilities and Creativity:
Individuals power to think intelligently and to analyse
situations and data effectively.
Intelligence: precondition for individual creativity
Creativity links with the ability to think divergently (see
differences between situations) and convergently (see
similarities between situations)

How to facilitate individual creativity
Leaders
Support new ideas
Good listener
Favourable and cooperative working
environment
Respect diversity
Friendly and cooperative
Trust

Implications for managers
Understanding individual differences helps
managers in
Recruiting new employees
Staffing
Training employees
Making development plan for employee