Organisational Behaviour – Module 1 (Notes)

Introduction – Individual Behaviour

Definition of Organisation Behaviour – Nature & Scope – Challenges & Opportunities for Organisation
Behaviour – Individual behavior: Personality – Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Big Five Model. Sixteen
Personality Factor – Values, Attitudes & its components, Perception – Factors influencing perception –
Perception & Individual Decision making; Learning – Theoretical overview

What is Organizational Behavior (OB)?

 OB is the study of human behavior in
the workplace, the interaction between
people and the organization, and the
organization itself.
 The goals of OB are to explain, predict,
and control behavior.
 The ultimate goal of OB is to improve
the performance of people, groups, and
organizations, and to improve the quality
of work life overall.
Why study OB?
 Development of soft (interpersonal) skills
 Personal growth via insight into others
 Enhancement of individual and Organizational Effectiveness – The extent to which an
organization is productive and satisfies the demands of its interested parties.
 Sharpening and refining common sense (common sense is often wrong)

Nature of Organizational Behaviour

Organizational behaviour has emerged as a separate field of study. The nature it has acquired is identified
as follows :
1. A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only
By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical foundation. But, O.B. has a
multi-interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based on a specific theoretical background. Therefore,
it is better reasonable to call O.B. a separate field of study rather than a discipline only.
2. An Interdisciplinary Approach
Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human behaviour at work. It
tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related disciplines like psychology, sociology and
anthropology to make them applicable for studying and analysing organizational behaviour.
3. An Applied Science
The very nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the application of various researches to
solve the organizational problems related to human behaviour. The basic line of difference between pure
science and O.B. is that while the former concentrates of fundamental researches, the latter concentrates

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on applied researches. O.B. involves both applied research and its application in organizational analysis.
Hence, O.B. can be called both science as well as art.
4. A Normative Science
Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive science discusses only cause
effect relationship, O.B. prescribes how the findings of applied researches can be applied to socially
accepted organizational goals. Thus, O.B. deals with what is accepted by individuals and society engaged
in an organization. Yes, it is not that O.B. is not normative at all. In fact, O.B. is normative as well that is
well underscored by the proliferation of management theories.
5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach
Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people working in the organization. It,
deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings. O.B. is based on the belief that people have an innate
desire to be independent, creative and productive. It also realizes that people working in the organization
can and will actualize these potentials if they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment
affects performance or workers working in an organization.
6. A Total System Approach
The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational functioning. The
systems approach has been developed by the behavioural scientists to analyse human behaviour in view of
his/her socio-psychological framework. Man's socio-psychological framework makes man a complex one
and the systems approach tries to study his/her complexity and find solution to it.
Scope of Organizational Behaviour
The three internal organizational elements viz., people, technology and structure and the fourth element,
i.e., external social systems may be taken as the scope of O.B.
1. People
The people constitute the internal social system of the organization. They consist of individuals and
groups. Groups may be large or small, formal or informal, official or unofficial. They are dynamic. They
form, change and disband. Human organization changes everyday. Today, it is not the same as it was
yesterday. It may change further in the coming days. People are living, thinking and feeling being who
created the organization and try to achieve the objectives and goals. Thus, organizations exist to serve the
people and not the people exist to serve the organization.
2. Structure
Structure defines the sole relationship of people in an organization. Different people in an organization are
given different roles and they have certain relationship with others. It leads to division of labour so that
people can perform their duties or work to accomplish the organizational goal. Thus, everybody cannot be
an accountant or a clerk. Work is complex and different duties are to be performed by different people.
Some may be accountant, others may be managers, clerks, peons or workers. All are so related to each
other to accomplish the goal in a co-ordinated manner. Thus, structure relates to power and duties. One
has the authority and others have a duty to obey him.
3. Technology
Technology imparts the physical and economic conditions within which people work. With their bare
hands people can do nothing so they are given assistance of buildings, machines, tools, processes and
resources. The nature of technology depends very much on the nature of the organization and influences

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the work or working conditions. Thus, technology brings effectiveness and at the same restricts people in
various ways.
4. Social System
Social system provides external environment which the organization operates. A single organization
cannot exist also. It is a part of the whole. One organization cannot give everything and therefore, there
are many other organizations. All these organizations influence each other. It influences the attitudes of
people, their working conditions and above all provides competition for resources and power.
O.B. is the study of human behaviour at work in organizations. Accordingly, the scope of O.B. includes
the study of individuals, groups and organization/structure. Let us briefly reflect on what aspects each of
these three cover.
Individuals
Organizations are the associations of individuals. Individuals differ in many respects. The study of
individuals, therefore, includes aspects such as personality, perception, attitudes, values, job satisfaction,
learning and motivation.
Groups of Individuals
Groups include aspects such as group dynamics, group conflicts, communication, leadership, power and
politics and the like.
Challenges and Opportunities for OB
1. Responding to Globalization
 Managing Workforce Diversity
 Improving Quality and Productivity
 Empowering People
 Coping with Temporariness
 Stimulating Innovation and Change
 Improving Ethical Behavior – defining right & wrong
 Information Technology
2. Managing Diversity
 Increasing Awareness
 Providing Accurate Information
 Uncovering Personal Biases & Stereotypes
 Assessing Personal Beliefs, Attitudes, & Values: Learning about others
 Overturning Inaccurate Beliefs & Stereotypes
 Developing an atmosphere of sharing
 Improving understanding of others
 Increasing Diversity Skills
 Cultural Diversity
 Gender Diversity
3. Changing Demographics of Workforce
“At IBM diversity is seen as the „bridge between the workplace and the market place and it has
become central to IBM‟s ability to win in the global market place”.
From ethnocentric to Geocentric

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 Age, Gender, Race, Sexual Orientation
 Age
 Dual Career Couples
 Increase in Working mothers
 From Blue-collar to White-collar
4. Changed Employee Expectations
 Traditional incentives such as job-security, attractive remuneration, housing etc not enough to
attract, retain & motivate workforce
 Empowerment
 Quality of Status
 Employee Influence & Involvement
 Upward Communications
 Better Treatment
 Challenging Assignments
 Career Advancements
5. Technology Transformation
 Dimensions of Technology
 Automation Automation Work Simplification Alienation Poor Quality / Low Production
 Information Technology
 Dotcoms
 Internet
 Intranet
 E-mail
 Mobile phones
 Conference calls
 Virtual Offices, Changing Nature of Managing Work ,Different Stressors , Temp Staffing
6. Ethical Behavior
 Ethics : System of moral principles
 Importance of Ethics
 Basic Human needs
 Values create credibility with public
 Values give management credibility with employees
 values help in better decision-making
 Ethics & Profits go together
 Ethics can protect society better than law can
 Role Expectations Organisation al Influences Individual External Factors Cultural Influences
Ethical Behavior

MODELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

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FOUR MODELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Autocratic Custodial Supportive Collegial

Basis of Model Power Economic Leadership Partnership
resources
Managerial- Authority Money Support Teamwork
orientation
Employee Dependence on Dependence Participation Self-discipline
psychological boss on
result organization
Employee Subsistence Security Status and Self-actualization
needs met recognition
Performance Minimum Passive Awakened Moderate enthusiasm
result cooperation drives

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR
Psychologist Kurt Levin has conducted; considerable research into the human behavior and its
causes. He believes that people are influenced by a number of diversified factors, which can be both
genetic and environmental. The influence of these factors determines the pattern of human behavior.
Whenever people buy something, for example, a car, both the buyer and the seller sign a contract
that specifies the terms of the sales agreement. Similarly, most people, when they begin a working
relationship with an organization formulate a psychological contract with their employer. A psychological
contract is the overall set of expectations that an individual holds with respect to his or her contributions to
the. organization and the organization's response to those contributions. A psychological contract is not
written down like a legal contract.
An individual makes a variety of contributions to an organization in the form of—efforts, skills,
ability, time, loyalty and so forth. These contributions presumably satisfy various needs and requirements
of the organization. In return for contributions, the organization provides incentives such as pay,
promotion, and job security to the employee. Just as the contributions available from the individual must
satisfy the organization's needs, the incentives must serve the employees' needs in return.
If both the individual and the organization consider the psychological contract fair and equitable,
they will be satisfied with the relationship and are likely to continue it. If either party perceives an
imbalance or iniquity in the contract, it may initiate a change. A major challenge faced by an organization,
thus, is to manage the psychological contracts.

NATURE OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Individual differences are personal attributes that vary from one person to another. Individual differences
may be physical and psychological.Whenever an organization attempts to assess the individual differences
among its employees, it must consider the situation in which that particular behavior occurs. Individuals
who are satisfied in one context may prove to be dissatisfied in another context. Assessing both individual
differences and contributions in relation to incentives and contexts, then, is a major challenge for

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organizations as they attempt to establish effective psychological contracts with their employees and
achieve optimal fits between people and jobs.
Individual differences make the manager's job extremely challenging. In fact, according to a recent
research, "variability among workers is substantial at all levels but increases dramatically with job
complexity. Due to these reasons, growing work force diversity compel managers to view individual
differences in a fresh way. Leaders now talk frequently about "valuing differences" and learn to "manage
diversity". So rather than limiting diversity, as in the past, today's managers need to better understand and
accommodate employee diversity and individual differences.

PERSONALITY

Personality is defined as “The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others”

Personality trait is basically influenced by two major features −

 Inherited characteristics
 Learned characteristics

Inherited Characteristics

The features an individual acquires from their parents or forefathers, in other words the gifted features an
individual possesses by birth is considered as inherited characteristics. It consists of the following features

 Color of a person’s eye

 Religion/Race of a person
 Shape of the nose
 Shape of earlobes

Learned Characteristics

Nobody learns everything by birth. First, our school is our home, then our society, followed by
educational institutes. The characteristics an individual acquires by observing, practicing, and learning
from others and the surroundings is known as learned characteristics.

Learned characteristics includes the following features −

 Perception − Result of different senses like feeling, hearing etc.

 Values − Influences perception of a situation, decision making process.
 Personality − Patterns of thinking, feeling, understanding and behaving.
 Attitude − Positive or negative attitude like expressing one’s thought.

Traits of Personality

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Early work revolved around attempts to identify and label enduring characteristics. Popular characteristics
include shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal, and timid. These are personality traits. The
more consistent the characteristic, the more frequently it occurs, the more important it is. Researchers
believe that personality traits can help in employee selection, job fit, and career development.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

One of the most widely used personality frameworks is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations.

Individuals are classified as:

 Extroverted or introverted (E or I).

 Sensing or intuitive (S or N).
 Thinking or feeling (T or F).
 Perceiving or judging (P or J).

These classifications are then combined into sixteen personality types. For example:

INTJs are visionaries. They usually have original minds and great drive for their own ideas and purposes.
They are characterized as skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and often stubborn.

ESTJs are organizers. They are realistic, logical, analytical, decisive, and have a natural head for business
or mechanics.

The ENTP type is a conceptualizer. He or she is innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attracted to
entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be resourceful in solving challenging problems but may neglect
routine assignments.

MBTI is widely used in practice. Some organizations using it include Apple Computer, AT&T, Citigroup,
GE, 3M Co. and others.

The Big Five Model

An impressive body of research supports that five basic dimensions underlie all other personality
dimensions. The five basic dimensions are:

Extraversion: Comfort level with relationships. Extroverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable.
Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.

Agreeableness: Individual’s propensity to defer to others. High agreeableness people—cooperative,

warm, and trusting. Low agreeableness people—cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.

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Conscientiousness: A measure of reliability, a high conscientious person is responsible, organized,
dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and
unreliable.

Emotional stability: A person’s ability to withstand stress, People with positive emotional stability tend
to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious,
depressed, and insecure.

Openness to experience: The range of interests and fascination with novelty, extremely open people are
creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the openness category are
conventional and find comfort in the familiar.

Research found important relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance.

A broad spectrum of occupations was examined in addition to job performance ratings, training
proficiency (performance during training programs), and personnel data such as salary level. The results
showed that conscientiousness predicted job performance for all occupational groups. Individuals who are
dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-
oriented tend to have higher job performance. Employees higher in conscientiousness develop higher
levels of job knowledge.

There is a strong and consistent relationship between conscientiousness and organizational citizenship
behavior (OCB). For the other personality dimensions, predictability depended upon both the performance
criterion and the occupational group.

 Extroversion predicts performance in managerial and sales positions.

 Openness to experience is important in predicting training proficiency.

How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior?

Research has shown relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance. Employees
who score higher for example in conscientiousness, develop higher levels of job knowledge. Extraverts
tend to be happier in their jobs and do better in jobs that require significant interpersonal interaction
probably because they have better social skills. Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB Core Self-
Evaluation (Self-perspective) People who have a positive core self-evaluation see themselves as effective,
capable, and in control. People who have a negative core
self-evaluation tend to dislike themselves.

The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)

It is a self-report personality test developed over several

decades of empirical research by Raymond B. Cattell,
Maurice Tatsuoka and Herbert Eber. The 16PF provides a

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measure of normal personality and can also be used by psychologists, and other mental health
professionals, as a clinical instrument to help diagnose psychiatric disorders, as well as help with
prognosis and therapy planning.

Major Personality Attributes

1. Locus of control

A person’s perception of the source of his/her fate is termed locus of control. There is not a clear
relationship between locus of control and turnover because there are opposing forces at work.

Internals: People who believe that they are masters of their own fate

Internals, facing the same situation, attribute organizational outcomes to their own actions. Internals
believe that health is substantially under their own control through proper habits; their incidences of
sickness and, hence, their absenteeism, are lower.

Internals generally perform better on their jobs, but one should consider differences in jobs.

Internals search more actively for information before making a decision, are more motivated to achieve,
and make a greater attempt to control their environment, therefore, internals do well on sophisticated
tasks. Internals are more suited to jobs that require initiative and independence of action.

Externals: People who believe they are pawns of fate

Individuals who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates,
are more alienated from the work setting, and are less involved on their jobs than are internals.

Externals are more compliant and willing to follow directions, and do well on jobs that are well structured
and routine and in which success depends heavily on complying with the direction of others.

Self-esteem

Self-esteem—the degree to which people like or dislike themselves.

(SE) is directly related to expectations for success.

Individuals with high self-esteem will take more risks in job selection and are more likely to choose
unconventional jobs than people with low self-esteem.

The most generalizable finding is that low SEs are more susceptible to external influence than are high
SEs. Low SEs are dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations from others.

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In managerial positions, low SEs will tend to be concerned with pleasing others.

High SEs are more satisfied with their jobs than are low SEs.

Machiavellianism

Named after Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use power.

An individual high in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends
can justify means.

High Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and persuade others more.

High Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors and flourish when they interact face-to-face
with others, rather than indirectly, and when the situation has a minimum number of rules and regulations,
thus allowing latitude for improvisation.

High Machs make good employees in jobs that require bargaining skills or that offer substantial rewards
for winning.

Narcissism

Describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance

They “think” they are better leaders.

Often they are selfish and exploitive.

Self-Monitoring

This refers to an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors.

Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability. They are highly sensitive to external
cues, can behave differently in different situations, and are capable of presenting striking contradictions
between their public persona and their private self.

Low self-monitors cannot disguise themselves in that way. They tend to display their true dispositions and
attitudes in every situation resulting in a high behavioral consistency between who they are and what they
do.

The research on self-monitoring is in its infancy, so predictions must be guarded. Preliminary evidence
suggests:

High self-monitors tend to pay closer attention to the behavior of others.

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High self-monitoring managers tend to be more mobile in their careers and receive more promotions.

High self-monitor is capable of putting on different “faces” for different audiences.

Risk Taking The propensity to assume or avoid risk has been shown to have an impact on how long it
takes managers to make a decision and how much information they require before making their choice.

High risk-taking managers make more rapid decisions and use less information in making their choices.

Managers in large organizations tend to be risk averse; especially in contrast with growth-oriented
entrepreneurs.

Makes sense to consider aligning risk-taking propensity with specific job demands.

Type A and Type B Personality types

Type A personality is “aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in
less and less time, and, if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons.’’

They are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly, are impatient with the rate at which most events
take place, are doing do two or more things at once and cannot cope with leisure time.

They are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of
everything they acquire.

In contrast to the Type A personality is the Type B Personality.

Type B’s never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience.

Type B’s feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments unless such
exposure is demanded by the situation.

Type B’s play for fun and relaxation, rather than exhibit their superiority at any cost.

They can relax without guilt.

Type A personality compared to Type B personality

Type A’s operate under moderate to high levels of stress. They subject themselves to continuous time
pressure, are fast workers, quantity over quality, work long hours, and are also rarely creative.

Type A’s behavior is easier to predict than that of Type B’s.

Do Type A’s differ from Type B’s in their ability to get hired?

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Type A’s do better in job interviews; are more likely to be judged as having desirable traits such as high
drive, competence, and success motivation.

Proactive Personality

Actively taking the initiative to improve their current circumstances while others sit by passively

Proactives identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere.

Create positive change in their environment.

More likely to be seen as leaders and change agents

More likely to achieve career success

Personality and National Culture

The five personality factors identified in the Big Five model are found in almost all cross-cultural studies.

There are no common personality types for a given country.

There are Type A’s in every country, but they tend to be more found in capitalist countries.

Theories of Personality

Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

This theory is based on the belief that man is encouraged more by unforeseen forces than the conscious
and logical thought. Freud believed that most of the things in life are not present at the conscious level but
they are present at an unconscious level.

The features of Freud’s theory include three attributes − Id, Ego, and Superego.

 Id − It defines the innate component of personality. It is the impulsive and unconscious part of
mind that seeks immediate satisfaction. Example − A hungry baby cries till he/she is fed.

 Ego − It is derived from Id and assists in dealing with the external world. It also helps in
translating the inner needs into expressions. It deals with practical and rational thinking process.
Example − We have a fight with our friend and expect the friend to talk first, even though both of
us want to talk.

 Superego − It is different from ego and is partially unconscious. It includes the traditional values
of society as interpreted by our parents. It also helps in the integral vision of punishment. Example
− Ram came late today so he is grounded for a week.

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VALUES

Values Represent Basic Convictions

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.

They have both content and intensity attributes.

An individual’s set of values ranked in terms of intensity is considered the person’s value system.

Values have the tendency to be stable.

Many of our values were established in our early years from parents, teachers, friends, and others.

Importance of Values

Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation. Values generally influence
attitudes and behaviors. We can predict reaction based on understanding values.

Types of Values (Value Classifications)

Terminal Values—refer to desirable end states of existence.

The goals that a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime

Instrumental Values—refer to preferable modes of behavior.

Means of achieving the terminal values

Several studies confirm that the RVS values vary among groups. People in the same occupations or
categories tend to hold similar values. Although there may be overlap among groups, there are some
significant differences as well.

Contemporary Work Cohorts

Different generations hold different work values. Veterans—entered the workforce from the early 1940s
through the early 1960s. Boomers—entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1980s. Xers
—entered the workforce beginning in the mid-1980s. Nexters—most recent entrants into the workforce.

Values, Loyalty, and Ethical Behavior

Many people think there has been a decline in business ethics since the late 1970s.

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The four-stage model of work cohort values might explain this perception (Exhibit 4–5).

Managers consistently report the action of bosses as the most important factor influencing ethical and
unethical behavior in organizations.

LINKING AN INDIVIDUAL’S PERSONALITY AND VALUES TO THE WORKPLACE

The Person-Job Fit:

This concern is best articulated in John Holland’s personality-job fit theory.

Holland presents six personality types and proposes that satisfaction and the propensity to leave a job
depends on the degree to which individuals successfully match their personalities to an occupational
environment.

The six personality types are: realistic, investigative, social, conventional, enterprising, and artistic

Each one of the six personality types has a congruent occupational environment.

Vocational Preference Inventory questionnaire contains 160 occupational titles. Respondents indicate
which of these occupations they like or dislike; their answers are used to form personality profiles.

The theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest when personality and occupation are in
agreement.

The Person-Organization Fit

Most important for an organization facing a dynamic and changing environment, and requiring employees
who are able to readily change tasks and move fluidly between teams

It argues that people leave jobs that are not compatible with their personalities.

Organizational Culture Profile (OCP)

Individuals have to sort their values in terms of importance. Forced choice rationale—having to make hard
choices that one’s true values become apparent

Match personal values to those of the organization.

 Extrovert
 Neurotic
 Open
 Agreeable

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  Conscientious

Attitude
Attitude is defined as “ Evaluative statements or judgements concerning people , objects or events”

Components of Attitudes:

Attitudes comprise of three basic components: emotional, informational and behavioural.

These three components are described below:

1. Informational or Cognitive Component:

The informational component consists of beliefs, values, ideas and other information a person has about
the object. It makes no difference whether or not this information is empirically correct or real. For
example, a person seeking a job may learn from his own sources and other employees working in the
company that in a particular company the promotion chances are very favourable. In reality, it may or may
not be correct. Yet the information that person is using is the key to his attitude about that job and about
that company.

2. Emotional or Affective Component:

The informational component sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitude, its affective
component. The emotional components involve the person’s feeling or affect-positive, neutral or negative-
about an object. This component can be explained by this statement.” I like this job because the future
prospects in this company are very good”.

3. Behavioural Component:

The behavioural component consists of the tendency of a person to behave in a particular manner towards
an object. For example, the concerned individual in the above case may decide to take up the job because
of good future prospects. Out of the three components of attitudes, only the behavioural component can be
directly observed. One cannot see another person’s beliefs (the informational component) and his feelings
(the emotional component). These two components can only be inferred. But still understanding these two
components is essential in the study of organisational behaviour or the behavioural component of
attitudes.

Theory of attitude change

Cognitive dissonance

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Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors. This
produces a feeling of discomfort leading to an alteration in one of the attitudes, beliefs or behaviors to
reduce the discomfort and restore balance, etc.

For example, when people smoke (behavior) and they know that smoking causes cancer (cognition).

Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our
attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance). This is known as the principle of
cognitive consistency.

How Attitude Change Takes Place

According to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among
their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors
(dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance.

Dissonance can be reduced in one of three ways:

Change one or more of the attitudes, behavior, beliefs, etc., to make the relationship between the
two elements a consonant one.

When one of the dissonant elements is a behavior, the individual can change or eliminate the behavior.
However, this mode of dissonance reduction frequently presents problems for people, as it is often
difficult for people to change well-learned behavioral responses (e.g., giving up smoking).

Acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs.

For example, thinking smoking causes lung cancer will cause dissonance if a person smokes. However,
new information such as “research has not proved definitely that smoking causes lung cancer” may reduce
the dissonance.

Reduce the importance of the cognitions (i.e., beliefs, attitudes).

A person could convince themself that it is better to "live for today" than to "save for tomorrow."

In other words, he could tell himself that a short life filled with smoking and sensual pleasures is better
than a long life devoid of such joys. In this way, he would be decreasing the importance of the dissonant
cognition (smoking is bad for one's health).

Major Job attitudes

• Job Satisfaction
• Job Involvement
• Psychological Empowerment

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 • Organizational Commitment
 Affective commitment
 Continuance commitment
 Normative commitment
• Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
• Employee Engagement

Perception
Stephen P. Robins has defined perception as “a process by which individuals organize and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.”

Factors influencing perception

1. Characteristics of the Perceiver: Several characteristics of the perceiver can affect perception. When
an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she stands for, that interpretation is
heavily influenced by personal characteristics of the individual perceiver. The major characteristics of the
perceiver influencing perception are: 
        a) Attitudes: The perciver's attitudes affect perception. For example, Mr. X is interviewing
candidates for a very important position in his organization - a position that requires negotiating contracts
with suppliers, most of whom are male. Mr. X may feel that women are not capable of holding their own
in tough negotiations. This attitude with doubtless affect his perceptions of the female candidates he
interviews. 
         b) Moods: Moods can have a strong influence on the way we perceive someone. We think
differently when we are happy than we do when we are depressed. In addition, we remember information
that is consistent with our mood state better than information that is inconsistent with our mood state.
When in a positive mood, we form more positive impressions of other. When in a negative mood, we tend
to evaluate others unfavourably. 
         c) Motives: Unsatisfied needs or motives stimulate individuals and may exert a strong influence on
their perceptions. For example, in an organizational context, a boss who is insecure perceives a sub
ordinate's efforts to do an outstanding job as a threat to his or her own position. Personal insecurity can be
translated into the perception that others are out to "get my job", regardless of the intention of the
subordinates.
         d) Self - Concept: Another factor that can affect social perception is the perceivers self-concept. An
individual with a positive self-concept tends to notice positive attributes in another person. In contrast, a
negative self-concept can lead a perceiver to pick out negative traits in another person. Greater
understanding of self allows us to have more accurate perceptions of others.
        e) Interest: The focus of our attention appears to be influenced by our interests. Because our
individual interests differ considerably, what one person notices in a situation can differ from what other
perceive. For example, the supervisor who has just been reprimanded by his boss for coming late is more
likely to notice his colleagues coming late tomorrow than he did last week. 
     f) Cognitive structure: Cognitive structure, an individual's pattern of thinking, also affects perception.
Some people have a tendency to perceive physical traits, such as height, weight, and appearance, more

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readily. Cognitive complexity allows a person to perceive multiple characteristics of another person rather
than attending to just a few traits. 
       g) Expectations: Finally, expectations can distort your perceptions in that you will see what you
expect to see. The research findings of the study conducted by Sheldon S Zalking and Timothy W
Costello on some specific characteristics of the perceiver reveal 
i) Knowing oneself makes it easier to see others accurately. 
ii) One's own characteristics affect the characteristics one is likely to see in other. 
iii) People who accept themselves are more likely to be able to see favourable aspects of other people. 
iv) Accuracy in perceiving others is not a single skill. These four characteristics greatly influence how a
person perceives other int he environmental situation.

2) Characteristics of the Target : Characteristics in the target that is being observed can affect what is
perceived. Physical appearance pals a big role in our perception of others. Extremely attractive or
unattractive individuals are more likely to be noticed in a group than ordinary looking individuals.
Motions, sound, size and other attributes of a target shape the way we see it. Verbal Communication from
targets also affects our perception of them. Nonverbal communication conveys a great deal of information
about the target. The perceiver deciphers eye contact, facial expressions, body movements, and posture all
in a attempt to form an impression of the target.

3) Characteristics of the Situation: The situation in which the interaction between the perceiver and the
target takes place, has an influence on the perceiver's impression of the target. The strength of the
situational cues also affects social perception. Some situations provide strong cues as to appropriate
behaviour. In this situation, we assume that + i.e individual's behaviours can be accounted for by the
situation, and that it may not reflect the individual's disposition.

Stages of Perceptual Process

1. Attention and selection
– Constant bombardment with sensory information is handled by screening the info, both
consciously & unconsciously, for what is important
2. Organization
– Use schemas or cognitive frameworks to organize incoming information
– E.g., we use our person schemas to organize info about other people into prototypes (an
abstract set of features common to all members of a group)
– E.g., script schema defines what one sees as the appropriate sequence of events in a
situation
3. Interpretation
– Personal reasoning as to why something is the way it is
4. Retrieval
– Ease of access to memories; influenced by prototypes

The Major causes of Perceptual distortions are:

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Stereotyping: This is a perceived notion about people on the basis of the group to which they belong. For
example there is a saying that all Irish are drunks or women are lousy drivers and both of these statements
are not true in every case. stereotyping people can lead on to judge individuals incorrectly.

Halo Effect: This occurs when one allow an impression created in one area to influence our evaluation of
the person in another area. For instance, a sales professional is proficient at bringing in new accounts and
generating revenue, so he is promoted to the position of vice president of sales and he does not know the
first thing about being a company executive.

Pre-disposition: An individual sees what they want to see whether it is there or not and not investigating
any further.

Recency Effect: This occurs when the most recent information influences or dominates or perception of
others. This distortion can occur in an instance when the Human Resource manager focuses too much on
what an employee has done within the past few weeks or months when evaluating him for an annual
performance review (appraisals), that manager has fallen victim to the recency effect.

Primacy Effect: This occurs when one forms an opinion of others on the basis of first impressions. We
are often told that in an interview first impressions count because what we do an say can have an impact
on how the interviewer perceives us and whether we get the job or not. During recruitment, an interviewer
is expected to observe and evaluate a number of prospective candidates. His evaluation process can be
diluted by the primacy effect because he may start judging the candidates by their first impressions. A
candidate who is nervous in the first few minutes of an interview can be judged by the interviewer to be
the type who cannot handle pressure.

Prejudice: This occurs when individuals are prejudged on baseless and non factual information, beliefs,
attitudes and emotions. For example people hold prejudice views towards individuals from a certain race
classic example of this is Hitlers hatred toward the Jews.

Selective perception
The tendency to single out those aspects of a situation, person, or object that are consistent with one’s
needs, values, or attitudes.
Perceptual vigilance refers to the process in which the individual notices and recognizes the stimuli that
may be significant to him at some degree.
Perceptual defense occurs in an attempt of a person to create a barrier between him and the stimuli so
that he could protect himself from having awareness of it.
Projection
The assignment of one’s personal attributes to other individuals, especially likely to occur in interpretation
stage. Projection can be controlled through a high degree of self-awareness and empathy.

Contrast Effect
Occur when an individual is compared to other people on the same
characteristics on which the others rank higher or lower.

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Self-fulfilling prophecy or Pygmalion effect
This can be defined as the tendency to create or find in another situation or individual that which one
expected to find. It is also called the “Pygmalion effect” It can have either positive or negative outcomes.
Managers should adopt positive and optimistic approaches to people at work.

Theories of perception

Attribution Theory
Fritz Heider's attribution theory, people behave like social
psychologists trying to explain the behavior they see around them.
Attribution theory deals with how an individual gathers
information, and then uses it to make a final judgment
Internal attribution, when we assign the cause of behavior to an
internal characteristic rather than an external characteristic.
e.g. She is always late to the class. She is very tardy
External attribution, when we assign causes of behavior to external
factors outside our control.
e.g. I was late to the class because of the chaotic traffic

Learning
Learning is defined as “ relatively permanent change in the behaviour that occurs as a result of
experience”

Learning Theories
Classical Conditioning
The work of the famous Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov demonstrated the classical conditioning
process. When Pavlov presented a piece of meat to the dog in the experiment, Pavlov noticed a great deal
of salivation. He termed the food an unconditioned stimulus and the salivation an unconditioned response.
When the dog saw the meat, it salivated. On the other hand, when Pavlov merely rang a bell, the dog did
not salivate. Pavlov subsequently introduced the sound of a bell each time the meat was given to the dog.
The dog eventually learned to salivate in response to the ringing of the-bell-even when there was no meat.
Pavlov had conditioned the dog to respond to a learned stimulus. Thorndike called this the "law of
exercise" which states that behavior can be learned by repetitive association between a stimulus and a
response.
Classical conditioning has a limited value in the study of organizational behavior. As pointed out
by Skinner, classical conditioning represents an insignificant part of total human learning. Classical
conditioning is passive. Something happens and we react in a specific or particular fashion. It is elicited in
response to a specific, identifiable event. As such it explains simple and reflexive behaviors. But behavior
of people in organizations is emitted rather than elicited, and it is voluntary rather than reflexive. The
learning of these complex behaviors can be explained or better understood by looking at operant
conditioning.

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Operant Conditioning
An operant is defined as a behavior that produces effects. Operant conditioning, basically a product of
Skinnerian psychology, suggests that individuals emit responses that are either not rewarded or are
punished. Operant conditioning is a voluntary behavior and it is determined, maintained and controlled by
its consequences.
Operant conditioning is a powerful tool for managing people in organizations. Most behaviors in
organizations are learned, controlled and altered by the consequences; i.e. operant behaviors. Management
can use the operant conditioning process successfully to control and influence the behavior of employees
by manipulating its reward system. Reinforcement is anything that both increases the strength of response
and tends to induce repetitions of the behavior. Four types of reinforcement strategies can be employed by
managers to influence the behavior of the employees, viz., positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement,
extinction and punishment.

Reinforcement Schedules

Extinction and Punishment

Extinction: Removing a consequence that is currently reinforcing an undesirable behavior in an effort to
decrease the probability that the behavior will occur again in the future.
Punishment: Administering negative consequences to workers who perform undesirable behaviors in an
effort to decrease the probability that the behavior will occur again in the future.
Verbal reprimands, docking pay, loss of privileges
Social Learning Theory
A learning theory that takes into account the fact that
thoughts and feelings influence learning
Necessary components include

 Vicarious learning
 Self-control
 Self-efficacy

Cognitive Theory: Jean Piaget

 Interaction with the environment
 Development of ‘schemata’

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  Active nature of learning
 Discovery learning
Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who developed an interest in how children think. He proposed that
childrens' thought processes develop from birth through a series of stages.
He stated that children think in a different way to adults. He felt that the child had to progress through the
stages by interacting with their environment.
He proposed the notion of schema -a set of interrelated ideas about a concept. These schemas (or
schemata) develop from the basic reflexes that the infant is born with, through the interaction with their
environment.

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