Subject : Organizational Behavior

Course code: 24MBACC106

Semester - I
 Module 2
Attitude and Personality
 Content
The basis for understanding Work Behavior. Factors responsible
for Individual differences at the workplace.
Attitudes- Meaning, components, does behavior follow
attitudes? Values- Meaning, Types of values, The importance of
values in organization. Attitude, components, Factors affecting
attitude formation, Ways to change employee attitude, Types of
job-related attitudes, Job Satisfaction-Meaning, measurement,
causes of job satisfaction, application at the workplace.
Personality – Meaning, Contributing factors to personality,
Theories of personality, Individual differences arising out of
Personality traits that influence Work Behavior, Personality
assessment- MBTI, BIG FIVE Model, person – job and
organization fit.
 Course Objective

To illustrate the understanding of self and others’ behavior in

organizations and their impact on work behavior, attitudes and
performance
Activity 2 - What Organizational Culture Do You Prefer?
The Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) can help assess whether
an individual’s values match the organization’s. The OCP helps
individuals sort their characteristics in terms of importance,
which indicates what a person values.
Research Article - Personality & work behaviour
https://equimanagement.com/articles/understanding-
personalities-in-the-workplace Discussion on various
contributing factors – class discussion and experience sharing
Case Study - An organizational behavior moment Whatever Is
Necessary! page no 202, Source – OB- Hitt, Miller & Colella ,
3rd Edition ,Wiley Reading- BIG FIVE Model
 The basis of Understanding Work
Behaviour
One of the important objectives of the field of OB is to
understand why people behave the way they do.

We focus on four key work behaviors:

1. Job performance
Desirable
2. Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB)

3. Absenteeism
Undesirable
4. Turnover
 Factors responsible for individual
differences at workplace
•
Hereditary
Personality
Factors

Ability and Attitudes

Perception
Skills
 Attitudes
• An attitude is defined as
……… a persistent mental state of readiness to
feel and behave in a favorable or unfavorable way
toward a specific person, object, or idea.

• This definition reveals:

– attitudes are reasonably stable
– attitudes are directed toward some object, person, or idea
– related to an individual’s behavior toward that object or
person
 Attitude – Components
• Beliefs, thoughts, and attributes that we would
associate with an object
Cognitive • It refers to that part of attitude which is related to
component
general knowledge of a person

• The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.

Affective • Related to the statement which affects another person
component

• Consists of a person’s tendencies to behave in a

particular way toward an object
Behavior • Refers to that part of attitude which reflects the
component intention of a person in the short-run or long run.
Example: Components of an Attitude
 Does behavior follow attitudes ??
Relationship Between Attitudes and Behavior

• The attitude-behavior
relationship is likely to be
much stronger if an attitude
refers to something with
which we have direct personal
experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rVqC
RWI4Rs

20-09-2024
Influence of Attitudes on Behavior
 Values
• Values -- basic and fundamental beliefs that
guide or motivate attitudes or actions.
• They help us to determine what is important
to us.
• Values in a narrow sense = good, desirable,
or worthwhile.
• Values are the motive behind purposeful
action.
• They are the ends to which we act.
 Types of Values
• Rokeach Value Survey (Milton Rokeach, Polish-American
Socio-psychologist, 1973)- 36 values

• Terminal Values (18)–They are goals that one would like

to achieve during their lifetime

• Instrumental Values (18) – These are preferable modes

of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values.
 Terminal Values
1. True Friendship 12.Family Security
2. Mature Love 13.National Security
3. Self-Respect 14.A Sense of
4. Happiness Accomplishment
5. Inner Harmony 15.A World of Beauty
6. Equality 16.A World at Peace
7. Freedom 17.A Comfortable Life
8. Pleasure 18.An Exciting Life
9. Social Recognition
10.Wisdom
11.Salvation
 Instrumental Values
Broad – Imaginative Independent
Ambitious
minded

Capable Cheerful Intellectual Logical

Clean Courageous Loving Obedient

Forgiving Helpful
Polite Responsible

Honest
Self-
controlled
 Importance of Values
• Value is the foundation for understanding the level of
motivation.
• It influences our perception.
• It implies that certain behaviors on outcomes are preferred
over others.
• These allow the members of an organization to interact
harmoniously.
• These make it easier to reach goals that would be
impossible to achieve.
• They are the guideposts of our lives, and they direct us to
who we want to be.
 Factors affecting Attitude formation

• Social Factors • Media

• Direct Instruction • Educational and Religious
• Family Institutions
• Prejudices • Physical Factors
• Personal Experience • Economic Status and
Occupations
 Ways to change employee attitude
•
• Providing Information

• Use of Fear

• Resolving Discrepancies

• Influence of Friends and Peers

• Communication

• Society
 Major Job Attitudes
• Job Satisfaction
– A positive feeling about the job resulting from an
evaluation of its characteristics.
• Job Involvement
– Degree to which a person identifies with a job,
actively participates in it, and considers
performance important to self-worth.
– Psychological Empowerment
• Belief in the degree of influence over one’s job,
competence, job meaningfulness, and autonomy.
 Major Job Attitudes

• Organizational Commitment
– Identifying with a particular organization and its
goals and wishing to maintain membership in the
organization.
– Employees who are committed will be less likely to
engage in work withdrawal even if they are
dissatisfied, because they have a sense of
organizational loyalty.
 Major Job Attitudes

• Perceived Organizational Support (POS)

– Degree to which employees believe the
organization values their contribution and cares
about their well-being.
– Higher when rewards are fair, employees are
involved in decision making, and supervisors are
seen as supportive.
– POS is important in countries where power
distance is lower.
 Major Job Attitudes

• Employee Engagement
–The individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with,
and enthusiasm for the work.
–Engaged employees are passionate about their
work and company.
 Job Satisfaction
• Job Satisfaction
– A positive feeling about a job resulting from an
evaluation of its characteristics.
• Two approaches for measuring job satisfaction are
popular
1. The single global rating
2. The summation of job facets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of9tw6P4uvU
 Job Satisfaction
• How satisfied are people in their jobs?
 With the economic downturn, more workers
are less satisfied.
 Satisfaction levels differ depending on the
facet involved.
 There are cultural differences in job
satisfaction.
 Main Causes of Job Satisfaction

– Job conditions
• The intrinsic nature of the work itself, social
interactions, and supervision are important
predictors of satisfaction and employee well-being.
– Personality
• People who have positive core self-evaluations 
who believe in their inner worth and basic
competence, are more satisfied with their jobs
than those with negative core self-evaluations.
Relationship between Average Pay in Job and Job Satisfaction
of Employees in That Job

Source: Based on T. A. Judge, R. F. Piccolo, N. P. Podsakoff, J. C. Shaw, and B. L. Rich, “The Relationship
between Pay and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis of the Literature,” Journal of Vocational Behavior 77,
no. 2 (2010): 157–67.
 Main Causes of Job Satisfaction

– Corporate social responsibility (CSR): self-

regulated actions to benefit society or the
environment beyond what is required by law.
• environmental sustainability initiatives,
nonprofit work, and charitable giving.
• Increasingly affects employee job satisfaction.
 How do we measure Job Satisfaction?

• General Job Satisfaction

Rate your level of agreement with the following
statements:
– All in all I’m satisfied with my job
– In general, I don’t like my job
– In general, I like working here

Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire Job Satisfaction Sub-

scale (Seashore et al, 1983)
How do we measure Job Satisfaction?
• Industry specific Job satisfaction
How satisfied are you with each of the following
aspects of your work life?
– Recognition or status within university
community?
– Opportunity to pursue scholarly interests?
– Interaction with students?

Faculty Job Satisfaction Scale, (Sorcinelli & Near, 1989)

How do we measure Job Satisfaction?
• Cognitive
On my present job, this is how I feel about..
– Being able to keep busy all the time
– The chance to working alone on the job
– The chance to do different things from time to
time

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis & England, 1967)

How do we measure Job Satisfaction?
• Affective
Rate your level of agreement with the following
phrases
– It seems that my friends are more interested in
their jobs
– I consider my job rather unpleasant
– I am often bored with my job

Index of Job Satisfaction (Brayfield and Rothe, 1951)

 Application in workplace: Relevance of Job
Satisfaction
–Job Performance
–Happy workers are more likely to be productive workers.
–OCB
–People who are more satisfied with their jobs are more
likely to engage in OCB.
–Customer Satisfaction
–Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and
loyalty.
–Life Satisfaction
–Research shows that job satisfaction is positively
correlated with life satisfaction.
 Personality -Meaning
• Latin word “Persona” meaning “Mask : to speak
through”, implying the characteristic pattern and
behavior style revealed by people from their external
appearance

• Organizational psychology : qualities, attributes, traits,

factors and mannerisms

• External and internal attributes

 Personality
Psychological characteristics
Stable over time and across situations
A set of characteristics, rather than
one trait
Makes the person unique and different
from others
 Personality - Definition

• "Personality is the dynamic organization (arrangement)

within the individual of those psychophysical systems that
determine her/his characteristics behavior and thought"
(Gordon Allport, 1927, American Psychologist)

• Personality means how a person affects others and how he

understands and views himself as well as the pattern of
inner and outer measurable traits and the person-situation
interaction (Fred Luthans, 1973, USA)
 Factors affecting personality

Heredity

Environment
Culture
Family Personality
Social
Situational

https://equimanagement.com/articles/unders
tanding-personalities-in-the-workplace
Personality
 Personality Attributes Influencing work behavior
1. Locus of control
2. Machiavellianism (cunning/ manipulative)
3. Narcissism (high sense of own’s importance)
4. Self-esteem
5. Self-monitoring
6. Risk taking
7. Type A / B personality (Aggressive Vs. patient)
8. Authoritarianism
9. Self efficacy
10.Extroversion/Introversion

Research Article – Personality & work behaviour

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-28099-8_793-1
Personality Attributes Influencing work behavior

• Locus of Control- A set of beliefs about whether one’s

behaviour is controlled mainly by internal or external
factors. Internals believe that the opportunity to control
their own behaviour resides within themselves.

• Machiavellianism (cunning/ manipulative) - refers to a

personality trait which sees a person so focused on their
own interests they will manipulate, deceive, and exploit
others to achieve their goals.

40
 Cont…

• Narcissism (high sense of own’s importance) – Some

people expect to be considered superior without
commensurate achievements. They are pre occupied with
fantasies of unlimited power and success.

• Self-Esteem-The degree to which a person has a positive

self-evaluation

• Self-Monitoring-The extent to which people observe and

regulate how they appear and behave in social settings
and relationships. 41
Risk-Taking-Make quicker decisions. Use less information to make
decisions. Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial
organizations

Self efficacy- Belief about one’s own ability to deal with events
and challenges.

Achievement orientation- Employees with high motivation want

to overcome obstacles. Believe Success or failure is because of
their actions. Take tasks of moderate difficulty.
High Sense of Self- Efficacy Low Sense of Self-Efficacy

View challenging problems as Avoid challenging tasks.

tasks to be mastered.

Develop deeper interest in the Believe that difficult tasks and

activities in which they situations are beyond their
participate. capabilities.
Form a stronger sense of Focus on personal failings and
commitment to their interests negative outcomes.
and activities
Recover quickly from setbacks Quickly lose confidence in
and disappointments. personal abilities
 Personality Theories
• Personality Theory:  concepts, assumptions, ideas,
and principles  to explain personality;
Includes five perspectives:
1. Trait Theories
2. Psychodynamic Theories
3. Behavioristic Theories
4. Social Learning Theories
5. Humanistic Theories
 Personality Theories

1. Trait Theories: Attempt to learn which traits make up

personality and how they relate to actual behavior (
D. W. Fiske, 1949; Norman, 1967; Smith, 1967; Goldberg, 1981; McCrae &
Costa (1987).

2. Psychodynamic Theories: Focus on the inner

workings of personality, especially internal conflicts
and struggles (Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson etc.)
 Personality Theories…
3. Behavioristic Theories: Focus on external
environment and on effects of conditioning and
learning (John B. Watson, 1924; Burrhus Frederic Skinner, 1938)

4. Social Learning Theories: Attribute differences in

perspectives to socialization, expectations, and
mental processes (Julian B. Rotter, 1954; Bandura, 1977)

5. Humanistic Theories: Focus on private, subjective

experience and personal growth (Alfred Adler, 1902; Abraham
Maslow, 1943; Carl Rogers, 1972;)
 Measuring
PERSONALITY
Traits
Personality Assessment: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
•The MBTI tool was developed by KC Briggs & Isabel Briggs Myers and the original
research was done in the 1940s and '50s.
•Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) : Most widely used instrument in the world.
•A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16
personality types.
Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or
on your own inner world? This is called Extraversion (E) or
4 Personality Types Introversion (I).
•Extroverted vs. Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information
Introverted (E or I) you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning?
This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).
•Sensing vs. Intuitive (S Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look
or N)
at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special
•Thinking vs. Feeling (T circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).
or F) Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to
•Judging vs. Perceiving get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new
(P or J) information and options? This is called Judging (J) or
Perceiving (P).
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Extroverted Introverted
(E) (I) Quiet and
Sociable and Shy
Assertive

Sensing Intuitive
Practical and (S) (N) Unconscious
Orderly Processes

Thinking
Feeling (F)
Use Reason (T) Uses Values &
and Logic Emotions

Perceiving
Judging (J) Flexible and
Want Order
(P)
Spontaneous
& Structure
 Big 5 Model
• The Big Five model of personality is widely considered to be
the most robust way to describe personality differences.

• Developed first in 1949 by D. W. Fiske (1949) and later

expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967),
Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa (1987).

• It is the basis of most modern personality research.

• The theory states that personality can be boiled down to five

core factors, known by the acronym CANOE or OCEAN 
Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion,
and Neuroticism.
 Big 5 Model
• Openness to Experience : characteristics such as
imagination and insight, and those high in this trait
also tend to have a broad range of interests.
• Conscientiousness : Common features include high
levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control
and goal-directed behaviors
• Agreeableness :This personality dimension includes
attributes such as trust, kindness, affection, and
other prosocial behaviors.
 Big 5 Model…

• Extroversion : characteristics such as excitability,

sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high
amounts of emotional expressiveness.

• Neuroticism :Individuals high in this trait tend to

experience emotional instability, anxiety,
moodiness, irritability, and sadness.
 personality test
Personality testing & assessment = techniques to measure the
characteristic patterns of traits of people across various situations.

Uses of Personality Tests

There are a number of reasons why a person might take a personality
test. Personality tests are administered for a number of different
purposes, including:

a. Assessing theories
b. Evaluating the effectiveness of therapy
c. Diagnosing psychological problems
d. Looking at changes in personality
e. Screening job candidates
 Person – Job –Organization Fit
Person – Job Fit
• Satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest when personality
and occupation are in agreement
• A realistic person in a realistic job is in a more congruent
situation than a realistic person in an investigating job.

Person –Organization Fit

• People are attracted to and selected by organizations that
match their values and they leave organizations that are not
compatible with their personalities.
• https://acasestudy.com/case-study-on-personality-in-
organizational-behaviour/
 Implications of Person – Job –Organization Fit
• Person-job fit is important for the work because it has strong
implications on the well-being.
• It impacts job satisfaction, as well as satisfaction with coworkers and
supervisor.
• One may expect increase in organizational commitment &
identification when they fit well with their job.
• Strain decreases when fit better with the job. So, overall, one will be
happier, more dedicated to the organization, and less stressed when
fit better with their job.
• Person-job fit is a part of person-environment fit. Person-
environment fit also includes person-supervisor fit, person-group fit,
and person-organization fit.
• Person-environment fit is basically the idea that people interact with
their environments, with impacts on their well-being.
 Interview Questions

How personality assessment helps in recruiting?

Is it possible to predict personality accurately?
Can you say something about your traits?