Organizational Behavior

Individual Differences
 Organizational Behavior

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 Contributing Disciplines Within the OB Field
 Psychology
 Sociology
 Social Psychology
 Anthropology
 Political Science

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 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

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 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

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 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

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 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

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 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

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 There Are Few Absolutes in OB

Contingency
x Variables y
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 Primary dependent variables
Dependent variables are the key factors that you want to
explain or predict and that are affected by some other
factor.

– Productivity
– Absenteeism
– Turnover
– Organizational citizenship
– Job satisfaction

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 The Dependent Variables (cont’d)

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 The Dependent Variables (cont’d)

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 The Dependent Variables (cont’d)

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 The Dependent Variables (cont’d)

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 The Independent Variables

Independent
Variables

Individual-Level Group-Level Organization

Variables Variables System-Level
Variables

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 Organization Level variables
 Organizational behavior reaches its highest level
of sophistication when we add formal structure.
 The design of the formal organization, work
processes, and jobs; the organization’s human
resource policies and practices, and the internal
culture, all have an impact.

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 Group-level variables
 The behavior of people in groups is more than the
sum total of all the individuals acting in their own
way.
 People behave differently in groups than they do
when alone.
 People in groups are influenced by:
– Acceptable standards of behavior by the group
– Degree of attractiveness to each other
– Communication patterns
– Leadership and power
– Levels of conflict

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 Individual-level variables
 People enter organizations with certain
characteristics that will influence their behavior at
work.
 The more obvious of these are personal or
biographical characteristics such as age, gender,
and marital status; personality characteristics; an
inherent emotional framework; values and
attitudes; and basic ability levels.
 There is little management can do to alter them,
yet they have a very real impact on employee
behavior.
 Four other individual-level variables: perception,
individual decision making, learning, and
motivation.
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 Biographical Characteristics

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 Ability

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 Dimensions of
Intellectual Ability

• Number aptitude
• Verbal comprehension
• Perceptual speed
• Inductive reasoning
• Deductive reasoning
• Spatial visualization
• Memory

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 Physical Ability

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 Nine Physical Abilities

Strength Factors
• Dynamic strength
• Trunk strength
• Static strength
• Explosive strength Flexibility Factors
• Extent flexibility
• Dynamic flexibility
Other Factors
• Body coordination
• Balance
• Stamina

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 The Ability-Job Fit

Ability-Job
Employee’s Fit Job’s Ability
Abilities Requirements

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 Behavior Modification

Problem-solving Model
• Identify critical behaviors
• Develop baseline data
• Identify behavioral consequences
• Apply intervention
• Evaluate performance improvement
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 OB MOD Organizational Applications
 Well Pay versus Sick Pay
– Reduce absenteeism by rewarding attendance, not
absence.
 Employee Discipline
– The use of punishment can be counter-productive.
 Developing Training Programs
– OB MOD methods improve training effectiveness.
 Self-management
– Reduces the need for external management control.

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 Other Individual Differences
 In addition to biographical data, we look at
individual:
– Values
– Culture
– Attitudes
– Personality

to help explain differences in the dependent

variables.

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 Values

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 Types of Values

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 Values in
the
Rokeach
Survey

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 Values in
the
Rokeach
Survey
(cont’d)

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 Mean Value Rankings of
Executives, Union
Members, and Activists

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 Dominant Work Values in Today’s Workforce

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 Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures

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 Hofstede’s Framework (cont’d)

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 Hofstede’s Framework (cont’d)

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 Hofstede’s Framework (cont’d)

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 Hofstede’s Framework (cont’d)

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 The GLOBE
Framework • Assertiveness
for • Future Orientation
Assessing • Gender differentiation
Cultures
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Power distance
• Individual/collectivism
• In-group collectivism
• Power orientation
• Humane orientation

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 Attitudes

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 Types of Attitudes

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 The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Desire to reduce dissonance

• Importance of elements creating dissonance
• Degree of individual influence over elements
• Rewards involved in dissonance

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 Measuring the A-B Relationship
 Recent research indicates that the attitudes (A)
significantly predict behaviors (B) when
moderating variables are taken into account.

Moderating Variables
• Importance of the attitude
• Specificity of the attitude
• Accessibility of the attitude
• Social pressures on the individual
• Direct experience with the attitude

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 Self-Perception Theory

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 An Application: Attitude Surveys

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 Sample Attitude Survey

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 Job Satisfaction
 Measuring Job Satisfaction
– Single global rating
– Summation score
 How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs?
– Job satisfaction declined to 50.7% in 2000
– Decline attributed to:
• Pressures to increase productivity
• Less control over work

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 The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee
Performance

 Satisfaction and Productivity

– Satisfied workers aren’t necessarily more productive.
– Worker productivity is higher in organizations with
more satisfied workers.
 Satisfaction and Absenteeism
– Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.
 Satisfaction and Turnover
– Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
– Organizations take actions to cultivate high performers
and to weed out lower performers.

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 Responses to Job Dissatisfaction

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 How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction

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 Job Satisfaction and OCB
 Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship
Behavior (OCB)
– Satisfied employees who feel fairly treated by and are
trusting of the organization are more willing to engage
in behaviors that go beyond the normal expectations of
their job.

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