Chapter 2

FOUNDATION OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND LEARNING IN AN

ORGANIZATION
2.1. Perception

2.1.1. Definition and importance

Definition

Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in

order to represent and understand the environment.

All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or
chemical stimulation of the sense organs.

It is not the passive receipt of these signals but is shaped by learning, memory, expectation,
and attention.

Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system but subjectively seems
mostly effortless because this processing happens outside of conscious awareness.
Cont’d…

According to Joseph Reitz; “Perception includes all those processes by which an individual
receives information about his environment—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.”

Uday Pareek said perception can be defined as “the process of receiving, selecting,
organizing, interpreting, checking, and reacting to sensory stimuli or data.”

According to S. P. Robbins, perception can be defined as “the process by which individuals

organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their
environments.”

Perception includes the 5 senses; touch, sight, taste smell and sound. It also includes what is
known as perception, a set of senses involving the ability to detect changes in body positions
and movements.

It also involves the- cognitive processes required to process information, such as recognizing
the face of a friend or detecting a familiar perfume.
Importance of Perception

Perception is a subjective, active and creative process through which we assign

meaning to sensory information to understand ourselves and others.

It can be defined as our recognition and interpretation of sensory information. It

also includes how we respond to the information.

It is the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from

the external world by means of the sensory receptors.
Cont’d…
Thus, perception has the following importance.
used to understand human behavior because every person perceives the world and
approaches life problems differently. Whatever we see or feel is not necessarily the same
as it really is. When we buy something, it is not because it is the best, but because we
take it to be the best.
To predict human behavior in the changed circumstances by understanding their present
perception of the environment. One person may be viewing the facts in one way which
may be different from the facts as seen by another viewer.
The needs of various people can be determined, because people’s perception is influenced by
their needs.
Perception is very important for the manager who wants to avoid making errors when dealing
with people and events in the work setting. This problem is made more complicated by
the fact that different people perceive the same situation differently. In order to deal with
the subordinates effectively, the managers must understand their perceptions properly.
Perception can be important because it offers more than objective output; it ingests an
observation and manufactures an altered reality enriched with previous experiences.
Perception builds character (not necessarily good or bad character) that defines different roles
2.1.2. Perceptual process

Although the perception is a largely cognitive and psychological process, how we perceive
the people and objects around us affects our communication.

Actually perception process is a sequence of steps that begins with the environment and
leads to our perception of a stimulus and action in response to the stimulus.

3 stages of perception process are;

Selection: Selecting is the first part of the perception process, in which we focus our
attention on certain incoming sensory information. In selection, we choose stimuli that
attract our attention.
We focus on the ones that stand out to our senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch).
We take information through all five of our senses,
Organization: Organizing is the second part of the perception process, in which we sort
and categorize information that we perceive based on innate and learned cognitive
patterns.
Three ways we sort things into patterns are by using proximity, similarity, and difference
Interpretation: Interpretation and categorization are generally the most subjective areas
of perception, as they involve decisions about whether listeners like what they hear and
want to keep listening.
2.1.3. Errors in Perception

As seen above perception is the process of analysing and understanding a stimulus as it is.

But it may not be always possible to perceive the stimuli as they are.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we mistake the stimulus and perceive it wrongly.

Illusion: The illusion is a false perception. Here the person will mistake a stimulus and
perceive it wrongly.

Hallucination: This phenomenon is known as a hallucination. The person may see an object,
person, etc. or he may listen to some voice though there are no objects and sounds in reality.
Selective perception: Selective perception means the situation when people selectively
interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
Halo Effect: The individual is evaluated on the basis of perceived positive quality, feature or
trait. 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.

In other words, this is the tendency to rate a man uniformly high or low in other traits if he is
extraordinarily high or low in one particular trait
Stereotyping: People usually can fall into at least one general category based on
physical or behavioral traits then they will be evaluated.
Similarity: Often, people tend to seek out and rate more positively those who are
similar to themselves.
Horn Effect: When the individual is completely evaluated on the basis of a negative
quality or feature perceived. This results in an overall lower rating than an acceptable
rate.
Contrast: The tendency to rate people relative to other people rather than to the
individual performance he or she is doing. Rather will evaluate an employee by
comparing that employee’s performance with other employees.
Prejudice: An unfounded dislike of a person or group based on their belonging to a
particular stereotyped group.
2.1.4. Factors Affecting Perception
Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets information
to create a meaningful picture.
2.2. Attitudes
Attitudes are evaluative statements—either favorable or unfavorable—concerning
objects, people, or events. They reflect how one feels about something. When I
say ―I like my job,‖ I am expressing my attitude

What Are the Main Components of Attitudes?

Typically, researchers have assumed that attitudes have three components:

cognition, affect, and behavior. Let‘s look at each of these components.

The cognitive component: It is the opinion or belief segment of an attitude. The

statement that ―discrimination is wrong evaluative.

The affective component: Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an

attitude and is reflected in the statement ―I don‘t like Abebe because he
discriminates against minorities.

The behavioral component: It refers to an intention to behave in a certain way

toward someone or something. So, to continue our example, I might choose to
avoid Abebe because of my feelings about him.
What Are the Major Job Attitudes?

Job Satisfaction: The term job satisfaction can be defined as a positive feeling
about one‘s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. A person with a
high level of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about the job, while a person
who is dissatisfied holds negative feelings about the job. The degree of satisfaction
may vary with how well outcomes fulfill or exceed expectations.
Job Involvement/employee engagement: It measures the degree to which people
identify psychologically with their job and consider their perceived performance
level important to self-worth or individuals‘ involvement with, satisfaction with,
and enthusiasm for, the work they do.
psychological empowerment, which is employees‘ beliefs in the degree to which
they affect their work environments, their competence, the meaningfulness of their
jobs, and the perceived autonomy in their work.
Organizational Commitment: It refers the state in which an employee identifies
with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in
the organization. three separate dimensions of organizational commitment:
Cont’d…
Affective commitment: an emotional attachment to the organization and a belief in its
values.
Continuance commitment: the perceived economic value of remaining with an organization
compared to leaving it.
Normative commitment: an obligation to remain with the organization for moral or ethical
reasons.
Perceived organizational support (POS), which refers the degree to which employees believe
the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being.
2.3. Personality
 Who we are – our uniqueness
 Influences our behavior, thoughts, moods, attitudes, emotions, even our
unconscious feelings
 Is reflected in our interactions with other people and the environment around us
 Can predict how we would act or react under different situations
 It is a complex, multi-dimensional construct and there is no simple definition of
what personality is.
 It is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with
others.
 It is a relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that
characterize a person, along with the psychological processes behind those
characteristics.

Personality Determinants
 Heredity: inborn features such as gender, physical structure, energy level, facial
attractiveness, etc. i.e. the ultimate explanation of an individual‘s personality is
the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.
 Environment
 Environmental factors can be: Cultural and social factors
Cont’d…
 Culture: the factors that exert pressures on our personality
formation are the culture in which we are raised; our early
conditioning; the norms among our family, friends, and social
groups; and other influences that we experience.
According to some thinkers, personality is the subjective aspect of
culture. They regard personality and culture as two sides of the
same coin.
 Social Factors
play a vital role in determining one’s personality. i.e. the society that
we live in, relationships, co- ordination, co-operation ,interaction,
environment in the family, organizations, societies all contribute in
as personality determinant.
 Situational Factors
Although personality is stable and consistent, situational factors do
alter a person’s behavior and response from time to time and may
cause to exhibit different traits and characteristics (such as shy,
aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal).
The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) of personality
 Extroverted Versus Introverted (E or I)—Extroverted individuals
are outgoing, sociable, and assertive. Introverts are quiet and shy.
 Sensing Versus Intuitive(S or N)—Sensing types are practical and
prefer routine and order. They focus on details. Intuitive rely on
unconscious processes and look at the big picture.
 Thinking Versus Feeling (T or F)—Thinking types use reason
and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely on their personal
values and emotions.
 Judging Versus Perceiving (J or P)—Judging types want control
and prefer their world to be ordered and structured. Perceiving
types are flexible and spontaneous.
The big-five personality model
 Extroversion: This dimension captures one‘s comfort level with
relationships. Extroverts tend to be gregarious/outgoing, assertive
and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid and quiet.
 Agreeableness: It refers to an individual‘s propensity to defer to
others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm, soft-hearted
and trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are cold,
disagreeable and antagonistic.
 Conscientiousness: It is a measure of reliability. A highly
conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable and
persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are easily
distracted, disorganized and unreliable.
 Neuroticism/Emotional stability: This dimension taps a person‘s
ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability
tend to be calm, self-confident, relaxed and secure. Those with high
negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed and insecure.
 Openness to experience: Extremely open people are creative,
curious, broad-minded and artistically sensitive.
Major Personality Attributes/features Influencing OB
 Core Self-Evaluation: the feature in which people like themselves and see
themselves as effective, capable, and in control of their environments.
Two main elements determine an individual‘s core self-evaluation:
a) Self-esteem: feeling of self-worth-the degree in individuals think they are worthy or
unworthy people. i.e.

Failure tends
Success tends to decrease
to increase self-esteem
self-esteem

b) Locus of control: The belief about mastering once own fate. It can be:
Internal: I control what happens to me.
External: Others (people and circumstance) control my fate
 Machiavellianism: characterized by pragmatic, maintains
emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.
 Narcissism: characterized by sense of self-importance, requires
excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant.
 Self-Monitoring: Behavior based on cues from people &
situations.
High self-monitors are capable of presenting striking contradictions
between their public persona and their private self.

The evidence indicates that high self-monitors tend to pay closer

attention to the behaviour of others and are more capable of
conforming than are low self monitors.
 Self-Efficacy: - beliefs and expectations about one’s ability to accomplish a
specific task effectively
Sources of self-efficacy
 Prior experiences and prior success
 Behavior models (observing success)
 Persuasion
 Assessment of current physical & emotional capabilities
 Risk Taking: People differ in their willingness to take or avoid risk/chances.
This propensity to assume or avoid risk affects how long it takes managers to
make a decision and how much information they require before making a
choice.
 Type A Personality: characterized by aggressive nature who involved in a
chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time.
 Type B Personality: are―rarely harried/don’t bothered to obtain a wildly
increasing number of things or participate in an endless growing series of
events in an ever-decreasing amount of time.
 Proactive Personality: identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and
persevere until meaningful change occurs.
They create positive change in their environment, regardless or even in spite of
constraints or obstacles.

2.4. Values
Values represent basic, enduring convictions/beliefs or a specific mode of conduct/
end-state of existence.
Values involve judgment because they represent an individual‘s ideas about what
is right, good, or desirable. We can evaluate values in relation to two attributes:
1. Content– This is how important the value to the individual.
2. Intensity– This attribute specifies how important the value is in relation to
other values.

Types of values
3. Terminal values- refers to desirable end-states. These are the goals that a
person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime.
4. Instrumental values- means of achieving the terminal values.
Values across Cultures
Hofstede‘s in late 1970 identified five value dimensions of national culture.
 High power distance versus low power distance: power distance is the degree to
which people in a country accept that power in institutions and organizations is
distributed unequally. A high-power-distance rating means that large inequalities of
power and wealth exist and are tolerated in the culture.
 Individualism versus collectivism: Individualism is the degree to which people prefer
to act as individuals rather than as members of groups and believe in individual rights
above all else. Collectivism emphasizes a tight social framework in which people
expect others in groups/want to involve in groups.
 Masculinity versus femininity: masculinity is the degree to which the culture favors
traditional masculine roles such as achievement, power, control while femininity is a
culture that views men and women as equals. A high-masculinity rating indicates the
culture has separate roles for men and women with men dominating the society. A high-
femininity rating means that the culture has little differentiation between male and
female roles.
 Uncertainty avoidance: the degree to which people in a country prefer structured over
unstructured situations. In cultures that score high on uncertainty avoidance, people
have an increased level of anxiety about uncertainty and ambiguity. Such cultures tend
to emphasize laws, regulations, and controls that are designed to reduce uncertainty.
 Long-term orientation versus short-term orientation: People in cultures with long-term
orientations look to the future and give more value/thrift, and persistence.
In a short-term orientation, people value the here and now, change is accepted more readily,
and commitments do not represent impediments to change.

Linking an Individual's Personality and Values to the Workplace

Person–Job Fit
According to John Holland's theory, most people are one of six personality types:

1. Realistic: Prefers physical activities that require skill, strength, and coordination. There
behaviors are Shy, genuine, persistent, stable, conforming, practical. E.g. Mechanic, drill press
operator, assembly-line worker, farmer
2. Investigative: Prefers activities that involve thinking, organizing, and understanding. There
features are: Analytical, original, curious, independent. e.g. Biologist, economist,
mathematician, news reporter
3. Social: Prefers activities that involve helping and developing others. They are: Sociable,
friendly, cooperative, understanding. E.g. Social worker, teacher, counsellor, clinical
psychologist
4. Conventional: Prefers rule-regulated, orderly, and unambiguous activities. The are:
Conforming, efficient, practical, unimaginative, inflexible. e.g. Accountant, corporate
manager, bank teller, file clerk
5. Enterprising: Prefers verbal activities in which there are opportunities to
influence others and attain power. They are: Self-confident, ambitious, energetic,
domineering. E.g. Lawyer, real estate agent, public relations specialist, small
business manager
6. Artistic: Prefers ambiguity and activities that allow creative expression. They
are: Imaginative, disorderly, idealistic, emotional, impractical. E.g. Painter,
musician, writer, interior decorator

Person–Organization Fit
Because of the dynamic and changing nature of the environment, employees‘
personalities should fit with the overall organization‘s culture.
Using the Big Five terminology, we could expect that:
 People high on extroversion fit better with aggressive and team-oriented
cultures.
 People high on agreeableness match up better with a supportive organizational
climate than one that focuses on aggressiveness.
 People high on openness to experience fit better into organizations that
emphasize innovation rather than standardization.
2.5. Learning
Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result
of experience
Learning components:
 Involves Change
 Is Relatively Permanent
 Is Acquired Through Experience
Theories of Learning
• Classical Conditioning
Developed by Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, to teach dogs to
salivate in response to the ringing of a bell.
– A type of conditioning in which an individual responds to
some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such a
response.
Cont’d…
Key Concepts:
Unconditioned stimulus
A naturally occurring phenomenon.
Unconditioned response
The naturally occurring response to a natural stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus
An artificial stimulus introduced into the situation.
Conditioned response
The response to the artificial stimulus.

This is a passive form of learning. It is reflexive and not voluntary

– not the best theory for OB learning.
Operant Conditioning
Developed by B. F. Skinner, argued that creating pleasant
consequences to follow specific forms of behaviour would
increase the frequency of that behaviour. i.e.
Behaviour is a function of its consequences.
Key Concepts:
Conditioned behavior: voluntary behavior that is learned, not
reflexive.
Reinforcement: the consequences of behavior which can increase
or decrease the likelihood of behavior repetition.
Pleasing consequences increase likelihood of repetition.
Rewards are most effective immediately after performance while
unrewarded/punished behavior is unlikely to be repeated.
Cognitive Learning
process of gaining knowledge and understanding through the
senses, experience and thought.
Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom is cognitive
learning.
Social-Learning Theory
People can learn through observation and direct experience.
Social learning integrates the cognitive and operant approaches of
learning.
Key Concepts:
Attention processes
Must recognize and pay attention to critical features to learn.
Retention processes
actions must be remembered/stored to be learned.
Motor reproduction processes
behavior must be converted to doing.
Reinforcement processes
Positive incentives motivate learners.
 2.6. Shaping: A Managerial Tool
Systematically reinforcing each successive step that moves an individual closer to
the desired response.
• Four methods of shaping behavior:
– Positive reinforcement
• Providing a reward for a desired behavior (learning)
– Negative reinforcement
• Removing an unpleasant consequence when the desired behavior occurs
(learning)
– Punishment
• Applying an undesirable condition to eliminate an undesirable behavior
(“unlearning”)
– Extinction
• Eliminating or withholding reinforcement of a behavior to cause its
cessation when the behavior is not changed (unlearning).
• Schedules of Reinforcement
• Two major types:
– Continuous Reinforcement
• A desired behavior is reinforced each time as it is demonstrated.
Intermittent Reinforcement
• A desired behavior is reinforced often enough to make the behavior worth
repeating but not every time it is demonstrated.
• Multiple frequencies.
Types of intermittent reinforcement schedule
• Ratio schedules depend on how many responses the subject
makes. The individual is reinforced after giving a certain number of
specific types of behavior.
• Interval schedules depend on how much time has passed since the
previous reinforcement.
Effect of reinforcement
Reinforcement Behaviour Effect Example
Schedule

Continuous Reward given after each Fast learning of new Compliment

desired behaviour- behaviour but rapid s
extinction
Fixed-interval: Reward given at Average and irregular Weekly pay
uniform/fixed time intervals performance with rapid checks
extinction
Variable- Reward given at variable Moderately high and Pop quizzes
interval time intervals- stable performance with
slow extinction
Fixed-ratio Reward given at fixed High and stable Piece-rate
amounts of output- performance attained pay
quickly but also with
rapid extinction
Variable-ratio Reward given at variable Very high performance Commission
amounts of output with slow extinction. ed sales