CHAPTER 9:

Basic Elements of Individual Behavior in Organizations

UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUALS IN 1. Agreeableness – a person’s

ORGANIZATIONS ability to get along with others
 Psychological contract – overall 2. Conscientiousness – a
set of expectations held by an person’s ability to manage
individual with respect to what he multiple tasks and consistently
or she will contribute to the meet deadlines
organization and what the 3. Neuroticism – a person
organization will provide in return experiences anxiety or is
 Contributions – what the poised, calm, resilient, and
individual provides to the secure
organization 4. Extraversion – a person’s
 Inducements – what the comfort level with relationships
organization provides to the 5. Openness – a person’s
individual rigidity of beliefs and range of
 The Person-Job Fit –the interests
contributions made by the
individual match the inducements
offered by the organization

PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL

BEHAVIOR
THE MYERS–BRIGGS FRAMEWORK
 Individual differences – personal
attributes that vary from one  based on the classic work of Carl
person to another Jung
 Personality – the relatively stable  The Myers–Briggs Type
set of psychological and Indicator (MBTI) – one popular
behavioral attributes that questionnaire that some
distinguish one person from organizations use to assess
another personality types. A useful method
for determining communication
styles and interaction preferences
THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS 1. Extraversion (E) versus
 The “Big Five” Model of Introversion (I)
Personality – a popular  Extraverts get their energy
personality framework based on from being around other
five key traits people, whereas introverts
are worn out by others and
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 need solitude to recharge
their energy.
2. Sensing (S) versus Intuition
(N)
 The sensing type prefers
concrete things, whereas
intuitives prefer abstract
concepts.
3. Thinking (T) versus Feeling
(F)
 Thinking individuals base
their decisions more on
logic and reason, whereas
feeling individuals base
their decisions more on
feelings and emotions.
4. Judging (J) versus
Perceiving (P)
 People who are the judging
type enjoy completion or
being finished, whereas
perceiving types enjoy the
process and open-ended
situations.
PERSONALITY TRAITS AT WORK
1. Locus of control – an individual
believes that his or her behavior
has a direct impact on the
consequences of that behavior
a. Internal locus of control
– individuals who believe
they are in control of their
lives.
b. External locus of control
– individuals believe that
external forces dictate
what happens to them.
2. Self-efficacy – an individual’s
beliefs about his or her
capabilities to perform a task
3. Authoritarianism – an individual
believes that power and status
differences are appropriate within
hierarchical social systems like
organizations
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4. Machiavellianism – behavior
directed at gaining power and
controlling the behavior of others
5. Self-esteem – a person believes
that he or she is a worthwhile and
deserving individual
6. Risk propensity – an individual is
willing to take chances and make
risky decisions
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
 Emotional Intelligence (EQ) –
people are self-aware, manage
their emotions, motivate
themselves, express empathy for
others, and possess social skills
DIMENSIONS OF EQ
a. Self-awareness – a person’s
capacity for being aware of how
they are feeling. More self-
awareness allows people to more
effectively guide their own lives
and behaviors.
b. Managing emotions – a person’s
capacities to balance anxiety, fear,
and anger so those emotions do
not overly interfere with getting
things accomplished.
c. Motivating oneself – a person’s
ability to remain optimistic and to
continue striving in the face of
setbacks, barriers, and failure.
d. Empathy – a person’s ability to
understand how others are
feeling, even without being
explicitly told.
e. Social skill – a person’s ability to
get along with others and to
establish positive relationships.
ATTITUDES AND INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOR
 Attitudes – complexes of beliefs
and feelings that people have
 about specific ideas, situations, or
other people.
 Cognitive Dissonance – caused
when an individual has conflicting
attitudes.
 Stereotyping – the process of
categorizing or labelling people on
the basis of a single attribute
 Attribution – the process of
observing behavior and attributing
causes to it

WORK-RELATED ATTITUDES BASIC FRAMEWORK AROUND

WHICH WE FORM ATTRIBUTIONS
 Job satisfaction or
 Consensus – other people in the
dissatisfaction – an attitude that
same situation behave the same
reflects the extent to which an
way
individual is gratified by or fulfilled
 Consistency – the same person
in his or her work
behaves in the same way at
 Organizational commitment –
different times
an attitude that reflects an
 Distinctiveness - the same
individual’s identification with and
person behaves in the same way
attachment to the organization
in other situations
itself

STRESS AND INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR

AFFECT AND MOOD IN
ORGANIZATIONS  Stress – an individual’s response
 Positive affectivity – a tendency to a strong stimulus, which is
to be relatively upbeat and called a stressor
optimistic, have an overall sense  General Adaptation Syndrome
of well-being, see things in a (GAS) – general cycle of the
positive light, and seem to be in a stress process; represents the
good mood normal process by which we react
 Negative affectivity – a tendency to stressful events.
to be generally downbeat and THE GENERAL ADAPTATION
pessimistic, see things in a SYNDROME
negative way, and seem to be in a o Stage 1: alarm —we feel panic
bad mood and alarm, and our level of
resistance to stress drops.
o Stage 2: resistance — our efforts
PERCEPTION, ATTRIBUTION,
& INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR to confront and control the
stressful circumstance.
 Perception – the set of processes
o Stage 3: exhaustion — just give
by which an individual becomes
up or quit.
aware of and interprets
information about the environment
 Selective perception – the PERSONALITY TYPES
process of screening out
 Type A – individuals who are
information that we are
extremely competitive, are very
uncomfortable with or that
devoted to work, and have a
contradicts our beliefs
strong sense of time urgency

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 Type B – individuals who are less  Burnout – a feeling of exhaustion
competitive, are less devoted to that may develop when someone
work, and have a weaker sense of experiences too much stress for
time urgency an extended period of time
MANAGING STRESS
CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF o Regular exercise
STRESS o Relaxation
ORGANIZATIONAL o Time management
STRESSORS/CAUSES o Support group
 Four general sets of
organizational stressors:
o task demands CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS
o physical demands  Creativity – the ability of an
o role demands individual to generate new ideas
o interpersonal demands or to conceive of new
perspectives on existing ideas
THREE CATEGORIES OF CREATIVE
INDIVIDUALS
a. Background Experiences and
Creativity – creative individuals
were raised in environments in
CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS which creativity was nurtured.
 Negative personal b. Personal Traits and Creativity –
consequences traits shared by most creative
o Behavioral — smoking, people are openness, an
alcoholism, overeating, attraction to complexity, high
drug abuse. levels of energy, independence
o Psychological — sleep and autonomy, strong self-
disturbances, depression. confidence, and a strong belief
o Medical — heart disease, that one is, in fact, creative
stroke, backaches, ulcers, c. Cognitive Abilities and
skin conditions. Creativity – an individual’s power
 Negative work-related to think intelligently and to analyze
consequences situations and data effectively
o Poor quality work output o Divergent thinking – a skill
and lower productivity. that allows people to see
o Job dissatisfaction, low differences among situations,
morale, and a lack of phenomena, or events.
commitment. o Convergent thinking – a skill
o Withdrawal through that allows people to see
indifference and similarities among situations,
absenteeism phenomena, or events.
INDIVIDUAL CONSEQUENCES OF TYPES OF WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR
STRESS

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 Workplace behavior – a pattern of
action by the members of an
organization that directly or
indirectly influences organizational
effectiveness
 Performance behaviors – the total
set of work-related behaviors that
the organization expects the
individual to display
WITHDRAWAL BEHAVIORS
 Absenteeism – an individual
does not show up for work
 Turnover – when people quit their
jobs
ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP
 The behavior of individuals that
makes a positive overall
contribution to the organization
 Determinants of Organizational
Citizenship
o Individual’s personality,
attitudes and needs
o Social context of the
workplace
o Organizations capacity to
reward citizenship
DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIORS
 Those that detract from, rather
than contribute to, organizational
performance
o Absenteeism and turnover
o Theft and sabotage
o Sexual and racial
harassment
o Politicized behavior
o Intentionally misleading
others
o Spreading malicious
rumors
o Workplace violence

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