Organizational Behavior: Managing

People and Organizations,

Ninth Edition
Gregory Moorhead, Ricky W. Griffin

Chapter 3

Behavior of
Individuals
 Chapter Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter you should be able to:
• Explain the nature of the individual-organization
relationship.
• Define personality and describe personality attributes
that affect behavior in organizations.
• Discuss individual attitudes in organizations and how
they affect behavior.
• Describe basic perceptual processes and the role of
attributions in organizations.
• Explain how workplace behaviors can directly or
indirectly influence organizational effectiveness.

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–2

 People in Organizations
• Psychological Contract
 A person’s overall set of expectations regarding what
he or she will contribute to the organization and what
the organization, in return, will provide to the
individual
 Individuals contribute effort, skills, ability, time, loyalty

 Organizations provide inducements in the form of

tangible/intangible rewards

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–3

 Figure 3.1 The Psychological Contract

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–4

 People in Organizations
• Person-Job Fit
 The extent to which the contributions made by the
individual match the inducements offered by the
organization
• Individual Differences
 Personal attributes that vary
from one person to another

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–5

 Personality and Organizations
• The “Big Five” Personality Traits
 A set of fundamental traits that are especially relevant
to organizations

Agreeableness The ability to get along with others

Conscientiousness The number of goals on which a person focuses

Negative emotionality Characteristics are moodiness/insecurity

Extraversion The quality of being comfortable with relationships

Openness The capacity to entertain new ideas and to change

as a result of new information

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–6

 Figure 3.2 The “Big Five” Personality Framework

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–7

 Personality and Organizations (cont’d)
• The Myers-Briggs Framework
 Differentiation across four general dimensions
• Sensing
• Intuiting
• Judging
• Perceiving
 Sixteen personality classifications result from the
higher and lower positions of the general dimensions
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular
questionnaire used to assess personality types
• Communications styles
• Interaction preferences
© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–8
 Personality and Organizations (cont’d)
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
 The extent to which people are self-aware, can
manage their emotions, can motivate themselves,
express empathy for others, and possess social skills
• Dimensions of EQ
 Self-awareness
 Managing emotions
 Motivating oneself
 Empathy
 Social skills

Stockbyte at Getty Images®

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–9

 Other Personality Traits at Work
Locus of Control The extent to which a person believes his/her
circumstances are a function of either his/her own
actions or of external factors beyond his/her control

Self-Efficacy A person’s beliefs about his/her capabilities to

perform a task

Authoritarianism The belief that power and status differences are

appropriate within hierarchical social systems such
as organizations
Machiavellianism Behavior directed at gaining power and control of
others

Self-Esteem The extent to which a person believes he or she is a

worthwhile/deserving individual

Risk Propensity The degree to which a person is willing to take

chances and make risky decisions

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–10

 Attitudes in Organizations
• Attitudes
 A person’s complexes of beliefs and feelings about
specific ideas, situations, other people

• Structural Components of Attitudes

 Affect: a person’s feelings toward something

 Cognitions: the knowledge a person presumes to

have about something
 Intention: a component of an attitude that guides a
person’s behavior

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–11

 Attitudes in Organizations (cont’d)
• Cognitive Dissonance
 The anxiety a person experiences when he/she
simultaneously possesses two sets of knowledge or
perceptions that are contradictory or incongruent
• Why Attitudes Change
 Availability of new information
 Changes in the object of the attitude
 Object of the attitude becomes less important
 To reduce cognitive dissonance

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–12

 Attitudes in Organizations
Key Work-Related Attitudes
Job satisfaction The extent to which a person is gratified or
fulfilled by his or her work
Organizational A person’s identification with and
commitment attachment to an organization
(job commitment)

Affect and Mood in Organizations

Positive affectivity Upbeat and optimistic, overall sense of
well-being, seeing things in a positive light
Negative affectivity Downbeat and pessimistic, seeing things in
a negative way, seeming to be in a bad
mood

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–13

 Perception in Organizations
• Perception
 The set of processes by which an individual becomes
aware of and interprets information about the
environment
• Selective perception
• Stereotyping
• Attribution Theory
 We attribute causes to behavior based on our
observations of certain characteristics of that behavior
• Consensus
• Consistency
• Distinctiveness
© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–14
 Figure 3.3 Basic Perceptual Processes

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–15

 Figure 3.4 The Attribution Process

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–16

 Types of Workplace Behavior
• Workplace Behavior
 A pattern of action by the members of an organization
that directly or indirectly influences organizational
effectiveness
• Performance Behaviors
 All of the total set of work-related behaviors that the
organization expects the individual to display

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–17

 Types of Workplace Behavior (cont’d)
• Dysfunctional Behaviors
 Behaviors that detract from
organizational performance
• Absenteeism: when an individual
does not show up for work
Stockbyte at Getty Images®
• Turnover: when people quit their
jobs
• Organizational Citizenship
 The extent to which a person’s
behavior makes a positive overall
contribution to the organization

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–18

 Organizational Behavior in Action
• After reading the chapter:
 What specifically would convince you that an
organization would be likely to honor its psychological
contract with you?
 What actions could you personally take to increase
the person-job fit for your first job after graduation?
 Which of the “Big Five” personality traits would be the
easiest to fake in an interview? Which would be the
hardest?

© 2010 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3–19