module 3 #personality and attitude
DESCRIPTION
This is the third of ten modules in which I am organizing my delivery of the course on organizational behavior at ICBM-SBE, 2014. Wherever I felt I used copyrighted content, I tried to make sure I gave appropriate credit to the author/source. In case you see that I missed something, please do let me know. I would be happy to improve.TRANSCRIPT
Organizational Behavior
Module 3: Personality and attitude
Vinay Kumar, Ph.D
Vidisha Garg, MBA
ICBM-SBE, 2014
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 2
Mystery box
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 3
INPUTS
OUTCOMES
MYSTERY
BOX
Nature / Nurture
Inheritance / Environment
Attitudes
What is your personality?
INPUTS
OUTCOMES
Nature / Nurture
Inheritance / Environment
Attitudes
Personality
• Why do?
– Possibility 1: Different people react similarly in some situations.
– Possibility 2: Similar people react differently in some situations.
• Widely referred definition (Gordon Allport, 1937)
– “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical
systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment”
• Three identifiers of personality from the definition:
– Human being and his mind as one responsive system
– Presence of a broader environment or a social context
– Individual as an active participant of the social context
– Additional condition (enduring characteristic):
• Consistent demonstration of uniqueness across a range of contexts
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 4
Personality theories
Biological theories • Behavior is traced to the joint effects of
inherited capacities and past experience
Psychoanalytic theories
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Learning theories
Humanistic theories
• Behavior is determined by individual’s
past experiences which then color
perceptions of current events
• Behavior emanates from past learning,
current perceptions, and higher level
thinking processes (such as expectations)
• Behavior can be understood only in
terms of perceptions of self and others
leading towards personal fulfillment
• Gordon Allport
• Raymond Cattell
• Sigmund Freud
• Alfred Adler
• Carl Jung
• John Dallard
• Albert Bandura
• B F Skinner
• Carl Rogers
• Abraham Maslow
Measuring personality
• Two popular bases for measurement:
– Big Five Theory
• Openness (Curious vs. Cautious)
• Conscientiousness (Organized vs. Careless)
• Extraversion (Outgoing vs. Reserved)
• Agreeableness (Compassionate vs. Analytical)
• Neuroticism (Nervous vs. Confident)
– Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)
• Sensing (S) vs. Intuitive (N)
• Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
• Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 6
• Other traits of interest to OB
Professionals
• Self-evaluation
• Machiavellianism
• Narcissism
• Self-monitoring
• Risk taking
• Proactive tendency
• Other-orientation
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Source: http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/4738568/MyersBriggsTypes.png
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What shapes personality
• Key questions: • What is your view on past/present/future?
• Do I care to know about ‘how I know things’
• What/who controls your decision-making?
• How do you choose between (equal) alternatives?
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Attitudes
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Source: Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior,15th Edition. Pearson: New Jersey.
This link is debatable!
If behavior shapes attitude, it is because of cognitive dissonance
“a situation where original evaluation becomes ineffective”
Mapping attitudes to cultures
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 12
Cognitive Evaluations
Affects/ Feelings
Behaviors
Assumptions
Espoused Values
Artifacts / Behaviors
Breckler, S. J. (1984). Empirical Validation of Affect, Behavior, and Cognition as Distinct Components of Attitude. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1191-1205.
Schein, E. H. (1990). Organizational culture. American Psychological Association.
What should I get? What am I getting?
What should we give? What are we giving? DIFFERENCES
More on this in Unit 5
Job satisfaction Perceived support
Commitment Engagement
Bases of individual behavior
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Cognitive Evaluations
Affects/ Feelings
Behaviors
Breckler, S. J. (1984). Empirical Validation of Affect, Behavior, and Cognition as Distinct Components of Attitude. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1191-1205.
Perception &
Decision-making
Emotions / Moods
Values / Cultures
Perceptions
• Process by which individuals
organize and interpret their
sensory impressions in order
to give meaning to their
environment.
– Be aware: What we
perceive can be
substantially different
from objective reality!
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 14
Source: Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior,15th Edition. Pearson: New Jersey.
Judgment errors
• Fundamental attribution error
– Example 1: If someone else is successful, it is because they had support.
– Example 2: He lost because he did not work hard enough.
• Self-serving bias
– Example 1: I won because of my effort.
– Example 2: I lost because I did not have support.
• Key questions:
– Where do you locate the locus of control?
– What do you believe determines success?
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Common causes of judgment errors
• Selective perception
– Choosing to work with information first-accessed rather than actively
seeking more information useful to understand the situation
• Example: What comes first to your mind about yourself/your friend?
• Halo effect
– Estimating several characteristics of an individual based on evidence
obtained for just one characteristic
• Example: The guy in the suit is a business-man! (Or was he a waiter?)
• Contrast effects
– Evaluating individuals in comparison with others/other things
• Example: Your performance is bad, on an average.
• Stereotyping
– Preconceived notion of how a segment of individuals are likely to be
• Example: He speaks good English. He must have studied in a good school.
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 16
Decision-making
• Reaction to a problem
• Requires access to, interpretation and evaluation of information
– Rational model (pursuit of optimal solutions)
– Bounded rationality (pursuit of satisfactory alternatives)
– Intuitive methods (pursuit of feel good alternatives)
• Common errors in decision-making
– Overconfidence
– Fixation (anchoring bias)
– Selective search for information (confirmation bias)
– Availability bias (information available reveals truth)
– Escalation of commitment (staying with decisions even after knowing it is wrong)
– Randomness error (tendency to overestimate our capacity to predict future)
– Risk aversion (not being aware of probabilities)
– Hindsight bias (tendency to believe false notions after a desired outcome)
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Affects
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Source: Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior,15th Edition. Pearson: New Jersey.
Moods
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Source: Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior,15th Edition. Pearson: New Jersey.
Moods over time and days
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Source: Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior,15th Edition. Pearson: New Jersey.
Emotions
• Range of emotions
– Enthusiasm
– Fear
– Frustration
– Disappointment
– Joy
– Love
– Embarrassment
– Pride
– Hope
– Happiness
– Wonder
– Jealousy
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 21
• Emotions are easily experienced but their
exhibition is not so easy
• Try expressing love only using facial
expression!
• Often, emotions have a powerful, and in some
cases long standing, influence on our behavior
• Using someone’s expressions as the only basis for
gauging their emotions could be highly unreliable
How are you feeling today?
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Values of individuals
• Widely referred definition (Rokeach, 1973)
– “Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially
preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence”
– Example: Notions on what is appropriate and what is not
• Three identifiers of values:
– Recognizing the problem, alternative solutions, and possible outcomes
– Preferring one alternative over the other because one outcome is better than the other
• Better is not limited in its economic sense
• Rather in case of individuals and behavioral decisions, ‘better’ indicates moral judgments
– At least one explanation (rationale) to how chosen alternative is better
• An order-of-priority among alternate courses of action indicates a value-system
– The expectation is that the rationale for such ordering remains relatively stable over time
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Typology of values
• Based on individual’s identity
– Generational values
• Choices attributable to age group
• Example: Boomers valued loyalty; Gen Y values their aspirations
– Role-based values
• Choices attributable to job role
• Example: Scientists value autonomy; Unions value equality
– Any other sectarian values
• Example: Religious values
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 24
Typology of values
• Based on fundamental choices
– Terminal values
• Defining a desirable end-state (how an outcome is ought to be)
• Example: Freedom vs. Economic success vs. Social recognition
– Instrumental values
• Defining how to act on achieving a desired end-state (what is the best
route to achieving desired outcomes)
• Example: Self-reliance vs. Kindness vs. Discipline
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Why values need attention
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Source: Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behavior,15th Edition. Pearson: New Jersey.
Opposite, but not necessarily good/bad
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Assessing person-organization fit
• Good match leads to
– Job satisfaction
– Higher commitment
– Lower turnover
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• Which of these values do you prefer
most? And does the organization
you want to join communicate
anything about these values?
• Flexibility
• Predictability
• High pay
• Job security
• Achievement oriented
• Tolerant for failure
• Confronting conflicts
• Highly organized
• Mostly informal
Read more @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/256404
National values
• Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture
– Power distance: Degree to which people accept that power is distributed unequally
– Individualism vs. Collectivism: Preference to work in teams
– Masculinity vs. Feminity: Preference for masculine desires such as achievement
– Uncertainty avoidance: Preference for structure
– Long term vs. Short term orientation: Preference for speed and kind of change
• Note: This dimension was recently divided into two parts—pragmatism and indulgence
– Pragmatism: Obligated connections with the past
– Indulgence: Capacity to control desires for a future state
• Visit: http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html
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How would you feel in China or US?
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Source: http://geert-hofstede.com/india.html as on 16 July 2014
Exercise
• Recall an experience when someone was rude to you, and
reflect why you may have felt it rude.
• Recall an experience when someone was nice to you, and
reflect why you may have felt it nice.
– Describe in as much detail as possible
– Use appropriate words
– Stay out of the experience and write like an observer
Vinay Kumar; Vidisha Garg 31
For discussion
• Is being nice, costly/hurtful?
• Should you give space for religious expressions?
• Current generations are better than the previous ones, and the future generations will
be better than current ones. It is called the Flynn effect. How should it be managed?
• Is organization obligated to satisfy employees?
• Certain jobs force people to regulate their emotional expressions. They are often
subject of emotional labor. Is it ethical to regulate someone’s emotional expression?
• Should you change or should you change someone else? How would you know?
• How do be rid of biases in decision-making?
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End of module 3.
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Upcoming
Module 4: Motivation