Individual Behaviour

Unit – II
Dr. Prof. M.R. Jhansi Rani
Learning Objectives
In this unit, you will learn to:
1. Define the work behavior
2. Explain the factors responsible for individual differences at the
workplace
3. Discuss the meaning and components of attitude
4. List the types of job-related attitudes
5. Explain the concept of values, job satisfaction and personality
Case Studies/Research Articles/Relevant Videos etc.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUylP0r7QxY (Organizational Behaviour)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rG6jycC6z0 (Attitude)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB1FVbo8TSs (The Big Five Personality Traits)

• https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/pages/2017-job-satisfaction-and-engagement-doors-of-
opportunity-are-open.aspx (Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement: The Doors of Opportunity Are Open)

• https://hbr.org/2021/01/why-your-values-belong-at-work (Why Your Values Belong at Work)

• https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/personality-assessments.aspx (Assessing Personalities)

• https://www.shrm.org/executive/resources/articles/pages/connect-employee-company-values-lim.aspx (Connecting Your Employees’

Values to Your Company Values)

• https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/organizational-
values.aspx (an article on Organizational Values)

• https://hbr.org/2002/07/make-your-values-mean-something (an article on Make Your Values Mean Something)

 Work Behavior
 Work behavior involves the activities performed by the people in the organization to meet the
business objectives and requirements of a particular job.

 Work behavior includes the physical and mental components. Physical components are
observable and mental components are unobservable and can also include the performance
of one or more tasks by the people. Work behavior also changes from profession to
profession and organization to organization.

 A good (positive) work behaviour of human resources (team and individual) leads to:
• Higher Performance

• Higher Productivity

• Great Outputs
Concepts of Work Behaviour

• Work behavior depicts the behavior one uses in employment. Work behaviour is
more formal than other types of human behaviour. One key objective of the field
of organisational behaviour is to know why people behave the way they do. Here,
we are referring to the four key work behavior:
1. Job Performance
2. Organizational Citizenship Behavior
3. Absenteeism
4. Turnover
Individual Behavior
 Individual behavior can be defined as how an individual behaves at work. A person’s behavior
is influenced by the following factors.
• Attitude

• Perception

• Personality

• Stress

• Belief

• Norms or other psychological matters

 Attitude is defined as the ability of an individual to respond positively or negatively to a

particular stimulus, such as ideas, persons, objects or situations.

 Personality is the characteristics or traits of individuals, which make them unique and
different.
 The factors influencing individual
behavior
The factors influencing individual behavior are −

• Perception − It is the result of various senses like feeling, seeing, hearing etc.

• Attitude − We can either have a positive attitude or negative attitude, “I like my job” is an
expression of a positive attitude towards my work.

• Personality − For example, some people seem to be very friendly, while there are some who
take time to open up.

• Values − It influences perception of problem and marks individual’s decision making process.

• Emotions − There are happy moments we cherish and the sad moments like anger,
frustration, etc. that we try to forget.
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 Factors Responsible for Individual Differences at
workplace
According to Drever James “Variations or deviations from the average of the group, with respect to
the mental or physical characters, occurring in the individual member of the group are individual
differences.” Age of the person

 Physical development of the person (height, weight and physical structure)

 Intelligence level of the person (ability to learn)

 Heredity (physical traits)

 Difference in attitudes

 Economic situation of the person

 Difference in the motor ability

 Sex difference

 Temperament and emotional stability of a person

Factors Responsible for Individual Differences at
workplace (Cont.)

 Environment (physical, intellectual, political, social, economic and cultural)

 Rate of learning

 Nationality of individual

 Racial difference

 Personality difference

 Difference of interest

 Workspace, layout, design and condition of work equipment

Basis for Understanding Work Behaviour

• The commander

• The Attacker

• The Pleaser

• The Performer

• The Avoider

• The Drifter

• The Analyst

• The Achiever
JOB ATTITUDES

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 Attitudes

• Evaluative statements – either

favorable or unfavorable –
concerning objects, people or
events

• Attitudes reflect how one feels

about something

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 Three Main
Components of Attitudes
Cognition – an opinion or belief
“I just found out I am paid 20% less than my coworkers.”

Affect – the emotional or feeling segment

associated with that belief
“I feel angry that I am not being treated fairly.”

Behavior – the intention to behave in a certain way

“I am going to quit this job soon as I can, and I am taking the red
stapler with me!”
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 Attitudes Follow Behavior:
Cognitive Dissonance

Any inconsistency between two or more attitudes, or

between behavior and attitudes

• Individuals seek to minimize dissonance

• The desire to reduce dissonance is determined by:

• The importance of the elements creating the dissonance

• The degree of influence the individual believes he or
she has over the elements
• The rewards that may be involved in dissonance
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 Behavior Follows Attitudes:
Moderating Variables

The most powerful moderators of the attitude-behavior

relationships are:

• Importance

• Correspondence to behavior

• Accessibility

• Social pressures

• Direct personal experience

Knowing attitudes helps predict behavior

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Factors Affecting Attitude Formation
Attitudes refers to the beliefs, feelings and action tendencies of a person or group towards
objects, ideas and people. The factors that influence attitude are:
 Social factors

 Direct instruction
 Family
 Prejudices

 Personal experience
 Media
 Educational and religious institutions

 Physical factors
 Economic status and occupations
 Ways to Change Employee Attitude:
Following are the ways to change the attitude of employees:

 Communicate clearly and often with your employees.

 Involve your staff in the planning and implementation process when addressing changes within the firm.

 Ask them what changes would make their work-lives easier and you may improve your firm’s efficiency as well

as employee attitudes.

 Plan fun activities where staff and management get to interact.

 Empower your employees to support aspects of the business environment.

 Appoint committees to host certain events, allow staff members to contribute to the company newsletter,

implementation a cross-training program so that staff members from complementary departments or divisions

can gain exposure to how other parts of the business operate.

Major Job Attitudes

 Job Satisfaction

 Job Involvement

 Psychological Empowerment

 Organizational Commitment
 Affective commitment
 Continuance commitment
 Normative commitment

 Perceived Organizational Support (POS)

 Employee Engagement

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What Causes Job Satisfaction?

• The Work Itself – the strongest correlation

with overall satisfaction

• Pay – not correlated after individual reaches a

level of comfortable living

• Advancement

• Supervision

• Coworkers

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 The Consequences of Dissatisfaction

Destructive to Constructive

Exit Voice
Passive to Active

Neglect Loyalty
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The Benefits of Satisfaction

• Better job and organizational performance

• Better organizational citizenship behaviors

(OCB – Discretionary behaviors that contribute to organizational
effectiveness, but are not part of employees’ formal job description)

• Greater levels of customer satisfaction

• Generally lower absenteeism and turnover

• Decreased instances of workplace deviance

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 Global Implications

Is job satisfaction a U.S. concept?

• Cross-cultural differences do exist but job satisfaction
seems to be a global concern

Are employees in Western cultures more

satisfied with their jobs?
• Yes, but that may be due to the greater value
Westerners put on positive emotions and happiness.
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Implications for Managers
Employee attitudes give warnings of potential
problems and influence behavior

• Satisfied and committed employees exhibit behaviors that

increase organizational outcomes

• Managers must measure job attitudes in order to improve them

• Most important elements a manager can focus on are the intrinsic

parts of the job: making the work challenging and interesting

• High pay is not enough to create satisfaction

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 Keep in Mind…
• Individuals have many kinds of attitudes about
their job.
• Job satisfaction is related to organizational
effectiveness.
• Most employees are satisfied with their jobs,
but when they are not, a host of actions in
response to the satisfaction might be expected.

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Pre-Recorded Session 1 - Values

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 Values
Represent basic, enduring 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."

Some of the familiar examples of values are:

• Wealth

• Loyalty

• Independence

• Equality

• Justice

• Fraternity

• Friendliness

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Characteristics of Values
Following are the characteristics of values:
• Values differ from person to person
• Values depict the ideas or beliefs which a person holds desirable
or undesirable.
• Values may be specific
• Values provide standards of competence and morality
• Values are relatively permanent
 Value Systems

• Represent a prioritizing of individual values by:

• Content – importance to the individual

• Intensity – relative importance with other values

• The hierarchy tends to be relatively stable

• Values are the foundation for attitudes, motivation, and

behavior

• Influence perception and cloud objectivity

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 Types of Values
Terminal values Instrumental values
• Refers to desirable end- • Refers to preferable modes
states of existence of behavior, or means of
• achieving the terminal
• Goals that a person would values
like to achieve during his or
her lifetime

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Examples of Terminal Values
• A comfortable life (a prosperous life)
• An exciting life (stimulating, active life)
• A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution)
• A world of peace (free of war and conflict)
• A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
• Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all)
• Family security (taking care of loved ones)
• Freedom (independence, free choice)
• Happiness (contentedness)
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Examples of Instrumental Values
• Ambitious (hard working, aspiring)
• Broad-minded (open-minded)
• Capable (competent, efficient)
• Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)
• Clean (neat, tidy)
• Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)
• Forgiving (willing to pardon others)
• Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
• Honest (sincere, truthful)

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 Importance of Values in Organization
Following are the importance of values in an organization:

 It is the foundation for understanding the level of motivation.

 It influences the perception of people.

 It helps to understand what ought to be or what ought not to be.

 It helps in interpreting what is right or wrong.

 It influences attitudes and behaviour.

 It implies that certain behaviours on outcomes are preferred over others.

 It allows the members of an organisation to interact harmoniously.

 It makes it easier to reach goals that would be impossible to achieve individually.

 It lays the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation.

Pre-Recorded Session 2 - Personality
Personality
• The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and
interacts with others

• Most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person

exhibits, such as shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious,
loyal and timid

• Every individual has some distinctive and unique characteristics

that define his personality.

• Such traits exist in the form of physical and mental features,

which reflect in the way a person thinks, acts, looks and
responds. These attributes could be genetic, hereditary or
developed as the result of cultural differences and upbringing.

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Measuring Personality Traits: The Big-
Five Model
• The determinants of personality can be physical, intellectual, emotional,
social, family, aspiration and achievement. Personality traits reflect or denote
people’s characteristics, such as their thoughts, behaviour and feelings.

• The five broad traits that describe an individual’s personality

• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Emotional Stability
• Openness to Experience

• Strongly supported relationship to job performance (especially

Conscientiousness)

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Theories of Personality
• Traits Theory
• The trait theory explains that an individual’s personality consists of different characteristics and attributes.

• Trait theorists believe that if we limit ourselves to a few characteristics that are unique and specific to the personality of
an individual, it is easier to understand and describe personality traits.

• Some traits can be easily observed; whereas, some traits are engraved deep into a person’s personality.

• Allport’s Trait Theory

• Central Traits: Every individual has some distinctive and unique characteristics that define his personality. Such traits
exist in the form of physical and mental features, which reflect in the way a person thinks, acts, looks and responds.
These attributes could be genetic, hereditary or developed as the result of cultural differences and upbringing.

• Secondary Traits: Every individual has some distinctive and unique characteristics that define his personality. Such
traits exist in the form of physical and mental features, which reflect in the way a person thinks, acts, looks and
responds. These attributes could be genetic, hereditary or developed as the result of cultural differences and
upbringing.
Theories of Personality
• Cattell’s Trait Theory
• Another major contribution to the trait theory was made by a theorist, R.B. Cattell. He brought down the
number of main personality traits from Allport’s list of over 4,000 to 171. He did this by eliminating all
uncommon traits and combining common characteristics.

• He then used the process of factor analysis and found terms that were closely related and eventually
brought down the trait list to mainly 16 key personality traits. According to Cattell, these 16 traits are the
main source for shaping an individual’s personality.

• He also brought out the “Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire” which is used widely for the
assessment of personality.

• Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

• Attention, Retention, Reproduction, Motivation
Theories of Personality
• Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
• There are two basic factors, love and aggression, which affect the personality of an individual as per Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory of personality development. These factors have a direct impact on what an individual does and
think. In the words of Freud, “Love and aggression have direct control on our minds and thoughts.”

• As per Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, an adult’s personality generally has three determinants that work together to
create complex human behaviour.

• These determinants are:

• Id, Ego, Superego

• Self Theory
• According to a human psychologist, Carl Rogers, every individual could achieve his desires, goals and wishes in life.
When they achieve it, ‘self-actualisation’ is the result. These theories gave a lot of importance to the experience of
individuals and self-actualisation. Also, these theories motivate the behaviour of individuals and help them develop their
personalities.
 Individual Differences Arising out of Personality Traits that Influence
Work Behaviour
Workplaces are dictated not only by policies but also by the personalities of employees. Managers need to understand the
personality traits of every employee to move forward.

 Some employees at the workplace think creatively, which stems from their personalities. These employees can use
creativity in solving organisational issues differently. Managers should conduct brainstorming sessions and exchange
ideas on a one-on-one basis to promote creativity. However, there should be proper policies for the submission of ideas
so that any aggressive or dominating traits of employees can be kept under control.

 In a workplace, some employees prefer to perform routine jobs and resist change, while some like challenging jobs.
Managers can better match employees with their job duties by gauging employee personalities.

 Some employees in an organisation like to perform independently and follow their own set of instructions. These
employees do not want to work in teams. Managers should strive to gauge these personality traits in interviews. This is
because hiring people who do not value teamwork can prove to be a hindrance in accomplishing organisational goals
and objectives.
 Keep in Mind…

• Personality
• The sum total of ways in which individual reacts
to, and interacts with, others
• Easily measured

• Big Five Personality Traits

• Related to many OB criteria
• May be very useful in predicting behavior

• Values
• Vary between and within cultures

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 Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you would:

1. Assess the basis for understanding work behavior

2. Evaluate the factors affecting attitude formation

3. Appraise the importance of values in an organization

4. Examine the factors contributing to personality

5. Assess the individual differences arising out of personality traits that influence work
behavior