Chapter 15: Individual Behaviors

Ambition: the desire to achieve or to accomplish

something.
 Ambitious people are competitiveness and want to be
the best at st.
 Advantage: some ppl have the same idea but only
ambitious ppl take action.
 Disadvantage:
o Do whatever they want whether it is right or
wrong.
o Overstate contributions.
o Do too much but accomplish little.
o Integrated ppl can become misbehavior.
Perception: the process through which ppl receive,
organize, and interpret information from the environment.
 Perception is influenced by many things, ppl react
differently w/ same ppl, events.
o In a job fair,
 Freshman: collecting merchandise.
 Last year: looking for jobs.
 Professor: no care, just school activity.
Perception and psychological contracts
 Psychological contract: individual expects in
employment relationships.
 Ppl want to receive reward equally for things they
have done.
 Healthy psychological contracts have the balances
between:
o Individual contributions.
o Reward.
  Unhealthy relationship: unbalance  problems
Perception and attribution
 Attribution: the process of explaining events.
o Get 90 on exam: hard work, practice, good sleep.
o Fail an interview: bad sleep, not well prepared.
 Fundamental attribution error: someone's performance
problem is blamed as internal failure than external
failure.
o Poor-quality work: Team leader thinks the reasons
are lazy or unskilled workers, not because of
unrealistic time pressure or bad working
conditions.
 Self-serving bias: personal success by internal
causes and personal failures by external causes.
o St right: "it was me, I did it".
o St wrong: "it's not my fault".
Perception tendencies and distortions
Stereotypes: occurs when someone is identified with a
group
 It can be positive or negative.
 Mostly based on: gender, age,…  bias perception
o Man talking w/ coworkers: about a project.
o Woman talking: gossiping.
 Study shows women in global business blames gender
stereotypes that place women disadvantage to men for
these jobs  less women want to work abroad.
Halo effect: occurs when one attribution becomes
overall impression.
o Positive perception: pleasant smiles…
o Negative perception: unique hairstyles, casual
dressing…
 can create a positive overall performance assessment
although it is not deserved.
Selective perception: the tendency to define problems
w/ one’s pov.
 Ppl choose to hear and receive info that fit their
belief.
 Ppl can ignore important info because of SP.
 Ppl from different departments see things
differently  fail to recognize others.
 be open to input and opinions from many ppl.

Projection: the assignment of personal attributes to

other individuals.
 Classic error is assumed that all ppl have same needs
as you.
o Eg: a new manager of manufacturing department
which is considered as dull and routine. She
quickly gives members more responsibilities and
challengesdesigned jobs fit manager's needs,
not members' needs.
 Error can be controlled through self-awareness,
willingness to communicate, and empathize with
others.
Perception and impression management
 Impression management: systematic attempt to
influence how others perceive us.
 It included the ways we talk, dress, act …
 Benefits:
o Advance in jobs and career.
o Create relationships w/ admired ppl.
o Create pathways to group memberships.
Personality: profile of characteristics, making a
person unique.
 One's personality impacts on how she behaves and
how that behavior is regarded by others.
 It can be slightly changed over time and
experience.
Big five personality dimensions (5 different
areas)
 Extraversion: degree to which someone is
outgoing, sociable.
o Extravert: comfortable w/ interpersonal
relationship
o Introvert: withdraw and reserved
 Agreeableness: degree to which someone is good-
natured, cooperative, and trusting.
o Agreeable person: get well w/ others.
o Unagreeable person: can conflict and
discomfort others.
 Conscientiousness: degree to which someone is
responsible, dependable, and careful.
o Conscientious person: focus on what can be
accomplished and meet commitments.
o Unconscientious person: careless, do much
accomplish little, or do little.
 Emotional stability: degree to which someone is
relaxed, secure, and unworried.
o Emotional stable person: calm and confident
o Emotional unstable person: anxious, and
nervous
 Openness to experience: degree to which someone
is curious, open to new ideas, and imaginative.
o Open person: broad-minded, receptive to new
things, comfortable w/ changes.
o Unopen person: narrow-minded, has few
interest, resistant to change.
 Managers use personality judgment when making job
assignments, building teams, and engaging in the
daily social give-and-take of work.
Jung's model of personality differences: 3 main
distinctions
 How ppl differ in the ways they relate w/ others
 How ppl differ in the ways they gather
information
o S: emphasizing details, facts, and routine.
o I: looking for the "big picture" and being
willing to deal w/ various possibilities.
 How ppl differ in the ways they evaluate
information
o T: using reasons and analysis.
o F: responding to feelings and desires of
others.
Myers-Briggs type indicator: 4 dimensions (3
above)
 Social interaction: extraverted or introverted.
 Gathering data: sensing or intuitive.
  Decision making: thinking or feeling.
 Work style: judging (logic, order) or receiving
(flexibility, easy to change).

Personal conception an emotional adjustment traits

Personal conception trait: how ppl by personality tend to
relate w/ the environment.
Emotional adjustment trait: how ppl are inclined toward
handling stress and uncomfortable situations.
 Locus of control: the extent to which one believes
that what happens is w/in one's control.
o Internal: self-confident and accept
responsibility for their own actions.
o External: prone to blame others and outside
forces for what happens to them.
 internals tend to be more satisfied and less alienated
from their work.
 Authoritarianism: degree to which a person defers to
authority and accepts status differences.
o Authoritarian person:
 Leadership capacity: act rigidly and be
control oriented. (exercise orders to
employees)
 Follower capacity: act subservient and comply
w/ rules. (allow manager to exercise order on
you)
 It can cause problems if they follow orders to the
point of acting unethically or illegally.
 Machiavellianism: the extent to which someone is
emotionally detached and manipulative in using power.
 oHigh Mach person: is viewed as exploitative and
unconcerned about others  the end justifies the
means. (only care of the results)
o Low Mach person: would be deferential in allowing
others to exert power over her/him.
 Self-monitoring: degree to which someone is able to
adjust behavior in response to external factors.
o High: learner, comfortable w/ feedback, willing &
able to change  hard to get a clear reading on
where they stand.
o Low: predictable, tend to act consistently in
most situations
 Type A personality: high in achievement orientation,
impatience, and perfectionism.
 They usually bring stress to themselves, even when
others feel stress free.
 Signature behavior of these ppl:
o Always moving, walking, and eating rapidly.
o Acting impatient, hurrying others, put off by
waiting.
o Doing, or trying to do, several things at once.
o Feeling guilty when relaxing.
o Hurrying or interrupting the speech of others.
Attitudes: predisposition to act in a certain way.
What is attitude?

o Cognitive component: a belief or opinion.

o Affective/emotional component: specific feeling.
o Behavioral component: intention to behave in a manner
consistent with belief and feeling.
 The intentions reflected in an attitude may (not) be
confirmed in actual behavior.
 o You want to get A in exam, but other demand
(leisure activities) can all time for
studyintention failure.
 Cognitive dissonance: discomfort felt when one's
attitude and behavior are inconsistent.
 Ppl tend to:
o Feel uncomfortable and changing attitude to fit
new behavior: I don’t want to get an A that much.
o Change future behavior to fit attitude: I will
give up some sleeping time to study.
o Rationalize to force the 2 to be compatible:
getting an A is great, but I also need quality
sleep to perform best in exam.
What is job satisfaction?
 Job satisfaction: degree to which an individual feels
positive or negative about various aspects of work.
 Facets most discussed and measured:

Job satisfaction trends

 Smaller firms have higher jobs satisfaction than
larger firms.
 JS tends to run together w/ overall life
satisfaction.
 JS has a general downward trend for several years.
Job satisfaction and its outcomes
 Effective managers help others achieve high
performance and JS.
JS and withdrawal behaviors
 Withdrawal behaviors: occur as temporary absenteeism
and actual job turnover.
o Abenteeism: satisfied workers are absent less often.
o Turnover: satisfied workers are more likely to
stay.
 It is costly in terms of
o Recruitment and training needed for new workers.
o Productivity lost while new workers are learning.
  Declining employee loyalty and high turnover cause
negative impact on cooperate performance.
JS and employee engagement
 Employee engagement: strong positive feeling about
one's job and the organization.
o Willing to help others.
o Trying to do extra to improve performance.
o Feeling & speaking positively about the
organization.
 Profit rises w/ high level of employee engagement.
 Job involvement: extent to which an individual feels
dedicated to the job.
o High job involvement person will work more than
expectations for a task.
 Organizational commitment: degree of loyalty an
individual feels toward the organization.
o High organizational commitment per take pride as
a member.
JS and organizational citizenship
 Organizational citizenship: willingness to do more
than expects in one’s work.
o Team member always willing to take extra tasks.
JS and job performance

 Making ppl happy is not a surefire way to improve JP.

  Not all high-performing workers are satisfied 
managers should make change to improve their
satisfaction.
 JS and JP are most likely to influence one another
under certain conditions (reward).
Emotions, moods, and stress
Emotion: strong feelings directed toward so/st.
 It forms immediately at the time you meet so. short
time
 It is more focus (depend on things, we have different
e).
 Positive: instructor congratulates in front of
class
 Negative: instructor criticize in front of class
 The object of your emotion is the instructor, but the
impact on your feeling and your respond are
different.
 Emotional intelligence: ability to understand
emotions and manage relationships effectively.
 Ppl perform best when they can recognize and deal w/
emotions: do not let emotions control us.
Mood: generalized positive and negative feelings
or states of mind.
 It can last for days (long time).
 It is more generalized. (same mood on everything)
 Everyone has occasional moods.
 Mood contagion: the spillover of one’s mood to
others.
 Leader’s mood is positive  follower’s mood is
positive  leader’s mood is more positive.
 Managing emotions and moods can make ppl more
personable and friendly.
Stress: a state of tension caused by
extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities.
Sources of stress (stressor): anything that
causes stress.
 It can be work/non work situations, personality.
 It can influence our moods, emotions, attitudes,
health…
o Type A person is stressor.
  Stressful life situations include family event,
economic, and personal affair  It can affect work
situations.
 Work factors is potential job stress, common work-
related stress syndromes are:
o Set up to fail: the performance expectations are
impossible or the support is inadequate to the
task.
o Mistaken identity: tasks are not all match
employee talents, or they don’t like it.
General adaption syndrome (GAS)
 Stage 1 – alarm: panic, wondering how to cope,
feeling of helplessness.
 stage 2 – resistance: individual is actively
resisting the effects of the stressor.
 stage 3 – exhaustion: prolonged exposure to stress
cause an individual to give up.
Constructive and destructive stress
 Constructive stress (eustress): positive way to
increase effort, stimulate creativity, and encourage
diligence in one’s work.
o Type A person is likely to work for long hours
and unsatisfied w/ poor performance  move them
toward ever-higher levels of task
accomplishments.
o Non-work stressors (family responsibilities)
cause employees work harder to have financial
rewards.
 Destructive stress (distress): impairs the
performance of an individual.
 It occurs when intense or long-term stress overloads
and breaks down a person’s physical and mental
system.
  Job burnout: a form of physical and mental exhaustion
that can be personally incapacitating. 

unproductivity
 Workplace rage: aggressive behavior toward coworkers
or the work setting.
o Lost temper
o Physically harm to others.
 Too much stress can lead to poor health.
Stress management.
Prevent it.
 Personal wellness: the pursuit of one’s full
potential through a personal health-promotion
program.
 It is a top priority in individual and employer
terms.
o Individual: personal responsibility through
disciplined approach (diet, smoking, alcohol…)
o Employer: setting up wellness programs and
assistance plans to help employees follow through
with wellness commitments to healthy lifestyle.
Cope with it (minimize impacts).
 Nonwork stressor:
o Family difficulty: change in work schedule.
 Work stressor:
o Anxiety: Create open communication between bosses
and coworkers.
o Unfit jobs: Redesign jobs to eliminate poor fits
between individual abilities and job demands.