1

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

UNIT -II

Dr. Prachi Agarwal

Associate Professor
 Unit II: Individual Behavior, Personality and Values

 Individual behaviour in the organization: MARS model of Individual

Behavior, Types of Individual Behavior.

 Personality: Personality development, Determinants of Personality, Five–

Factor Model of Personality, The Myers Briggs Type Indicator: (MBTI),
Theories of Personality: Freudian Theory (Psychoanalytic Theory of
personality).

 Perception: Meaning, Perceptual Process, Attribution Theory and

Attribution Errors.
 Individual Behavior
3

Why do Individuals behave the way they do and

perform well or poorly in the workplace?
 Critical Thinking Question- 1
4

 An insurance company has high levels of

absenteeism among the office staff. The head
of office administration argues that employees are
misusing the company’s sick leave benefits.
However, some of the mostly female staff members
have explained that family responsibilities interfere
with work.
 Discuss some of the possible reasons for
absenteeism here and how it might be reduced
5

 They don’t want to attend work that day

(motivation),
 They don’t realize that this is their workday (role
perceptions),
 Environmental conditions prevent them from
attending work (situational factors)- female
employees are absent, family responsibilities
interfere with their work attendance.
MARS Model of Individual Behavior

Role
Perceptions
Values
Personality Motivation
Individual
Perceptions Behavior
Emotions and Results
Ability
Attitudes
Situational
Stress
Factors

MARS Model seeks to explain individual behavior as a result of internal and

external factors or influences acting together.
 All the above four factors are critical and influence the
individual behavior and performance, if any one of them is
low in a given situation the employee will perform poorly.

 An enthusiastic salespeople (motivation) who understand his

or her job duties (role perceptions) and has sufficient
resources (situational factor) will not perform his or her jobs
well if they lack sufficient knowledge and sales skill (ability) .
Employee Motivation
 Internal forces that affect a person’s voluntary choice
of behavior. Motivational elements are:
 Direction – where and what (clarity of goal)
 Intensity – how much (amount of effort)
 Persistence- till when (continuing the effort-time factor)

R
M
BAR
A
S
 Employee Ability
 Natural aptitudes (natural talents) and learned capabilities (skills and knowledge)
required to successfully complete a task.
 Ability = Aptitude + Learned capabilities + Training and Experience
 Aptitudes − natural talent that helps people
learn more efficiently and perform
effectively.
 Learned capabilities − accomplished skills
and knowledge.
 Competencies − abilities, individual
values, personality traits and other features R
of people that result in superior M
performance.
BAR
 Person  job matching
A
 selecting the best S
 training & developing
 redesigning jobs
Employee Role Perceptions
 Beliefs about what behavior is required to achieve
the desired results:
 understanding what tasks to perform
 understanding relative importance of tasks
 understanding preferred
behaviors to accomplish tasks
R
M
BAR
A
S
 Situational Factors
 Environmental conditions
beyond the individual’s short-
term control that constrain or
facilitate behavior.
 Controllable factors are:
 time
 people
R
 budget M
 work facilities BAR
A
 Uncontrollable factors are: S
 government policies
 economic conditions
Types of Behavior in Organizations

• Goal-directed behaviours under

Task Performance
person’s control

• Performance beyond the required job

Organizational duties
Citizenship • ex. attending events, sharing resources,
suggesting ideas
Types of Behavior in Organizations

• Voluntary behaviour that potentially

Counterproductive harms the organization
Work Behaviours • ex. conflict, stealing, wasting resources,
untruths, shortcuts

Joining/staying with the • human capital, turnover negative, but positive

Organization when there is a need for new skilled workers

Attending work at required times

absenteeism - loss of staff and employee skill
Maintaining Work
presenteeism - showing up to work although
Attendance
unwell, injured and preoccupied or in dangerous
job (when absenteeism is encouraged)
 Critical Thinking Question- 2
14

 You notice that the sales representative for one

region made 20 percent fewer sales to new clients
over the past quarter than salespeople located
elsewhere across the country.
 Use the model of individual behavior to explain
why his or her performance was lower than
the performance of other salespeople.
15

 Motivation: Employees in one region are not

as motivated to perform their jobs and, specifically,
not as motivated to call on new clients as are the
sales representatives in the other parts of the
country.
 Ability: Sales representative in the one region
might lack the necessary skills to market the
company’s product to new clients. They might
lack persuasive communication or other
interpersonal skills.
16

 Role Perceptions: The sales representatives in one region

might not be aware that the company wants more effort
placed in securing sales from new customers. For
example, they might be putting more effort into increasing
sales from existing clients whereas sales representatives
elsewhere are spending more time finding new clients.
 Situational Contingencies: The general economy or
specific demand for the company’s product might be
unusually low in that region. Perhaps this market
is already saturated, meaning that most of the potential
clients are already using the product
 Meaning of Personality

 The term personality is derived from the Latin word

“persona” meaning a “mask”.
 The sum total of ways in

which an individual reacts to,

and interacts with, others.

Definition
 The dynamic organization within the individual of
those psychophysical systems that determine his
unique adjustments to his environment.
- Gordon Allport
 Raymond Cattell defines personality as those aspects
which permit a prediction of what a person will do in
a given situation.
Personality Determinants
 An individual’s personality was the result of
heredity or environment?
 Was the personality predetermined at birth, or was
it the result of the individual’s interaction with his
or her surroundings?
 Personality Determinants
20
Personality Determinants
 Personality appears to be the result of both
influences.
 Today we recognize the third factor- the situation.
 An adult’s personality is now generally considered
to be made of both hereditary and environmental
factors, moderated by situational conditions.
Personality Determinants
HEREDITY
 Factors determined at conception: physical stature,

facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle

composition and reflexes, energy level, and bio-
rhythms
 This “Heredity Approach” argues that genes are the

source of personality
 Twin studies: raised apart but very similar personalities

 There is some personality change over long time

periods
Personality Determinants
ENVIRONMENT
 Our early conditioning, norms among our family,

friends and social groups play a substantial role in

shaping our personalities.
 Ex- a child whose own family is not religious but

develops close friendships with children whose

families are religious may develop strong religious
beliefs.
Personality Determinants
SITUATION
 An individual’s personality may change in different situations.
 Different situations may call for different aspects of one’s
personality.
 Ex- people who spontaneously perform heroic acts without
thinking of their personal welfare to those who engage in
unethical or illegal behavior when under extreme pressure.
 Temple, employment interview – constrain some behaviors.
Nature of Personality
 Personality is not related to bodily structure alone. It includes
both structure and dynamics.
 Personality is an indivisible unit.
 Every personality is unique
 Personality refers to persistent qualities of the individual. It
expresses consistency and regularity.
 Personality is acquired.
 Personality is influenced by social interaction. It is defined in
terms of behavior.
 Personality Traits
26

Enduring characteristics that describe

an individual’s behavior.
Ex- shy, aggressive, lazy, ambitious,
loyal etc.
Traits were defined as a predisposition
to respond in a particular way to a
broad range of situations.

So an even-tempered person remains

calm across a broad range of situations.
 Sigmund Freud ‘s Psychoanalytic theory of
personality
27

- Argues that human behavior is

the result of the interactions
among three component parts of Sigmund Freud
the mind: the id,
ego, and superego.

- Places great emphasis on the

role of unconscious
psychological conflicts in
shaping behavior and
personality.
(1856-1939)
28

 Freud’s 3 levels of
awareness/consciousness:
 the conscious mind
 the preconscious mind

 the unconscious mind.

Three fundamental structures

of the human mind: the id,
ego, and superego
Ego States

 Id: Innate biological instincts and  Superego: Judge or censor for

urges; self-serving & irrational thoughts and actions of the ego
 Totally unconscious  Works on Morality Principle
 Works on Pleasure Principle:  Superego comes from our parents or
Wishes to have its desires caregivers; guilt comes from the
(pleasurable) satisfied NOW, superego
without waiting and regardless of  Two parts
the consequences  Conscience: Reflects actions
for which a person has been
 Ego: Executive; directs id punished (e.g., what we
energies shouldn’t do or be)
 Partially conscious and partially  Ego Ideal: Second part of the
unconscious superego; reflects behavior
 Works on Reality Principle: one’s parents approved of or
Delays action until it is practical rewarded (e.g., what we should
and/or appropriate do or be)
30

 .
31
 To sum up…
32

 Freud believed that the id, ego, and superego are in

constant conflict and that adult personality and
behavior are rooted in the results of these internal
struggles throughout childhood.
 He believed that a person who has a strong ego has
a healthy personality
 and that imbalances in this system can lead to
neurosis (what we now think of as anxiety and
depression) and unhealthy behaviors.
 Jungian theory-Carl Jung
33

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss



psychiatrist whose research was

 (1875-1961)
deep-rooted in psychoanalysis

 He was greatly influenced by

Sigmund Freud

 In his theory of personality, Carl

Jung distinguishes two different
attitude types:
 Introverts, which are those people
who receive stimulation from within
 Extroverts, which are those who
receive their stimulation from the
environment.
34

 Jung also separates introverts and extroverts into four

subtypes according to the functions that control the way they
perceive the world.
 Thinking
 Applying reasoning to the situations and environments you encounter.
 Feeling
 Applying subjective, personal assessment to the situations and
environments you encounter.
 Sensation
 Applying aesthetic value to the situations and environments you
encounter.
 Intuition
 Using your unconscious or the mystical to understand your
experiences.
 https://www.123test.com/jung-personality-test/
Personality Frameworks
Two dominant frameworks used to describe
personality:
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®)
 Big Five Model
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
 Based on Carl Jung’s work
 People are fundamentally different
 People are fundamentally alike
 People have preference combinations for
extraversion/introversion, perception, judgment
 Briggs & Myers developed the MBTI to understand
individual differences
 Most widely used personality assessment instrument in
the world.
 It is a 100 question test that asks people how they usually
feel or act in a particular situation.
Extraversion-Introversion
Sensing-Intution
Thinking-Feeling
 Judging-Perceiving
41
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Preferences Represents

Extraversion Introversion How one

re-energizes
Sensing Intuiting How one gathers
information
Thinking Feeling How one makes
decisions
Judging Perceiving How one orients to the
outer world
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

EXTRAVERSION SENSING THINKING JUDGING

(E) (S) (T) (J)
Outgoing Practical Analytical Structured
Expressive Specific Clarity Time Oriented
Interacting Feet on the ground Justice Decisive
Speaks and Thinks Concrete Rules Organised

INTROVERSION INTUITION FEELING PERCEIVING

(I) (N) (F) (P)
Quiet General Subjective Flexible
Reserved Abstract Harmony Open ended
Concentrating Head in the clouds Heart Exploring
Thinks, then speaks Possibilities Mercy Spontaneous
 Extravert - Introvert
 E – People, activity, talking  I – Thoughts, feelings, writing
(external world) (internal world)
 Readily takes initiative  Think/reflect first, then
 “Act first, think later” act
 Enjoys a wide variety  Needs “private” time to
and change in people reflect
and relationships  One-on-one relationship
 Very approachable or conversations
 Develop ideas through  Great listeners
discussion  Enjoys focusing on a
project
 Sensing (S) – Intuitive (N)

 S – Facts – real &  N – Possibilities –

tangible - now Inspiration - future
 Carefully thought out  Use personal feelings to
conclusions make decisions
 Lives in the present  Comfortable with fuzzy
 “Do something” rather data
than “think about it”  Inventing new
 Fantasy is a dirty word possibilities is automatic
 Common sense solutions  Sometimes considered
absent-minded
Thinking (T) - Feeling (F)

 T – Decision through  F - Decision through

logic and truth emotion
 More important to be  Follow hunch to make
right than liked quick conclusions
 Viewed as  Sensitive to feelings of
unemotional others
 Focus on tasks  Toxic reaction to
disharmony, prefer to
 Provides objective
accommodate
and critical analysis
 Takes things too
personally
Judging (J) - Perceiving (P)
J – planned, orderly, reach  P – flexible, spontaneous,
closure quickly stay open
 Get things done  Lives for the moment
 Punctual  Works well under pressure
 Likes to use a list, make and deadlines
plans
 Creative
 Structure and order
 Works best and avoids stress
 Multitasks
when keeps ahead of  Avoids commitments, it
deadlines and not given too interferes with flexibility
much information at one
time
16 Possible Combinations
COMMUNICATION E I

INFORMATION S N S N

DECISION T F T F T F T F

CONTROL J P J P J P J P J P J P J P J P

E E E E E E E E I I I I I I I I
S S S S N N N N S S S S N N N N
T T F F T T F F T T F F T T F F
J P J P J P J P J P J P J P J P
MBTI
 Each of the sixteen possible combinations has a
name, for instance:
 Visionaries (INTJ) – original, stubborn, and driven
 Organizers (ESTJ) – realistic, logical, analytical, and
businesslike. They like to organize and run activities.
 Conceptualizer(ENTP) – entrepreneurial, innovative,
individualistic, and resourceful. This person tends to be
resourceful in solving challenging problems but may
neglect routine assignments.
 Suggested Careers for MBTI
50

 Suggested_Careers_for_MBTI.pdf

 https://www.iccb.org/iccb/wp-content/pdfs/adulted/
tdl_bridge_curriculum/tdl_career_awareness/tdl_ca
reer_aware_resource_file/Suggested_Careers_for_
MBTI.pdf
The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions

 The Big Five model of personality sets forth that

there are five basic dimensions that underlie all
others and encompass most of the significant
variations in human personalities.
 There is a lot of research that supports the Big Five
model and it has been shown to predict behavior at
work.
 The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions
52
 Extroversion

This dimension captures one’s comfort level with

relationships.
Extroverted people
Introverted people
 Energetic  Shy
 Enthusiastic
 Retiring
 Dominant
 Submissive
 Sociable
 Quiet
 Talkative
 Agreeableness

This dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to

defer to others

High Agreeableness Low Agreeableness

 Friendly  Cold
 Cooperative  Quarrelsome

 Trusting

 Warm
 Conscientiousness

This dimension is a measure of

reliability.

Conscientious Impulsive
 Cautious  Careless
 Dependable  Disorderly

 Organized  Undependable

 Responsible
 Neuroticism

This dimension taps a person’s ability to

withstand stress.
Emotionally unstable Emotionally stable
 Nervous  Calm
 High-strung  Contented

 Tense

 Worrying
 Openness

This dimension addresses one’s range of interests

and fascination with novelty.

High on Openness Low on Openness

 Imaginative  Down to earth
 Witty  Conventional

 Original  Conformist

 Artistic  Simple
 Big Five personality dimensions

Openness to Experience
(intellect, imagination, curiosity, creativity)
Conscientiousness
(order, duty, deliberation, self-discipline)
Extraversion
(sociability, assertiveness, activity, positive emotions)
Agreeableness
(trust, nurturance, kindness, cooperation)
Neuroticism
(anxiety, depression, moodiness,vulnerability to stress)
How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior?
60

https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test
Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB

Machiavellianism
Self-Esteem
Locus of Control
Narcissism
Self-Monitoring
Risk Taking
Type A vs. Type B Personality
Proactive Personality
 Machiavellianism
62

 Degree to which an individual

is pragmatic, maintains
emotional distance, and
believes that ends can justify
means.
 They tend to have a
competitive drive and a need
to win.
 High Machs are manipulative,
win more often, and persuade
more than they are persuaded.
Machiavellianism
 Amar is a young bank manager. He was promoted
thrice in past four years. Amar makes no apologies
for the aggressive tactics he has used to propel his
career upward. I am prepared to do whatever I
have to do to get ahead.
64

https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/MACH-IV/
 Narcissism
65
 Narcissism
66

 A Narcissistic Person
• Has grandiose sense of
self-importance
• Requires excessive
admiration
• Has a sense of
entitlement
• Is arrogant
• Tends to be rated as less
effective
Self -esteem
 Individual’s degree of
liking or disliking
themselves.
 Self-esteem is directly
related to expectations for
success.
 High SEs believe that they
possess the ability they
need to succeed at work.
 Success tends to increase
self esteem and failures
tend to decrease it.
 Self - Monitoring

 A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to

adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors

 High self-monitors  Low self-monitors

– flexible: adjust behavior – act from internal states
according to the rather than from
situation and the situational cues
behavior of others – show consistency
– can appear – less likely to respond to
unpredictable & work group norms or
inconsistent supervisory feedback
Who Is Most Likely to . . .

Low-self High-self
monitors monitors
Get promoted
Accomplish tasks, meet other’s
expectations, seek out central positions 
in social networks
Change employers
Self-promote 
Make a job-related
geographic move
Demonstrate higher levels of managerial

self-awareness; base behavior on other’s
cues and the situation
Self-Monitoring
 Sushmita is always in trouble at work. While she is
competent, hardworking and productive, her
performance reviews tend to rate her no better than
average and she seems to have made a career of
irritating bosses. Her problem is that she is
politically inept. As she puts it, “I am true to
myself. I don’t remake myself to please others”.
 She is low self monitor
Locus of Control
 The degree to which people believe they are
masters of their own fate.
 INTERNAL EXTERNAL

I control what People and

happens to me! circumstances control
my fate!
72
 Proactive
73

 Identifies opportunities,
shows initiative, takes
action, and perseveres
until meaningful
change occurs
 Creates positive change
in the environment,
regardless or even in
spite of constraints or
obstacles
 Type A and Type B Personality
74
Type A and Type B Personality

Type A
1. Are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly
2. Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place
3. Strive to think or do two or more things at once
4. Cannot cope with leisure time
5. Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms
of how many or how much of everything they acquire

Type B
1. Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its
accompanying impatience
2. Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or
accomplishments
3. Play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their
superiority at any cost
4. Can relax without guilt
76
 Risk-Taking
 High Risk-Taking Managers
 Make quicker decisions
 Use less information to make decisions
 Operate in smaller and more
entrepreneurial organizations
 Low Risk-Taking Managers
 Are slower to make decisions
 Require more information before
making decisions
 Exist in larger organizations with stable
environments
 Risk Propensity
 Aligning managers’ risk-taking
propensity to job requirements should
be beneficial to organizations
Check-up

Which of the following is not a typical personality

trait considered to be organizationally relevant?

a) Locus of control
b) Self-monitoring
c) Self-enhancing
d) Self esteem
e) Machiavellianism

C
 Alison arrives to class and realizes that she’s forgotten her
homework to turn in. She says “Oh man, it’s just not my lucky
day today.” Alison has ______________.

Alison has a high external locus of control. Alison believes

that things outside of her control determine what happens
Julia is known for being a go-getter. She never leaves a task incomplete, and is
involved in a number of activities. Moreover, she’s at the top of her class. She’s
so busy that sometimes, she forgets to stop and eat lunch. Julia can be easily
characterized as someone that has/is a Type ____ Personality.

A
How is Personality Measured?

 Projective Test - elicits an individual’s response to

abstract stimuli
 Rorschach Inkblot Test

 Thematic Apperception Test

 Behavioral Measures - personality assessments that

involve observing an individual’s behavior in a
controlled situation
 Self-Report Questionnaire - assessment involving an
individual’s responses to questions
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - instrument
measuring Jung’s theory of individual differences.
86

For the adult, all the world

is a stage and the
personality is the mask one
wears to play the assigned
role
 Perception

Understanding individual differences

 Perception : Meaning & Definition
It is the unique interpretation of the situation
It is a cognitive process that yields a unique picture of
world, but different quietly from reality.
Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but in reality,
it neither rises nor sets.
Perception is the process by which people select,
organize and interpret information to form a
meaningful picture
Perception refers to the interpretation of what we take
in through our senses.
Environmental Stimuli Observation
 Taste P
Smell E
Hearing R
Sight C
Touch E
P
Perceptual T
Organization U
Perceptual selection
 Continuity A
 Closure L
 Proximity
Similarity P
R
O
Interpretation C
Response
 Attitude E
 Feelings S
 Behaviour S
Motivations
 Factors influencing Perception (Perceptual Selection)

Factors in the perceiver

• Attitudes
• Motives
• Interests
• Experience
• Expectations

Factors in the situation

• Time Perception
• Work Setting
• Social Setting
Factors in the Target
• Novelty
• Motion
• Sounds
• Size
• Background
• Proximity
• Similarity
90
Perceptual errors
The perceptual process may result in a person making
errors in judgement or understanding of another
person. The most common types of perceptual errors
are:
 Accuracy in judgment
 Selective Perception
 Stereotyping
 The halo effect
 Projection
Perceptual errors
Judgmental Errors
Similarity error – assuming that people who are similar
to us ( in terms of background, interests and hobbies)
will behave like us.
Contrast error – comparing people to others rather than
to some absolute standard.
Overweighting of negative information – a tendency to
overreact to something negative.
Race, age, and gender bias – tendency to be more or
less positive based on one’s race, age, or gender.
First-impression error – tendency to form lasting
opinions about an individual based on initial perceptions.
Perceptual error
Selective Perception
 People’s selective interpretation of what they see based on their interests,
background, experience, and attitude
Stereotyping
 The belief that all members of a specific group share similar traits and
behaviours.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNqwBTCslMw

Halo/Horn effect
 A tendency to colour everything we know about a person because of one
recognizable favourable or unfavourable trait.
Projection
 tendency to see one’s traits in others.
Attribution
Your colleague Peter failed to meet the deadline. What
do you do? Do you help him finish up his work? Do
you give him the benefit of the doubt and place the
blame on the difficulty of the project? Or do you think
that he is irresponsible?
Our behavior is a function of our perceptions.
More specifically, when we observe others behave in a
certain way, we ask ourselves a fundamental question:
Why? Why did he fail to meet the deadline? Why did
Mary get the promotion? Why did Mark help you
when you needed help? The answer we give is the key
to understanding our subsequent behavior.
An attribution is the causal explanation we give for an
Attribution Process
Refers to the manner in which people come to
understand the cause of other’s (or their own)
behavior.
If you believe that a behavior is due to the internal
characteristics of an actor, you are making an internal
attribution.
An external attribution is explaining someone’s
behavior by referring to the situation
Your classmate Erin complained a lot when
completing a finance assignment.
 If you think that she complained because she is a
negative person, you are making an internal
attribution.
If you believe that Erin complained because finance
homework was difficult, you are making an external
attribution.
When do we make internal or external attributions?
Consensus: Do other people behave the same way?
Distinctiveness: Does this person behave the same way
across different situations?
Consistency: Does this person behave this way in
different occasions in the same situation?
In addition to Erin, other people in the same class also
complained (high consensus).
 Erin does not usually complain in other classes (high
distinctiveness).
Erin usually does not complain in finance class (low
consistency).
 In this situation, you are likely to make an external
attribution, such as thinking that finance homework is
difficult.
Erin is the only person complaining (low consensus).
Erin complains in a variety of situations (low
distinctiveness), and every time she is in finance, she
complains (high consistency).
 In this situation, you are likely to make an internal
attribution such as thinking that Erin is a negative
person.
Errors and Biases in Attributions
 Fundamental Attribution Error
Attributing own actions to external factors and other’s
actions to internal factors
 Self-Serving Bias
Attributing our successes to internal factors and our
failures to external factors
102