Saturday, January 23, 2010

Chapter 15

15.Basic Elements of Individual Behavior in Organizations
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Understanding Individuals’ Behavior
In order to understand human behavior in the workplace, what needs to be considered?
We must consider the basic nature of the relationship between individuals and organizations.
What is the psychological contract?
The overall set of expectations held by an organization with respect to what the employee will contribute to the organization and what the organization will provide in return.



The Psychological Contract
Contributions from individuals:
Effort.
Ability.
Loyalty.
Skills.
Time.
Competencies.

Inducements from the organization:
Pay.
Job security.
Benefits.
Career opportunities.
Status.
Promotion opportunities.



The Person-Job Fit
The specific aspect of managing psychological contracts is managing?
Person-Job fit: the extent to which the contributions made by the individual match the inducements offered by the organization.



What Is the Nature of Individual Differences?
Individual differences are personal attributes that vary from one person to another.
What are individual differences?
Physical.
Psychological.
Emotional.



Personality and Individual Behavior
What is personality?
The relatively stable set of psychological and behavioral attributes that distinguish one person from another.



Can You Name the “Big Five” Personality Traits?
Agreeableness: a person’s ability to get along with others.
Conscientiousness: the number of goals on which a person focuses.
Negative emotionality: the extent to which a person is poised calm, resilient, and secure.
Extraversion: a person’s comfort level with relationships.
Openness: a person’s rigidity of beliefs and range of interests.



Other Personality Traits at Work
Locus of control:
The extent to which people believe that their behavior has a real effect on what happens to them.
Self-efficacy:
A person’s beliefs about her or his capabilities to perform a task.



What Is Authoritarianism?
The extent to which an individual believes that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social systems like organizations.
Machiavellianism:
Behavior directed at gaining power and controlling the behavior of others.
Self-esteem:
The extent to which a person believes that they are a worthwhile and deserving individual.



What Is Risk Propensity?
The degree to which an individual is willing to take chances and make risky decisions.



Attitudes and Individual Behavior
What are attitudes?
Complexes of beliefs and feelings that people have about specific ideas, situations, or other people.
Cognitive dissonance:
The conflict individuals experience among their own attitudes.



Work-Related Attitudes
Job satisfaction or dissatisfaction:
An attitude that reflects the extent to which an individual is gratified by or fulfilled in his or her work.
Organizational commitment:
An attitude that reflects an individual’s identification with and attachment to the organization itself.



Affects and Mood in Organizations
Positive affectivity:
A tendency to be relatively upbeat and optimistic, have an overall sense of well-being, see things in a positive light, and seem to be in a good mood.
Negative affectivity:
A tendency to be generally downbeat and pessimistic, see things in a negative way, and seem to be in a bad mood.



Perception and Individual Behavior
What is perception?
The set of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information about the environment.
What is selective perception?
The process of screening out information that we are uncomfortable with or that contradicts our beliefs.



The Perceptual Process
Stereotyping:
The process of categorizing or labeling people on the basis of a single attribute.
Attribution:
A mechanism through which we observe behavior and then attribute causes to it.



Stress and Individual Behavior
What is stress?
An individual’s response to a strong stimulus, which is called a stressor.
What is general adaptation syndrome?
General cycle of the stress process.



Can You Name the Personality Types?
Type A:
Individuals who are extremely competitive, are very devoted to work, and have a strong sense of time urgency.
Type B:
Individuals who are less competitive, are less devoted to work, and have weaker sense of time urgency.



Organizational Stressors:
Task demands
Physical demands
Role demands
Interpersonal demands



What Is Burnout?
A feeling of exhaustion that may develop when someone experiences too much stress for an extended period of time.



Creativity in Organizations
What is creativity?
The ability of an individual to generate new ideas or to conceive of new perspectives on existing ideas.
What are the components of the creative process?
Preparation
Incubation
Insight
Verification



Types of Workplace Behavior
What is workplace behavior?
A pattern of action by the members of an organization that directly or indirectly influences organizational effectiveness.
What are the behaviors?
Performance behaviors: the total set of work-related behaviors that the organization expects.



Withdrawal Behavior
What is it?
Absenteeism: When an individual does not report for work.
Turnover:
When people quit their jobs.




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