FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR

An organizations human resource policies and practices represent important forces for shaping
employee behavior and attitudes. In this chapter, we specifically discussed the influence of
selection practices, training and development programs, performance evaluation systems, and
the existence of a union. Human resource policies and practice influence organizational
effectiveness. Human resource management includes: employee selection, training
performance management, and union-management relations and how they influence
organizations effectiveness.

BIOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Biographical characteristics are personalities or characters that influence a person. These

characteristics normally affect a person in one way or the other within an organization or within
society.
Personal characteristics such as age, gender, race and length of tenure that are objective and
easily obtained from personnel records are examples of biographical characteristics. Think of
the word "biography," which means a story or detailed description of someone's life. To produce
a biography, research on the subject of the biography must be done, and biographical
characteristics are noted. Many employers do research on these characteristics to choose the
best candidate for the job. Finding and analyzing the variables that have an impact on employee
productivity, absence, turnover, and satisfaction is often complicated. Many of the concepts
motivation, or power, politics or organizational cultureare hard to assess.

Other factors are more easily definable and readily availabledata that can be obtained from
an employees personnel file and would include characteristics such as:

- Age

- Gender

- Marital status

- Tenure

A. Age
 The relationship between age and job performance is increasing in importance.

First, there is a widespread belief that job performance declines with increasing age.

Second, the workforce is aging; workers over 55 are the fastest growing sector of the
workforce.

Employers perceptions are mixed.

They see a number of positive qualities that older workers bring to their jobs,

specifically experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and commitment to quality.

Older workers are also perceived as lacking flexibility and as being resistant to new technology.

Some believe that the older you get, the less likely you are to quit your job. That conclusion is
based on studies of the age-turnover relationship.

It is tempting to assume that age is also inversely related to absenteeism.

Most studies do show an inverse relationship, but close examination finds that the age- absence
relationship is partially a function of whether the absence is avoidable or unavoidable.

In general, older employees have lower rates of avoidable absence. However, they have higher
rates of unavoidable absence, probably due to their poorer health associated with aging and
longer recovery periods when injured.

There is a widespread belief that productivity declines with age and that individual skills decay
over time.

Reviews of the research find that age and job performance are unrelated.

This seems to be true for almost all types of jobs, professional and
nonprofessional.

The relationship between age and job satisfaction is mixed.

 Most studies indicate a positive association between age and satisfaction, at
least up to age 60.

Other studies, however, have found a U-shaped relationship. When professional

and nonprofessional employees are separated, satisfaction tends to continually increase among
professionals as they age, whereas it falls among nonprofessionals during middle age and then
rises again in the later years.

B. Gender

There are few, if any, important differences between men and women that will affect their job
performance, including the areas of:

Problem-solving

Analytical skills

Competitive drive

Motivation

Sociability

Learning ability

Women are more willing to conform to authority, and men are more aggressive and more likely
than women to have expectations of success, but those differences are minor.

There is no evidence indicating that an employees gender affects job satisfaction.

There is a difference between men and women in terms of preference for work schedules.

Mothers of preschool children are more likely to prefer part-time work, flexible work schedules,
and telecommuting in order to accommodate their family responsibilities.

Absence and turnover rates

 Womens quit rates are similar to mens.

The research on absence consistently indicates that women have higher rates of
absenteeism.

The logical explanation: cultural expectation that has historically placed home and family
responsibilities on the woman.

C. Marital Status

There are not enough studies to draw any conclusions about the effect of marital status on job
productivity.

Research consistently indicates that married employees have fewer absences, undergo fewer
turnovers, and are more satisfied with their jobs than are their unmarried coworkers.

More research needs to be done on the other statuses besides single or married, such as
divorce, domestic partnering, etc..

D. Tenure

The issue of the impact of job seniority on job performance has been subject to misconceptions
and speculations.
Extensive reviews of the seniority-productivity relationship have been conducted:

There is a positive relationship between tenure and job productivity.

There is a negative relationship between tenure to absence.

Tenure is also a potent variable in explaining turnover.

Tenure has consistently been found to be negatively related to turnover and has been
suggested as one of the single best predictors of turnover.

The evidence indicates that tenure and satisfaction are positively related.
Individual differences can be divided into personality and ability differences. Understanding the
nature, determinants, and consequences of individual differences is essential for managing
organizational behavior. An appreciation of the nature of individual differences is necessary to
understand why people behave in certain ways in an organization.

ABILITY

We were not all created equal; most of us are to the left of the median on some normally
distributed ability curve. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses in terms of ability in
performing certain tasks or activities; the issue is knowing how people differ in abilities and
using that knowledge to increase performance. Ability refers to an individuals capacity to
perform the various tasks in a job. It is a current assessment of what one can do. Individual
overall abilities are made up of two sets of factors: intellectual and physical.

Intellectual ability commonly refers to the ability measured by performance on an intelligence

test. It is also sometimes used in the context of discussing the performance of someone in an
academic or real world setting.
Intellectual Abilities are those that are needed to perform mental activities usually involving
thinking and reasoning. Mental activities can be measured by intelligent quotient (IQ) tests that
are designed to ascertain ones general mental abilities. Some familiar examples of such tests
are Common Admission Tests (CAT), Management programs admission tests (GMAT), law
(LSAT), and medical (MCAT), etc. Usually these tests try to measure and evaluate ones mental
abilities on various academic areas pertaining to the success in the relevant courses, such as
mathematics, English, General knowledge etc.
It is believed that there are a few different dimensions of mental abilities. Some of the most
frequently cited dimensions of intellectual capacities are: Number Aptitude (Mathematics),
Verbal Comprehension (English), Perceptual Speed, Reasoning, Deductive Reasoning, Spatial
Visualization and Memory. Generally speaking, the more information processing is required in a
job, the more general intelligence and verbal abilities will be necessary to perform the job
successfully. Of course, a high IQ is not a prerequisite for all. In Fact, for many jobs in which
employee behavior is highly routine and there are little or no opportunities to exercise discretion,
a high IQ may be unrelated to performance. On the other hand, a careful review of the evidence
demonstrates that tests that assess verbal, numerical, spatial, and perceptual ability are valid
predictors of job proficiency at all levels of jobs. Therefore, tests measure specific dimensions of
intelligence have been found to be strong predictors of future job performance.
Organizational behavior is traditionally considered as the study of human behavior in the work
place. Employee performance is enhanced when an employee and position are well matched
what we call a high abilityjob fit. If we focus only on the employees abilities or the ability
requirements of the job, we ignore the fact that employee performance depends on the
interaction of the two. What predictions can we make when the fit is poor? If employees lack the
required abilities, they are likely to fail. If youre hired as a word processor and you cant meet
the jobs basic keyboard typing requirements, your performance is going to be poor in spite of
your positive attitude or your high level of motivation. When an employee has abilities that far
exceed the requirements of the job, our predictions would be very different. The employees
performance may be adequate, but it may be accompanied by organizational inefficiencies and
possible declines in employee satisfaction because the employee is frustrated by the limitations
of the job. Additionally, given that pay tends to reflect the highest skill level that employees
possess, if an employees abilities far exceed those necessary to do the job, management will
be paying more than it needs to pay. In a nutshell, an employees job specifications should be in
line with his intellectual abilities. That way, hell be able to execute his duties excellently and
effortlessly, as well as obtaining maximum job satisfaction.

Physical ability is defined as the ability to perform some physical act. It is generally determined
through nutrition, exercise, and how much we rest. It permits or facilitates achievement or
accomplishment, of some activity.

Physical abilities can be classified into nine categories. Practical examples of those nine types
of physical abilities are as follows:

No. Types of Physical Abilities Example

01. Dynamic Strength The strength of a rickshaw
puller is a nice example of
dynamic strength. They use
muscular force repeatedly
and continuously for pulling
the rickshaw.
02. Trunk Strength Trunk strength is used for
lifting heavy load (i.e. a sack
of 1000 kg rice).
03. Static Strength Static strength is to exert
force on an object that we
cannot move, the muscles
 stay the same length and it is
useful for things like arm
wrestling.
04. Explosive Strength People may use his
explosive strength while
breaking any door of a
house, if required.
05. Extent Flexibility People use extent flexibility
while lifting any object from
ground to a higher place,
which is above of his head.
06. Dynamic Flexibility People use dynamic flexibility
while cycling.
07. Body Coordination Swimming is a good example
of Body Coordination.
08. Balance We can also see balancing
ability while cycling.
09. Stamina For a long duration and hard
working game (i.e. football,
marathon, long distance
swimming, etc.) stamina is
absolutely necessary.

Many factors must be taken into consideration when using physical ability tests. First,
employment selection based on physical abilities can be litigious. Legal challenges have arisen
over the years because physical ability tests, especially those involving strength and endurance,
tend to screen out a disproportionate number of women and some ethnic minorities. Therefore,
it is crucial to have validity evidence justifying the job-relatedness of physical ability measures.
Second, physical ability tests involving the monitoring of heart rate, blood pressure, or other
physiological factors are considered medical exams under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Administering medical exams to job applicants prior to making a job offer is expressly
prohibited. Finally, there is the concern of candidates injuring themselves while performing a
physical ability test (e.g., a test involving heavy lifting may result in a back injury or aggravate an
existing medical condition).

THE ABILITY-JOB FIT

Employee performance is enhanced when there is a high ability-job fit. The specific intellectual
or physical abilities required depend on the ability requirements of the job. For example, pilots
need strong spatial-visualization abilities. Directing attention at only the employees abilities, or
only the ability requirements of the job, ignores the fact that employee performance depends on
the interaction of the two. When the fit is poor employees are likely to fail. When the ability-job fit
is out of sync because the employee has abilities that far exceed the requirements of the job,
performance is likely to be adequate, but there will be organizational inefficiencies and possible
declines in employee satisfaction. Abilities significantly above those required can also reduce
the employees job satisfaction when the employees desire to use his or her abilities is
particularly strong and is frustrated by the limitations of the job

LEARNING

Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing existing, knowledge,
behaviors, skills, values, or preferences which may lead to a potential change in synthesizing
information, depth of the knowledge, attitude or behavior relative to the type and range of
experience. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, plants [2] and some machines.
Progress over time tends to follow a learning curve. Learning does not happen all at once, but it
builds upon and is shaped by previous knowledge. To that end, learning may be viewed as a
process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Learning produces
changes in the organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent.

THEORIES OF LEARNING

Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) refers to a

learning procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. food) is paired with a previously
neutral stimulus (e.g. a bell). It also refers to the learning process that results from this pairing,
through which the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response (e.g. salivation) that is usually
similar to the one elicited by the potent stimulus.

Operant conditioning (also called "instrumental conditioning") is a type of learning in which

(a) the strength of a behavior is modified by the behavior's consequences, such as reward or
punishment, and (b) the behavior is controlled by antecedents called "discriminative stimuli"
which come to signal those consequences.
 Social learning theory posits that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social
context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of
motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behavior, learning
also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as vicarious
reinforcement. The theory expands on traditional behavioral theories, in which behavior is
governed solely by reinforcements, by placing emphasis on the important roles of various
internal processes in the learning individual.

SHAPING: A MANAGERIAL TOOL

Systematically reinforcing each successive step that moves an individual closer to the desired
response.

Four Methods of Shaping Behavior:

Positive reinforcement
-Providing a reward for a desired behavior (learning)
Negative reinforcement
-Removing an unpleasant consequence when the desired behavior occurs (learning)
Punishment
-Applying an undesirable condition to eliminate an undesirable behavior (unlearning)
Extinction
-Withholding reinforcement of a behavior to cause its cessation (unlearning)

2 SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
K
K Two Major Types:

1 Continuous Reinforcement A desired behavior is reinforced each time it is

demonstrated
2 Intermittent Reinforcement A desired behavior is reinforced often enough to make
the behavior worth repeating but not every time it is demonstrated Multiple
frequencies.
K
K Types of Intermittent Reinforcement
1 Ratio Depends on the number of responses made.
2 Interval Depends on the time between reinforcements. Fixed Rewards are
spaced at uniform time intervals or after a set number of responses.
3 Variable Rewards that are unpredictable or that vary relative to the behavior.
4
5 BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION (OB MOD)

6 The application of reinforcement concepts to individuals in the work setting.

7 Follows the Five-Step Problem-Solving Model:

8 Identify critical behaviors

9 Develop baseline data
10 Identify behavioral consequences
11 Develop and apply intervention
12 Evaluate performance improvement

Saint Columban College

Graduate School
Masters in Business Administration

SYNTHESIS
 CHAPTER 2
FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR

Submitted by:

RALPH CHRISTER A. MADERAZO

Submitted to:

DR. SUSAN M. RAMIREZ, MBA

Date:

February 4, 2017