Individual Behavior in Organization Project

Group 4

Dr. Divya Tripathi

Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar

September 30, 2021

Abstract

The movie Stand and Deliver is the story of Professor Jaime Escalante, whose motivational skills

and teaching techniques brought academic success to students accustomed to failure. The report

represents the different aspects of the Organizational Behavior course present in the movie and the

applications of Organizational Behavior concepts in any organizational setting or context.

Organizational Behavior concepts in the movie :

Self Awareness

Stand and Deliver challenges the public to rethink and rethink the beliefs and values surrounding

American teaching and education. The film offers an inspiring story of a teacher on a mission.

Professor Jaime Escalante works mostly in isolation but with intense motivation and true self-

confidence. As a computer science teacher, he wanted to teach the same to students. But due to the

unavailability of the Computer at school, he was forced to teach math to the class. He knew that,

as a computer science teacher, it was a difficult task that awaited him. The students were also a

surprise to him, not at all serious and not even inclined to study. But he transmitted his values and

his positive attitude; he was determined to cause a change in the students. But he instilled with his

values and positive attitude, was determined to bring changes in the students. His belief was that

with desires or ganas, one could achieve anything. On the first day of his class, he saw that his

class was packed and made a system for everyone who does their homework to have a place in his

class. This shows the firm faith he had in his work. His conviction, "If you want to change

something, start at the top!" It was for the teachers who doubted that these students weren't good

enough. Even in a short time, he became the favorite of the students and also personally

participated in the lives of the students. He made sure that students were shown the right path to

success and given the opportunity to prove themselves. His belief was, "The students will meet the
expectations of the teachers," which happened; the students who weren't even ready to go to class

did well on the AP Calculus exam. Escalante worked hard to teach the students and encouraged

the students all the time.

Finally, when all his eighteen students passed, society challenged them that the students had used

unfair means to pass the exam. He encouraged his students to retake the exams and made them

believe, "If life is unfair, you have to work even harder!" He gave all his students the confidence

that he had. Not only did he save the school from loss of affiliation, but he also saved the lives of

his students.

Attribution

In the movie, there were many places where the general public, state, teachers showed a lack of

trust in the students as they come from poor economic and socially backward backgrounds.

Teachers claimed "you can't teach logarithms to illiterates" and that the "kids can't handle

calculus." This shows how Attribution comes into play and how we use external and internal

factors of the environment to infer a cause-and-effect relationship. Two Basic kinds of Attribution

are there.

● Dispositional Attribution- This shows internal factors such as the student's behavior,

which is that they either don't want to or care to worry. Several times in the film, students

are shown disrespecting school property and officials. The school campus is worn and

covered with graffiti. Students are shown to engage in inappropriate behaviors, such as

fighting, smoking, and showing affection in public.

● Situational Attribution- These are the external factors that come into play. The students

do not pay much attention to their studies because their lives are not easy; they come from

a problematic financial background.

Perception

Perception can be defined as our way of organizing and interpreting the information gathered

through our senses. This movie is full of perceptions, such as the state's belief that students from

lower socioeconomic groups cannot pass the AP calculus exam. The teachers believe that students

lack the desire to learn and succeed in life, so they stop putting in their efforts. The students believe

that a school is a place where they are forced to go and is a wastage of their time. This has led to

poor schooling conditions and low motivation of students to learn and make something good with

their time at school.

Bias :

Stand and Deliver brings us into the world of a group of Hispanic students in an East Los Angeles

high school. Jamie Escalante enters their lives as the new math professor. The movie delivers a

story of resilience and the embodiment of underrepresented students fighting against society’s

views and bias on Hispanic youth. We also witness the traditional stereotypes of Hispanic students.

The movie depicts the bias people have towards the Hispanic youth they are nothing more than

criminals and uneducated civilians. The AP exam brings back the stereotype of the uneducated

Hispanic student. The testing administration has doubts that the students could have all gotten

above-average scores on their exam and initiated an investigation making sure the students were

not engaged in cheating practices. Here again confirmation bias is prevalent because these scores

would have never been questioned if the kids did not have Spanish surnames. Mr. Escalante had

complete faith in his students, the administration believed that they had cheated. They also were

very sure that such students can go to any extent to please their teacher. Both statements insinuated

that they did not believe in the student’s ability which then perpetuates the already formed bias of

uneducated Hispanic students. The Hispanic students are shown as criminals, a stereotype the
world sees them be. Mr. Escalantes continues to have witnessed the first-hand criminal aspect of

students particularly on his first day when his car radio was stolen. While we see Angel starting to

leave his tough exterior outside in the real world, he still continued to have issues with his friends

throughout the movie, most likely due to the fact that he needed to keep up a tough exterior with

the homies.

Personality

The Professor's personality, when measured based on the Big five personality model, displayed

the following characteristics:

1. Extraversion: The Professor was sociable and gregarious, which was proved when the

students could talk to him and rely on any issues they were facing in their personal lives.

He made that comfort level with his students who made Ana express her concerns that her

parents want her to work in their restaurant and not continue his education or Claudia to

open up about her mid-life crisis.

2. Agreeableness: The Professor was called for teaching computers, but since computers

were not available, he was asked to teach Mathematics. He was cooperative and did resist

the orders. Another instance that proved his agreeableness was when Angel came with his

mother unannounced to the Professor's house on Christmas; he welcomed them.

3. Conscientiousness: From the beginning, the Professor's main goal was the betterment of

the students. For that, he worked 60 hours a week. Even after having a heart attack, he

came back to teach the students so that the teaching process is not stopped for the students

and they can be prepared well for the Advanced Placement Test. Even though his wife

doesn't want him to teach during the holidays, his commitment to work drove him to

continue teaching his students.

 4. Emotional stability: The students, in the beginning, were very unruly towards him and

were not ready to listen to him. They were seen throwing paper at him. Some of the students

were unwilling to follow his rules like they were against the daily quizzes he conducted.

For every situation, he did not lose his calm and found a solution for every problem.

5. Openness to experience: The Professor was very creative in his teaching skill which led

to the weakest of the students understanding the complex concepts of Mathematics. For the

betterment of his students, he wanted to teach Calculus which is a tough course in

Mathematics. He was willing to take that risk, although the other teachers warned him that

the students wouldn't cope with the challenging curriculum.

Cognitive Dissonance

In the movie Stand and Deliver, Angel belonged to a street gang. He was keen on learning

Mathematics from Professor Escalante, but due to peer pressure and because of the fact that his

friend Chuco would judge him, he was bound to keep it a secret. This frustration led to a

confrontation with his friend and a loss of friendship between him and Chuco. Angel suffered

cognitive dissonance because there was an incompatibility between what he perceived and his

behavior.

Decision-Making Model

The protagonist, Jamie Escalante, takes his very first decision of quitting his handsome paying job

to pursue a career in Academics. As per the movie, there is no reference to his prior experience in

education, and hence the decision to become a teacher is Intuition based. However, post joining,

he realizes that the school is yet to procure sufficient computers, to begin with, the course. The

behavior of students is a typical representation of Hispanic People which portrays them as

notorious and troublemaking. During a professor's meeting, he finds that none of the team
members is willing to teach calculus to these students, due to their poor academic records and

behavioral aspects. Jaimie takes this up as a challenge and decides to teach Calculus. This also is

an example of intuition-based decision-making. All 18 of them cleared the AP Calculus exam.

However, the Examination authority doubts the legitimacy of their answers and doubts that

students have cheated. Even after sufficient efforts of convincing authority, Jamie Escalante fails

to prove the innocence of his students. However, he is not aware of exactly what happened in the

exam. So, this turns out to be an example of bounded rationality.

Motivation

Expectancy theory

In starting itself, Escalante identifies that there is a lack of motivation among the students and that

the perfect starting point is when the followers feel motivated. He used expectancy theory to

increase motivation and engagement levels among learners and promote the active acquisition of

knowledge and skills. The students are motivated to believe that their effort will lead to the

intended performance goals. (Expectancy Theory)

Instrumentality: (Performance- Reward) Students believe that if they perform well in calculus,

they will get the desired outcome which can be in the form of a sense of accomplishment or

achievement,

Valence (Reward- Personal Goal): Initially students are skeptical, but later they develop an

enthusiastic attitude toward the learning process and understand that the expected benefit would

be beneficial for them in many sense they realize that mathematical knowledge and understanding

is important for further advancement in society.

Expectancy theory helps managers in understanding how individuals are motivated to choose

among various behavioral alternatives.

Positive attitude, High Job Involvement, and commitment

Mr. Jaime Escalante faced a lot of disheartening challenges from the very first day of school, but

he did not give up. Instead, he found positivity in those challenges and pushed himself and his

students to perform the best that reflects his positive attitude. Jaime taught mathematics with

enthusiasm and determination even though he was appointed to teach computers. Took classes and

tests on Saturday, and in summer, he worked hard to make their students top-quality calculus

students.

Leadership-Transformational leadership behavior

Jaime Escalante, a mathematics teacher at Garfield school, had Charismatic and transformational

behavior who transformed a class of losers, unmotivated, undisciplined, and rebellious students

into people who have learned so much that most of them passed a tough calculus exam.

Applications of OB concepts in any organizational Setting or Context:

● Self Awareness: The insights from this masterpiece will help us tackle life's challenges.

There are many things that we have to adapt to when we join an organization. Maintaining

a strong conviction and mastering opportunities should be our motto. Never be

disappointed in the challenges that lie ahead. Even in the real world, if we have to achieve

something in life, we have to want it. With desire comes a passion that serves as the driving

force to achieve goals.

● Attribution theory: Organizations use attribution theory because it can help managers

understand some of the causes of employee behavior and employees understand their own

thoughts about their own behavior. You will have a greater grasp of yourself, others, and

your organization if you can comprehend why you behave the way you do and why others

behave the way they do.

● Perception: One of the most important parts of perception in an organization is how an

individual views other, as this can have a significant impact on how that person acts in the

workplace. It's also a factor in how employees are motivated in the workplace. If they

preserve individuals in a specific way, they may assume that this person dislikes them, does

not listen to them, or ignores them, and so their incentive to accomplish anything will be

much reduced. This is why, before employees are employed, employers must ensure that

they will fit into the organization, and once hired, their initial impressions of others must

be positive.

● Bias: People are subjected to biases from both their superiors as well as their subordinates.

Right from the process of hiring, we are subjected to Confirmation Bias when the recruiter

first reviews our resume and forms an initial opinion about us based on inconsequential

attributes like our name, where we are from, where we went to school, and so forth. This

opinion can follow us into the interview process and consequently steer questions to

confirm the initial opinion about us.

● Decision-Making Model: In any business scenario, when key decisions are demanded

within a limited period of time, bounded rationality is used most frequently. Let say there

is a sudden rise or fall in market demand of any product, the Supply Chain Manager needs

to make quick decisions of production based on limited data about the prediction of market

trends.

● Cognitive Dissonance: In organizations, subordinates are subjected to forceful compliance

of orders by managers. In some cases, we tend to follow the orders of our managers in the

lure of future rewards even though we might not want to actually obey the orders. This
 conflict of thoughts or ideas or values can be termed Cognitive Dissonance which leads to

job dissatisfaction as well as affects our mental health.

● Personality: Organizations, while recruitment, test personality in determining whether we

are the right candidate for a job role. Job satisfaction, the job performance of any employee

also depends on personality traits.

● Motivation: Motivated employees can lead the organization towards a high productivity,

higher level of output, and it’s likely that the company will achieve all its desired goals.

● Leadership: Transformational leaders continuously strive to motivate their followers to a

great extent to bring the best out of them. They eliminate communication barriers, bring

favorable organizational change, take action against injustice and unethical conduct, help

in developing the sense of organizational commitment among the employees, which in turn

leads to improving overall productivity, performance, and success of the organization.

Contribution

We were assigned to watch the movie Stand and Deliver and to summarize the concepts and

lessons of organizational behavior. Also, how this knowledge will help us in the practical situation

in the organization. So, in our group, we decided that each of us would choose a topic and write

about the conclusions we had drawn from the selected topics, as well as how they could be applied

to the world around us. The topics chosen by each of us were as follows

· Self-Awareness and Individual reference frame - Prayag Roul

· Attribution and Perception - Parmeet Singh Gurdatta

· Decision Making Models - Sarvaiya Pujit

· Bias - Deeksha Singh

· Personality Traits, Cognitive Dissonance, Compilation & Formatting - Shreya Das

· Motivation & Leadership - Varsha Singh and Mudit.

The above topics have been carefully studied by individuals and discussed in group discussions.

After the discussion, we all described our topics in detail. I hope our work will be appreciated.