Explanation of Attribution Theory & Providing Examples Considering

Bangladesh’s Context Which is Familiar to Us.

Course Name: Management & Organizational Behavior

Course Code: F-506

Submitted To
Samia Sultana Tani
Associate Professor
Department of the Finance
University of Dhaka.

Submitted By
Anupam Rahman
Id- 43023
Department of the Finance
University of Dhaka.
Date of Submission: 03/03/2022

1 | Page
 Letter of Transmittal:

February 23, 2022

To
Samia Sultana Tani
Associate Professor
Department of Finance
University of Dhaka.

Subject: Submission of Term Paper on “Explanation of Attribution Theory &

Providing Examples Considering Bangladesh’s Context Which is Familiar to Us.”

Dear Mam,
It is with great pleasure that I am submitting my term paper on “Explanation of
Attribution Theory & Providing Examples Considering Bangladesh’s Context Which is
Familiar to Us.”
I have prepared the report on attribution theory according to the guidelines
provided by you throughout my Management & Organizational Behavior course. I
believe the insights gained by reading this report would be useful in getting a good
grasp of the Attribution Theory
I hope that you will appreciate my instructive and comprehensive approach.
Thank you for encouraging me for working on this interesting topic. Kindly accept
my report and oblige thereby.
Sincerely yours,
Anupam Rahman
Id- 43023.

2 | Page
Acknowledgment:

I would like to express my gratefulness to the almighty Allah for being the strength
to prepare the term paper successfully.
I would like to give special thanks to, Samia Sultana Tani, Associate Professor,
Department of Finance, the University of Dhaka for his guideline which has
enabled me to form such a term paper.

3 | Page
 Explanation Of Attribution Theory & Providing Examples
Considering BANGLADESH’s Context Which Is Familiar To Us.

Attribution Theory: In psychology, attribution is a judgment we make about the cause of

another person's behavior. Attribution theory explains these attribution processes, which we use
to understand why an event or behavior occurred. we also say that Attribution theory is a
motivational theory looking at how the average person constructs the meaning of an event based
on his /her motives to find a cause and his/her knowledge of the environment.
Attributions are perceptions about the causes of success and failure. Suppose that Rana gets a
low mark on a test and is wondering what caused the low mark. he can construct various
explanations for—make various attributions about—this failure. Maybe he did not study very
hard; maybe the test itself was difficult; maybe he was unlucky; maybe he just is not smart
enough. Each explanation attributes the failure to a different factor. The explanations that he
settles upon may reflect the truth accurately—or then again, they may not. What is important
about attributions is that they reflect personal beliefs about the sources or causes of success and
failure. As such, they tend to affect motivation in various ways, depending on the nature of the
attribution
In a short, we can say that attribution theory is one’s perception & judgment of others is
significantly influenced by one’s assumptions; of the other person’s initial state.
When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or
externally caused.
•Internal causes are under that person’s control
•External causes are not under the person’s control

4 | Page
Example of Attribution theory:

01. let's assume there are 07 salespeople who worked for a new company named XYZ
Organization. They try to increase the sales of the product Soap. but unfortunately, they
can’t achieve the sale target.
at that time the Manager's perception of those seven salespeople is that they are lazy, they
can’t push the product, they can’t convince people to use their products, etc. in a word the
Manager's perception is negative or bad to those people.
But the Manager's perception can be wrong.
There can be many reasons why their products are not sold or why people don’t like it?
Such as there are many alternatives of that product, there is no new thing about their
product or their price is high than others, etc.
But here manager makes a judgment about those people by his assumptions.
This is the Attribution theory.

02. Let’s a student make a very good result in the HSC exam. Then all say that he/she
studies very much, do hard work so he/she makes a brilliant result. But with their hard
work their family members, teachers also do hard work for his/her brilliant result. so we
see that in this case, we all make a decision that their good result is achieved only for
their hard work. here we miss others people's contributions.
But if he/she make bad result then all people blame their teacher but maybe he/she
doesn’t study properly for their exam.

Causation judged through:

● Distinctiveness: Shows different behaviors in different situations.
We show one type of behavior when we go to the office & when we go to our friends or family
group our behavior is changed at that time.

● Consensus: Response is the same as others to the same situation.

let's assume we 07 people come to our office from Mirpur to Uttara & today all we make late.
because of a heavy traffic jam than other days. at that time our superior's behavior is the same to
all.

● Consistency: Response in the same way over time.

let's assume Mr. ABC always come to the office lately. So we easily say that he is a latecomer &
that time superior's behavior is hard to him.

5 | Page
Errors and Biases in Attributions
Fundamental Attribution Error:
The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of
internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others
We blame people first, not the situation.

let's assume there are 07 salespeople who worked for a new company named XYZ
Organization. They try to increase the sales of the product Soap. but unfortunately, they
can’t achieve the sale target.
at that time the Manager's perception of those seven salespeople is that they are lazy, they
can’t push the product, they can’t convince people to use their products, etc. in a word the
Manager's perception is negative or bad to those people.
But the Manager's perception can be wrong.
There can be many reasons why their products are not sold or why people don’t like it?
Such as there are many alternatives of that product, there is no new thing about their
product or their price is high than others, etc.

Self-Serving Bias
The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the
blame for failures on external factors
It is “our” success but “their” failure

Let’s a student make a very good result in the HSC exam. Then all say that he/she studies
very much, do hard work so he/she makes a brilliant result. But with their hard work their
family members, teachers also do hard work for his/her brilliant result. so we see that in
this case, we all make a decision that their good result is achieved only for their hard
work. here we miss others people's contributions.
But if he/she make bad result then all people blame their teacher but maybe he/she
doesn’t study properly for their exam.

6 | Page
Conclusion: Attribution theories attempt to explain how human beings evaluate and determine
the cause of other people's behavior. In this term paper, we know about attribution theory, causes,
examples, & Errors & Biases in Attributions.

THANK YOU

7 | Page