MGT 2103 – Organizational Behavior

Worksheet

CLO 1 - Describe the individual behaviours in the organisation.

1. Which academic discipline studies what people think, feel, and do in and around

organizations? (2 marks)

Answer: Organizational behavior

2. Sara just finished her Bachelors in Business Management. Now she wants to pursue Master’s

degree. She came to you, an academic consultant, for an advise. Suggest her the skills she will

learn by studying Organizational behaviour and how these skills are valuable to her career. (6

marks)

Answer:

Personal Attributes:
- Attitude.
- Personality.
- Teamwork.
- Leadership.
Interpersonal Skills:
- Active listening.
- Positive attitudes.
- Effective communication.
Soft skills  relate to human interactions and include both interpersonal skills and personal
attributes and are among the most valued skill by employers.
3. Sara is the Accounting manager and thinks that her department’s objective is to just deliver the

Annual reports and maintain accounts. Her employees in the Accounting department just need

skills in accounting. As Human Resources expert, explain to Sara the inter-relationship between

Inputs, Processes, and Outcomes presented in the ‘Organizing Framework for applying OB’. (10

marks)

The framework uses a systems approach for analyzing problems.

Person and situation factors are inputs.

Processes and outcomes are organized into individual, group/team, and organizational levels.

The framework implies that person factors and situation factors are the initial drivers of all
outcomes that managers want to achieve because inputs affect processes, and processes affect
outcomes.

Because events are dynamic and ongoing, many outcomes will in turn impact inputs and
processes, as shown by the feedback loops in the framework.

Determining the causal relationships between inputs, processes, and outcomes often depends on
a particular point in time—an outcome at one point in time may be an input at another.

The graphic shows the relationship between the three categories Inputs, Process, and Outcomes.

Inputs:

Personal Factors.

Situational Factors.
Leads to:

Processes:

Individual Level.

Group/Team Level.

Organizational Level.

Leads to:

Outcomes:

Individual Level.

Group/Team Level.

Organizational Level.

In return, Outcomes relates to both Inputs and Processes.

4. Sara is working as Project Assistant for ABC Ltd. for past 8 years. She received the news today

that she is promoted as the Project Manager. Because the role is new to her, she started doubting

herself. She told you (HR Manager) “I don’t think I can get the job done. I have never worked as

Project Manager, I don’t know if I can lead a team of experts. They have more experience than

me. If I fail in this new job, don’t blame me. Blame the people who promoted me”.

From this scenario, identify the three self-evaluated personality traits found in Sara (3 x 4 = 12

marks). Advise her the influence of negatively evaluating herself (4 marks). (Total 16 marks)

The three self-evaluated personality traits are:

1. Self-efficacy: An individual’s belief that she will be successful in achieving the outcome.

2. Self-esteem: An individual’s self-worth and self-respect.

3. Locus of control: An individual taking responsibility of her own actions.

As Sara is promoted, she started doubting that she will be successful in her new role. Hence, her

self-efficacy is low. It is mentioned in the case that – “she started doubting herself”. The case

also highlights the following:

“I don’t think I can get the job done. I have never worked as Project Manager, I don’t know if I

can lead a team of experts. They have more experience than me. If I fail in this new job, don’t

blame me.”

When Sara said that she is not as capable as others in the team, it shows that she vales herself

low, her self-worth is low, and hence her self-esteem is low.

Sara also placed the blame on people who promoted her. This indicates that her locus of control

is external where she hold other people responsible for her failure
5. Sara loves to make new friends, socialize with them, travels around, learn new skills, is curious

to know variety of things, and is not shy of talking in the departmental meetings.

Apply the Big 5 personality dimensions to identify the two dominating dimensions that she

possess. Explain these two personality dimensions. (2 x 5 marks = 10 marks).

As Sara “loves to make new friends, socialize with them, travels around…and is not shy of

talking in the departmental meetings” indicates that she has EXTROVERSION personality

dimension.

Also, Sara loves to “travels around, learn new skills, is curious to know variety of things”

indicates that her personality dimension is OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE.

6. Based on the above case of Sara’s personality, what role do you think is played by nature and

nurture? (5 marks)

Nature and nurture both plays an important role in shaping Sara’s personality.

Influenced by nature:

• Heredity explains about 50 percent of behavioral tendencies.

Influenced by nurture:

• Socialization, learning.

Personality stabilizes in young adulthood.

• Self-concept gets clearer, more stable with age.

• Executive function regulates behavior.

• Some traits change throughout life.

7. As a recruitment manager, you don’t want to hire people with three socially undesirable

personality traits. Discuss your understanding of Dark Triad with the other departmental managers

so that during interviews, these traits can be assessed. (3 x 5 marks = 15 marks)

These are the following three Dark Triad of socially undesirable personality traits that

departmental managers should consider during interviews:

Machiavellianism

• Named after Niccolò Machiavelli, 16th-century Italian philosopher who wrote about

political behavior.

• Strong motivation to get what they want at the expense of others — believe that getting

more than one deserves is acceptable

• Believe that deceit is a natural and acceptable way to achieve goals — cynical disregard for

moral principles

• Take pleasure in misleading, outwitting, and otherwise controlling others

• Seldom empathize with or trust coworkers

Narcissism:

• Named after Narcissus in Greek mythology — obsessed with his beauty, could not stop

admiring his reflection in a pool of water (died of thirst).

• Obsessive belief in their superiority, entitlement (often called “grandiose narcissism”).

• Excessive need for attention — engage in self-promotion, exhibitionism, other attention-

seeking behaviors.

• Intensely envious — eventually shows as arrogance, schadenfreude (pleasure from others'

misfortune), callous disregard for others’ feelings, exploitation of others for personal

power/status.
Psychopathy:

• Considered the most sinister of the triad — callously do as they please and take what they

want.

• Social predators — ruthlessly dominate and manipulate others without empathy or feelings

of remorse or anxiety.

• Mask of psychopathy — use superficial charm while being selfish self-promoters.

• Engage in antisocial, impulsive, and often fraudulent thrill-seeking behavior.

8. As a training expert, you want trainees to take responsibility of their own behaviour and

understand the consequences. Create a message for your trainees explaining how their locus of

control influence their performance. (8 marks)

Following is the message for the trainees explaining the influence of locus of control on

performance:

An internal will display greater work motivation, have stronger expectations that effort leads to

performance, exhibit higher performance, and derive more job satisfaction from performance.

Externals demonstrate less motivation for performance when offered valued rewards, earn lower

salaries and smaller salary increases, and tend to be more anxious.