WKU, CBE, Department of Management Organizational Behavior

CHAPTER TWO

FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND LEARNING IN AN

ORGANIZATION

2.1. PERCEPTION

2.1.1. WHAT IS PERCEPTION MEAN?

Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is not just what one sees
with eyes. It is a much more complex process by which an individual selectively absorbs or
assimilates the stimuli in the environment, cognitively organizes the perceived information in a
specific fashion and then interprets the information to make an assessment about what people
select, organize, and interpret or attach meaning to events happening in the environment. Since
perception is subjective process, different people may perceive the same environment differently
based on what particular aspects of the situation they choose. For example, some employees may
perceive the work place as great if it has favorable working conditions, good pay. Others may
perceive it as great if it has challenging assignments and opportunity to grow. Managers should
sharpen their perceptual skills so that they are as close to perceiving people, events, and objects
as they truly are. When “misperception” occurs due to perceptual errors and distortion, managers
are bound to make poor or improper decision. Perception is process through which short-run
changes are made in behavior in response to inputs from work environment. The process itself
consists of two major actions – i) attention to incoming stimuli and ii) translation of such stimuli
into a message that leads to a meaningful behavioral response. Perception is form of behavior
and, therefore, influenced by at least the following factors: i) characteristics of the object or
source of incoming stimuli (such as a supervisor issuing work request); ii) the situation or
conditions under which the stimuli occur (such as timing of a message) and iii) characteristics of
the perceiving person. The last category is extremely important in determining the way incoming
stimuli will be interpreted and subsequent response. An individual’s motives, previous learning
and personality will influence perception. Managers must take such consideration into account in
predicting the way their actions and order will be perceived by others. Perception involves the
way we view the world around us. It adds meaning to information gathered via the five senses of
touch, smell, hearing, vision, and taste. Perception is the primary vehicle through which we come
to understand ourselves and our surroundings.
2.1.2. PERCEPTUAL PROCESS

Five Stages in Perceptual Process:

Stage I: Observation Phase – It depicts the environmental stimuli being observed
By the five senses of the perceived.

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Stage II: Selection of the Stimuli: This is governed both by factors external to the perceived,
such as the characteristics of the stimulus, and internal to the individual, such as the personality
disposition and motivations of the perceiver.
Stage III: Organizing Stage – In this stage, the perceiver is influenced by figure and ground,
grouping, and several perceptual errors such as stereotyping halo effects, projection and
perceptual defense.
Stage IV: Interpretation Stage: This stage is governed by the perceiver’s assumptions of
people and events and attributions about causes of behavior and feelings.
Stage V: Behavior Response: In this stage the response of the perceiver takes on both covert
and overt characteristics. Covert response will be reflected in the attitudes, motives, and feelings
of the perceiver and overt responses will be reflected in the actions of the individual.
2.1.3. FACTORS INFLUENCE PERCEPTION

What factors influence perception? Three major categories of factors influence our perception of
another person: characteristics of ourselves, as perceivers; characteristics of the target person or
object we perceive; and characteristics of the situation in which the interaction takes place.

1. Characteristics of Perceiver: A person’s needs and motives, self-concept, attitude, interest,

past experience, emotional state, expectation, and personality aspects strongly influence the
perceptual process. Needs and Motives: Unsatisfied needs or motives stimulate individuals and
may exert a strong influence on their perception. For examples, two groups of subjects – One
group who is deprived of food for about 24 hours and the other group which had food enough
were shown the blurred pictures and asked to explain the contents. The first group perceived the
blurred image as food far more frequently than the other group. People needs and motives thus
play a big part in the perceptual process. Self-Concept: It refers how a person perceives
himself/herself which in turn influence his or her perception of the world around them. If a
person perceives himself as incompetent, then he perceives the world as threatening. On the
other hand, if he feels himself as confident and capable, he will perceive everything around as
friendly. Attitudes: The preferences affect ones perception. A lecturer, who likes bigger class,
feels comfortable in a lecture session which has more than hundred students. Another lecturer,
who likes small class with a lot of questions, may not be so comfortable in such big classes.
Interests: Individual’s focus of attention is also influenced by the interests of people. A plastic
surgeon will more likely to notice an imperfect nose than a plumber. Because of our individual
interests differ considerably, what one person notices in a situation, can differ from what other
person perceives. Past experiences: Individuals past experiences also influence in molding ones
perception. For example if one has had problem responding to examination questions in the past,
he or she will tend to perceive even simple, straightforward examination question as tricky.
Likewise, if a person was betrayed by a couple of friends, he or she would never venture to
cultivate new friendship in future. Psychological or Emotional State: If an individual is
depressed, he or she is likely to perceive the same situation differently from the other person who
is at the extreme level of excitement or happiness. If a person has been scared of seeing a snake

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in the garden, she is likely to perceive a rope under the bed as a snake. Thus, the emotional and
psychological states of an individual also influence the perceptual process and the different types
of interpretation of the situation. Expectation: Expectations can also distort the perceptual
process. If a person expects police officers to be more authoritative and dictatorial, he or she may
perceive them as if they are rough and tough regardless of the Police Officers actual traits.
Personality Characteristics: There is a strong relationship between personality factors and
perception. For example, secure people tend to perceive others as warm supportive than those,
who are more cold and indifferent. Similarly, self-accepting persons perceive others as lining and
accepting them. Those who are not self-accepting tend to distrust others. Insecure, thoughtless or
non-self-accepting persons are less likely to perceive themselves and those around them
accurately. In all probabilities, they are likely to distort, misinterpret or in other ways defensively
perceive the situation.

2. Characteristics of Target: The ways things are organized around us are greatly influencing
the perceptual process. Some of the typical characteristics include bright color, noise; novel
objects, bigger unusual size, moving objects, status, appearance, contrast, intensity, repetition
etc. catch people attention. For example, an unusual noise raised by a person, a strong beam of
light suddenly flashed, a very handsome, attractive person among a group of clumsy people, a
red light against the black background, an unusually obese person amidst a group of slim people
etc. Organization of Target: People tend to organize the various parts of elements in the
environment as a meaningful whole. Such organizing activity is a cognitive process and those are
based on Gestalt Principles. The following are the four Gestalt Principles – Figure and Ground,
Proximity, Similarity, and Closure. Figure and Ground: What a person observes is dependent
on how a central figure is being separated from its background. This implies that the perceived
object or person or event stands out distinct from its background and occupies the cognitive
space of the individual. In a dance Program, the spectators’ tend to perceive the dance
performance against the back ground music, backdrop setup etc. The perceiver thus tends to
organize only the information which stands out in the environment which seems to be significant
to the individual. Proximity: People tend to perceive things, which are nearer to each other, as
together as group rather than separately. If four or five members are standing together, we tend to
assume that they are belonging to same group rather than as separately. As a result of physical
proximity, we often put together objects or events or people as one group even though they are
unrelated. Employees in a particular section are seen as group. Similarity: Persons, objects or
events that are similar to each other also tend to be grouped together. This organizing mechanism
helps us to deal with information in an efficiently way rather than getting bogged down and
confused with too many details. For examples, if we happen to see a group of foreign nationals at
an International seminar, Indians are grouped as one group, British as another, Americans as yet
another based on the similarity of nationalities. Closure: In many situation, the information what
we intend to get may be in bits and pieces and not fully complete in all respects. However, we
tend to fill up the gaps in the missing parts and making it as meaningful whole. Such mental
process of filling up the missing element is called as closure. For example, while giving

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promotions to the staff members, the managers will try to get full information to make an
effective decision, in absence of getting complete information, managers try to make meaningful
assumptions and based on that suitable decision will be made.
3. Characteristics of the Situation: The context at which the incident is occurring can influence
the perceptual process. The physical, social, organizational settings, time etc can influence how
we interpret the stimuli. For example, late coming of subordinate at birthday party may be
ignored but treated him as an important guests by the manager, but at same time, the same
person’s late coming to an important official meeting will be viewed as seriously and manager
may issue a memo seeking his explanation. Thus, the location of an event, the social context in
which takes place, timing and the roles played by the actors play a significant part in how we
interpret the situation.
Barriers to Social Perception

What factors do you think affect social perception? Several factors lead us to form inaccurate impressions
of others. Those are:-

Selective Perception: We receive a vast amount of information. Selective perception is our ten-
dency to choose information that supports our viewpoints. Individuals often ignore information
that makes them feel uncomfortable or threatens their view points. Suppose, for example,
that a sales manager is evaluating his employees. One employee does not get along well with
colleagues and rarely completes sales report on time. This employee, however, generates the
most new sales contracts in the office. The sales manager may ignore the negative information,
choosing to evaluate the salesperson only on contracts generated. The manager is exercising
selective perception.
Stereotypes: A stereotype is a generalization about a group of people. Stereotypes reduce
information about other people to a workplace level and they are efficient for compiling and
using information.
Stereotypes can be accurate, and when they are accurate, they can be useful perceptual guidelines. Most
of the time, however, stereotypes are inaccurate. They harm individuals when inaccurate impressions of
them are inferred and are never tested or changed. Thus, stereotypes may not be effective if they are too
rigid or based on false information.

Suppose that a white male manager passes the coffee area and notices two African-American men talking
there. He becomes irritated at them for wasting time. Later in the day, he sees two women talking in the
coffee area. He thinks they should do their gossiping on their own time. The next morning, the same
manager sees two white men talking in the coffee area. He thinks nothing of it; he is sure they are
discussing business. The manager may hold a stereotype that women and minorities do not work hard
unless closely supervised.

In multicultural work teams, members often stereotype foreign coworkers rather than getting to know
them before forming an impression. Team members from less developed countries are often assumed to
have less knowledge simply because their homeland is economically or technologically less developed.
Stereotypes like these can deflate the productivity of the work team, as well as create low morale.

Attractiveness is a powerful stereotype. We assume that attractive individuals are also warm, kind,

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sensitive, poised, sociable, outgoing, independent, and strong. Are attractive people really like this?
Certainly all of them are not. A recent study of romantic relationships showed that most attractive
individuals do not fit the stereotype, except for possessing good social skills and being popular.

Some individuals may seem to us to fit the stereotype of attractiveness because our behavior elicits
behavior that confirms the stereotype from them. Consider, for example, a situation in which you meet an
attractive fellow student. Chances are that you respond positively to this person, because you assume he
or she is warm, sociable, and so on. Even though the person may not possess these traits, your positive
response may bring out these behaviors in the person. The interaction between the two of you may be
channeled such that the stereotype confirms itself.

Self-fulfilling Prophecies: Self-fulfilling prophecies are also barriers to social perception.

Sometimes our expectations affect the way we interact with others such that we get what we
wish for. Self-fulfilling prophecy is also known as the Pygmalion effect, named for the sculptor
in Greek mythology who carved a statue of a woman that came to life when he prayed for this
wish and it was granted. "Early studies of self-fulfilling prophecy were conducted in elementary
school classrooms. Teachers were given bogus information that some of their pupils had high
intellectual potential. These pupils were chosen randomly; there were really no differences
among the students. Eight months later, the "gifted" pupils scored significantly higher on an IQ
test. The teachers' expectations had elicited growth from these students, and teachers had given
those tougher assignments and more feedback on their performance. Self-fulfilling prophecy has
been studied in many settings, including at sea. The Scientific Foundation feature explains how
the Israeli Defense Forces used it to combat seasickness.
The Pygmalion effect has been observed in work organizations as well. A manager's expectations of an
individual affect both the manager's behavior toward the individual and the individual's response. For
example, suppose you have an initial impression of an employee as having the potential to move up
within the organization. Chances are you will spend a great deal of time coaching and counseling the
employee, providing challenging assignments, and grooming the individual for success.

Managers can harness the power of the Pygmalion effect to improve productivity in the organization. It
appears that high expectations of individuals come true. Can a manager extend these high expectations to
an entire group and have similar positive results? The answer is yes. When a manager expects positive
things from a group, the group delivers.

Halo effect:-When we draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single
characteristic, such an intelligence, sociability or appearance, a halo effect is operating.
.e.g.: students appraise their classroom instructor by giving prominence to a single trait
such as enthusiasm and allow their entire evaluation to be tainted by how they judge the
instructor or that one trait. Thus, an instructor may be quiet, assured, knowledgeable
and highly qualified, but if his style lacks zeal, those students would probably give him a
lowrating. The reality of halo effect was confirmed in a classic study in which subjects were
given a list of traits such as intelligent, skillful, and practical. Industrious. Determined and
warm and were asked to evaluate the person to whom those traits apply. When these
traits were used, the person was judged to be wise, humorous, popular and imaginative.

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When the same list was modified to cold as substituted for warm — a complete different
set of perceptions was obtained. Clearly the subjects were allowing a single trait to
influence their overall impression of the person being judged. The propensity for the halo
cited to operate is not random. Research suggests that it is likely to be most extreme
when the traits to be perceived are ambiguous in behavioral terms. When the trails have
moral overtones, and then the perceiver is judging traits with which he or she has had
limitedexperience.
Contrasteffects
We don’t evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to one person is influenced
by other persons we have recently encountered. An illustration of how contrast effects
operate is an interview situation in which one sees a pack of job applicants. Distortions
in any given candidates evaluation can occur as a result of his or her place in the interview
schedule. The candidate is likely to receive a more favorable evaluation if preceded by
strongapplicants.
Projection
It’s easy to judge others if we assume that they’re similar to us. E.g.: if you want
challenge/responsibility in your job, you assume that others want the same or, you’re
honest and trustworthy, so you take it for granted that other people are equally honest
and trustworthy. This tendency to attribute one’s own characteristics to other people —
which is called projection — can distort perceptions made about others.
People who engage in projection tend to perceive others according to what they
themselves are like, rather than according to what the person being observed is really
like. When observing others who actually are like them, these observers are quite accurate
— not because they are perceptive but because they always judge people as being
similar to themselves. So when they finally do find someone who is like them, they are
naturally correct. When managers engage in projection, they compromise their ability to
respond to individual differences. They tend to see people as more homogeneous than
theyreallyare.

2.2. ATTITUDE

Attitude is a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to someone or something in

one’s environment. Attitudes are evaluative statements –either favorable or unfavorable-
concerning objects, people, or events. They reflect how one feels about something. For example,
when you say that you “like” or “dislike” someone or something, you are expressing an attitude.
It’s important to remember that an attitude is a hypothetical construct; that is, one never sees,
touches, or actually isolates an attitude. Rather, attitudes are inferred from the things people say,
informally or in formal opinion polls or through their behavior. Attitudes are individuals’ general
affective, cognitive, and intentional responses toward objects, other people, themselves, or social
issues. As individuals, we respond favorably or unfavorably toward many things: animals,
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coworkers, our own appearance, and politics. The importance of attitudes lies in their link to
behavior. For example, some people prefer either cats or dogs. Individuals who prefer cats may
be friendly to cast but hesitate in approaching dogs. Attitudes are an integral part of the world of
work. Managers speak of workers who have “bad attitudes” and conduct “attitude adjustment”
talks with employees. Often, poor performance attributed to bad attitudes really stems from lack
of motivation, minimal feedback, lack of trust in management, or other problems. These are
areas that managers to must explore. You can see that it is important for managers to understand
the antecedents to attitudes as well as their consequences. Managers also need to understand the
different components of attitudes, how attitudes are formed, the major attitudes that affect work
behavior, and how to use persuasion to change attitudes.

2.2.2. CHARACTERISTICS OF ATTITUDE

Attitudes can be characterized in the three ways:
1. They tend to persist unless something is done to change them.
2. Attitudes can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favorable to very unfavorable.
3. Attitudes are directed toward some object about which a person has feelings (sometimes called
“affect”) and beliefs.

2.2.3. COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE

An attitude has three components: Affect, Behavior and Cognition. The ABC Model of attitude
describes these components and including their measurements.
The ABC Model of Attitude
The components of Attitude -Affect, Behavioral intentions, and Cognition -compose what we
call the ABC model of an attitude. To understand the complexity of an attitude, we can break it
down into three components, as depicted in Table 2.1.
1. Affect: Affect is the emotional or feeling component of an attitude. It refers to an individual's
feeling about something or someone. Statements such as "I like this" or "I prefer that" reflect the
affective component of an attitude. Affect is measured by physiological indicators such as
galvanic skin response (changes in electrical resistance of skin which indicate emotional arousal)
and blood pressure. These indicators show changes in emotions by measuring physiological
arousal. If an individual is trying to hide his or her feelings, this might be shown by a change in
arousal. 2. The Behavioral Component: The second component is the intention to behave in a
certain way toward an object or person. The behavioral component of an attitude indicates the
intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. Our attitudes toward women
in management, for example, may be inferred from an observation of the way we behave toward
a female supervisor.

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Table: 2.1. The ABC Model of an Attitude

Component Measured by Example

Affect  Physiological Indicators I don’t like my boss

 Verbal statements about feelings
Behavioral Intentions  Observed behavior I want to transfer to
 Verbal statements about intentions another department

Cognition  Attitude scales I believe that my boss

 Verbal statements about beliefs does favorites

We may be supportive, passive, or hostile, depending on our attitude. The behavioral

component of an attitude is measured by observing behavior or by asking a person about
behavior or intentions. The statement "If I were asked to speak at commencement, 1'd be
willing to try to do so, even though 1'd be nervous" reflects a behavioral intention.

3. The Cognitive Component: The third component of an attitude, cognition (thought),

reflects a person's perceptions or beliefs. Cognitive elements are evaluative beliefs and are
measured by attitude scales or by asking about thoughts. The statement "I believe Japanese
workers are industrious" reflects the cognitive component of an attitude. The belief that
‘discrimination is wrong’ is a value statement. Such an opinion is the cognitive component of
an attitude. The ABC model shows that to thoroughly understand an attitude, we must assess
all three components. Suppose, for example, you want to evaluate your employees' attitudes
toward flextime (flexible work scheduling). You would want to determine how they feel about
flextime (affect), whether they would use flextime (behavioral intention), and what they think
about the policy (cognition). The most common method of attitude measurement, the attitude
scale, measures only the cognitive component. As rational beings, individuals try to be
consistent in everything they believe in and do. They prefer consistency (consonance) between
their attitudes and behavior. Anything that disrupts this consistency causes tension
(dissonance), which motivates individuals to change either their attitudes or their behavior to
return to a state of consistency. The tension produced when there is a conflict between attitudes
and behavior is cognitive dissonance. Suppose, for example, a salesperson is required to sell
damaged televisions for the full retail price, without revealing the damage to customers. She
believes, however, that doing so constitutes unethical behavior. This creates a conflict between
her attitude (concealing information from customers is unethical) and her behavior (selling
defective TVs without informing customers about the damage). The salesperson, experiencing
the discomfort from dissonance, will try to resolve the conflict. She might change her behavior
by refusing to sell the defective TV sets. Alternatively, she might rationalize that the defects
are minor and that the customers will not be harmed by their lack of awareness of them. These
are attempts by the salesperson to restore equilibrium between her attitudes and behavior,
thereby eliminating the tension from cognitive dissonance. Managers need to understand

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cognitive dissonance because employees often find themselves in situations in which their
attitudes conflict with their behavior. They manage the tension by changing their attitudes or
behavior. Employees who display sudden shifts in behavior may be attempting to reduce
dissonance. Some employees find the conflicts between strongly held attitudes and required
work behavior so uncomfortable that they leave the organization to escape the dissonance.

2.2.4. HOW ATTITUDES ARE FORMED?

Attitudes are learned. Our responses to people and issues evolve over time. Two major
influences on attitudes are direct experience and social learning. Direct experience: Direct
experience with an object or person is a powerful influence on attitudes. How do you know that
you like biology or dislike math? You have probably formed these attitudes from experience in
studying the subjects. Research has shown that attitudes that are derived from direct experience
are stronger, are held more confidently, and are more resistant to change than are attitudes
formed through indirect experience. One reason attitudes derived from direct experience are so
powerful is because of their availability. This means that the attitudes are easily accessed and
are active in our cognitive processes. When attitudes are available, we can call them quickly
into consciousness. Attitudes that are not learned from direct experience are not as available,
and therefore we do not recall them as easily. Social learning: In social learning, the family,
peer groups, religious organizations, and culture shape an individual's attitudes in an indirect
manner. Children learn to adopt certain attitudes by the reinforcement they are given by their
parents when they display behaviors that reflect an appropriate attitude. This is evident when
very young children express political preferences similar to their parents. Peer pressure molds
attitudes through group acceptance of individuals who express popular -attitudes and through
sanctions, such as exclusion from the group, placed on individuals who espouse unpopular
attitudes. Substantial social learning occurs through modeling, in which individuals acquire
attitudes by merely observing others. The observer overhears other individuals expressing an
opinion or watches them engaging in a behavior that reflects an attitude, and this attitude is
adopted by the observer. For an individual to learn from observing a model, four processes
must take place:

1. The learner must focus attention on the model.

2. The learner must retain what was observed from the model. Retention is accomplished in
two basic ways. One way is for the learner to "stamp in" what was observed by forming a
verbal code for it. The other way is through symbolic rehearsal, by which the learner
forms a mental image of himself or herself behaving like the model.
3. Behavioral reproduction must occur; that is, the learner must practice the behavior.
4. The learner must be motivated to learn from the model.
Culture also plays a definitive role in attitude development. Consider, for example, the contrast
in the North American and European attitudes toward vacation and leisure. The typical vacation
in the United States is two weeks, and some workers do not use all of their vacation time. In
Europe, the norm is longer vacations; and in some countries, holiday means everyone taking a
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month off. The European attitude is that an investment in longer vacations is important to health
and performance.

2.2.5. SOURCES OF ATTITUDE

Attitudes are formed through various sources. We acquire or learn from parents, teachers, peer,
reference group members and socialization and learning process.
i) Family Members: Parents or siblings influence strongly to form favorable or unfavorable
attitudes towards various objects. The child rearing practices, the types of reinforcement received
from parents or siblings will help mould certain attitudes such as strong preference towards
color, religious faith, choices of food habits etc which would be stable and long lasting over a
period of time.
ii) Reference Group: People tend to form a strong attitude based on the influence of powerful
personalities whom they admire a lot. For example, celebrities, charismatic political or religious
leaders significantly influence either to strengthen the existing attitudes or form new attitudes.
Marketing managers rely on celebrity figures to endorse the products to subtly influence their
admirers to buy the products.
iii) Peer Group influence: Friends or colleagues at work place will have a strong influence on
the formation of certain attitudes or belief system due to pressure to conforming to their norms,
standards, values etc. People need people. The acceptance or reassurance of group members will
strongly reinforce the chosen attitudes and behavior.
iv) Socialization and Learning process: The way in which people are brought up in family, the
do’s and don’ts laid down by the parents, educational and educational institutions, the rules and
regulations of work place, the types of rituals, cultures, norms of society etc will strongly
influence the formation of attitudes.

2.2.6. TYPES OF ATTITUDE

There are three types of job-related attitudes such as job satisfaction, job involvement,
and organizational commitment.
i) Job Satisfaction: The term job satisfaction refers to an individual’s general attitudes towards
their job. Some people give much importance to job contextual factors like salary, security,
supervision, supportive colleagues, company policy, working conditions, perquisites,
promotions, equitable rewards etc. Whereas others may show much interest in job content factors
such as advancement, challenging assignments, career progress, appreciation and recognition,
work itself. Research results revealed that the job satisfaction had a tremendous impact on
improving productivity, enhancing quality requirements, reduced absenteeism rate and employee
turnover. The employees expressed their dissatisfaction through so many ways such as leaving
the organization, raising their voice to demand to improve the working conditions, be patient by
passively waiting for the conditions to improve and neglecting everything in work. A person
with a positive attitude is likely to have more job satisfaction, while a person with negative
attitude is likely to have job dissatisfaction towards his or her job. Job satisfaction is one of the
major determinants of an employee’s organizational citizenship behavior. Satisfied employee
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would seem more likely to take positively about the organization, help others and go beyond the
normal expectation in their job. Moreover, satisfied employees normally are more prone to go
beyond the call of duty because they were to reciprocate their positive experiences. The
following are some of the major determinants of job satisfaction – mentally challenging work,
equitable rewards, supportive working conditions, supportive fellow employees, personality-job
fit, company policies and programs.
ii) Job Involvement: This refers to the extent to which a person identifies psychologically with
her or his job. The person feels that the job is more meaningful and it utilizes one’s talent and
skills to the fullest extent. There is a perfect harmony between the types of skills a person
possesses and the work content. The individual experiences as if the whole work is being carried
out by him having full control over everything related to the work. Due to this perception,
performance level will be increasing significantly and enhance the overall self worth. Employees
with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and really care about the kind of work
they do in their job. Job involvement measures the degree to which a person identifies
psychologically with her or his job and considers her or his perceived performance level
important to her or his self-worth. Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly
identify with and really care about the kind of work they do in their job. There is high level of
relationship between job involvement and fewer absences and lower resignation rates of an
individual.
iii) Organizational Commitment: It is refers to the extent to which an employee identifies with
a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.
The person shows much of association and loyalty to their organization. Organizational
commitment has gained a great deal of interest in recent years because of the changing nature of
the workplace. People, who feel a perfect congruence between his values, beliefs, attitudes, and
the organizational policies, practices, programs and its overall work culture, are likely to have
more commitment than those who have incongruence. In order to elicit a high level of
commitment from the employees, a due care must be taken at every stages right from the
recruitment to retirement. Administering suitable screening tests such as aptitude tests,
personality tests, interest’s tests etc will help significantly placing a right person to do a right
type of job. With fewer workers, managers want workers who identify with the organization’s
purpose and will work hard to achieve its goals. Organizational commitment can also be
enhanced through organizational communication process, team briefing, supportive leadership
etc. A good fit between the personality and the job, an internal locus of control, positive realistic
expectations, opportunities for career advancement etc are the good predictors of organizational
commitment. A well designed formal mentoring program has also been shown to increase
organizational commitment. Promotional opportunity, providing employees with more
information, supervisor’s support etc are likely to improve organizational commitment.

2.2.7. ATTITUDES AND CONSISTENCY

People always seek harmony in their life. They desire to maintain consistency between
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Attitudes and behavior or consistency among their various attitudes. Even in case of
Divergent opinion or happen to work in a place where the work demands are not aligned
With the basic values, people will show interest to change either the nature of assignment
Or leave the organization or change their basic values in such a way to ensure consistency
In their life style. This means that individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and to
Align their attitudes and behavior so that they appear rational and consistent. Where there
Is an inconsistency, forces are initiated to return the individual to a state of equilibrium
Where attitudes and behavior are again consistent. This can be done by altering either the
Attitudes or the behavior, or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy.

2.3. PERSONALITY

2.3.1. DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY

Personality is defined as a relatively stable set of characteristics that influence an individual’s

behavior. People tend to have a general notion that personality refers to a personal appearance
with charming smile, or outlook. But psychologists view the concept as dynamic in nature
concerned with growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system.
Personality can be defined as the consistent psychological patterns within an individual that
affect the way they interact with others and the situations they encounter. Personality is defined
as relatively stable and enduring characteristics that determine our thoughts, feelings and
behavior. Personality is a complex phenomenon and there are various perspectives of personality
construct. One common and simple definition of Personality is: It is the consistent psychological
patterns within an individual that affect the way they interact with others and the situations they
encounter. Personality -“Relatively stable pattern of behaviors and consistent internal states that
explain a person's behavioral tendencies.”
1. The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.
2. Mean how people affect others and how they understand and view themselves, as well as their
Pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and Person-situation interaction..

Personality: “The relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person
from another.” Personality refers to a relatively stable set of feelings and behaviors that have
been significantly formed by genetic and environmental factors.

2.3.2. PERSONALITY DETERMINANTS

There are several factors that determine the formation or shaping of our personality. Among
them the three major factors are: Heredity, Environment and Situation.

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i) Heredity: The genetic components inherited from our parents at the time of conception
determine strongly the personality characteristics of an individual. The color, height, physical
statutory, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition, inheritable diseases
etc are considered to be inherited from our parents. Research studies conducted on identical
twins that were reared in different places, temperament of young children, longitudinal studies
on the job satisfaction of employees over long period of time and across different situation reveal
that the heredity plays a substantial role in determining the behavior of individuals. If all
personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity, they would be fixed at birth and
no amounts of experience could alter them.
ii) Environment: The culture in which people are brought up in their lives and they type of
socialization process such as family’s child rearing practices, socio economic status of the
family, number of children in a family, birth order, education of the parents, friends and peer
group pressures, religious practices, the type of schooling and recreational activities, pastime
behavior etc play a critical role in shaping our personalities.
For example, our parents mould the character of all children, almost from birth by expressing
and expecting their children to conform to their own values through role modeling and through
various reinforcement strategies such as rewards and punishments. Research studies reveal that
the birth order – the difference between first born children and later born children determine
certain key personality characteristics, that is, first born tend to exhibit more ambitious, and hard
working, more cooperative, more prone to guilt and anxiety and less openly aggressive. Both the
heredity and environment are equally important in determining personality characteristics of an
individual. Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but a person’s full potential will be
determined by how well he or she adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment.
iii) Situation: The type of specific situation which a person encounters also equally shapes the
type of personality characteristics. For example, an individual’s exposure to a job interview and
the type of experiences encountered during that time will shape certain personality
characteristics. Similarly, going for a picnic with friends and encountering the type of
experiences whether pleasant and unpleasant will shape the personality characteristics of
individuals.

2.3.3. MAJOR PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING OB

In this section, we will evaluate specific personality attributes that have been found to be
powerful predictors of behavior in organizations. The first is related to locus of control how
much power over your destiny you think you have. The others are Machiavellianism, self-
esteem, self-monitoring, risk-taking, and Type A and proactive personalities.
1. Locus of Control: the degree to which people believe they are in control of their own fates.
Some people believe that they are in control of their own destinies. Other people see themselves
as pawns of fate, believing that what happens to them in their lives is due to luck or chance. The
first types, those who believe that they control their destinies, have been labeled internals,
whereas the latter, who see their lives as being controlled by outside forces, such as luck or
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chance have been called externals. A person’s perception of the source of his or her fate is
termed locus of control. Individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to problem
solve when they encounter an obstacle while trying to achieve a goal. Individuals with an
external locus of control are more likely to see the obstacle as caused by outside forces, and they
will not necessarily know what to do in the face of that obstacle. Managers thus need to be more
aware of obstacles facing employees, who have an external locus of control, and do what they
can to remove those obstacles. A large amount of research has compared internals with externals.
Internals report greater well-being, and this finding appears to be universal. Internals show
greater motivation, believe that their efforts will result in good performance, and get higher
salaries and greater salary increases than externals. Externals are less satisfied with their jobs,
have higher absenteeism rates, and are more alienated from the work setting, and are less
involved in their jobs than are internals, likely because they feel they have little control over
organizational outcomes.
2. Machiavellianism: The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional
distance, and believes that ends can justify means. The personality characteristic of
Machiavellianism (Mach) is named after Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth
century on how to gain and use power. An individual high in Machiavellianism is highly
practical, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means. “If it works,
use it” is consistent with a high-Mach perspective. A considerable amount of research has been
directed toward relating high- and low- Mach personalities to certain behavioral outcomes. High
Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and persuade others more than do low
Machs.
3. Self-Esteem: The degree to which individuals like or dislike themselves. People differ in the
degree to which they like or dislike themselves. This trait is called self-esteem. The research on
self-esteem (SE) offers interesting insights into OB. For example, Self-esteem is directly related
to expectations for success. High SEs believe that they have the ability to succeed at work.
Individuals with high self-esteem will take more risks in job selection and are more likely to
choose unconventional jobs than are people with low self-esteem. High SEs also tends to
emphasize the positive when confronted with failure. The most generalizable finding on self-
esteem is that low SEs are more easily influenced by external factors than are high SEs. Low SEs
is dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations from others. As a result, they are more likely
than high SEs to seek approval from others and more prone to conform to the beliefs and
behaviors of those they respect. In managerial positions, low SEs tend to be concerned with
pleasing others and, therefore, are less likely to take unpopular stands than are high SEs. Not
surprisingly, self-esteem has also been found to be related to job satisfaction. A number of
studies confirm that high SEs is more satisfied with their jobs than are low SEs. Recent research
suggests that the factors that are used to measure self-esteem can be applied cross-culturally.
4. Self-Monitoring: A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust behavior to
external, situational factors. Some people are better able to pay attention to the external
environment and respond accordingly, a characteristic known as self-monitoring. Individuals
high in self-monitoring show considerable ability to adjust and adapt their behavior to the
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situations they are in. They are highly sensitive to external cues and can behave differently in
different situations. High self-monitors are capable of presenting striking contradictions between
their public personae and their private selves. Low self-monitors cannot disguise themselves in
the same way. They tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation; hence,
there is high behavioral consistency between who they are and what they do. Research suggests
that high self-monitors tend to pay closer attention to the behavior of others and are more capable
of conforming than are low self-monitors. In addition, high self-monitoring managers tend to be
more mobile in their careers and receive more promotions (both internal and cross-
organizational).Recent research found that self-monitoring is also related to job performance and
emerging leaders. Specifically, high self-monitors are more likely to be high performers and
more likely to become leaders.
5. Risk-Taking: A person’s willingness to take chances or risks. People differ in their
willingness to take chances. The tendency to assume or avoid risk has been shown to have an
impact on how long it takes managers to make a decision and how much information they
require before making their choice. For instance, managers worked on simulated exercises that
required them to make hiring decisions. High risk-taking managers made more rapid decisions
and used less information in making their choices than did the low risk-taking managers. While it
is generally correct to conclude that managers in organizations are risk-aversive, there are still
individual differences within this dimension. As a result, it makes sense to recognize these
differences and even to consider matching risk taking tendencies with specific job demands. For
instance, high risk-taking might lead to higher performance for a stock trader in a brokerage firm
because that type of job demands rapid decision making. On the other hand, a willingness to take
risks would not be suitable for an accountant who performs auditing activities. Organizations
also send messages about how much risk is tolerated. Some managers convey to employees that
they will be punished if they take risks that fail. This can dampen (reduce) one’s natural risk
taking tendencies.
7. Proactive Personality: A person who identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action,
and perseveres until meaningful change occurs. Did you ever notice that some people actively
take the initiative to improve their current circumstances or create new ones while others sit by
passively reacting to situations? The former individuals have been described as having proactive
personalities. People with a proactive personality identify opportunities, show initiative, take
action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs. They create positive change in their
environment, regardless or even in spite of constraints or obstacles. Not surprisingly, proactive
have many desirable behaviors that organizations look for. For instance, the evidence indicates
that proactive are more likely to be seen as leaders and are more likely to act as change agents
within the organization. Other actions of proactive can be positive or negative, depending on the
organization and the situation. For example, proactive is more likely to challenge the status quo
or voice their displeasure when situations are not to their liking. If an organization requires
people with entrepreneurial initiative, proactive make good candidates; however, these are
people that are also more likely to leave an organization to start their own business. As
individuals, proactive is more likely to achieve career success. This is because they select, create,
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and influence work situations in their favor. Proactive is more likely to seek out job and
organizational information, develop contacts in high places, engage in career planning, and
demonstrate persistence in the face of career obstacles.

2.4. LEARNING
2.4.1. DEFINITION OF LEARNING
Learning: “A relatively permanent change in the behavior occurring as a result of experience.”
Learning is a fundamental process in organizations. A temporary change in behavior or
knowledge is not characteristic of learning. Learning takes place through practice, or the
experience of watching others, although it is tempting to take shortcuts. Learning is part of every
one’s life. In our life, all complex behavior is learned. Learning is defined as any relatively
permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience. Whenever any change occurs
learning is taken place in the individual. If an individual behaves, reacts, responds as a result of
experience which is different from others, a person has encountered some new learning
experience in his or her life. This definition consists of the following four key elements:
i) Change process: Learning involves some change in oneself in terms of observable actions
explicitly shown to others or change in ones attitude or thought processes occur with one self
implicitly. Change may be good or bad or positive or negative from an organization point of
view. If a person is happened to experience some negative incidents, that person will hold
Prejudices or bias or to restrict their output. On the contrary, if a person is encountering some
good incident, that person is likely to hold positive attitude.
ii) Permanent change: Due to whatever exposure a person encounters, the impact what it
generates may be long lasting and permanent. Hence, the change must be of relatively
permanent. If change occurs due to fatigue or alcohol consumption or temporary adaptation, it
may be vanished once the goal is achieved.
iii) Setting behavioral actions: Explicit changes occurring in behavior is the main goal of
learning process. A change in an individual’s thought process or attitudes without any changes in
any explicit behavior will not be considered as learning process.
iv) Need for meaningful experiences: Some form of experiences is necessary for learning.
Experience may be acquired directly through observation or practice. If experience results in a
relatively permanent change in behavior, one can confidently say that learning has taken place.

2.4.2. STRATEGIES OF REINFORCEMENT, PUNISHMENT AND EXTINCTION

Reinforcement: is the process that increases the probability that desired behaviors occur by
applying consequences. Managers use reinforcement to increase the likelihood of higher sales,
better attendance, or observing safety procedures. Reinforcement begins by selecting a behavior
to be encouraged. Correctly identifying the behavior is important, or reinforcement will not lead
to the desired response. A manager must decide if attendance at meetings is the desired behavior
or attendance and participation. The manager would need to reinforce both behaviors if both are
desired.
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Positive reinforcement: increases the probability that a behavior will occur by administering
positive consequences (called positive reinforces) following the behavior. Managers determine
what consequences a worker considers positive. Potential reinforces include rewards such as pay,
bonuses, promotions, job titles interesting work, and verbal praise. Rewards are positive
reinforcements if a worker acts in the desired manner to obtain them.
Workers differ in what they consider to be a positive reinforce. For some, titles are rewards, for
others it is vacation time. Once the desired behavior is determined, reinforces must follow to
increase reoccurrence. Organizations use reinforcement to promote the learning and performance
of many behaviors. Some organizations use positive reinforcement for diversity efforts and to
retain valuable employees.
Negative reinforcement: increases the probability that a desired behavior, then occur by
removing a negative consequence (or negative reinforce) when a worker performs the behavior.
The negative consequence is faced until a worker performs the desired behavior, then the
consequence is removed. A manager’s nagging is a negative reinforcement, if the nagging stops
when worker performs a task correctly. Negative reinforces differ for various individuals.
Nagging may not affect some subordinates. They will not perform the desired behavior, even if
the nagging stops. When using negative and positive reinforcement, the magnitude of the
consequences must fit the desired behavior. A small bonus may not be sufficient to cause a
worker to perform a time-consuming or difficult task.
Extinction: According to operant conditioning, both good and bad behaviors are controlled by
reinforced consequences. Identifying behavioral reinforces and removing them can decrease a
behavior. An undesired behavior without reinforcement can diminishes until it no longer occurs.
This process is called extinction. Extinction can modify the behavior of a worker who spends
much time talking or telling jokes. The attention of coworkers reinforces this behavior. If
coworkers stop talking and laughing, the worker is likely to stop telling jokes. Although
extinction is useful, it takes time to eliminate the undesired behavior. When behaviors need to
stop immediately, managers may resort to punishment.
Punishment: consists of administering a negative consequence when the undesired behavior
occurs. Punishment is not the same as negative reinforcement. It decreases a behavior, whereas
negative reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior. Punishment administers a negative
consequence, whereas negative reinforcement removes a negative consequence.

2.4.3. THEORIES OF LEARNING

Theories of Learning: There are three types of learning theories. These theories are
classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning.
1. Classical Conditioning Theory: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov developed classical
conditioning theory. When he was doing a research on the chemical properties of saliva of dog,
he noticed accidentally that the dog started salivating the moment hearing the sound of a door of
cupboard clinging. Based on his observation, he wanted to do some experiment whether the dog
can be conditioned to respond to any neutral stimuli. He used a simple surgical procedure to
operate the salivary glands of a dog to measure accurately the amount of saliva.
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Pavlov’s Experiment: Pavlov conducted his experiment in three stages.

Stage I: When Pavlov presented the dog with a piece of meat, the dog exhibited a noticeable
increase in salivation. The meat is unconditional stimulus and salivation is unconditional
response.
Stage II: In this stage, the dog was not given a piece of meat but only exposed to a sound of
ringing bell; the dog did not salivate to the mere sound of a ringing bell.
Stage III: Pavlov decided to link both the presentation of meat and the ringing of a bell
one after the other with an interval of 5 minutes. After repeatedly hearing the bell before
getting the meat, the dog began to salivate as soon the bell rang. There is an association or link
between meat and ringing a bell. After repeating the association between meat and ringing a bell,
the dog started salivating merely at the sound of the bell, even if no food was offered. The dog is
now conditioned to respond to a sound of a bell and started salivating. This is called classical
conditioning process. Thus, classical condition is defined as the formation of S-R link (Stimulus-
Response) or habit between a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response through the
repeated paring of conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. In this experiment, the
meat is unconditioned stimulus, and the expected response that is, salivating to the meat is called
as unconditioned response. The sound of a bell is a neutral stimulus which does not have any
property to elicit salivation, is called as conditioned stimulus. Although it was originally neutral,
if the bell was paired with meat (unconditioned stimulus) it acquired the same property as meat
eliciting the salivation. The sound of a bell produced salivation when presented alone. This is
called conditioned response, that is, now the dog is conditioned to respond to the sound of a bell.
Learning conditioned response involves building up an association between a conditioned
stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. When the stimuli, one is natural and the other one neutral
are paired, the neutral one becomes a conditioned stimulus and hence takes on the properties of
the unconditioned stimulus.
Application of Classical Conditioning Principles at Work
Whenever President or Vice-President of Corporate Office visits factory site the employees in
the shop floor will more attentive at work and look more prim, proper and active in their work
life. It is quite natural that top management personnel visit (Unconditioned Stimulus) evoking or
eliciting a desired response- being prim and proper at work from the employees (Unconditioned
Response). The routine cleaning of windows or floor of the administrative office will be neutral
stimulus never evoking any response from the employees. If the visit of the top management
personnel is associated with such cleaning process, eventually the employees would turn on their
best output and look prim and active the moment windows and floor are being cleaned up. The
employees had learned to associate the cleaning of the windows with a visit from the head office.
The cleaning process (conditioned stimulus) evoked attentive and active work behavior
(conditioned response). Similarly, Christmas Carols songs bring pleasant memories of childhood
as these songs are being associated with the festive Christmas Spirit. Classical conditioning is
passive. It is elicited in response to a specific, identifiable event.
2. Operant Conditioning theory: Operant conditioned principle is proposed by B.F. Skinner, an
American Psychologist. It is a type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior leads to
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a reward or prevent a punishment. Operant conditioning principle emphasizes strongly that the
behavior of an individual is a function of its consequences. If the consequences are pleasant, the
Behavior associated with such consequences will be repeated again and again. If the
consequences are unpleasant, the behavior will be in extinct. The rationale behind this theory is
that people learn to behave in order to get something they want or to avoid something they don’t
want. Operant condition is learned process. The tendency to repeat such behavior is influenced
by the reinforcement or lack of reinforcement brought about by the consequences of the
behavior. The proper reinforcement strengthens a behavior and increases the likelihood that it
will be repeated. Skinner’s Experiment: Skinner developed an apparatus to conduct a series of
learning experiment using rats. He named that apparatus as Skinner’s Box which has certain
Features such as a lever, bowl, light, water container etc. A highly deprived rat is placed in the
box. Once a rat nudges or touches or hits the lever attached in the corner of the box, a piece of
food pellet is dropped in the bowl. By trial and error, the rat learns that hitting the lever is
followed by getting a food pellet in the bowl. Skinner coined the term operant response to any
behavioral act such as pressing or hitting or nudging the lever that has some effect on the
environment. Thus in a typical experiment with a skinner box, hitting or pressing the lever is an
operant response, and the increased rate of lever hitting or pressing that occurs when the
response is followed by a pellet of food exemplifies operant conditioning.
Application of Operant Conditioning in Work Life
If a sales person who hits the assigned target of sales quota will be reinforced with a suitable
attractive reward, the chances of hitting further sales target in future will be exemplified. Skinner
argued that creating pleasant consequences (giving attractive rewards) to follow specific forms of
behavior (hitting sales target) would increase the frequency of that behavior. People will most
likely engage in desired behaviors if they are positively reinforced for doing so. Rewards are
most effective if they immediately follow the desired response. In addition, behavior that is not
rewarded is less likely to be repeated. A commissioned sales person wanting to earn a sizeable
income finds that doing so is contingent on generating high sales in his territory.
3. Social Learning Theory: People learn through both observation and direct experience, which
is called as social learning theory. Individual learn by observing what happens to other people
and just by being told about something, as well as by direct experiences. By observing people
around us, mostly from parents, teachers, peers, films and television performers, bosses, we learn
New behavior pattern. Albert Bandura, who has most vigorously studied observational learning
in humans, has emphasized that people observe others to learn not just specific motor skills (such
as
Driving a car and performing surgery) but also more general modes or styles of behaving.
Bandura demonstrated both of these functions of observational learning – acquiring specific
actions and learning general styles of behavior – in experiments with children. Bandura proposed
that people actively observe the behavior of other people to gain knowledge about the kinds of
things that people do, and use that knowledge in situations where it is useful. Social learning
theory gives much importance to perceptual process. People respond to how they perceive and
defy consequences, not to the objective consequence themselves. The influence of models is key
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to the social learning process. The following four processes are vital to determine the influence
that a model will have on an individual.
i) Attention Process: People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to
its critical features. People tend to be most influenced by models that are attractive, repeatedly
available similar to us in our estimation.
ii) Retention Process: A model’s influence will depend on how well the individual remembers
the model’s action after the model is no longer readily available.
iii) Motor Reproduction Process: After a person has seen a new behavior by observing the
model, the watching must be converted to doing. This process then demonstrates that the
individual can perform the modeled activities.
iv) Reinforcement Process: Individual will be motivated to exhibit they modeled behavior if
positive incentives or rewards are provided. Behavior that is positively reinforced will be given
more attention, learned better and performed more often.

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