Determinants of Human Behavior in Organizations

________________________________________________

Sources of individual differences

Main perspectives. Individual vs Situations. Interaction of individual*situations
Key demographic characteristics and their relevance to OB
Exercise 1. Feeling excluded and promoting inclusion
 Determinants of human behavior
Sources of individual differences

What are the causes of organizational behavior?

???
- Individual: demographic variables and dispositional
(e.g. personality) variables
- Situations: the context in which he/she lives/works

Is organizational behavior and actions mostly

determined by internal factors or the
context/situation?
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 Mutually exclusive perspectives and
integrative perspective

Dispositional and situational influences on behavior at work

The mutually exclusive perspectives:

Dispositionism argues that our behavior and actions are

determined by internal factors

Situationism holds that our behavior and actions are

influenced by our immediate surroundings and environment

Main arguments?

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 Dispositions versus situation
Dispositionist perspective
Dispositions: personality, need
states, preferences, motives,
values…
- Individuals possess relatively
stable traits/attributes that exert
a significant influence on
attitudes and behaviors at work,
regardless of the role or
organizational context (Weiss &
Adler, 1984)
“The rumors of the death of
dispositional research have been
vastly exaggerated”.
(House, Shane & Herold, 1996, p.
221)
Situational perspective
Situational factors: organizational
climate and structure, culture,
technology…
- Personality traits adapt to the
organizational context and
situations
- Attitudes and behaviors at work
are significantly affected by
structural factors (e.g. reward
system, socialization process)
(Davis-Blake & Pfeffer, 1989)
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 Dispositions x Situations (Schneider, 1987)

Interactionist perspective

More recent approaches take both the situation and the individual into
account when studying human behavior due to the complex interaction of
internal and situational factors that affect human behavior
Behavior is a product of both the the person (e.g. personality traits, values,
temperament) and the situation (e.g. social and professional roles, cultural
influences, the presence of peers, supervisors)

Neither the dispositionist nor the situational approach can fully explain and
predict human behavior in organizations

The situation is the result of the interaction among individuals (collective

personality): people make the place
 Focusing on individuals diferences...

– Demographic characteristics: age, sex, marital

status…
– Dispositionist factors: personality, intellectual
skills and competences
Dispositions refer to:
§ Tendency to respond to situations in a particular or
predetermined way
§ Psychological characteristics
§ Personality (more enduring and stable), needs, attitudes,
preferences, motives (more volatile)

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 References
Cunha, M. P., Rego, A., Cunha, R. C., Cabral-Cardoso, C. & Neves, P. (2016). Manual de
Comportamento Organizacional e Gestão (8ª edição, revista e atualizada). Lisboa: RH
Editora.

Davis-Blake, A. & Pfeffer, J. (1989). Just a mirage: The search for dispositional effects in
organizational research. Academy of Management Review, 14(3), 385-400.

House, R. J., Shane, S. A. & Herold, D. M. (1996). Rumors of the death of dispositional
research are vastly exaggerated. Academy of Management Review, 21(1), 203-224.

Pfeffer, J. (1997). New directions for organizational theory: Problems and prospects.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schneider, B. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40, 437-453.

Weiss, H. M. & Adler, S. (1984). Personality and organizational behavior. In B. M. Staw &
L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 6, pp. 1-50). Greenwich,
CT: JAI Press.

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Understanding individual behavior (at work)
________________________________________________
Key demographic characteristics and their relevance to OB
Exercise 1: Feeling excluded and promoting inclusion
Why employees differ?
Explaining variability in human behavior at work

A look at demographic characteristics…

What variables affect employee productivity, absence, turnover,
satisfaction, deviance, citizenship…?
Many characteristics are hard to assess, so…
… let’s begin by looking at factors that are readily available –
data that we can find in HR files

Why are demographic characteristics important?

Examples of demographic characteristics…
 Biographical/demographic
characteristics
Personal characteristics such as:
- Age
- Gender
- Race and ethnicity
- Disability
- Religion
- Sexual orientation
- Look/physical appearance/attractiveness
- Length of tenure (seniority; years spent in a organization)
- …
 The relevance of demographic
characteristics
Demographic characteristics are often the basis for
discrimination against classes of employees due to:

Stereotypes
Bias in judgements
Prejudices

Many personal characteristics are not as important as

people believe in explaining behaviors at work,
outcomes and performance
 The source of various “isms”

Straightforward assumptions
↓
Wrong perceptions
↓
Biased judgements
↓
Negative impact on management decisions
 Common ”isms” in the workplace
Systematic prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination…

§ against persons of an older age group → ageism

§ against women on the basis of gender → sexism
§ based on a person’s physical appearance, often based on the media’s
presentation and societal definition of beauty → lookism
§ based on race: the common idea that whiteness is superior and
therefore has the right to dominate another race(s) → racism
§ against “disabled” people → ableism
§ based on social or economic class → classism
§ …
 Exercise 1 - Feeling excluded and
promoting inclusion
1. Recall a time when you’ve felt uncomfortable or targeted due to your demographic
status (any characteristic – gender, age, race, disability status, religion… - and any
situation – at work or not).

2. Share briefly the situation within the group: what originated the event, how you felt at
the time, how did you reacted, and how do you think the other party could have made
the situation better.

3. Each group is expected to:

a) Identify briefly the situation and explain why the members have felt excluded or
targeted (characteristic underlying the situation)

b) Develop a list of short principles to avoid excluding or targeting people in the

future (preventive) and solutions to resolve them if/when they occur (corrective)

Choose a representative of the group to send the report to the instructor’s email by the end
of the class. Indicate the full names and ID numbers of the members of the group.