Chap 4 (Personality and Value)

Q1. What is Value?

Value Represent a basic conviction that a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence
is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state
of existence. Value Contain a judgmental element because they carry an individual’s ideas
about what is right, good, or desirable. They have both content and intensity attributes.
Two Types of attributes:
1. The content attribute says a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is important.
2. Intensity-specifies how important it is. When we rank values in terms of intensity,
we obtain that person’s value system.

Q2. The Importance and Organization of Values

Values lay the foundation for understanding attitudes and motivation, and they influence
our perceptions. We enter an organization with preconceived notions of what “ought” and
“ought not” to be. These notions contain our interpretations of right and wrong and our
preferences for certain behaviors or outcomes. Regardless of whether they clarify or bias
our judgment, our values influence our attitudes and behaviors at work.
While values can sometimes augment decision making, at times they can cloud
objectivity and rationality.
Suppose, I am entering an organization with the view that allocating pay based on
performance is right, while allocating pay based on seniority is wrong. How will I am
react if I am find the organization I’ve just joined rewards seniority and not performance?

Q3. Types of Value

There are two types of value.
Terminal Values: Terminal values, refers to desirable end-states. These are the goals a
person would like to achieve during a lifetime. Some examples of terminal values are
prosperity and economic success, freedom, health and well-being, world peace, and
meaning in life.
Instrumental Values: Instrumental values, refers to preferable modes of behavior, or
means of achieving the terminal values. Examples of instrumental values are autonomy
and self-reliance, personal discipline, kindness, and goal-orientation.
Generational Values: generational classifications may help us understand our own and
other generations better, but we must also appreciate their limits.

Q4. Difference between Terminal values and Instrumental values

Q5. What Type of value of cohort in Work value?
In the work values, a "cohort" typically refers to a group of individuals who share similar
values, beliefs, or preferences related to their work and professional life. These cohorts
are often formed based on common traits such as age, generation, industry, or
organizational culture. Understanding the value of cohorts in the workplace is essential
for employers, employees, and career advisors.
Cohorts can offer several advantages in the world of work. First and foremost, they create
a sense of belonging and camaraderie among individuals who identify with shared values
and experiences. For example, members of the same generation, like millennials or baby
boomers, may have common work values shaped by the social and economic context of
their time, which can influence their career choices and priorities. This sense of belonging
can foster collaboration, mentorship, and knowledge sharing, ultimately enhancing job
satisfaction and productivity.

Q6. Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplace

Today managers are less interested in an applicant’s ability to perform a specific job than
with his or her flexibility to meet changing situations and maintain commitment to the
organization. Still, one of the first types of fit managers look for is person–job fit.
Person-Job Fit: Personality-job fit theory revolves around the idea that every
organization and individual has specific personality traits. The closer the traits between
the person and the company match, the higher the chance of workplace productivity and
satisfaction. The best personality fit will also decrease job turnover and stress,
absenteeism, and poor job satisfaction. Personality-job fit theory or person-environment
fit is a match between a worker's abilities, needs, and values and organizational demands,
rewards, and values.

Q7. Holland’s Typology of Personality and Congruent Occupations

The six types, their personality characteristics, and examples of the congruent
occupations for each.
Type Personality Congruent Occupations
Characteristics
Realistic: Prefers physical Shy, genuine, persistent, Mechanic, drill press
activities that require skill, stable, conforming, operator, assembly-line
strength, and coordination practical worker, farmer
Investigative: Prefers activities Analytical, original, Biologist, economist,
that involve thinking, curious, independent mathematician, news
organizing, and understanding reporter
Social: Prefers activities that Sociable, friendly, Social worker, teacher,
involve helping and developing cooperative, counselor, clinical
others understanding psychologist
Conventional: Prefers rule- Conforming, efficient, Accountant, corporate
regulated, orderly, and practical, manager, bank teller, file
unambiguous activities unimaginative, clerk
inflexible
Enterprising: Prefers verbal Self-confident, Lawyer, real estate agent,
activities in which there are ambitious, energetic, public relations specialist,
opportunities to influence domineering small business manager
others and attain power
Artistic: Prefers ambiguous Imaginative, disorderly, Painter, musician, writer,
and unsystematic activities that idealistic, interior decorator
allow creative expression emotional, impractical

Q8. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

The Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory was created in 1980 by Dutch management
researcher Geert Hofstede. The aim of the study was to determine the dimensions in
which cultures vary.
Hofstede identified five categories that define culture:
1. Power Distance: Power distance describes the degree to which people in a country
accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. A high-
rating on-power distance means large inequalities of power and wealth exist and are
tolerated in the culture, as in a class or caste system that discourages upward
mobility.
For example, in countries with high power distance, parents may expect children to
obey without questioning their authority. Conversely in countries with low power
distance there tends to be more equality between parents and children, with parents
more likely to accept children arguing or challenging their authority.
2. Collectivism vs. Individualism: Individualism is the degree to which people prefer
to act as individuals rather than as members of groups and believe in an
individual’s rights above all else. Collectivism emphasizes a tight social framework
in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them
and protect them.
 An example of collectivism can be seen in the strong sense of family loyalty and
duty in these cultures.
An example of individualism is the pursuit of personal goals and ambitions, even if
it means leaving one's hometown or family behind.
3. Uncertainty Avoidance: A national culture attribute that describes the extent to
which a society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to
avoid them.
For example, a student may be more accepting of a teacher saying they do not
know the answer to a question in a low uncertainty avoidance culture than in a high
uncertainty avoidance one
4. Masculinity versus Femininity: Masculinity is the degree to which the culture
favors traditional masculine roles such as achievement, power, and control, as
opposed to viewing men and women as equals. A high masculinity rating indicates
the culture has separate roles for men and women, with men dominating the
society. A high femininity rating means the culture sees little differentiation
between male and female roles and treats women as the equals of men in all
respects.
For example, a country with a high femininity score is likely to have better
maternity leave policies and more affordable child care.
5. Long-Term Orientation versus Short-Term: This typology measures a society’s
devotion to traditional values. People in a culture with long-term orientation look to
the future and value thrift, persistence, and tradition. In a short-term orientation,
people value the here and now; they also accept change more readily and don’t see
commitments as impediments to change.
An example, of this can be seen in consumer behavior, where individuals in Short-
Term Orientation cultures may be more prone to impulse buying and seeking
instant pleasure, while those in Long-Term Orientation cultures may save and
invest for their future financial security.
 Chapter 5 (Perception)
Q1. What is Perception?
Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Again, perception is the
organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to
represent and understand the presented information or environment.
For example, one person may perceive a dog jumping on them as a threat, while another
person may perceive this action as the pup just being excited to see them.

Q2. Why is perception important in the study of Organizational Behavior

(OB)?
It is important because people’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is,
not on reality itself. The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally
important. In other words, our perception becomes the reality from which we act. To
understand what all of us have in common in our interpretations of reality, we need to
begin with the factors that influence our perceptions.

Q3. Factors That Influence Perception

Many factors shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can reside in the
perceiver, the object or target being perceived, or the situation in which the perception is
made.

Perceiver: When you look at a target, your interpretation of what you see is influenced
by your personal characteristic’s attitudes, personality, motives, interests, past
experiences, and expectations. In some ways, we hear what we want to hear and we see
what we want to see not because it’s the truth, but because it conforms to our thinking.
For Example, A employees who started work earlier in the day as more conscientious and
therefore as higher performers; however, supervisors who were night owls themselves
were less likely to make that erroneous assumption.
Target: The characteristics of the target also affect what we perceive. Because we don’t
look at targets in isolation, the relationship of a target to its background influences
perception, as does our tendency to group close things and similar things together.
Sometimes differences can work in our favor, though, such as when we are drawn to
targets that are different from what we expect.
For Example, A professor wearing a T-shirt and sneakers in the classroom more than the
same professor dressed traditionally. The professor stood out from the norm for the
classroom setting and was therefore perceived as an individualist.
Context: Context matters too. The time at which we see an object or event can influence
our attention, as can location, light, heat, or situational factors.
For Example, you may not notice someone dressed up for a formal event that you
attended on a Saturday night. Yet if you were to notice that person dressed the same way
for your Monday morning management class, he or she would likely catch your attention,
if the students do not normally wear formal attire to class.

Q4. Person Perception: Making Judgments About Others

Person Perception: Attribution Theory
Attribution theory emphasize people’s core social motive to understand each other and to
have some control. That is, people need to have some sense of prediction about other
people’s actions (understanding) and about their own impact on those actions (control).
Specifically, attribution theory suggests that, when we observe an individual’s behavior,
we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused.
There are two types of Cause,
1. Internal Cause: Internally caused behaviors are those an observer believes to be
under the personal behavioral control of another individual.
Example: If an employee is late for work, you might attribute that to his overnight
partying and subsequent oversleeping. This is an internal attribution.
2. External Cause: Externally caused behavior is what we imagine the situation
forced the individual to do.
Example: But if you attribute his lateness to a traffic snarl, you are making an
external attribution.
Q5. Determinants of Attribution
That determination depends on three factors. here they are in order.
1. Distinctiveness: Refer to whether an individual displays different behavior in different
situations. What we want to know is whether this behavior is unusual. If it is, the observer
is likely to give the behavior an external attribution. If this action is not unique, it will
probably be judged as internal. Consequently, if the employee who arrived late to work
today is also the person that colleagues see as lazy, we are likely to judge the behavior
(resuming work late) as internally caused.
2. Consensus: If everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds in the same way,
we can say the behavior shows consensus. Our tardy employee’s behavior would meet this
criterion if all employees who took the same route to work today were also late.
If consensus is high, you would be expected to give an external attribution to the
employee’s tardiness, whereas if other employees who took the same route made it to work
on time, you would conclude the reason to be internal.
3. Consistency: Finally, a manager looks for consistency in an employee’s actions. Does
the individual engage in the behaviors regularly and consistently? Does the employee
respond the same way over time?
Coming in 10 minutes late for work is not perceived in the same way, if for one employee,
it represents an unusual case (she hasn’t been late for several months), but for another it is
part of a routine pattern (he is late for two or three times a week). The more consistent the
behavior, the more the observer is inclined to attribute it to internal causes.
Q6. Common Shortcuts in Judging Others
Shortcuts for judging others often allow us to make accurate perceptions rapidly and
provide valid data for making predictions. However, they can and do sometimes result in
significant distortions.
1. Selective Perception: A perceptual filtering process based on interests, background,
and attitude. May allow observers to draw unwarranted conclusions from an ambiguous
situation. Selective perception is a cognitive distortion which makes you ignore
information around you and shifts your attention to things your mind tells you to.
For example, if you want challenges and responsibility in your job, you’ll assume that
others want the same. People who assume that others are like them can, of course, be
right, but not always.
2. Halo and Horn Effect: drawing a general impression based on a single characteristic.
Halo effect the tendency to draw a positive general impression about an individual based
on a single characteristic.
Example: Managers may be more likely to hire or promote employees who fit a particular
image or personality type. This approach can lead to a workforce lacking diversity and
not representative of the best talent available.
Horns effect the tendency to draw a negative general impression about an individual
based on a single characteristic.
Example: A manager focuses on an employee's occasional lateness and a minor conflict
they had with a colleague. These incidents create a negative impression in the manager's
mind, leading them to downplay the employee's positive contributions.
3. Contrast Effects: Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that is affected by
comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the
same characteristics.
For example, while comparing the presentation of students, a good presentation made by
one student just before you will probably make you feel that you won’t be as good as you
probably are.
i. Positive contrast effect: Positive contrast effect occurs when someone is
viewed as being a better candidate than they really are when compared to other
less suitable or underqualified applicants.
 ii. Negative contrast effect: Negative contrast effect occurs when someone is
viewed as being a worse candidate than they really are when compared to other
top-tier applicants.
Example: Imagine Candidate A and Candidate B come in for an interview on Monday.
Both perform well but Candidate A is significantly more qualified and has a couple of
extra years of experience. They are immediately offered one of the two open positions.
Let’s introduce Candidate C and Candidate D to the mix. Both come in for an interview
the following Monday. Candidate D, though engaging and charming, is significantly
underqualified and immediately rejected. Candidate C doesn’t quite meet the hiring
criteria but they are legions ahead of Candidate D and so they are also offered a position,
despite being far less suitable than Candidate B. In this instance, positive contrast effects
have resulted in Candidate C securing a role, while negative contrast effects were
detrimental to Candidate B.
4. Stereotyping: Judging someone on the basis of the perception of the group to which
they belong. To the degree that a stereotype is based on fact, it may produce accurate
judgments. However, many stereotypes aren’t factual and distort our judgment.
For Example, ‘Married people are more stable employees than single people’ or ‘Older
employees are absent more often from work’.

Q7. Specific Applications of Shortcuts in Organizations

People in organizations are always judging each other. Managers must appraise their
employees’ performances. We evaluate how much effort our coworkers are putting into
their jobs. Team members immediately “size up” a new person. In many cases, our
judgments have important consequences for the organization. Let’s look at the most
obvious applications.
1. Employee interview: It is very true to say that some people are hired without an
interview. Some interviewers make shortcuts that are often inaccurate. Researchers
say that we make a judgment about another person in milliseconds by a mere
glance at that person. If the first impression is negative in an interview, the
interview might not be favorable. Some interviews last only two to three minutes.
2. Performance expectations: The expectations of superiors have an important
impact on the life of an employee. Suppose a boss has high expectations for a
certain employee; he or she will do everything to prove them, and if a boss has
minimal expectations, he or she will also meet those. Expectations become reality.
This has affected not only employees but different students and other people too.
3. Performance evaluation: The shortcuts that we studied above have a special effect
on the evaluation of the performance of the different employees. The appraisal can
be objective (for example, a person may get appraised on every sale he or she
makes). Many jobs are evaluated in subjective terms. Subjective evaluations,
although important, are filled with every shortcut of perception. They are
problematic because all the errors that we discussed come from that. Ironically,
sometimes performance ratings say more about the boss than the employee.