Management & Organizational Behavior

F-506

Anupam Rahman
Id- 43023
 Explanation of Attribution Theory &
Providing Examples Considering
Bangladesh’s Context Which is Familiar to Us.
Attribution Theory

 Attribution is a judgment we make about the cause of another person's behavior.

 Attribution theory explains these attribution processes, which we use to understand
why an event or behavior occurred.
 Attribution theory is a motivational theory looking at how the average person
constructs the meaning of an event based on his /her motives to find a cause and his/her
knowledge of the environment.
Causes of Attribution Theory

 Internal causes are under that person’s control

 External causes are not under the person’s control
Example of Attribution Theory

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

● Distinctiveness: Shows different behaviors in different situations.

We show one type of behavior when we go to the office & when we go to our friends or
family group our behavior is changed at that time.
 
● Consensus: Response is the same as others to the same situation.
let's assume we 07 people come to our office from Mirpur to Uttara & today all we make
late. because of a heavy traffic jam than other days. at that time our superior's behavior is
the same to all.
 
● Consistency: Response in the same way over time.
let's assume Mr. ABC always come to the office lately. So we easily say that he is a
latecomer & that time superior's behavior is hard to him.
Errors and Biases in Attributions

Fundamental Attribution Error:

We focusers mainly in internal factors rather external factors.
We blame people first, not the situation.

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