Organizational Behavior

CHAPTER 2

Foundation of Individual Behavior and

Learning in an Organization

By: Yirga B. (MA in LSCM)

 Chapter outlines

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

• Define perception

• Describe Attitude

• Explain personality and learning in an

organization
 Overview of Perception
Perception is defined as “a process by which individuals
organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order
to give meaning to their environment (Stephen Robbins)”.

Perception means perceiving i.e. giving meaning to the

environment around us.

perception can be defined as “the process of receiving,

selecting, organizing, interpreting, checking, and reacting
to sensory stimuli or data”.
Perception is like beauty that lies in the eyes of beholder.
 Individual differs in the way he sees, interprets and
understands a particular event.
For example, in an organization where lunch is served in a
subsidized manner may be interpreted by the employees in a
different way.
 An employee may perceive it as “right” to get a subsidized
lunch,
 the other may feel that it is being given out of profits
achieved by the organization
 while the third individual may state that it is mandatory for
the management to provide lunch free of cost
What one perceives may be different from objective
reality.
 A person coming late on duty may be perceived as
casual and tardy while there may be social problems
faced by him.

 The study of perception is very important in the

organization because it is necessary for the manager to
perceive individuals correctly irrespective of their status
and perceive each of the situations as close to the real
fact.
 Cont.……

Perception involves observing data, selecting, and

organizing the data based on sensory reflects and
interpreting the same as per personality attributes of the
perceiver.

 That is why no two individuals can perceive an

employee in the same manner, for one he may be
efficient while for the other he may be perceived as
useless.
 Factors Influencing Perception
I. Internal Factors
II. External Factors
The internal factors include the following:-
1) Learning: Learning may play the single biggest role in
developing perceptual set. It is a cognitive awareness by
which the mind organizes information and forms images
and compares them with previous exposures to similar
stimuli.
 Cont.……

2) Motivation
Motivation also has a vital impact on perceptual
selectivity where it creates a urge and activates the inner
stimuli of individuals.
For example:- a hungry person will be more sensitive
to the smell or sight of food than a non-hungry person;
 Cont.……

3) Personality: Behavior, values and even age of an

individual may also affect the people perceive the world
around them.
For example;
 The older senior executives often complain about the
inability of the new young manager to take tough
concerning terminating and paying attention to details
and paper work.
 The young managers, in turn, complain about the ‘old
guards’ resisting change and using paper and rules as ends
in themselves. Further, the generation gap witnessed
definitely contribute to different perceptions.
4) Past experience also plays an important role in
perception. Just as interest narrows down one’s perception
so does past experience.
5) Expectations can distort one’s perception in what one
sees and what one expects to see.
 External Factors
External factor includes the following:-
1) Size;
• Size always attracts the attention, because it establishes
dominance.
• The size may be the height or weight of an individual,
sign board of a shop, or space devoted to an
advertisement in the newspaper.
2) Intensity;
• Intensity attracts to increase the selective perception. In
other words it is an activity involves concentrating a lot
of effort or people on one particular task in order to try to
achieve a great deal in a short time.
• Example: Yelling or whispering, very bright colors or
very dim colors etc.
3) Repetition;
 Repetition refers to make others to pay attention by
stimulating their inner urge through repeated stimulus.
4) Status:
 High status people can exert greater influence on
the perception of the employees than the low status
people
5) Contrast;
 An object which contrasts with the surrounding
environment is more likely to be noticed than the object
which blends in the environment.
6) Movement;
This principle states that a moving object receives more
attention than an object which is standing still.
7) Situation;
 Change in situation leads to incorrect perception about a
person. Time is one factor, which influences the
perception. Time is related to work setting and social
setting.
For Example: A person decked up for party may not be
noticeable but the same dress in office would be noticed
distinctly, though the person has not changed.
 Person Perception: Making Judgments About Others

Attribution theory
• This theory has been proposed to develop explanations
of the ways in which we judge people differently,
depending on what meaning we attribute to a given
behavior.
• Basically, the theory suggests that when we observe an
individual’s behavior, we attempt to determine whether
it was internally or externally caused.
 Cont.……
Determinants:
 Distinctiveness: shows different behaviors in different
situations.
 Consensus: response is the same as others to same
situation.
 Consistency: responds in the same way over time.
Perceptual Process

1) Receiving
2) Selecting
3) Organizing: Keeping things in order or say
in a synchronized way is organizing
4) Interpreting
 Perceptual Errors
Common Errors While Judging Others
Halo effect
Selective perception
Stereotyping
Contrast effects
Projection
Perceptual defense
Primacy effect
Recent effect
Halo effect
The halo effect refers to the tendency of judging people on
the basis of a single trait which may be good or bad,
favorable or unfavorable.
Selective Perception
Selective perception is also known as “Selective
attention”. People selectively perceive objects or things
that interest to them most in a particular situation and
avoid others.
Stereotyping: It is a process in which the individuals are
judged based on the group to which they belong.
 In other words, stereotyping means judging someone
on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which
that person belongs.
Projection: Attributing one’s own characteristics to other
people.
Perceptual defense: It is the inability to perceive that
is threatening to the perceiver.
 A consequence of perceptual defense is that
employees that are fired often express shock and
maintain that they were never told about this poor
performance.
Primacy effect
• ‘First impression is the best impression’. Errors based
on this type of perception are called as primacy effect.
It is the tendency of the individuals to make an opinion
based on the first impression.
Recency effect
• Individuals tend to remember the recent happening and
based on that, come to a conclusion on a particular event.

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Ways of overcoming errors or strategies for
improving perceptual skills

 Knowing oneself accurately

 Empathize with others
 Have a positive attitude
 Postpone Impression Formation
 Communicating openly
 Comparing one’s perceptions with that of others

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 Attitude
Attitudes are the set or cluster of beliefs towards objects,
events and situation.

Attitude defined as a-“mental and neural state of

readiness, organized through experience, exerting a
directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s
response to all objects and situation with which it is
related”. (Gordon Allport)

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• In effect attitude is used in a generic sense, as to what
people perceive, feel and express their views about a
situation, object or other people.
 Characteristics of Attitude
Attitude can be characterized by:
Multiplicity: It refers to the number or elements
constituting attitude. For example, an employee may
loyal to the organization, but another may loyal to
hardworking, respectful, and dependent also.

Direct Experience: An attitude is a summary of a person’s

past experience; thus, an attitude is grounded in direct
experience predicts future behavior more accurately.
Valence: It refers to the magnitude of degree of
favorableness or un-favorableness toward the event.
While measuring attitudes we are basically concerned with
the valence.

Relation to Needs: Attitudes vary in relative to

requirements they serve. Attitudes of an individual toward
the pictures serve only entertainment needs, but attitudes of
an employee toward task may serve strong needs for
security, achievement, recognition, and satisfaction.
Centrality: This refers to the importance of the attitude
object to the individual. Centrality indicates the
importance of the object. The attitude which has high
centrality for an individual will less accessible to change.
 Components of Attitudes
Attitudes form from three components.
» Cognitive
» Affective
» Behavioral
Cognitive component: Cognitive component of
attitude is relates to our believes and knowledge about
someone or a situation that shapes our attitude.
 It consists of belief, ideas, values and other
information that an individual may possess or has
faith in.
e.g. If you know dogs bite and this is a dangerous you
would adapt your attitude to dogs when you see them
because of your knowledge of them.
Affective component: Affective component of attitude
is related to person’s feelings about another person,
which may be positive, negative or neutral.
Example:
Behavioral component: Behavioral component of
attitude is related to impact of various situations or
objects that lead to individual’s behavior based on
cognitive and affective components. This component
involves our actions towards a person or situation.
Example:
 Formation of Attitude
Direct experience with the object: Attitudes can
develop from a personally rewarding or punishing
experience with an object. Employees form attitudes
about jobs on their previous experiences.

Classical Conditioning and Attitudes: One of the

basic processes underlying attitude formation can be
explained on the basis of learning principles.
Vicarious learning: This refers to formation of
attitudes by observing behavior of others and
consequences of that behavior.

Family and Peer groups: A person may learn attitudes

through imitation of family members or peers.
 Attitude towards the opposite sex, religion, tolerance
or prejudice, education, occupations, political parties,
and almost all other areas where attitudes are capable
of expression are the result of our accepting or
rejecting the attitudes held by members of our family.
Neighbourhood: The neighbourhood in which we live
has certain cultural facilities, religious groupings and
ethnic differences.
Economic status and Occupations:
• Our economic and occupational positions also
contribute to attitudes formation. They determine, in
part, our attitudes towards unions and management
and our belief that certain laws are “good” or “bad”.
 Types of attitude
1. Positive: People who have a positive attitude tend to
focus on the good aspects instead of the bad ones.

2. Negative: People with a negative attitude ignore the

good and pay attention to the bad.

3. Neutral: This attitude is present in people who don’t

give enough importance to situations or events. They
tend to ignore the problem and leave it for someone else
to solve.
4. Self-interested: This type of attitude implies the
search for one’s own benefit, either directly or
indirectly.
5. Altruistic: People with this type of attitude perform
their actions to generate a benefit for others, even
though their actions may have no profit or even cause
losses.
6. Manipulative: Manipulative people voluntarily and
consciously use others to achieve their own goals, favor
their interests, or direct the situation to the desired
point.
7. Aggressive: The aggressive attitude comprises a
pattern of behavior whose intensity is variable. Thus, it
ranges from gestures or words to physical fights whose
purpose is always to harm the other.

8. Assertive: Assertive people defend their own

opinions and rights consistently, but always respecting
others, being flexible, and offering a space for
negotiation.
9. Suspicious: An excessive distrust of any stimulus
characterizes these people. They’re often suspicious of
hidden intentions, intricate motives, or forces beyond
the situation at hand.
10. Flexible: People with flexible attitudes are
characterized by adapting to other people’s situations
without rejecting their own intrinsic characteristics.

11. Inflexible: Finally, people with an inflexible attitude

tend to have a rigid pattern of behavior and thinking.
 Attitude and Consistency
 The extent to which a person's behavior is consistent
with his or her attitude associated with that object.
 Positive attitudes are supposed to be associated with
approach behaviors- negative attitudes are supposed
to be associated with withdrawal behaviors.
• Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that
individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance and,
hence, the discomfort.
• Therefore, individuals will seek a stable state in
which there is a minimum of dissonance.
 Personality
What is Personality?
• When we talk of personality, we don’t mean that a person
has charm, a positive attitude toward life, a smiling face,
or is a finalist for “ Happiest and Friendliest” in this
year’s Miss Ethiopia contest.

• When psychologists talk of personality, they mean a

dynamic concept describing the growth and development
of a person’s whole psychological system.
• Rather than looking at parts of the person, personality
looks at some aggregate/whole that is greater than the
sum of the parts.
Personality is the combination of characteristics or
qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character.
 It is the sum total of ways in which individuals reacts
and interacts with others.
According to Gordon Allport – “personality is the set
of traits and behaviors that characterize an individual”.

According to Lawrence Ervin – “Personality is the

relatively stable set of psychological attributes that
distinguish one person from another”.

According to R B Cattel – “Personality is that which

permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given
situation”.
 Personality Determinants
Heredity: refers to those factors that were determined at
conception. Physical structure, facial attractiveness,
gender, temperament, energy level etc.

Environment: Among the factors that exert pressures

on our personality formation are the culture in which we
are raised, our early conditioning, the norms among our
family, friends and social groups etc.
Situation: A third, the situation, influences the effects of
heredity and environment on personality. An
individual’s generally stable and consistent, does
change in different situations.
Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB
• Locus of control
• Machiavellianism
• Self-esteem
• Self-monitoring
• Risk taking
• Type A personality
Locus of Control

4–48
 Machiavellianism

Machiavelli believed in one doctrine, that a work must be

finished whatever be the means.
Self-Esteem and Self-Monitoring

4–50
 Risk-Taking
• High Risk-taking individuals
– Make quicker decisions.
– Use less information to make decisions.
– Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial organizations.

• Low Risk-taking individuals

– Are slower to make decisions.
– Require more information before making decisions.
– Exist in larger organizations with stable environments.

4–51
 Personality Types
Type A’s
1. are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;
2. feel impatient with the rate at which most events take
place;
3. strive to think or do two or more things at once;
4. cannot cope with leisure time;

Type B’s
1. never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its
accompanying impatience;
2. feel no need to display or discuss either their
achievements or accomplishments;
3. play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their
superiority at any cost;
4. can relax without guilt. 4–52
 Learning
• Learning is a change in behavior as a result of
experience. Learning is the product of reasoning,
thinking, information processing and perception.

• According to Steers and Porter, Learning can be

defined as relatively permanent change in behavior
the potentiality that results from reinforced practice
or experience”.
 Types of Learning
• Observational Learning
• Cognitive Learning
• Self-directed Learning
• Experiential Learning
• E-learning
• Observational learning is a form of social learning
where it is concerned with learning by watching
others.

• Cognitive learning engages students in the learning

processes, teaching them to use their brains more
effectively to make connections when learning new
things.
Self-directed Learning
• Learning that occurs when learners explore,
question, react, and respond to learning material
relevant to their needs. Also known as self-concept or
self-initiated learning.
Experiential Learning
• Experiential learning is a method of educating
through first-hand experience.
 Theories of Learning
Classical Conditioning theory
 It is a type of conditioning in which an
individual responds to some stimulus that would
not ordinarily produce such as response.
Operant conditioning theory: deals with Response-
Stimulus (R-S) connection. The concept was originated
by B.F. Skinner. He felt that more complex behavior
couldn’t be explained by Classical Conditioning
concept. He states that most human behavior operates
based on the environment.
 For example an individual will take a long trek
(Response) to library because he knows he would be
able to get a desired book (Stimulus), (R-S
connections).
 Individual would work hard(R) because he knows that
he would be able to get praise, or even promotion (S).
 Cognitive Theory: Cognition refers to an
individual’s thoughts, knowledge of
interpretations, understandings, or ideas about
himself, and his environment.
 Social Learning Theory: The social learning theory
also called observational learning, stresses the ability
of an individual to learn by observing what happens
to other people and just by being told about
something.
• For example One can learn things by observing
models.
 Methods of Shaping Behavior
Generally reinforcement is better to shape behavior.
 Positive reinforcement
 Negative reinforcement
 Punishment
 Extinction
 Methods of Shaping Behavior

1. Positive reinforcement: Following a response with something

pleasant, e.g., boss praises an employee for job well done.
2. Negative reinforcement: Following a response by the
termination or withdrawal of something unpleasant.
 e.g., If your college instructor asks a question and you don
not know the answer, looking through your lecture notes is
likely to preclude your being called on. This negative
reinforcement because you have learned that looking busily
through your notes prevents the instructor from calling on
you.
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3. Punishment: Causing unpleasant condition in an attempt
to eliminate an undesirable behavior, e.g., giving an
employee a two-day suspension from work without pay
for showing up drunk is an example of punishment.
4. Extinction: Eliminating any reinforcement that is
maintaining a behavior, e.g., College instructors who
wish to discourage students from asking questions in
class can eliminate this behavior in their students by
ignoring those who raise their hands to ask questions.

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Punishment is an undesirable consequence an
employee receives for bad behavior. This can involve
actions like demoting the employee or suspending the
employee.
Extinction
Extinction is the elimination of a behavior. This
type of behavior modification should be reserved for
the most damaging behaviors.
THE END OF
CHAPTER ONE
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