organizational behaviour Chapter 2 With Detailed Questions

8/10/2019 organizational behaviour Chapter 2 With Detailed Questions

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Chapter 2, Stephen P. Robbins and Nancy Langton,Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Second Canadian Edition.Copyright 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Chapter 2

Perception,Personality, and

Emotion


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Perception and Personality,

and Emotions

What is perception?

What causes people to have differentperceptions of the same situation?

Can people be mistaken in their perceptions?

Does perception really affect outcome?

What is personality and how does it affectbehaviour?

Can emotions help or get in the way whendealing with others?

Questions for Consideration

Questionsfor onsideration


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Perception

What is Perception?

The process by which individuals organize andinterpret their sensory impressions in order to give

meaning to their environment.

Why Is it Important?

Because peoples behaviour is based on theirperception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

The world as it is perceived is the world that isbehaviourally important.


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Why We Study Perceptions

We study this topic to better understand

how people make attributions about

events. We dont see reality. We interpret

what we see and call it reality.

The attribution process guides ourbehaviour, regardless of the truth of theattribution


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Factors Influencing

Perception The Perceiver

The Target

The Situation


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Perceptual Errors

Attribution Theory

Selective Perception

Halo Effect

Contrast Effects

Projection Stereotyping


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Attribution Theory

When individuals observe behaviour, theyattempt to determine whether it is internallyor externally caused.

Distinctiveness

Does individual act the same way in othersituations?

Consensus

Does individual act the same as others in samesituation?

Consistency

Does the individual act the same way overtime?


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Attribution Theory

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to underestimate the influence of

external factors and overestimate the influence ofinternal factors when making judgments about the

behaviour of others.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency for individuals to attribute their ownsuccesses to internal factors while putting the

blame for failures on external factors.


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Exhibit 2-2 Attribution

TheoryObservation Interpretation Attributionof cause

ExternalHigh(Seldom)

Low(Frequently)High(Frequently)

Low

(Seldom)High(Frequently)

Low(Seldom)

Internal

External

Internal

Internal

External

Individualbehaviour

Distinctiveness(How often does theperson do this in

other settings?)

Consensus(How often do otherpeople do this in

similar situations?)

Consistency(How often did theperson do this in

the past?)


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Additional Perceptual Errors

Selective Perception

People selectively interpret what they see based ontheir interests, background, experience, and

attitudes

Halo Effect

Drawing a general impression about an individualbased on a single characteristic

Contrast Effects

A persons evaluation is affected by comparisonswith other individuals recently encountered


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Additional Perceptual Errors

Projection

Attributing ones own characteristics to

other people

Stereotyping

Judging someone on the basis of your

perception of the group to which thatperson belongs


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Personality

The sum total of ways in which an individual reactsand interacts with others.

Personality Determinants

Heredity

Environment

Situation

Personality Traits

Enduring characteristics that describe anindividuals behaviour

The Big Five Model


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vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

vs.

Outgoing

More intelligent

Emotionally stable

Dominant

Happy-go-lucky

Conscientious

Venturesome

Sensitive

Suspicious

Imaginative

Shrewd

Apprehensive

Experimenting

Self-sufficient

Controlled

Tense

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

Exhibit 2-3 Sixteen Primary

Personality TraitsReservedLess intelligent

Affected by feelings

Submissive

SeriousExpedient

Timid

Tough-minded

Trusting

Practical

ForthrightSelf-assured

Conservative

Group-dependent

Uncontrolled

Relaxed


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The Big Five Model

Classifications

Extroversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Emotional Stability

Openness to Experience


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Exhibit 2-5 Big Five Personality

Factors and PerformanceBig Five Personality

Factor

Relationship to Job

Performance

Relationship to Team

Performance

Emotional Stability * A minimal threshold amount maybe necessary for adequate

performance; greater degrees notrelated to job performance

* Positively related to performance

in service jobs

* May be better than ability in

predicting job performance across

all occupational groups

Openness to Experience *Positively related to trainingproficiency

*Data unavailable


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Major Personality Attributes

Influencing OB Locus of Control

Machiavellianism

Self-Esteem

Self-Monitoring

Risk Taking Type A and Type B Personalities


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Locus of Control

The degree to which people believe they

are in control of their own fate

Internals

Individuals who believe that they

control what happens to them

Externals

Individuals who believe that what

happens to them is controlled by

outside forces such as luck or chance


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Machiavellianism

Degree to which an individual is

pragmatic, maintains emotional

distance, and believes that ends canjustify means


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Self-Esteem

Individuals degree of liking or disliking

of themselves


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Self-Monitoring

A personality trait that measures an

individuals ability to adjust behaviour

to external situational factors


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Risk-Taking

Refers to a persons willingness to take

chances or risks


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Type A Personality

Always moving, walking, and eating rapidly.

Feel impatient with the rate at which most events

take place.

Strive to think or do two or more things at once.

Cannot cope with leisure time.

Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their

success in terms of how many or how much ofeverything they acquire.


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Type B Personality

Never suffer from a sense of time urgencywith its accompanying impatience.

Feel no need to display or discuss eithertheir achievements or accomplishmentsunless such exposure is demanded by thesituation.

Play for fun and relaxation, rather than toexhibit their superiority at any cost.

Can relax without guilt.


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What are Emotions?

Three related terms:

Affect

A broad range of feelings that peopleexperience.

Emotions

Intense feelings that are directed at someone

or something.

Moods

Feelings that tend to be less intense than

emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus.


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Exhibit 2-6 Emotion

Continuum

FearHappiness SadnessSurprise Anger Disgust


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Choosing Emotions:

Emotional Labour When an employee expresses

organizationally desired emotions

during interpersonal interactions. Employees can experience a conflict

between what they feel, and what

s

expected of them.


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Emotional Intelligence

Noncognitive skills, capabilities, andcompetencies that influence a person's abilityto succeed in coping with environmentaldemands and pressures

Five dimensions

Self-awareness

Self-management

Self-motivation

Empathy

Social skills


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Negative Workplace

Emotions Negative emotions can lead to a number

of deviant workplace behaviours. They

fall in categories such as: Production (leaving early, intentionally

working slowly)

Property (stealing, sabotage)

Political (gossiping, blaming co-workers)

Personal aggression (sexual harassment,verbal abuse)


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OB at Work


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For Review

1. Define perception.

2. What is attribution theory? What are its implications

for explaining organizational behaviour?

3. How are our perceptions of our own actions different

from our perceptions of the actions of others?

4. What is stereotyping? Give an example of how

stereotyping can create perceptual distortion.

5. Give some positive results of using shortcuts when

judging others.


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For Review

6. What behavioural predictions might you make if you

knew that an employee had (a) an external locus of

control? (b) a low-Mach score? (c) low self-esteem?

(d) a Type A personality?

7. What are the personality dimensions of the Big Five

Model?

8. What is emotional labour and why is it important to

understanding OB?

9. What is emotional intelligence and why is it

important?


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For Critical Thinking

1. How might the differences in experience of students andinstructors affect their perceptions of students written workand class comments?

2. An employee does an unsatisfactory job on an assigned project.

Explain the attribution process that this persons manager willuse to form judgments about this employees job performance.

3. One day your boss comes in and hes nervous, edgy, andargumentative. The next day he is calm and relaxed. Does thisbehaviour suggest that personality traits are not consistent from

day to day?4. What, if anything, can managers do to manage emotions?

5. Give some examples of situations where expressing emotionsopenly might improve job performance.


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Breakout Group Exercises

Form small groups to discuss the followingtopics.

1. Think back to your perception of this course and your

instructor on the first day of class. What factors may haveaffected your perceptions of what the rest of the termwould be like?

2. Describe a situation where your perception turned out tobe wrong. What perceptual errors did you make that

might have caused this to happen?3. Compare your scores on theLearning About Yourself

Exercisesat the end of the chapter. What conclusionscould you draw about your group based on these scores?


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Personality Inventory

In groups:

Quickly determine the means for each of the

personality items

Develop a summary statement of your group

based on the means for each of the items

What are the implications for the workplace of

scoring either high or low on these dimensions?

(Your group will be asked to examine one of the

dimensions)


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Perception Exercise

In the new OB project team, two members obviously have differentperceptions on just about everything the team does. Kevin sees

the projectone way; Kim sees

it differently. They have different perceptions aboutteam goals, methods, values and the roles team members should play. Kevingives the impression he wants

to be in charge

and he argues aggressivelyto get his way. Kim, who is more reserved, offers thoughtful ideas in rebuttal,and usually consults with the other group members for their views andsupport. Privately, Kevin bad-mouths Kim to anyone who will listen. He saysthat he has been on successful teams many times and knows

the best waysto operate the team. He says that Kim is a

control freak

and

the onlyone on the team holding up progress

. Kim, on the other hand, only conveys

her feelings about Kevin when team members are present, but she hasrepeatedly said out loud,

There are more ways of getting this team startedthan just yours! Too bad you have a closed mind!

For the most part, theother team members perceive Kim and Kevin to have a

personalityconflict

, and they are avoiding getting involved. The team is ineffective sofar, and there

s pressure to get the team on track because of the impendingclass assignment deadline.


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In Groups Agree on answers to the following questions, then report back on your

group

s conclusions. Time: 30 minutes.

What main factors may account for the different perceptions heldby Kevin and Kim? In each perceiver?

In the targets?

In the current situation?

What are some short cuts

each may be taking in judging theother? Are these judgements correct?

To what extent might the current situation be affecting the differentperceptions?

To what extent might each person

s apparent personality be thecause for the current conflict? Define their respective personalities.

If behaviour such as this happens often, how can perceptions bechanged to that people in conflict like Kevin and Kim can reachconsensus? List some ideas.

Source: Larry Anderson, Faculty of Commerce, UBC

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organizational behaviour Chapter 2 With Detailed Questions