day 8 - understanding work teams

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Introduction to Business Management

PART IV: Leading

8



Learning Outcomes

After this class, I will be able to:



1. Define the focus and goals of

organizational behavior (OB).



2. Identify and describe the three

components of attitudes.



3. Explain cognitive dissonance.



4. Describe the Myers-Briggs personality

type framework and its use in

organizations.



5. Define perception and describe the

factors that can shape or distort perception.



6. Explain how managers can shape employee behavior.



7. Contrast formal and informal

groups.



8. Explain why people join groups.



9. State how roles and norms influence

employees’ behavior.



10. Describe how group size affects group behavior.



Organizational Behavior (OB) Defined• The study of the actions of people at work

• The focus of OB– Individual behaviors

• Personality, perception, learning, and motivation

– Group behaviors• Norms, roles, team-and conflict

• The goals of OB– To explain– To predict behavior



The Organization as an Iceberg Metaphor

Exhibit 8.1



Behaviors of Interest to OB• Employee productivity

– The efficiency and effectiveness of employees• Absenteeism

– The election by employees to attend work• Turnover

– The exit of an employee from an organization• Organizational citizenship

– Employee behaviors that promote the welfare of the organization



Understanding Employees• Attitudes

– Valuative statements concerning objects, people, or events• Cognitive component

– The beliefs, opinions, knowledge, and information held by a person

• Affective component– The emotional, or feeling, segment of an attitude

• Behavioral component– An intention to behave in a certain way toward

someone or something



Job-Related Attitudes• Job satisfaction

– An employee’s general attitude toward his or her job.• Job involvement

– The degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her job performance important for self-worth.

• Organizational commitment– An employee’s orientation toward the organization in

terms of his or her loyalty to, identification with, and involvement in the organization.



Cognitive Dissonance Theory• Cognitive dissonance

– Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes

• Inconsistency is uncomfortable and individuals will seek a stable state with a minimum of dissonance.

• The desire to reduce dissonance is determined by:– The importance of the elements creating the

dissonance– The degree of influence the individual believes

he or she has over the elements– The rewards that may be involved.



Fostering Positive Job Attitudes• Managers can reduce dissonance by:

– Creating the perception that the source of the dissonance is externally imposed and uncontrollable.

– Increasing employee rewards for engaging in the behaviors related to the dissonance.

• Satisfied workers are not necessarily more productive workers.– Assisting employees in successful performance of their

jobs will increase their desired outcomes and lead to increased job satisfaction—focusing on productivity as a means rather than an ends.



Personality and Behavior

• Personality is the combination of the psychological traits that characterize that person.

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)– A method of identifying personality types uses four

dimensions of personality to identify 16 different personality types.

• Big Five model– Five-factor model of personality that includes

extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.



Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• Extroversion versus introversion (EI)– An individual’s orientation toward the inner world of

ideas (I) or the external world of the environment (E). • Sensing versus intuitive (SN)

– An individual’s reliance on information gathered from the external world (S) or from the world of ideas (N).



Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (cont’d)

• Thinking versus feeling (TF)– One’s preference for evaluating information in

an analytical manner (T) or on the basis of values and beliefs (F).

• Judging versus perceiving (JP).– Reflects an attitude toward the external world

that is either task completion oriented (J) or information seeking (P).



Characteristics Frequently Associated with Myers-Briggs Types

Exhibit 8.2

Source: Modified and reproduced by special permission of the publisher. Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc., Palo Alto, CA 94303, from Introduction to Type, 6th ed., by Isabel Myers-Briggs, and Katherine C. Briggs. Copyright 1998 by Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without publisher’s written consent. Introduction to Type is a trademark of Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. (The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and MBTI are registered trademarks of Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.)



Big Five Model of Personality Factors

• Extroversion• Agreeableness• Conscientiousness• Emotional stability• Openness to experience



The Big Five Model of Personality

Extroversion A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is sociable, talkative, and assertive.

Agreeableness A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is good-natured, cooperative, and trusting.

Conscientiousness A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement oriented.

Emotional stability A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is calm, enthusiastic, and secure (positive) or tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).

Openness to experience A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is imaginative, artistically sensitive, and intellectual.



Emotional intelligence (EI)• An assortment of noncognitive skills, capabilities, and

competencies that influence a person’s ability to cope with environmental demands and pressures.– Dimensions of EI

• Self-awareness own feelings

• Self-management of own emotions

• Self-motivation in face of setbacks

• Empathy for others’ feelings

• Social skills to handle others’ emotions



Personality Traits And Work-related Behaviors

• Locus of control– A personality attribute that measures the degree

to which people believe that they are masters of their own fate.

• Machiavellianism (“Mach”)– A measure of the degree to which people are

pragmatic, maintain emotional distance, and believe that ends can justify means.



Personality Traits And Work-related Behaviors (cont’d)

• Self-esteem (SE)– An individual’s degree of life dislike for him- or herself

• Self-monitoring– A measure of an individual’s ability to adjust his or her

behavior to external, situational factors• Propensity for risk taking

– The willingness to take chances—a preference to assume or avoid risk



Matching Personalities And Jobs

PersonPerson JobPerformancPerformancee



Holland’s Typology of Personality and Sample Occupations

• Realistic– Prefers physical

activities that require skill, strength, and coordination

• Investigative– Prefers activities

involving thinking, organizing, and understanding

• Social– Prefers activities that

involve helping and developing others

• Conventional– Prefers rule-regulated,

orderly and unambiguous activities

• Enterprising– Prefers verbal activities

where there are opportunities to influence others and attain power

• Artistic– Prefers ambiguous and

unsystematic activities that allow creative expression

Exhibit 8.3



Relationship Among Occupational Personality Types

Exhibit 8.4Source: Reproduced by special permission of the publisher, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., Making Vocational Choices, 3rd ed., copyright 1973, 1985, 1992, 1997 by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. All rights reserved.



Key Points of Holland’s Model

• There do appear to be intrinsic differences in personality among individuals.

• There are different types of jobs.

• People in job environments congruent with their personality types should be more satisfied and less likely to resign voluntarily than people in incongruent jobs.


Introduction to Business ManagementPersonality Characteristics of

Entrepreneurs

• Proactive personality– High level of motivation

• Internal locus of control• Need for autonomy

– Abundance of self-confidence• Self-esteem

– High energy levels• Persistence

– Moderate risk taker• Problem solver



Perception• Perception

– A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.



Influences on Perception

• Personal characteristics– Attitudes– Personality– Motives– Interests– Past experiences– Expectations

• Targetcharacteristics– Relationship of a target

to its background– Closeness and/or

similarity to other things– The context in objects is

seen– Other situational factors.



Perceptual Challenges: What Do You See?

Exhibit 8.5



How Managers Judge Employees

• Attribution theory– A theory based on the premise that we judge

people differently depending on the meaning we attribute to a given behavior• Internally caused behavior is believed to be

under the control of the individual.• Externally caused behavior results from

outside causes; that is, the person is seen as having been forced into the behavior by the situation.



Interpreting Behavior• Distinctiveness

– Whether an individual displays a behavior in many situations or whether it is particular to one situation.

• Consensus– If the individual responds in the same way as

everyone else faced with a similar situation responds.

• Consistency – The individual engages in the same behaviors

regularly and consistently over time.



The Process of Attribution Theory

Exhibit 8.6



Judgment Errors

• Fundamental attribution error– The tendency to underestimate the influence of

external factors and overestimate the influence of internal or personal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.

• Self-serving bias– The tendency for individuals to attribute their

own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.



Distortions in Shortcut Methods in Judging Others

Selectivity

Assumed similarity

Stereotyping

Halo effect

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Exhibit 8.7



Learning• Learning defined

– Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience.

• Operant conditioning (B. F. Skinner)

– A behavioral theory that argues that voluntary, or learned, behavior is a function of its consequences.

– Reinforcement increases the likelihood that behavior will be repeated; behavior that is not rewarded or is punished is less likely to be repeated.

– Rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the desired response.



Learning (cont’d)• Social learning theory

– The theory that people can learn through observation and direct experience; by modeling the behavior of others.

• Modeling processes

– Attentional processes.

– Retention processes

– Motor reproduction processes

– Reinforcement processes



Shaping Behavior

• Shaping behavior– Systematically reinforcing each successive

step that moves an individual closer to a desired behavior

• Four ways in which to shape behavior:– Positive reinforcement– Negative reinforcement– Punishment– Extinction.



Foundations Of Group Behavior• Group

– Two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve particular objectives

• Role– A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to

someone in a given position in a social unit• Norms

– Acceptable standards (e.g., effort and performance, dress, and loyalty) shared and enforced by the members of a group



Foundations Of Group Behavior (cont’d)• Status

– A prestige grading, position, or rank within a group• May be informally conferred by

characteristics such as education, age, skill, or experience.

• Anything can have status value if others in the group admire it.



Reasons Why People Join Groups

Security

Status

Self-esteem

Affiliation

Power

Goal achievement

Exhibit 8.8



Examples of Cards Used in Asch Study

Solomon Asch and Group Conformity:Does the desire to be accepted as a part of a group leave one susceptible to conforming to the group’s norms? Will the group exert pressure that is strong enough to change a member’s attitude and behavior? According to the research by Solomon Asch, the answer appears to be yes.

Exhibit 8.9



Group Effects• Social loafing

– The tendency of an individual in a group to decrease his or her effort because responsibility and individual achievement cannot be measured

• Group cohesiveness– The degree to which members of a group are attracted

to each other and share goals• Size, work environment, length of time in existence,

group-organization, and goal congruency affect the degree of group cohesiveness.



The Relationship Between Group Cohesiveness and Productivity

Exhibit 8.10