MNO1706 Organizational Behavior

Lesson 3: Attitudes, Values, &

Personality

Instructor: A/P Lim Ghee Soon

 Lesson 3:
Attitudes, Values, & Personality
• Readings for Lesson 3: R & J, Chapters 3 & 5
– Chapter 3 (Attitudes)
• Attitude=favorable/unfavorable disposition (tendency to respond) toward
ideas, objects, people, or events
– Cognitive component: Description/belief/awareness/evaluation
– Affective component: Emotion/feeling
– Behavioral component: Behavioral intention
• AttitudeBehavior and BehaviorAttitude
– Leon Festinger: Cognitive Dissonance (incompatibility between attitudes or
between behavior and attitudes
» Cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable to people, so they try to reduce it by
changing their attitudes/behavior or rationalizing the discrepancy
• A likes grape; tries to pluck but fails; “I don’t quite like grape anyway”
• More likely to do so if:
• The attitudes are important to the beholder
• The beholder has influence over the elements causing it
• There are less or no rewards for tolerating the dissonance
• AttitudeBehavior Linkage Varies With:
– Importance of attitudes:
» Fundamental values, self-interest, & identification with others
tend to take precedence
– Correspondence to behavior:
» Intentional to quitquit; satisfaction with jobmotivation to
perform on the job
– Accessibility:
» Recall easily; frequently express
– Social pressure:
» Discrepancies or cognitive dissonance tolerated because of
organizational/group requirements
– Direct experience:
» Personally experienced before
• Major Job Attitudes (Highly Related To Each Other)
– Job Satisfaction
• Positive/negative feelings about a job
– Leads to more OCB (Organizational Citizenship Behavior)
– OCB=Going beyond the normal expectations of a job

– Job Involvement
• Identified with job psychologically and sees the importance of performance
to self-worth
– Leads to more OCB
– Leads to lower absenteeism/turnover

– Psychological Empowerment
• Belief in one’s ability to influence the work environment, one’s
competencies, the meaningfulness of the job, and autonomy
– Leads to more OCB
– Organizational Commitment
• Identification with a particular organization and wants to stay with it
– Emotional attachment to and belief in the organization’s values
– Leads to moderately higher productivity especially among newer employees
– Leads to lower absenteeism/turnover
– Enthusiastic stayer/leaver; reluctant stayer/leaver
– Perceived Organizational Support
• Belief that the organization values their contributions and cares about their
well-being
– Higher if rewards are deemed fair, employees have a voice, and supervisors are
supportive
– Leads to more OCB, lower tardiness, and better customer services especially in
lower power-distance contexts
– Employee Engagement
• An individual’s involvement/satisfaction with and enthusiasm for the work
he/she does (definition still fuzzy)
– Passion for his/her work and deep connection to his/her organization
– Puts energy and attention into the work
– Leads to higher customer satisfaction, productivity, profitability, and lower levels of
turnover and accidents
– Tends to fluctuate due to challenge-seeking and demands
• Job Satisfaction
– Single-item or multi-item/facet measurement works equally well
• Job satisfaction levels higher in Western cultures
• Depressed since the 2008 global financial crisis
• Pay and promotion opportunities are least liked job aspects
• People entering the work force during lean economic times tend to be
more satisfied with jobs throughout
• Pay leads to job satisfaction if pay <$40K, not much after that
• Sources of job satisfaction:
– Nature of work (e.g., caring for others) , small companies (<100 employees),
supervising others, life cycle (people aged 40’s least satisfied), personality (people
with positive core self-evaluation (CSEs) are more satisfied), interesting job
(training, variety, independence, control, feedback, social support,
interdependence, interaction with coworkers)
– Reactions of people who dislike their jobs:
• Active-Constructive: VOICE
• Active-Destructive: EXIT
• Passive-Constructive: LOYALTY
• Passive-Destructive: NEGLECT
• Job Satisfaction-Performance Linkage Confirmed
• Job Satisfaction-OCB Linkage Consistent With:
– Fairness perception: Coworker support prompts OCB
– Personality traits
– Good moodsOCB
• Job Satisfaction-Customer Service Linkage Proven
• Job Satisfaction-Absenteeism Linkage Weak Due to Companies’ Policies
• Job Satisfaction-Turnover Linkage Stronger Than That With Absenteeism
• Job Dissatisfaction Leads To:
– Unionization efforts, substance abuse, stealing at work, undue socializing,
tardiness (i.e., deviant behaviors)
• Job Satisfaction-Organizational Performance Linkage Confirmed
• Gaps in perceptions between managers and employees
– 86% of managers said employees well treated; 55% of employees said so
– 55% of managers said employee morale good; 38% of employees said so
– Chapter 5 (Values and Personality)
• Personality: Gordon Allport defined it as a collection of traits
(as opposed to states, like emotions/moods and to a lesser
extent, attitudes) stemming from the dynamic psychophysical
systems that determine the ways an individual reacts to and
interact with others
– Traits are relatively permanent; states are relatively temporary
– Perceptual measures of personality traits contaminated by
moods/emotions and faking
– Personality traits result more from both heredity/genetics 50% and the
environment (50%)
» Personality traits change more slowly when one is older
– 2 dominant frameworks summarize the long list of traits well
» Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
» Big Five Model
• MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
– Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I): Derive Energy from Others vs Self
– Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N): Analytical/Fact vs Abstract/Big Picture
– Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F): Logic vs Emotion
– Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P): Yes/No vs It Depends
» Unreliable but interesting/popular; can be used to raise self-awareness or
administer career guidance; not as a scientific measurement tool
• Big 5 Model
– Validated as a good measure of personality traits across cultures
» Extraversion: Derive energy from others
• Life/job satisfaction, happy, expressive, sociable, leadership, socially
dominant, assertive, impulsive, absent from work, lie, high risk behaviors
» Agreeableness: Propensity to defer to others
• Liked by others, rule abiding, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship
behaviors, less career success, less self-interest, not happier
» Conscientiousness: Dependable, driven, and organized
• Job knowledge/performance, longevity, lower artistic/creative/adaptive
level
» Emotional stability: Ability to withstand stress
• Job/life satisfaction, low stress, happy, optimistic
» Openness to experience: Interests and fascination with novelty
• Creative, leadership, comfortable with ambiguity, adaptable, prone to
accidents
• Dark Triad (3 Socially Undesirable Dimensions)
– Machiavellianism (after Niccolo Machiavelli)
» Ends can justify means (If it works, use it”)
» Surface acting; less influenced by CSR
» Manipulate others to win; aggressive; counterproductive
behaviors
» Not liked by others, backfire in the long run
– Narcissism (Greek myth of Narcissus)
» Fell in love with your own image; arrogant, sense of entitlement,
excessive admiration/self-importance
» Narcissist may claim to be more adaptable, make better decisions,
enjoy work but engage in counterproductive behaviors, are self-
overrated, feel under-benefited, less objective in making
acquisitions
– Psychopathy
» Lack of concern for others, guilt, or remorse when actions cause
harm
» Non-compliance with social norms, deceive to attain desired ends,
impulsivity, lack of empathic concern, use of threat/manipulation
 – Approach-Avoidance Framework
» Individual Predisposition in Favor of Attraction to Positive Stimuli
vs Aversion to Negative Stimuli
• Other Personality Traits
– Core Self-Evaluations
» Like oneself, see oneself as effective, capable, in control
» Associated with higher performance
– Self-Monitoring
» Ability to adjust behavior to external, situational factors
» Striking difference between public persona and private self
» Highly adaptable and perform better
– Proactive Personality
» Identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, persevere
» Associated with more innovativeness but abandon job searches
sooner
• Environmental Considerations
– Situation Strength Theory:
» The degree to which norms, cues, or standards dictate appropriate behavior
(strong vs weak=less vs more freedom to behave=both are good for different
conditions)
• Clarity (of cues)
• Consistency (of cues)
• Constraints on the actor (limited by external forces)
• Consequences (affecting stakeholders)
– Trait Activation Theory
» Some events, situations, or interventions activate a trait more than others
• Lack of supportprosocial personality becomes more evident
• Electronic monitoringfear of failure leads to poor performance
• Commission rewardextraversion becomes more evident
• Creativity requirementopenness predicts creative behavior
• Personality & SituationWork Behavior
– In the right Situation, PersonalityBehavior
• Values
– An idea about what is right/wrong, good/bad, desirable/undesirable
(“Content”)
• Relatively stable and enduring
• Values system:
– Values ranked it terms of intensity
• Affects attitudes and motivation
– Milton Rokeach:
» Terminal values (end states; e.g., economic success, health & well being) vs instrumental values
(means to attain end states; autonomy, kindness)
• Person-Job Fit
– John Holland: Personality Characteristics Should Be Congruent With Occupational Types
• Person-Organization Fit
– Organizational Values/Practices/Cultures Should Be Congruent With Personal
Values/Personalities/Beliefs
• International Values
– Hofstede’s Framework:
» Power Distance
» Individualism-Collectivism
» Masculinity-Femininity
» Uncertainty Avoidance
» Long-Term/Short-Term Orientation
– GLOBE Framework
» Add altruism, generosity, kindness, performance orientation to Hofstede’s model