Chapter 3
Organizational Behavior:
Foundations, Realities, & Challenges
Nelson & Quick, 5th edition
Personality, Perception,
and Attribution
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Variables Influencing
Individual Behavior
The person
Skills and abilities
Personality
Perceptions
Attitudes
Values
Ethics
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Behavior
The environment
Organization
Work group
Job
Personal life
Propositions of
Interactional Psychology
• Behavior – function of a continuous,
multi-directional interaction between
person and situation
• Person – active in process
– Changed by situations
– Changes situations
• People vary in many characteristics
• Two situational interpretations
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– The objective situation
– Person’s subjective view of the situation
Definition of Personality
Personality – a relatively stable set of
characteristics that influences an
individual’s behavior
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Personality Theories
Trait Theory – understand individuals by
breaking down behavior patterns into
observable traits
Psychodynamic Theory – emphasizes the
unconscious determinants of behavior
Humanistic Theory – emphasizes individual
growth and improvement
Integrative Approach – describes personality
as a composite of an individual’s
psychological processes
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Big Five Personality Traits
Gregarious, assertive,
Extraversion
sociable
Cooperative, warm,
Agreeableness
agreeable
Hardworking, organized,
Conscientiousness
dependable
Calm, self-confident,
Emotional stability
cool
Openness to
Creative, curious,
experience
cultured
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SOURCES: P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, The NEO-PI Personality Inventory (Odessa, Fla.: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1992); J. F. Salgado,
“The Five Factor Model of Personality and Job Performance in the European Community,” Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997): 30-43.
Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
Locus of Control
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Internal
External
I control what
happens to me!
People and
circumstances
control my fate!
Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
Self-Efficacy – beliefs and
expectations about one’s ability to
accomplish a specific task effectively
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Sources of self-efficacy
Prior experiences and prior success
Behavior models (observing success)
Persuasion
Assessment of current physical and
emotional capabilities
Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
Self-Esteem
Feelings of Self Worth
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Success tends
to increase
self-esteem
Failure tends
to decrease
self-esteem
Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
Self-Monitoring
Behavior based on cues
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High self monitors
Low self monitors
– flexible: adjust
– act from internal
behavior according to
states rather than
the situation and the
from situational cues
behavior of others
– show consistency
– can appear
– less likely to
unpredictable and
respond to work
inconsistent
group norms or
supervisory
Who Is Most Likely to . . .
Low self
monitors
High self
monitors
Get promoted
Accomplish tasks, meet other’s
expectations, seek out central
positions in social networks
Change employers
Self-promote
Make a job-related
geographic move
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Demonstrate higher levels of
managerial self-awareness;
base behavior on other’s cues
and the situation
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Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
Positive Affect – an individual’s tendency
to accentuate the positive aspects of
oneself, other people, and the world in
general
Negative Affect – an individual’s tendency
to accentuate the negative aspects of
oneself, other people, and the world in
general
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Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
A strong
situation can
overwhelm the effects
of individual personalities
by providing strong cues
for appropriate behavior
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Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
Strong
personalities
will dominate
in a weak
situation
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Four Measures of Personality
Projective Test – elicits an individual’s
response to abstract stimuli
Behavioral Measures – personality
assessments that involve observing an
individual’s behavior in a controlled
situation
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Four Measures of Personality
Self-Report Questionnaire –
assessment involving an individual’s
responses to questions
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI) – instrument measuring Jung’s
theory of individual differences
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Based on Carl Jung’s theories
– People are fundamentally different
– People are fundamentally alike
– People have preference combinations
for extraversion/introversion,
perception, judgment
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Based on Carl Jung’s theories
– Human similarities/differences
understood by combining preferences
• Ways of doing things
• Extraversion or introversion
– No preferences better than others
– Understand, celebrate, and
appreciate differences
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Briggs & Myers developed the
MBTI to understand individual
differences by analyzing the
combinations of preferences
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MBTI Preferences
Preferences
How one
re-energizes
How one gathers
Intuiting
information
How one makes
Feeling
decisions
Perceiving How one orients to the
outer world
Extraversion Introversion
Sensing
Thinking
Judging
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Represents
MBTI Scales
ISTJ
ISFJ
INFJ
INTJ
ISTP
ISFP
INFP
INTP
ESTP
ESFP
ENFP
ENTP
ESTJ
ESFJ
ENFJ
ENTJ
Introverts
Extraverts
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Sensing Types
Intuitive Types
SOURCE: Modified and reproduced by special permission of the Publisher. Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. Palo Alto, CA 94303 from
Introduction to Type, Sixth Edition by Isabel Briggs Myers. Copyright 1998 by Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Further reproduction is prohibited without the Publisher’s written consent.
Uses of MBTI
• Identify learning and teaching styles
• Decide on careers (Example: many
managers are ESTJs)
• Determine decision-making style
• Determine management style
• Build teams
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Perceiver Characteristics
• Familiarity with target
• Attitudes/Mood
• Self-concept
• Cognitive structure
Barriers
• Selective perception
• Stereotyping
• First-impression error
• Projection
• Self-fulfilling prophecies
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Target Characteristics
• Physical appearance
• Verbal communication
• Nonverbal cues
• Intentions
Social
Perception
Social
Perception
Model
Situational Characteristics
• Interaction context
• Strength of situational cues
Impression Management
Impression Management – process by
which individuals try to control the
impression others have of them
– Name dropping
– Appearance
– Self-description
– Flattery
– Favors
– Agreement with opinion
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Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory – explains how
individuals pinpoint the causes of their
own behavior or that of others
Information cues for attribution information
gathering
– consensus
– distinctiveness
– consistency
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Attribution Biases
Fundamental Attribution Error –
tendency to make attributions to
internal causes when focusing on
someone else’s behavior
Self-Serving Bias – tendency to
attribute one’s own successes to
internal causes and one’s failures to
external causes
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