Human Behavior in Organizations

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Human Behavior in Organizations
MGMT 4534 (Wednesday Session)Class 02 How
Do We Adapt to Our Work EnvironmentDr. James
A. Burrescia
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Class 2 What to expect!
Saturday November 19, 2005
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Access Class Website
http//coursesite.cl.uh.edu/BPA/burrescia/
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What is Organizational Behavior?
MGMT 4534 - Class 01 Material Greenberg Baron
/ Chapter 1 Part 1
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Perception and Learning
Understanding and Adapting to the Work Environment

• Chapter 2

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Learning Objectives

• Distinguish between the concepts of social
  perception and social identity.
• Explain how the attribution process works and
  describe the various sources of bias in social
  perception.
• Understand how the process of social perception
  operates in the context of performance
  appraisals, employment interviews, and the
  cultivation of corporate images.
• Define learning and describe the two types most
  applicable to OB operant conditioning and
  observational learning.
• Describe how principles of learning are involved
  in organizational training and innovative reward
  systems.
• Compare the way organizations use reward in
  organizational behavior management programs, how
  they can use punishment most effectively when
  administering discipline, and how they can manage
  knowledge effectively.

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Social Identity Theory

• Personal Identity The characteristics that
  define a particular individual.
• Social Identity Who a person is, as defined in
  terms of his or her membership in various social
  groups.
• Social Identity Theory A conceptualization
  recognizing that the way we perceive others and
  ourselves is based on our unique characteristics
  and our membership in various groups.

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Social Identity Theory
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Social Perception

• Social Perception The process of combining,
  integrating, and interpreting information about
  others to gain an accurate understanding of them.
• Attribution The process through which
  individuals attempt to determine the causes
  behind others behavior.

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Correspondent Inferences

• Judgments about peoples dispositions, traits,
  and characteristics, that correspond to what we
  have observed of their actions.

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Causal Attribution

• Causes of Behavior
• Internal Explanations based on actions for
  which the individual is responsible.
• External Explanations based on situations over
  which the individual has no control.
• Kelleys Theory of Causal Attribution The
  approach suggesting that people will believe
  others actions to be caused by internal or
  external factors based on three types of
  information consensus, consistency, and
  distinctiveness.

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Kelleys Theory of Attribution

• Consensus Information regarding the extent to
  which other people behave in the same manner as
  the person being judged.
• Consistency Information regarding the extent to
  which the person being judged acts the same way
  at other times.
• Distinctiveness Information regarding the
  extent to which a person behaves in the same
  manner in other contexts.

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Kelleys Theory of Attribution
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Stereotypes

• Beliefs that all members of specific groups
  share similar traits and are prone to behave the
  same way.

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Perceptual Biases

• Predispositions that people have to misperceive
  others in various ways.
• Types include
• Fundamental attribution error
• Halo effect
• Similar-to-me effect
• First impression error
• Selective perception

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Fundamental Attribution Error

• The tendency to attribute others actions to
  internal causes (e.g., their traits) while
  largely ignoring external factors that also may
  have influenced behavior.

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Halo Effect

• The tendency for our overall impressions of
  others to affect objective evaluations of their
  specific traits perceiving high correlations
  between characteristics that may be unrelated.

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Similar-to-Me Effect

• The tendency for people to perceive in a
  positive light others who are believed to be
  similar to themselves in any of several different
  ways.

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Selective Perception

• The tendency to focus on some aspects of the
  environment while ignoring others.

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First Impression Error

• The tendency to base our judgments of others on
  our earlier impressions of them.

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy The tendency for
  someones expectations about another to cause
  that person to behave in a manner consistent with
  those expectations.
• Pygmalion Effect A positive instance of the
  self-fulfilling prophecy, in which people holding
  high expectations of another tend to improve that
  individuals performance.
• Golem Effect A negative instance of the
  self-fulfilling prophecy, in which people holding
  low expectations of another tend to lower that
  individuals performance.

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
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Overcoming Biases

• Do not overlook the external cases of others
  behaviors.
• Identify your stereotypes.
• Evaluate people based on objective factors.
• Avoid making rash judgments.

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Organizational Applications

• Performance Appraisal The process of evaluating
  employees on various work-related dimensions.
• An inherently biased process
• Impresssion Management Efforts by individuals
  (esp. in employment interviews) to improve how
  they appear to others.
• Corporate Image The impressions that people
  have of an organization.

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Applicant Impression Management
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Corporate Image
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Learning Concepts

• Learning A relatively permanent change in
  behavior occurring as a result of experience.
• Operant Conditioning The form of learning in
  which people associate the consequences of their
  actions with the actions themselves.
• Behaviors with positive consequences are
  acquired.
• Behaviors with negative consequences tend to be
  eliminated.

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Operant Conditioning Process
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Reinforcement Concepts

• Positive Reinforcement The process by which
  people learn to perform behaviors that lead to
  the presentation of desired outcomes.
• Negative Reinforcement The process by which
  people learn to perform acts that lead to the
  removal of undesired events.

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Punishment and Extinction

• Punishment Decreasing undesirable behavior by
  following it with undesirable consequences.
• Extinction The process through which responses
  that are no longer reinforced tend to gradually
  diminish in strength.

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Contingencies of Reinforcement
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Schedules of Reinforcement

• Rules governing the timing and frequency of the
  administration of reinforcement.
• Continuous Reinforcement A schedule of
  reinforcement in which all desired behaviors are
  reinforced.
• Partial Reinforcement A schedule of
  reinforcement in which only some desired
  behaviors are reinforced.

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Fixed Interval Schedules

• Schedules of reinforcement in which a fixed
  period of time must elapse between the
  administration of reinforcements.

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Variable Interval Schedules

• Schedules of reinforcement in which a variable
  period of time (based on some average) must
  elapse between the administration of
  reinforcements.

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Fixed Ratio Schedules

• Schedules of reinforcement in which a fixed
  number of responses must occur between the
  administration of reinforcements.

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Variable Ratio Schedules

• Schedules of reinforcement in which a variable
  number of responses (based on some average) must
  occur between the administration of
  reinforcements.

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Observational Learning

• The form of learning in which people acquire
  new behaviors by systematically observing the
  rewards and punishments given to others.

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Steps in Observational Learning
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Applications of Learning

• Training
• Innovative Reward Systems
• Organizational Behavior Management
• Discipline
• Knowledge Management

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Training

• The process of systematically teaching employees
  to acquire and improve job-related skills and
  knowledge.
• Types of training
• Classroom training
• Apprenticeship programs
• Cross-cultural training
• Executive training programs
• Corporate universities
• E-training

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Keys to Effective Training

• Participation Active involvement in the process
  of learning more active participation leads to
  more effective learning.
• Repetition The process of repeatedly performing
  a task so that it may be learned.
• Transfer of Training The degree to which the
  skills learned during training sessions may be
  applied to performance on ones job.
• Feedback Knowledge of the results of ones
  behavior.

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Innovative Reward Systems

• Skill-Based Pay An innovative reward system
  in which people are paid based on the number of
  different skills they have learned relevant to
  performing one or more jobs in the organization.
• Team-Based Rewards Innovative reward systems
  in which employees are paid on the basis of their
  teams performance.

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Organizational Behavior Management

• The practice of altering behavior in
  organizations by systematically administering
  rewards.

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Discipline

• The process of systematically administering
  punishment.
• Progressive Discipline The practice of
  gradually increasing the severity of punishments
  for employees who exhibit unacceptable job
  behavior.

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Continuum of Disciplinary Measures
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Using Punishment Effectively

• Deliver punishment immediately after the
  undesirable response occurs.
• Give moderate levels of punishment nothing too
  high or too low.
• Punish the undesirable behavior, not the person.
• Use punishment consistently across occasions.
• Punish everyone equally for the same infraction.
• Clearly communicate the reasons for the
  punishment given.
• Do not follow punishment with noncontingent
  rewards.

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Knowledge Management

• The process of gathering, organizing, and sharing
  a companys information and knowledge assets.
• Intellectual Capital Areas of expertise
  represented by the employees within a company.
• Knowledge Managers Individuals who are
  responsible for organizing the wealth of
  corporate knowledge represented by its people and
  ensuring that this information gets used
  effectively.

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What Do Knowledge Managers Do?

• Explain the companys knowledge management
  efforts to everyone from board member to
  low-level employee.
• Secure funding for knowledge management projects.
• Promote job flexibility within the company,
  making it possible for people with good ideas to
  execute them readily.
• Develop, maintain, and promote use of an online
  database of ideas that is readily accessible to
  all.
• Discourage keeping information and ideas within a
  single division encouraging all ideas, research
  findings, and experiences to be shared with
  others.