Management Question

‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
‫وزارة التعليم‬
‫الجامعة السعودية اإللكترونية‬

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Ministry of Education
Saudi Electronic University

College of Administrative and Financial Sciences

Assignment 2
Organizational Behaviour (MGT 301)
Due Date: 02/11/2024 @ 23:59
Course Name: Organizational Behaviour

Student’s Name:

Course Code: MGT301

Student’s ID Number:

Semester: 1st Term

CRN: 16473
Academic Year:2024-25

For Instructor’s Use only
Instructor’s Name: Dr. Abdullah Bubshait
Students’ Grade: /10

Level of Marks: High/Middle/Low

General Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY
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Restricted – ‫مقيد‬

The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via the
allocated folder.
Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.
Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented; marks may be reduced
for poor presentation. This includes filling in your information on the cover page.
Students must mention the question number clearly in their answers.
Late submissions will NOT be accepted.
Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from students or other
resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO marks. No exceptions.
All answers must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced) font. No
pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered plagiarism).
Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.

Learning Outcomes:

CLO-Covered
1. Describe management issues such as diversity, attitudes and job satisfaction,
personality, and values in organizational behaviour (CLO2).
2. Define the impact of company’s culture, structure and design can have on its
organizational behaviour. (CLO3).

Assignment 2
Reference Source:
Textbook: Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2021). Organizational behaviour:
Improving performance and commitment in the workplace (7th ed). Burr Ridge, IL:
McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Critical Thinking: Discussion Chapters: – Please read Chapters 6, 8 & 9 “Motivation, Learning and
Decision Making, Personality and Cultural Values” carefully and then give your answers
based on your understanding.
Assignment Question(s):
1. How does the Expectancy Theory explain employee motivation, and how can managers

use this theory to influence employee behaviour? (03 Marks) (Min words 200-250)
2. Considering social learning theory, how can organizations create environments that
encourage observational learning among employees? What role do leaders play in this
process? (03 Marks) (Min words 150-200)
3. How does the Big Five personality model influence job performance and organizational
behaviour? In what ways might certain personality traits be more beneficial in specific job
roles, and how can organizations effectively assess and utilize these traits during the hiring
process? (04 Marks) (Min words 200-250)
Important Note: 1. Support your submission with course material concepts, principles, and theories from
the textbook and at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles.
2. References required in the assignment. Use APA style for writing references.

Restricted – ‫مقيد‬

Answers:
1.
2.
3.

Restricted – ‫مقيد‬

Chapter 6
Motivation

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Class Agenda
Motivation
Why Are Some Employees More Motivated than Others?
• Expectancy theory
• Goal setting theory
• Equity theory
• Psychological empowerment

How Important Is Motivation?
Application: Compensation Systems

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An Integrative Model of Organizational Behavior

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Motivation
A set of energetic forces that originates both within and outside
an employee, initiates work-related effort, and determines its
direction, intensity, and persistence
What do you do?
• How hard do you do it?
• How long do you do it?

©McGraw-Hill Education.

Engagement

1 2

STRONGLY
DISAGREE

DISAGREE

3 4

NEUTRAL

AGREE

5

STRONGLY
AGREE

Consider your approach to your classes this semester:
1. I give my assignments my utmost attention.
2. I really concentrate on the things my classes demand.
3. I find myself absorbed in the content of my classes.
4. I really focus my attention on the things I’m learning.
5. I rarely get distracted when I’m working on my class stuff.
6. In general, I approach my class work with focus.
Average Score: 24
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Why Are Some Employees More Motivated
than Others?
Several theories attempt to summarize the key factors that
foster high motivation:
• Expectancy theory
• Goal setting theory
• Equity theory
• Psychological empowerment

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Expectancy Theory
1 of 3

Motivation is fostered when the employee believes three things:
• That effort will result in performance
• That performance will result in outcomes
• That those outcomes will be valuable

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Figure 6-2 Expectancy Theory

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Expectancy Theory
2 of 3

Effort → Performance
The belief that a high level of effort will lead to the successful
performance of a task
Expectancy can be shaped by self-efficacy.
• Past accomplishments
• Vicarious experiences
• Verbal persuasion
• Emotional cues

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Figure 6-3 Sources of Self-Efficacy

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Self-Efficacy

1 2 3 4 5

STRONGLY
DISAGREE

DISAGREE

NEUTRAL

AGREE

STRONGLY
AGREE

1. I can succeed, even when the going gets tough.
2. I do most things well, relative to my peers.
3. I have a sense of confidence on a lot of different tasks.
4. I know that I can overcome challenges when I encounter them.
5. If I set my mind to certain goals, I’m confident I can achieve them.
6. I am able to succeed at the things I want to be good at.
7. I’m confident in my ability, even when I face difficult tasks.
8. When I set a goal for myself, I believe I can meet it.
Average Score: 31
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Instrumentality
Performance → Outcomes
The belief that successful performance will result in certain
outcomes.
Can be hindered by:
• Inadequate budget to provide outcomes, even when performance
is high
• Use of policies that reward things besides performance, such as
attendance or seniority
• Time delays in rewarding good performance

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Valence
1 of 2

Anticipated value of outcomes
Positive
•

Prefer having the outcome (salary increases, bonuses)

•

Outcomes that satisfy needs are more positively valenced.

Negative
•

Prefer not having outcome (disciplinary action, termination)

•

No interest in outcome either way (bored with outcome)

Zero

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Table 6-1 Commonly Studied Needs in Organizational
Behavior
NEED LABEL

ALTERNATIVE LABELS

DESCRIPTION

Existence

Physiological, Safety

The need for the food, shelter, safety, and protection
required for human existence.

Relatedness

Love, Belongingness

The need to create and maintain lasting, positive,
interpersonal relationships.

Control

Autonomy, Responsibility

The need to be able to predict and control one’s future.

Esteem

Self-Regard, Growth

The need to hold a high evaluation of oneself and to feel
effective and respected by others.

Meaning

Self-Actualization

The need to perform tasks that one cares about and
that appeal to one’s ideals and sense of purpose.

Sources: Adapted from E.L. Deci and R.M Ryan, “The ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior,” Psychological Inquiry 11 (2000), pp. 227–
68; R. Cropanzano, Z.S. Byrne, D.R. Bobocel, and D.R. Rupp, “Moral Virtues, Fairness Heuristics, Social Entities, and Other Denizens of Organizational Justice,” Journal of Vocational
Behavior 58 (2001), pp. 164–209; A.H. Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Psychological Review 50 (1943), pp. 370–96; C.P. Alderfer, “An Empirical Test of a New Theory of Human
Needs,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 4 (1969), pp. 142–75.

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Table 6-2 Extrinsic and Intrinsic Outcomes

Sources: Adapted from E.E. Lawler III and J.L. Suttle, “Expectancy Theory and Job Behavior,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 9 (1973), pp. 482–503; J. Galbraith and
L.L. Cummings, “An Empirical Investigation of the Motivational Determinants of Task Performance: Interactive Effects between Instrumentality–Valence and Motivation–Ability,”
Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 2 (1967), pp. 237–57; E. McAuley, S. Wraith, and T.E. Duncan, “Self-Efficacy, Perceptions of Success, and Intrinsic Motivation for
Exercise,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 21 (1991), pp. 139–55; and A.S. Waterman, S.J. Schwartz, E. Goldbacher, H. Green, C. Miller, and S. Philip, “Predicting the Subjective
Experience of Intrinsic Motivation: The Roles of Self-Determination, the Balance of Challenges and Skills, and Self-Realization Values,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29
(2003), pp. 1447–58.

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Valence
2 of 2

Why does pay have such a high valence?
The meaning of money
• Achievement
• Respect
• Freedom

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Meaning of Money

Average
Score: 13

Average
Score: 15

Average
Score: 20

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Expectancy Theory
3 of 3

𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 = (𝐸 → 𝑃)×𝜀[(𝑃 → 𝑂)×𝑉]
Key aspect: multiplicative effects
• The Σ symbol in the equation signifies that instrumentalities
and valences are judged with various outcomes in mind, and
motivation increases as successful performance is linked to
more and more attractive outcomes.
• Motivation is zero if either expectancy, instrumentality, or
valence is zero

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Goal Setting Theory
Motivation is fostered when employees are given specific and
difficult goals rather than no goals, easy goals, or “do your
best” goals.

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Figure 6-4
Goal Difficulty and Task Performance

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Figure 6-5 Goal Setting Theory

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TABLE 6-4 Strategies for Fostering Goal Commitment
STRATEGY
Rewards
Publicity
Support
Participation
Resources

DESCRIPTION
Tie goal achievement to the receipt of monetary or nonmonetary rewards.
Publicize the goal to significant others and coworkers to create some social pressure to
attain it.
Provide supportive supervision to aid employees if they struggle to attain the goal.
Collaborate on setting the specific proficiency level and due date for a goal so that the
employee feels a sense of ownership over the goal.
Provide the resources needed to attain the goal and remove any constraints that could
hold back task efforts.

Sources: Adapted from J.R. Hollenbeck and H.J. Klein, “Goal Commitment and the Goal-Setting Process: Problems, Prospects, and Proposals for Future Research,” Journal of Applied Psychology 72 (1987), pp. 212–20;
H.J. Klein, M.J. Wesson, J.R. Hollenbeck, and B.J. Alge, “Goal Commitment and the Goal-Setting Process: Conceptual Clarification and Empirical Synthesis,” Journal of Applied Psychology 84 (1999), pp. 885–96;
E.A. Locke, G.P. Latham, and M. Erez, “The Determinants of Goal Commitment,” Academy of Management Review 13 (1988), pp. 23–29; G.P. Latham, “The Motivational Benefits of Goal-Setting,” Academy of
Management Executive 18 (2004), pp. 126–29.

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Equity Theory
Motivation is maximized when an employee’s ratio of “outcomes”
to “inputs” matches those of some “comparison other.”
Thus, motivation also depends on the outcomes received by
other employees.

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Figure 6-6 Equity Theory Comparisons
1 of 3

Are these really equal?

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Source: Adapted from J.S. Adams, “Inequity in Social Exchange,”
in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2, ed. L.
Berkowitz (New York: Academic Press, 1965), pp. 267–99

Figure 6-6 Equity Theory Comparisons
2 of 3

What emotion do you feel in this case?
What methods can be used to restore equity?

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Source: Adapted from J.S. Adams, “Inequity in Social Exchange,” in
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2, ed. L. Berkowitz
(New York: Academic Press, 1965), pp. 267–99

Figure 6-6 Equity Theory Comparisons
3 of 3

What emotion do you feel in this case?
What methods can be used to restore equity?

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Source: Adapted from J.S. Adams, “Inequity in Social Exchange,” in
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2, ed. L. Berkowitz
(New York: Academic Press, 1965), pp. 267–99

OB on Screen

Battle of the Sexes

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Psychological Empowerment
An intrinsic form of motivation derived from the belief that one’s
work tasks are contributing to some larger purpose
Fostered by four beliefs:
• Meaningfulness
• Self-determination
• Competence
• Impact

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How Important Is Motivation?
Does motivation have a significant impact on the two primary
outcomes in our integrative model of OB—does it correlate
with job performance and organizational commitment?
Answering that question is somewhat complicated, because
motivation is not just one thing but rather a set of energetic
forces.

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Figure 6-8 Effects of Motivation on Performance and
Commitment

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Table 6-7 Compensation Plan Elements

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Individual-Focused

Description

Piece-rate

A specified rate is paid for each unit produced, each unit sold, or each service provided.

Merit pay

An increase to base salary is made in accordance with performance evaluation ratings.

Lump-sum bonuses

A bonus is received for meeting individual goals, but no change is made to base salary.
The potential bonus represents “at risk” pay that must be re-earned each year. Base
salary may be lower in cases in which potential bonuses may be large.

Recognition awards

Tangible awards (gift cards, merchandise, trips, special events, time off, plaques) or
intangible awards (praise) are given on an impromptu basis to recognize achievement.

Unit-Focused

Description

Gainsharing

A bonus is received for meeting unit goals (department goals, plant goals, business unit
goals) for criteria controllable by employees (labor costs, use of materials, quality). No
change is made to base salary. The potential bonus represents “at risk” pay that must be
re-earned each year. Base salary may be lower in cases in which potential bonuses may
be large.

Organization-Focused

Description

Profit Sharing

A bonus is received when the publicly reported earnings of a company exceed some
minimum level, with the magnitude of the bonus contingent on the magnitude of the
profits. No change is made to base salary. The potential bonus represents “at risk” pay
that must be re-earned each year. Base salary may be lower in cases in which potential
bonuses may be large.

Next Time
Chapter 7: Trust, Justice and Ethics

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Chapter 8
Learning and Decision Making

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Class Agenda
Learning and Decision Making
Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make Decisions Better
than Others?
•

Types of Knowledge

•

Methods of Learning

•

Methods of Decision Making

•

Decision-Making Problems

How Important Is Learning?
Application: Training

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An Integrative Model of Organizational Behavior

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Learning and Decision Making
Learning reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee’s
knowledge or skill that result from experience.
Decision making refers to the process of generating and choosing
from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.

©McGraw-Hill Education.

Workplace Learning Potential
1

STRONGLY
DISAGREE

2

DISAGREE

3

NEUTRAL

4

AGREE

5

STRONGLY
AGREE

1. At work, I get enough time to find my own solutions to task-related issues.
2. At work, I have the freedom to explore new ways to be more effective.
3. At work, I can experiment with different methods even if it might slow me
down.
4. At work, I get the opportunity to learn how to cope with difficulties my way.
5. At work, I get the chance to reflect on how to do my job better.
6. At work, I have the freedom to compare different approaches to my work.

Average Score: 19
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Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make Better
Decisions than Others?
Expertise refers to the knowledge and skills that distinguish experts
from novices and less experienced people.
Employees learn two types of knowledge:
• Explicit is easy to communicate and teach.
• Tacit is more difficult to communicate; gained with experience.

©McGraw-Hill Education.

Table 8-1 Characteristics of Explicit and Tacit
Knowledge
EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE

TACIT KNOWLEDGE

Easily transferred through written or verbal
communication

Very difficult, if not impossible, to articulate
to others

Readily available to most

Highly personal in nature

Can be learned through books

Based on experience

Always conscious and accessible information Sometimes holders don’t even recognize
that they possess it
General information

Typically job- or situation-specific

Source: Adapted from R. McAdam, B. Mason, and J. McCrory, “Exploring the Dichotomies Within the Tacit Knowledge
Literature: Towards a Process of Tacit Knowing in Organizations,” Journal of Knowledge Management 11 (2007), pp. 43–59.

©McGraw-Hill Education.

Methods of Learning
1 of 3

How do employees learn?
Reinforcement
• Reinforcement is also known as operant conditioning.
• We learn by observing the link between our voluntary behavior
and the consequences that follow.

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Figure 8-1 Operant Conditioning Components

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Contingencies of Reinforcement
Increase desired behaviors and decrease unwanted behaviors
• Positive reinforcement: Positive outcome follows a desired
behavior.
• Negative reinforcement: An unwanted outcome is removed
following a desired behavior.
• Punishment: An unwanted outcome follows an unwanted
behavior.
• Extinction: The removal of a consequence following an unwanted
behavior

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Figure 8-2 Contingencies of Reinforcement

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Table 8-2 Schedules of Reinforcement
Reinforcement
Schedule

Reward Given
Following

Potential Level of
Performance

Example

Continuous

Every desired
behavior

High, but difficult to
maintain

Praise

Fixed interval

Fixed time periods

Average

Paycheck

Variable interval

Variable time periods Moderately high

Supervisor walk-by

Fixed ratio

Fixed number of
desired behaviors

High

Piece-rate pay

Variable ratio

Variable number of
desired behaviors

Very high

Commission pay

Research shows that the timing of reinforcement is important to modify
behavior. New learning is acquired most rapidly under a continuous
schedule.
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Methods of Learning
2 of 3

How do employees learn?
Reinforcement
Observation
• Social learning theory argues that people in organizations have the
ability to learn through the observation of others.
• Behavioral modeling involves observing and learning from others and
then repeating the action.

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Figure 8-3 The Modeling Process

Source: Adapted from H.M. Weiss, “Learning Theory and Industrial and Organizational Psychology,” in Handbook of
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, ed. M.D. Dunnette and L.M. Hough (Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press,
1990) pp. 75–169.
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Methods of Learning
3 of 3

Some people learn differently, as a function of the goals and
activities that they prioritize.
Goal orientation
• Learning orientation: Building competence is deemed more
important than demonstrating competence.
• Performance-prove orientation: Focus is on demonstrating
competence so that others think favorably of them.
• Performance-avoid orientation: Focus is on demonstrating
competence so that others will not think poorly of them.
©McGraw-Hill Education.

Goal Orientation

Average
Score: 16

Average
Score: 11

Average
Score: 11

Source: Adapted from J.F. Brett and D. VandeWalle, “Goal Orientation and Goal Content as Predictors of Performance in a Training
Program,” Journal of Applied Psychology 84 (1999), pp. 863–73. Copyright (c) 1999 by the American Psychological Association.
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Methods of Decision Making
Programmed decisions: Automatic because knowledge allows employee to
recognize a situation and the needed course of action
Intuition: Emotionally charged judgment arising through quick, nonconscious, and
holistic associations
Crisis situation: Urgent problem must be addressed immediately
Nonprogrammed decisions: Problem is new, complex, or not recognized.
For nonprogrammed decisions, the rational decision-making model:
• Offers a step-by-step approach to making decisions
• Is designed to maximize outcomes by examining all available alternatives

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Figure 8-4
Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions

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Rational Decision Making

1 2

STRONGLY
DISAGREE

DISAGREE

3 4

NEUTRAL

AGREE

5

STRONGLY
AGREE

1. I act based on my heart, not my head.
2. I think feelings should be the guide in most decisions.
3. I listen to logic when acting, not my emotions.
4. Most of my life decisions are governed by how I feel.
5. I do what inspires me. Now that’s logical.
6. When it comes to decisions, I do what is logical.
7. My feelings are my compass when there are choices to be made.
8. I believe key decisions should be reasoned carefully and rationally.
9. Important decisions should be based on the facts, not on emotions.

Average Score: 27
©McGraw-Hill Education.

OB on Screen

The Big Short
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Decision-Making Problems: Limited Information
Limited information
• Bounded rationality: Do not have the ability or resources to process all
available information and alternatives
• Satisficing: Choosing the first acceptable alternative

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Table 8-3 Rational Decision Making vs. Bounded
Rationality
To be rational decision makers, we
should…
Identify the problem by thoroughly examining the
situation and considering all interested parties.
Develop an exhaustive list of alternatives to consider
as solutions.
Evaluate all the alternatives simultaneously.
Use accurate information to evaluate alternatives.
Pick the alternative that maximizes value.

Bounded rationality says we are likely
to…
Boil down the problem to something that is easily
understood.
Come up with a few solutions that tend to be
straightforward, familiar, and similar to what is
currently being done.
Evaluate each alternative as soon as we think of it.
Use distorted and inaccurate information during
the evaluation process.
Pick the first acceptable alternative (satisfice).

Sources: Adapted from H.A. Simon, “Rational Decision Making in Organizations,” American Economic Review 69 (1979), pp. 493-513;
D. Kahneman, “Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics,” The American Economic Review 93 (2003), pp. 1449-75;
and S.W. Williams, Making Better Business Decisions (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002

©McGraw-Hill Education.

Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Perceptions
Selective perception: tendency to see the environment only as it affects them,
consistent with their expectations.
Projection bias: belief that others think, feel, and act the same way they do
Social identity theory: people identify with groups and judge others by their group
memberships
Stereotype: assumptions are made about others on the basis of their membership in a
social group.
Heuristics: simple, efficient rules of thumb that allow us to make decisions more easily
Availability bias: tendency to base judgments on information that is easier to recall

©McGraw-Hill Education.

Table 8-4 Decision-Making Biases
NAME OF BIAS

DESCRIPTION

Anchoring

The tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor,” on one trait or piece of information
when making decisions even when the anchor might be unreliable or irrelevant.

Framing

The tendency to make different decisions based on how a question or situation is
phrased.

Representativeness The tendency to assess the likelihood of an event by comparing it to a similar
event and assuming it will be similar.
Contrast

The tendency to judge things erroneously based on a reference that is near to
them.

Recency

The tendency to weigh recent events more than earlier events.

Ratio Bias Effect

The tendency to judge the same probability of an unlikely event as lower when
the probability is presented in the form of a ratio of smaller rather than of larger
numbers.

Sources: J. Baron, Thinking and Deciding, 3rd ed. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000); V. Denes-Raj, and S. Epstein, “Conflict Between Intuitive and Rational Processing: When People
Behave Against Their Better Judgment,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66 (1994), pp. 819–29; R.E. Nisbett and L. Ross, Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social
Judgment (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1980); D.G. Meyers, Social Psychology (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2005); G. Gigerenzer, P.M. Todd, and ABC Research Group, Simple Heuristics That Make Us
Smart (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); D. Kahneman, A. Tversky, and P. Slovic, Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics & Biases (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982); D.
Kahneman and A. Tversky, “Choices, Values and Frames,” American Psychologist 39 (1984), pp. 341–50.

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Decision-Making Problems: Faulty Attributions
Fundamental attribution error: A tendency to judge others’ behaviors as due
to internal factors such as ability or attitude
Self-serving bias: Attribute our failures to external factors and our successes
to internal factors
Attribution process
• Consensus: Did others act the same way under similar situations?
• Distinctiveness: Does this person tend to act differently in other
circumstances?
• Consistency: Does this person always do this when performing this task?

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Figure 8-5 Consensus,
Distinctiveness, and Consistency

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Decision-Making Problems: Escalation of Commitment
The decision to continue to follow a failing course of action
• “Throwing good money after bad”
• Becomes stronger when decision makers have invested a lot of
money into the decision and when the project in question seems
quite close to completion

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Figure 8-6 Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make
Decisions Better Than Others?

©McGraw-Hill Education.

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How Important Is Learning?
Learning is moderately correlated with task performance.
Learning is less correlated to citizenship behavior and
counterproductive behavior.
Learning is weakly related to organizational commitment.
• Higher levels of job knowledge is associated with slight
increase in emotional attachment.
• Employees with higher levels of expertise may become more
highly valued commodities on the job market, thereby
reducing their levels of continuance commitment.

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Figure 8-7 Effects of Learning on Performance and
Commitment

Sources: G.M. Alliger, S.I. Tannenbaum, W. Bennett Jr., H. Traver, and A. Shotland, “A Meta-Analysis of the Relations among Training Criteria,” Personnel
Psychology 50 (1997), pp. 341–58; J.A. Colquitt, J.A. LePine, and R.A. Noe, “Toward an Integrative Theory of Training Motivation: A Meta-Analytic
Path Analysis of 20 Years of Research,” Journal of Applied Psychology 85 (2000), pp. 678–707; and J.P. Meyer, D.J. Stanley, L. Herscovitch, and L.
Topolnytsky, “Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences,”
Journal of Vocational Behavior 61 (2002), pp. 20–52.
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Application: Training
Knowledge transfer from more experienced to less experienced
employees
• Behavior modeling
• Company messaging systems and social networking
• Communities of practice involve informal social learning through
extended periods of employee interaction
Transfer of training
• Climate for transfer involves an environment that supports the use
of new skills
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Next Time
Chapter 9: Personality and Cultural Values

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Chapter 9

Personality and Cultural Values

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Class Agenda
Personality and Cultural Values
How Can We Describe What Employees Are Like?
•

The Big Five Taxonomy

•

Other Taxonomies of Personality

•

Cultural Values

How Important are Personality and Cultural Values?
Application: Personality Traits

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An Integrative Model of Organizational Behavior

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Personality and Cultural Values
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Personality is the structures and propensities inside a person that
explain his or her characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and
behavior.
• What a person is like
• Determines their social reputation
• Described by adjectives such as responsible, easygoing, polite
• Traits: recurring trends in people’s responses to their environment

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Personality and Cultural Values
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Cultural values are shared beliefs about desirable end states or
modes of conduct in a given culture.
• What a culture is like
• Described by adjectives such as traditional, informal, assertive
• Can influence the development and expression of people’s
personality traits

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How Can We Describe What Employees Are Like?
By using personality traits and cultural values
Generally involves using adjectives
Sorting adjectives into broad dimensions of personality

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The Big Five Taxonomy
Five broad dimensions or “factors” can be used to summarize our
personalities:
• Conscientiousness
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
• Openness to Experience
• Extraversion

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Figure 9-1 Trait Adjectives
Associated with the Big Five

G. Saucier, “Mini-Markers: A Brief Version of Goldberg’s Unipolar Big-Five Markers,” Journal of Personality Assessment 63 (1994), pp. 506-16; L.R. Goldberg, “The Development of Markers for
the Big-Five Factor Structure,” Psychological Assessment 4 (1992), pp. 26-42; R.R. McCrae and P.T. Costa Jr., “Validation of the Five-Factor Model of Personality across Instruments and
Observers,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52 (1987), pp. 81-90; and C.M. Bill and B.P. Hodgkinson, “Development and Validation of the Five-Factor Model Questionnaire (FFMQ):
An Adjectival-Based Personality Inventory for Use in Occupational Settings,” Personnel Psychology 60 (2007), pp. 731-66.
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The Big Five

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Personality Norms

Source: M.B. Donnellan, F.L. Oswald, B.M. Baird, and R.E. Lucas, “The Mini-IPIP Scales: Tiny-Yet-Effective Measures of
the Big Five Factors of Personality,” Psychological Assessment 18 (2006), pp. 192–203. American Psychological
Association.

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Figure 9-2 Changes in Big Five Dimensions over the Life
Span

Extraversion remains quite stable throughout a person’s life. Openness
to experience also remains stable, after a sharp increase from the
teenage years to college age. The other three dimensions, however,
change quite significantly over a person’s life span.
Source: Adapted from B.W. Roberts, K.E. Walton, and W. Viechtbauer, “Patterns of Mean-Level Change in Personality Traits across the Life Course: A MetaAnalysis of Longitudinal Studies,” Psychological Bulletin 132 (2006), pp. 1–25.
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Conscientiousness
Relevant adjectives:
• Dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking,
persevering
The biggest influence on job performance of any of the Big Five
Accomplishment striving—a strong desire to accomplish task-related
goals
Correlated to career success, good health

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Agreeableness
Relevant adjectives:
• Warm, kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, courteous
Communion striving—a strong desire to obtain acceptance in
personal relationships
Not related to performance in all jobs or occupations
Beneficial in service jobs

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Extraversion
Relevant adjectives:
• Talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, dominant
Easiest to judge in zero acquaintance situations (people have just met)
Not related to performance across all jobs or occupations
Status striving—a strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social
structure
Extraversion correlated with leadership emergence and effectiveness and
with job satisfaction
Positive affectivity—a dispositional tendency to experience pleasant,
engaging moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and elation
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Figure 9-3 Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Typical Moods

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Neuroticism

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Relevant adjectives:
• Nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous
Second most important of the Big Five to job performance
• Few jobs benefits from traits associated with neuroticism
• Most jobs benefit from employees who are calm, steady, secure.
Negative affectivity—tendency to experience unpleasant moods such
as hostility, nervousness, annoyance
Associated with low levels of job satisfaction and happiness in
general
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Table 9-1 The Neutral Objects Questionnaire (aka
The “Gripe Index”)

Source: Adapted from T.A. Judge, “Does Affective
Disposition Moderate the Relationship Between
Job Satisfaction and Voluntary Turnover?” Journal
of Applied Psychology 78 (1993), pp. 395–401; J.
Weitz, J. “A Neglected Concept in the Study of Job
Satisfaction,” Personnel Psychology 5 (1952), pp.
201–05.
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Neuroticism

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Neuroticism affects how people deal with stress
•

Differential exposure—being more likely to appraise day-to-day
situations as stressful

•

Differential reactivity—being less likely to believe that one can cope
with the stressors experienced on a daily basis

Locus of control—whether people attribute the causes of events to
themselves or to the external environment

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•

Neurotic people hold an external locus of control

•

Less neurotic people hold an internal

Table 9-2 External and Internal Locus of Control
PEOPLE WITH AN EXTERNAL LOCUS OF
CONTROL TEND TO BELIEVE:

PEOPLE WITH AN INTERNAL LOCUS OF
CONTROL TEND TO BELIEVE:

Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives People’s misfortunes result from the
are partly due to bad luck.
mistakes they make.
Getting a good job depends mainly on being Becoming a success is a matter of hard
in the right place at the right time.
work; luck has little or nothing to do with it.
Many times exam questions tend to be so
unrelated to course work that studying is
really useless.

In the case of the well-prepared student,
there is rarely if ever such a thing as an
unfair test.

This world is run by the few people in
power, and there is not much the little guy
can do about it.

The average citizen can have an influence in
government decisions.

There’s not much use in trying too hard to
People are lonely because they don’t try to
please people; if they like you, they like you. be friendly.
Source: Adapted from J.B. Rotter, “Generalized Expectancies for Internal versus External Control of
Reinforcement,” Psychological Monographs 80 (1966), pp. 1–28.
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Openness to Experience
Relevant adjectives:
• Curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, sophisticated
• Also called inquisitiveness, intellectualness, culture
Beneficial in some jobs but not in others; not related to job
performance across all occupations
Helpful in jobs that are dynamic, creative, opportunities to learn
Adaptable, good at finding new and better approaches

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Figure 9-4 Openness to Experience and Creativity

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Figure 9-5 Tests of Creative Thinking

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Other Taxonomies of Personality
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Extraversion versus Introversion
• Sensing versus Intuition
• Thinking versus Feeling
• Judging versus Perceiving
16 different personality types based on preferences (for example, ISTJ)
• Managers more likely to be TJs
Not a tool for predicting job performance, but helpful in team building
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Other Taxonomies of Personality
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RIASEC Model: Interest framework summarized by six different personality
types
• Realistic
• Investigative
• Artistic
• Social
• Enterprising
• Conventional
Commonly used to provide personality profile and a list of occupations that
might be a good match for that profile
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Figure 9-6 Holland’s RIASEC Model

Adapted from J.L. Holland, Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Careers (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1973).
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Cultural Values

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Culture: Shared values, beliefs, motives, identities, and interpretations
that result from common experiences of members of a society
•

Transmitted across generations

Cultural values: Shared beliefs about desirable end states or modes of
conduct in a given culture.
•

Provide societies with their own distinctive personalities

•

Reflect a feeling of how things “should be done” in a given society

Taxonomy of cultural values developed in 1970s by Geert Hofstede.

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Table 9-3 Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Values
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Table 9-3 Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Values
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Sources: G. Hofstede, Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001): G. Hofstede, “Cultural
Constraints in Management Theories,” Academy of Management Executive 7 (1993), pp. 81-94; and G. Hofstede and M.H. Bond, “The Confucius Connection: From Cultural Roots to
Economic Growth,” Organizational Dynamics 16 (1988), pp. 5-21.

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OB on Screen

Black Panther

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Project GLOBE
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An ongoing international research effort to examine the impact of culture on leadership
attributes, behaviors, and practices
Uses nine dimensions to summarize cultures:
• Power distance
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Institutional collectivism
• Ingroup collectivism
• Gender egalitarianism
• Assertiveness
• Future orientation
• Performance orientation
• Humane orientation
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Project GLOBE
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Groups countries studied into clusters
• U.S. is part of Anglo cluster (United States, Canada, Australia, England).
• Anglo group scores in the middle on most cultural values.

Examples:
Gender egalitarianism. The culture promotes gender equality and minimizes
role differences between men and women. High: Nordic Europe, Eastern
Europe. Low: Middle East.
Performance orientation. The culture encourages and rewards members for
excellence and performance improvements. High: Anglo, Confucian Asia,
Germanic Europe. Low: Latin America, Eastern Europe.

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Power Distance

1 2

STRONGLY
DISAGREE

DISAGREE

3 4

NEUTRAL

AGREE

5

STRONGLY
AGREE

1. A company’s norms should be followed, even if an employee disagrees with them.
2. Letting employees have a say in decisions eats away at managerial authority.
3. A good manager should be able to make decisions without consulting employees.
4. If employees disagree with the company’s actions, they should keep it to themselves.
5. Employees should not question the decisions that top management makes.
6. Managers lose effectiveness when employees second-guess their actions.
7. Managers have a right to expect employees to listen to them.
8. Efficient managerial decision making requires little employee input.
Average Score: 20
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Cultural Values

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Research into cultural values emphasizes the distinction between individualism
and collectivism, which is relevant to topics within organizational behavior.
Collectivists exhibit
• Higher levels of task performance and citizenship behaviors in work team settings
• Lower levels of counterproductive and withdrawal behaviors
• Greater commitment to employers
• Preference for group rewards versus rewards tied to individual achievement

Awareness of cultural variations is critical because differences can influence
reactions to change, conflict management styles, negotiation approaches, and
reward preferences.

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Figure 9-7 How Can We Describe What Employees
Are Like?

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How Important Are Personality and Cultural Values?
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Conscientiousness has the strongest effect on task performance.
Conscientious employees:
• Have higher levels of motivation
• Are more self-confident
• Perceive a clearer link between effort and performance
• Are more likely to set goals and commit to them

Conscientiousness is a key driver of typical performance (performance in the
routine conditions that surround daily job tasks).
Ability is a key driver of maximum performance (performance in brief, special
circumstances that demand a person’s best effort).

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1

Figure 9-8 Effects of Personality on Performance and
Commitment

Sources: M.R. Barrick, M.K. Mount, and T.A. Judge, “Personality and Performance at the Beginning of the New Millennium: What Do We Know and
Where Do We Go Next?” International Journal of Selection and Assessment 9 (2001), pp. 9–30; C.M. Berry, D.S. Ones, and P.R. Sackett, “Interpersonal
Deviance, Organizational Deviance, and Their Common Correlates: A Review and Meta-Analysis,” Journal of Applied Psychology 92 (2007), pp. 410–24;
A. Cooper-Hakim and C. Viswesvaran, “The Construct of Work Commitment: Testing an Integrative Framework,” Psychological Bulletin 131 (2005),
B. pp. 241–59; L.M. Hough and A. Furnham, “Use of Personality Variables in Work Settings,” in Handbook of Psychology, Vol. 12, ed. W.C. Borman,
C. D.R. Ilgen, and R.J. Klimoski (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2003), pp. 131–69; J.E. Mathieu and D.M. Zajac, “A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Antecedents,
D. Correlates, and Consequences of Organizational Commitment,” Psychological Bulletin 108 (1990), pp. 171–94; and J.F. Salgado, “The Big Five
E. Personality Dimensions and Counterproductive Behaviors,” International Journal of Selection and Assessment 10 (2002), pp. 117–25.
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How Important Are Personality and Cultural Values?
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Personality is more important in some contexts than in others.
Situational strength suggests that “strong situations” have clear behavioral
expectations that make differences between individuals less important.
• Personality variables tend to be more significant drivers of behavior in weak situations
than in strong situations.

Trait activation suggests that some situations provide cues that trigger the
expression of a given trait.
• Personality variables tend to be more significant drivers of behaviors in situations that
provide relevant cues than in situations in which those cues are lacking.

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Application: Personality Tests
Many companies use personality tests to assess job applicants.
• Integrity tests, also called honesty tests, focus on predisposition to counterproductive
behaviors.
• Clear purpose tests assess attitudes toward dishonesty, including confessions of past
dishonesty.
• Veiled purpose tests assess general personality traits associated with dishonesty.

Most integrity tests assess a combination of high conscientiousness, high
agreeableness, and low neuroticism along with honesty.
Even allowing for some “faking” among test-takers, personality and integrity
tests are among the most useful tools for hiring.

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Table 9-5 Sample Integrity Test Items

TYPE OF TEST

SAMPLE ITEMS

Clear Purpose

• Would you say that most people lie on their résumé?
• Have you ever taken something home from work without saying anything about it?
• If a cashier gave you too much change, do you think you’d point out the error?
• At what dollar value would theft from work become a fireable offense?

Veiled Purpose

• I rarely do things impulsively.
• I try to avoid hurting people’s feelings.
• There are people out there I’d like to get back at.
• I’m someone who follows the rules.

Source: From J.E. Wanek, P.R. Sackett, and D.S. Ones, “Towards an Understanding of Integrity Test Similarities and Differences: AN ItemLevel Analysis of Seven Tests,” Personnel Psychology 56 (2003), pp. 873-94. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Figure 9-9 The Effects of Faking on Correlations with
Integrity Tests

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Chapter 10: Ability

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