Organization

al Behavior

Chang Y.
Session
2
FOUNDATION OF
INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOR &
Nov, 2024
Gambella, Ethiopia
LEARNING IN AN
ORGANIZATION
 2.1 Perception
Perception
• A process by which individuals
organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give
What is meaning to their environment.
Perception
• It is the process of receiving
?
information about and making
sense of the world around us.
• It entails determining which
information to notice, how to
categorize this information, and
how to interpret it within the
framework of our existing
knowledge.
 Perception…

Because
Why is • People’s behavior is based
on their perception of what
perceptio reality is, not on reality
n itself.
importan
• The world as it is perceived
t in OB? is the world that is
behaviorally important.
The perceptual process
 The perception process
The process of attending to
some information received by
our senses and ignoring other
Selectiv
information
e
attenti
on Selective attention is
influenced by characteristics
of the person or object being
perceived, particularly size,
intensity, motion, repetition,
and novelty or familiarity
 The perception process
 When information is received
through the senses, our brain
quickly and nonconsciously
assesses whether it is relevant or
Emotion irrelevant to us and then
al attaches emotional markers
marker (worry, happiness, boredom) to
that information.
The emotional markers help us
to store information in memory;
they also reproduce the same
emotions when we are
subsequently thinking about this
information.
 The perception process
People make sense of information even
before they become aware of it.
This sense making partly includes
categorical thinking —the mostly
nonconscious process of organizing
people and objects into preconceived
Perceptual categories that are stored in our long-
organizatio term memory
n and The process of “making sense” of the
world around us also involves
interpretati interpreting incoming information.
on This happens quickly as selecting and
organizing because the previously
mentioned emotional markers are
tagged to incoming stimuli, which are
essentially quick judgments about
whether that information is good or bad
 The perception process
are internal representations of
the external world.
They consist of visual or
relational images in our mind,
such as what the classroom
looks like or, conceptually,
Mental what happens when we submit
Models an assignment late.
We rely on mental models to
make sense of our environment
through perceptual grouping;
the models fill in the missing
pieces, including the causal
 The perception process
 Social identity theory
explains the dynamics of
social perception —how we
perceive others.
 Social perception is
Social influenced by three
identity activities in the process of
forming and maintaining
our social identity:
categorization,
homogenization, and
 The perception process
is an extension of social
identity theory and a
product of our natural
process of organizing
information through
Stereotypi categorical thinking
ng  When we judge someone
on the basis of our
perception of the group to
which he or she belongs,
we are using the shortcut
Factors That Influence Perception
 2.2 Attitude
The way a person feels about something- a
person, a place, a commodity, a situation
or an idea.
In other words, attitudes are the set or
cluster of beliefs towards objects, events
and situation.
According to Gordon Allport, Attitude
Definitio defined as a-“mental and neural state of
n readiness, organized through experience,
exerting a directive or dynamic influence
upon the individual’s response to all
objects and situation with which it is
related”.
By analyzing the above, attitude is refers
to a persistent tendency to feel and behave
in a particular way toward some object.
 Component of work attitude

Work attitudes, like job

satisfaction and organizational
commitment, are made up of
three components:
1. Feelings, the affective
Componen
component;
ts
2. Beliefs, the cognitive
component; and
3. Thoughts about how to behave,
the behavioral component
Each component of a work
attitude influences and tends to
Component of work attitude
 Formation of attitude
Direct 1. Attitudes can develop from a personally
experience rewarding or punishing experience with
with the an object. Employees form attitudes
object about jobs on their previous experiences.

2.
One of the basic processes underlying
attitude formation can be explained on the
basis of learning principles. People develop
associations between various objects and the
Classical emotional reactions that accompany them.
Conditionin e.g:-we may come to hold positive attitude
g and towards a particular perfume because a
favorite model wears it
Attitudes
 Formation of attitude
Vicarious 3. This refers to formation of attitudes by observing
learning and behavior of others and consequences of that behavior.
mass We also learn vicariously through television, films
communicatio and other media.
n For example: Movies that glorify violence reinforce
positive attitudes regarding aggression.

4. A person may learn attitudes through imitation of

family members or peers.

Attitude towards the opposite sex, religion, tolerance or

prejudice, education, occupations, political parties,
Family and and almost all other areas where attitudes are capable
of expression are the result of our accepting or
Peer groups
rejecting the attitudes held by members of our family.
 Formation of attitude
5. The neighbourhood in which we live has
certain cultural facilities, religious
groupings and ethnic differences.
Neighbourhoo
The people belonging to different cultures
d
have different attitudes and behaviors. Some
of these we accept and some of these we
deny

6. Our economic and occupational positions

Economic also contribute to attitudes formation. They
status and determine, in part, our attitudes towards
Occupations unions and management and our belief that
certain laws are “good” or “bad”.
Our socio-economic background influences our
 Sources of attitude

What are sources for attitude formation?

 Types of job attitudes
1. Job Satisfaction

When people speak of employee

attitudes, they usually mean job
satisfaction, which describes a
What Are positive feeling about a job,
the Major resulting from an evaluation of its
Job characteristics.
Attitudes? A person with a high level of job
satisfaction holds positive feelings
about his or her job, while a
person with a low level holds
negative feelings.
 Types of job attitudes
2. Job Involvement
which measures the degree to which people
identify psychologically with their job and
consider their perceived performance level
important to self-worth.
Employees with a high level of job involvement
strongly identify with and really care about the
kind of work they do.
What Are Another closely related concept is psychological
the Major empowerment, employees’ beliefs in the degree
to which they influence their work environment,
Job their competence, the meaningfulness of their
Attitudes? job, and their perceived autonomy

High levels of both job involvement and

psychological empowerment are positively
related to organizational citizenship and job
performance.
High job involvement is also related to reduced
absences and lower resignation rates
 Types of job attitudes
3. Organizational Commitment
In organizational commitment, an
employee identifies with a
particular organization and its
goals and wishes to remain a
What Are member.
the Major
Job A positive relationship appears to
Attitudes? exist between organizational
commitment and job productivity
employees who are committed will
be less likely to engage in work
withdrawal even if they are
dissatisfied, because they have a
 Types of job attitudes
4. Employee Engagement
 A new concept is employee
engagement , an individual’s
involvement with, satisfaction with, and
enthusiasm for, the work she does.
We might ask employees whether they
What Are have access to resources and the
opportunities to learn new skills,
the Major whether they feel their work is
Job important and meaningful, and whether
Attitudes? their interactions with co-workers and
supervisors are rewarding
Highly engaged employees have a
passion for their work and feel a deep
connection to their company;
disengaged employees have essentially
checked out—putting time but not
 2.3 Personality
The relatively enduring pattern of
thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that
characterize a person, along with the
psychological processes behind those
characteristics.
It is, in essence, the bundle of
characteristics that make us similar to or
different from other people.
Definitio We estimate an individual’s personality by
n what he or she says and does, and we infer
the person’s internal states—including
thoughts and emotions—from these
observable behaviors.
A basic premise of personality theory is
that people have inherent characteristics
or traits that can be identified by the
consistency or stability of their behavior
across time and situations
 Determinants of personality

What
determine Most experts now agree that
s an personality is shaped by both
individual’ nature and nurture, although the
relative importance of each
s continues to be debated and
personality studied.
?
 Determinants of personality
Nature refers to our genetic or
hereditary origins— the genes that we
inherit from our parents

Studies of identical twins, particularly

those separated at birth, reveal that
heredity has a very large effect on
Natur personality; up to 50 percent of variation
e in behavior and 30 percent of
temperament preferences can be
attributed to a person’s genetic
characteristics.
In other words, genetic code not only
determines our eye color, skin tone, and
physical shape but also has a significant
effect on our attitudes, decisions, and
 Determinants of personality

Although personality is heavily

influenced by heredity, it is also
affected to some degree by nurture
—the person’s socialization, life
experiences, and other forms of
Nurtu interaction with the environment.
re
Studies have found that the stability
of an individual’s personality
increases up to at least age 30 and
possibly to age 50, indicating that
some personality development and
change occurs when people are
 Five factor model of personality

Conscientiousness characterizes
people who are
 careful,
 dependable, and
1.  self-disciplined.
Conscien Some scholars argue that this
t- dimension also includes the will to
ousness achieve.
People with low conscientiousness
tend to be careless, less thorough,
more disorganized, and
irresponsible.
Five factor model of personality
This dimension includes the traits
of being
 courteous,
 good-natured,
2.  empathic, and caring.
Agreeabl Some scholars prefer the label
“friendly compliance” for this
e-ness .
dimension, with its opposite being
“hostile noncompliance.”
People with low agreeableness tend
to be uncooperative, short-
tempered, and irritable
Five factor model of personality

Neuroticism characterizes
people with high levels of
anxiety,
hostility,
[Link] depression, and self-
m consciousness.
In contrast, people with low
neuroticism (high emotional
stability) are poised, secure,
and calm.
Five factor model of personality
This dimension generally refers
to the extent to which people
are
 imaginative,
4.  creative,
Openness  curious, and
to  aesthetically sensitive.
experience Those who score low on this
dimension tend to be more
resistant to change, less open to
new ideas, and more
conventional and fixed in their
Five factor model of personality
Extroversion characterizes people who
are
 outgoing,
 talkative,
 sociable, and
 assertive.

5. The opposite is introversion, which

characterizes those who are quiet, shy,
Extroversi and cautious.
on Extroverts get their energy from the
outer world (people and things around
them), whereas introverts get their
energy from the internal world, such as
personal reflection on concepts and
ideas.
Introverts feel quite comfortable being
alone, whereas extroverts do not.
Five factor model of personality
 These five personality dimensions are not
independent of each other.
 Some experts suggest that conscientiousness,
agreeableness, and low neuroticism (high
emotional stability) represent a common
underlying characteristic broadly described as
“getting along”; people with these traits are
aware of and more likely to abide by rules and
norms of society.
 The other two dimensions share the common
underlying factor called “getting ahead”; people
with high scores on extroversion and openness
to experience exhibit more behaviors aimed at
achieving goals, managing their environment,
and advancing themselves in teams
 2.4 Learning
Learning is a relatively permanent
change in behavior (or behavioral
tendency) that occurs as a result
of a person’s interaction with the
environment.
Learning occurs when the learner
Definitio behaves differently.
n For example, you have “learned”
computer skills when you operate
the keyboard and software more
quickly than before.
Learning occurs when interaction
with the environment leads to
behavior change.
 Nature of Learning
Change
in  Learning involves change in
Behavio behavior, although the change may
r be good or bad from an
organization’s point of view.

 Change in behavior must be

relatively permanent
 To constitute learning, change
should be relatively permanent.
 Temporary changes may be only
Permane reflective and fail to represent any
 Nature of Learning
Change must be based on
some experience, practice or
training
 The behavioral change may also influenced by
experience, practice or training.
 This change may not be evident until a
situation arises in which the new behavior can
occur.
 For example:-any change in behavior due to
physical maturation, any disease or physical
damages do not constitute learning
 Types of Learning
 learning that occurs through
observing the behavior of others.
 Observational learning is a form
of social learning where it is
concerned with learning by
watching others
 Observational learning always
1.
occurs through attention,
Observation
retention, production and
al learning motivation.
 For example: (1) A child learns to
interact with other people by
observing their parents;
 (2) A newer employee avoids
being late to work after seeing a
co-worker fired for being late
 Types of learning
 Reinforcement is a process
of strengthening desirable
behaviors, often through
the use of rewards.
2.  Reinforcement is the
Reinforceme attempt to develop or
nt strengthen desirable
behavior.
 There are two types of
reinforcement in
organizational behavior:
positive and negative.
 Types of Learning
 Strengthens and enhances
behavior by the presentation
of positive reinforcers.
 There are primary
reinforcers and secondary
Positive reinforcers.
reinforceme  Primary reinforce satisfy
nt basic biological needs and
include food and water.
 Where secondary reinforcers
include such benefits as
money, status, grades,
trophies and praise from
 Types of Learning

an unpleasant event that

precedes a behavior is
removed when the
Negative desired behavior occurs.
reinforceme For example, Supervisors
nt
apply negative
reinforcement when they
stop criticizing
employees whose poor
performance has
 Types of Learning
Punishment is an
undesirable consequence an
employee receives for bad
behavior.
Punishment
This can involve actions like
demoting the employee or
suspending the employee.

Extinction Extinction is the elimination

of a behavior.
This type of behavior
modification should be
 Types of Learning
 is a type of learning that is active,
constructive, and long-lasting.
 It engages students in the
learning processes, teaching them
to use their brains more
effectively to make connections
when learning new things.
3.  Comprehension, Application and
Cognitive Memory are the basic factors that
learning influences cognitive learning.
 In other words, the cognitive
learning process aims to chart the
learning process for optimal
thinking, understanding and
retention of what we learn
 Types of Learning
 Learning that occurs when
learners explore, question, react,
and respond to learning material
relevant to their needs.
 Also known as self-concept or self-
4. Self initiated learning
 self-directed learning describes a
directing process in which individuals take
learning the initiative, with or without the
help of others, in diagnosing their
learning needs, formulating
learning goals, identifying human
and material resources for
learning, choosing and
implementing appropriate
 Types of Learning
 Experiential learning is a
method of educating through
first-hand experience. For
Example:- internships,
studies abroad, field trips,
field research, and service-
5. learning projects.
Experimenta  In other words, it is a process
l learning whereby knowledge is created
through the transformation
of experience.
 Knowledge results from the
combinations of grasping and
transforming the experience.
 Theories of Learning
 it is the process of learning to associate a
particular thing in our environment with
a prediction of what will happen next.
 The classical conditioning was first
constructed by Ivan Pavlov, the Russian
psychologist.
 Pavlov presented one dog with a piece of
1. meat, the dog exhibited a noticeable
increase in salivation.
Classical  When Pavlov withheld the presentation of
conditioni meat and merely rang a bell, the dog did
not salivate.
ng  Then Pavlov proceeded to link the meat
and the ringing of the bell.
 After repeatedly hearing the bell before
getting the food, the dog began to
salivate as soon as the bell rang. After a
while, the dog would salivate merely at
the sound of the bell, even if no food was
 Theories of Learning
 Operant conditioning learns
that a particular behavior is
usually followed by a reward or
punishment.
 Operant conditioning argues that
one’s behavior will depend on
2. Operant different situations.
 People will repeatedly behave in a
conditioni specific way from where they will get
ng benefits.
 On the other hand, they will try to
avoid a behavior from where they will
get nothing. Skinner argued that
creating pleasing consequences to
specific forms of behavior would
increase the frequency of that
 Theories of Learning

 Cognition refers to an
individual’s thoughts,
knowledge of interpretations,
3. understandings, or ideas
about himself, and his
Cognitive environment.
theory  This is a process of learning
through active and
constructive thought
processes, such as a practice
or using our memory
 Theories of Learning

 The social learning theory

also called observational
learning, stresses the ability
4. Social of an individual to learn by
Learning observing what happens to
other people and just by
Theory
being told about something.
 One can learn things by
observing models, parents,
teachers, peers, motion
pictures, TV artists, bosses,
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