OB foundations, personality, perception, values and attitudes
OB studies how individuals, groups and structure shape behaviour at work. At the individual level, personality, perception, values and attitudes explain why people act differently.
Keith Davis's models of OB
| Model | Depends on | Employee orientation | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autocratic | Power | Obedience; dependence on the boss | Minimum performance |
| Custodial | Economic resources | Security and benefits; dependence on the organisation | Passive cooperation |
| Supportive | Leadership | Job performance; participation | Awakened drives |
| Collegial | Partnership | Responsible behaviour; self-discipline | Moderate enthusiasm |
| System | Trust, community and meaning | Psychological ownership; self-motivation | Passion and commitment |
Significance, approaches and contributing disciplines
- OB helps managers explain, predict and influence behaviour at three levels: individual, group and organisation system.
- Davis and Newstrom's four approaches to OB: human resources (supportive), contingency, results-oriented (productivity) and systems.
- Psychology contributes learning, personality, perception and motivation; social psychology contributes attitude change and group processes.
- Sociology contributes groups, structure and culture; anthropology contributes cross-cultural values; political science contributes power and conflict.
- The Hawthorne studies (Mayo, Roethlisberger, Dickson) started the human relations movement. Hawthorne effect: people change behaviour when they know they are being observed.
Personality theories NET pairs with authors
| Theory or measure | Author | Key idea |
|---|---|---|
| Big Five (OCEAN) | Costa and McCrae (NEO-PI) | Five broad traits; conscientiousness predicts job performance best |
| MBTI | Isabel Myers and Katharine Briggs, from Carl Jung | Four pairs (E/I, S/N, T/F, J/P) give 16 types |
| 16 PF | Raymond Cattell | 16 source traits |
| Cardinal, central and secondary traits | Gordon Allport | Traits differ in how widely they shape behaviour |
| Type A and Type B | Friedman and Rosenman | Type A: hurried, competitive, impatient; linked to heart disease |
| Locus of control | Julian Rotter | Internals feel they control outcomes; externals credit luck or others |
| Immaturity-maturity theory | Chris Argyris | People grow from passive dependence to active independence; rigid organisations block this |
| Id, ego, superego | Sigmund Freud | Psychoanalytic view of personality |
Perception: process, errors and attribution
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Perception process | Selection → organisation → interpretation of what the senses receive |
| Selective perception | Noticing only what fits one's interests, background or attitudes |
| Halo effect | One trait colours the whole judgement (term from Thorndike, 1920) |
| Stereotyping | Judging a person by the group he or she belongs to |
| Projection | Assuming others share one's own traits or feelings |
| Contrast effect | Judging someone against the person just seen, not against a standard |
| Self-fulfilling prophecy (Pygmalion effect) | Expectations about a person lead that person to behave as expected |
| Fundamental attribution error | Underrating external causes and overrating internal causes when judging others |
| Self-serving bias | Crediting one's success to oneself and failure to outside factors |
Kelley's attribution theory (1967)
| Cue | Question asked | Points to an internal cause when |
|---|---|---|
| Distinctiveness | Does the person behave differently in other situations? | Low: the behaviour is usual for this person |
| Consensus | Do others behave the same way in this situation? | Low: others do not |
| Consistency | Does the person behave this way over time? | High: the person always does |
Values and attitudes
Meyer and Allen split commitment into affective (want to stay), continuance (need to stay) and normative (ought to stay).
NET asks you to match personality and perception concepts with their authors, apply Kelley's three attribution cues, and sequence Davis's models of OB.
Typical MCQ: “In Kelley's attribution theory, which pattern leads to an internal attribution?” Low distinctiveness, low consensus and high consistency. Trap: high consensus (everyone does it) points to an external cause.
Typical MCQ: “How many terminal and instrumental values are in the Rokeach Value Survey?” 18 of each. Trap: 16 belongs to Cattell's 16 PF and to the 16 MBTI types.
Typical MCQ: “Which of Davis's models of OB depends on economic resources?” The custodial model; it yields security and passive cooperation. Trap: the supportive model depends on leadership.
Big Five is OCEAN. Kelley's internal pattern reads low, low, high: distinctiveness, consensus, consistency.