BUS 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Workplace Aggression, Conscientiousness, Extraversion And Introversion
8 Dec 2017
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Forms of Employee Behaviour
Employee behaviour
• The pattern of actions by the members of an organization that directly or indirectly influences
the organization’s behaviour
• Performance behaviour involves performing a job
Organizational citizenship
• Provide positive benefits to the organization in indirect ways
o High quantity and quality, willing to work overtime, helps newcomers
Counterproductive behaviour
• Behaviours that detract from organizational performance
o Tardiness (being late)
o Absentee- employee is absent (either legitimately or not) resulting in the work not
getting done or other people having to pick up the slack
o Turnover- someone quit their job
▪ Nature of the job, nature of supervision, poor person-job fit, external labour
market, family influences
o Theft and sabotage
o Sexual and racial harassment
o Workplace aggression and violence
Individual Differences Among Employees
Individual Differences- personal attributes that vary from one person to another
Personality
Personality- Relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another
• Agreeableness- a person’s ability to get along with others
o Gentle, cooperative, forgiving, understanding, good natured
• Conscientiousness- number of things a person tries to accomplish at one time. The fewer the
number of things the more likely the person is to be organized, systemic, careful, thorough,
responsible and self disciplined (high conscientious)
• Emotionality- degree to which people tend to be positive or negative in their outlook and
behaviours towards others
o Positive emotionality- better at handling job stress, pressure and tension, seen as more
reliable
o Negative emotionality- insecure, reactive, subject to mood swings
• Extraversion- a person’s comfort level with relationships
o Extroverts- sociable, talkative, assertive, open to new relationships. More attracted to
jobs in sales and marketing. Typically higher job performers
o Introverts- less sociable, not talkative, not assertive, not open to new relationships
• Openness- how open or rigid a person is in terms of his or her beliefs
o People with high levels of openness are curious and willing to listen to new ideas and
change their own ideas and beliefs. Better workers due to flexibility
Emotional Intelligence (or emotional quotient)- the extent to which people are self aware, can manage
their emotions, can motivate themselves, express empathy for others, and possess social skills
• Not biologically based, can be developed
• High emotional intelligence leads to better performance in jobs requiring interpersonal
interaction and directing work of others
Other Personality traits
• Locus of control- extent to which a person believes that their behaviour has a real effect on
what happens to them
o Internal- believe they control what happens to them
o External- believe fate or luck controls what happens to them
• Self efficacy- belief in capabilities to perform a task
o High- believe they can perform well in specific task, be more self assured and better
able to focus attention on performance
• Authoritarianism- believes that power and status differences are appropriate within social
systems
• Machiavellianism- gain power and control
o High- rational and non-emotional, may be willing to lie to achieve goals, little emphasis
on loyalty, enjoy manipulation
• Self esteem- believes that he or she is a worthwhile and deserving individual
o High- more likely to seek high status jobs, be more confident in ability to achieve higher
performance,
o Low- less confident in ability, focus more on extrinsic awards (like money)
• Risk propensity- willingness to take risks and make risky decisions
o High- experiment with new ideas, gamble on new products, take financial risks
Attitudes at Work
Attitudes- a person’s beliefs and feelings about specific ideas, situations or people
• Formed by values, experiences and personalities
• Cognition- knowledge person has about something or someone
o Cognitive dissonance- when cognition and perception do not match
• Affect- feelings towards something or someone
• Intention- what guides a persons behaviour (not always translated into real behaviour though)
Job satisfaction- the extent to which people have positive attitudes towards their jobs
• Morale- refers to overall attitude towards workplace
• Absent less often, good organizational citizens, stay with the organization
• Does not always mean high level of job productivity
Organizational commitment- an individuals identification with the organization and its mission
• Employees see themselves as true members of the firm, overlook minor sources of
dissatisfaction, and see themselves remaining members
• Improved by giving employees a voice
Matching People and Jobs
Matching the person and the job:
• Psychological Contracts- the set of expectations held by an employee concerning what he or
she will contribute to an organization (contributions) and what the organization will provide the
employee (inducements) in return
o If there is inequity in the contract one party will seek a change
• The person-job fit- the extent to which a person’s contributions and the organization’s
inducements match one another
o Results in higher performance and more positive attitudes
Motivation in the Workplace
Motivation- the set of forces that causes people to behave in certain ways
Classical Theory- presumes workers are motivated almost solely by money
• Paying them more money would increase productivity
• Scientific management- break jobs into easily repeated components and devise more efficient
ways of performing them
Early Behaviour Theory- productivity increases when attention is paid to employees
• Raising pay does not increase productivity
• Hawthorne Effect- the tendency for workers’ productivity to increase when they feel they are
getting special attention from management
o Human relations- interactions between employers and employees and their attitudes
towards one another
The Human Resource Model: Theories X and Y
Theory X- A management approach based on the belief that people must be forced to be productive
because they are naturally lazy, irresponsible and uncooperative
Theory Y- belief that people want to be productive because they are naturally energetic, responsible and
cooperative
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs- describes five levels of human needs and arguing that basic needs must
be fulfilling before people work to satisfy high level needs
• Physiological needs- satisfy survival instincts. Food, water, shelter, sleep
o Base of the pyramid
o In the workplace this is the salary paid to employees
• Security needs- needs for stability and protection against the unknown
o Pension plans and job security
• Social needs- satisfy need for companionship
o Making friends at work
• Esteem needs- need for status, recognition, and self respect
o Job titles
• Self actualization needs- need for self fulfillment
o Grow and develop one’s capabilities and to achieve new goals
o Challenging job assignments
Point of Pyramid
