This document provides an overview of the learning outcomes and activities for Unit II of an organizational theory and behavior course. The unit focuses on discussing human aspects of organizations, including identifying five types of individual behavior, describing the Big Five personality dimensions, and discussing ways to improve perceptions in organizational situations. Learning activities include lessons, podcasts, essays and readings to help students meet these learning outcomes.

1. BBA 3451, Organizational Theory and Behavior 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit II
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
2. Discuss human aspects of an organization.
2.1 Identify the five types of individual behavior in
organizations.
2.2 Describe the Big Five personality dimensions and how they
relate to individual behavior in
organizations.
2.3 Discuss the ways to improve perceptions in organizational
situations.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
Learning Activity
2.1
Unit Lesson
Chapter 2: Individual Behavior, Personality, and Values, pp.
32–44, 45–51
Chapter 3: Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations
Unit II Podcast

2. Unit II Essay
2.2
Unit Lesson
Chapter 2: Individual Behavior, Personality, and Values, pp.
32–44, 45–51
Unit II Podcast
Unit II Essay
2.3
Unit Lesson
Chapter 2: Individual Behavior, Personality, and Values, pp.
32–44, 45–51
Chapter 3: Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations
Unit II Podcast
Unit II Essay
Reading Assignment
Chapter 2: Individual Behavior, Personality, and Values, pp.
32–44, 45–51
Chapter 3: Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations
Click here to access the Unit II Podcast. (Click here to access
the transcript of the Unit II Podcast.)
Unit Lesson
In the podcast below, Chantell Cooley, Dayna Fuller, and
Caroline Walters discuss ways in which personality

3. tests can be used within the workplace. Dayna, Chantell, and
Caroline share their experiences with you as
well as helpful tips.
Click here to access the Unit II Podcast. (Click here to access
the transcript of the Unit II Podcast.)
UNIT II STUDY GUIDE
Individual Behaviors and Perceiving
Ourselves and Others
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BBA 3451, Organizational Theory and Behavior 2
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Individual Behavior, Personality, and Values
To begin this unit, let us think about two entities: a large
corporation comprised of hundreds of people and a

4. major league sports team (e.g., a hockey team comprised of 25
players or a professional football team
comprised of 80 players). These
represent a good cross section of
organizational behavior. These
units face the same individual
types of behavior. Refer to the
MARS model shown in Exhibit 2.1
on page 32 of the textbook;
MARS represents motivation,
ability, role perceptions, and
situational factors (McShane &
Von Glinow, 2018). Looking at
each example in the model, they
all contribute to the five types of
individual behavior in the
workplace.
Task Performance
Within a corporation, employees need to add value to gain
market share, increase growth, maintain a
competitive advantage, and control cost for their company.
Also, their task performance can be measured
based on the task performance of other entities; therefore, good
relationships are key. For a major league
sports team, winning games, selling seats to the games, selling
season ticket packages, and winning a
championship are the overarching goals for the organization.
Organizational Citizenship
According to McShane and Von Glinow (2018), organizational
citizenship involves the relationships between

5. workers, courtesy toward others, support for each other, and the
promotion of a professional public image. In
a corporation, whether public or private, citizenship is a part of
the corporate culture as well as the image that
is projected to customers and external suppliers. From a
professional sports team’s standpoint, the
relationships between players, playing time, number of points,
number of lost games, and mistakes that are
made on the ice or field that lead to errors all contribute to the
citizenship found in an organization. From a
corporation’s standpoint, league commissioners have strict
policies on behavior that is professional regarding
conduct. Examples are spousal abuse and alcohol abuse. Such
citizenship sends the wrong message about
players’ commitment to their teammates and society. Other
areas of organizational citizenship include players
encouraging each other in critical game situations, in locker
rooms, and in conditioning settings such as the
weight room. Change is stressful, dynamically fast at times, and
extremely slow at other times. Good
organizational citizenship is the ability for every employee to
know his or her role and help others.
Counterproductive Work Behaviors
Very simply, counterproductive work behaviors are those that
go against the standards set by corporate
leadership. These behaviors do not promote good team
comradery or respect for each other. These
behaviors cause conflict and distract employees from focusing
on their task performance toward measured
goals and objectives. According to McShane and Von Glinow
(2018), counterproductive work behaviors hurt
the organization through conflict between workers, staff, a
divergence in the way work is to be performed,
personal aggression through sabotage of work practices, and

6. unethical behavior. All undermine good order
and discipline.
Joining or Staying with the Organization
Many factors influence an individual’s decision to join and stay
with an organization; these factors include
culture, pay, job interest, and advancement. According to Iqbal
and Hashmi (2015), a culture of
empowerment, quality leadership, and management support are
factors that contribute to retention and hiring.
Think about all of these factors. They are important to you;
however, for each one of us, there is a different
order of importance. Some consider the culture to be most
important, some may simply want to immerse
A cross section of a corporate entity and professional sports
teams
(McShane & Von Glinow, 2018)
BBA 3451, Organizational Theory and Behavior 3
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
themselves in the job tasks and integrate skill sets to contribute
to corporate vision, and some may be driven
by pay and benefits. A good example of this is in the medical
and biotechnological career field. Scientists and
technicians work hard every day to find cures for cancer and

7. other diseases, where solutions are few and far
between and failures are high. According to Iqbal and Hashmi
(2015), it takes 13 years to approve a drug for
release to the public. This is due to stringent testing, a lack of
qualified researchers (scientists) to work on the
development of the drug, and uncertainty of regulatory policies
regarding whether the drug will be approved
after years of development.
In a professional football scenario, all of the same factors apply
but are instead driven by job performance
with goals, assists, yards gained, touchdowns, and more. The
intangible factor is age. The older an athlete
gets, the harder performance is to maintain because of the brutal
nature of the sport on the body. Young draft
picks are the pipeline to replace aging veterans. Some choose to
leave because of free agency and the ability
to sign more lucrative financial contracts.
Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations
Have you ever really sat back and asked yourself who you are or
what the meaning is behind someone’s
actions? These questions are referring to personality.
Personality refers to the thoughts and actions of a
person and the reasons behind these thoughts and actions
(McShane & Von Glinow, 2018). Additionally,
there are five types of individual behaviors that can be found
within an organization, and these include
conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to
experience and extraversion (McShane & Von
Glinow, 2018).
Conscientiousness produces characteristics of being organized,
dependable, goal focused, and disciplined.
Reaching back to previous paragraphs, we can see how

8. conscientiousness fits directly into the MARS model
and individual behavior. Agreeableness is a large factor, and
this category is based on trustworthiness and
selflessness. Again, the ability for people to work together,
share ideas, and create win-win situations is very
important. Neuroticism deals with the internal behaviors that
cannot always be detectable to others such as
depression and insecurity. As managers, friends, and leaders,
not all of us are psychologists. We do not have
the ability to internally analyze someone. We usually ask
questions of others when we see abnormal behavior
by saying; “Are you alright?” At this point, the best solution
may be to have the individual seek professional
assistance. The final two personality dimensions are openness to
experience through creativity and
imaginative actions as well as extraversion, which describes
someone who is outgoing, energetic, or talkative.
Let’s now go a little deeper into perceiving others and
ourselves. The Big Five characteristics have framed
some behaviors that we have probably seen, although we may
not always consider the characteristics as
being the true source of the behaviors. As noted from the
history and continual validation of the Big Five
personality test, the test helps us
get a framework of who we are. By
knowing who we are, we are more
aware of how others see us and
how they react to our behaviors.
Realize that everyone is different.
We all are not extroverts, nor are
we all introverts. The five
categories of the Big Five
personality test are listed below,
and as you review them, consider

9. how each personality type could
impact an organization, a sports
team, or other individuals.
-mindedness: You are relatively open to new
experiences.
-organized and can be relied
upon.
energetic.
irritable.
tense situations.
So, why is this so important? The benefits are very simple. By
knowing yourself and knowing the personality
composition of others, you will be able to more effectively and
efficiently communicate, negotiate, handle
The five categories of the Big Five personality test
(Wyatt, 2017)
BBA 3451, Organizational Theory and Behavior 4
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE

10. Title
conflict, and comprehend the perspectives of others on issues.
That is the underlying foundation of
organizational behavior.
Ways to Improve Perceptions in Organizational Situations
McShane and Von Glinow (2018) introduce three ways to
improve perceptions in organizational situations.
1. Become more aware of who people are and their existence
(personal characteristics).
2. Become more aware of our perceptions of who people are
through our decisions and behaviors.
3. By working on the aforementioned, we can be more effective
in communicating, perceiving,
cooperating, and working with others. Barriers will come down
and biases will be eliminated through
meaningful interactions.
Behaviors, personalities, and values—what a mix of intangible
things that are within and outside our control in
our daily environment! Each of these play an important part in
organizational behavior, teamwork,
individualism, and the ability to meet company goals. The
bottom line is to produce results for ourselves and
our company. By learning about behavior, the types of behavior,
and the effects of behavior on others, we can
all be better individuals, leaders, managers, and team players by
having a stronger and broader foundation in
decision-making and dealing with emotions.

11. References
Hashmi, M. S., & Iqbal, S. (2015). Impact of perceived
organizational support on employee retention with
mediating role of psychological empowerment. Pakistan Journal
of Commerce and Social Sciences,
9(1), 18–34.
McShane, S. L., & Von Glinow, M. A. (2018). Organizational
behavior: Emerging knowledge, global reality
(8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Suggested Reading
In order to access the following resources, click the links
below.
This study, which was published by the Government Accounting
Office (GAO), outlines the hurdles and
challenges for companies to bring a drug to market.
Aronovitz, L. G. (2006). New drug development: Science,
business, regulatory, and intellectual property
issues cited as hampering drug development efforts. Retrieved
from
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This article reviews a study conducted in Pakistan with regard
to the retention of employees within higher
levels of education. What was being measured through the
survey was the perceived level of empowerment
and organizational support to the impact on the work produced.
Hashmi, M. S., & Iqbal, S. (2015). Impact of perceived
organizational support on employee retention with
mediating role of psychological empowerment. Pakistan Journal
of Commerce and Social Sciences,
9(1), 18–34. Retrieved from
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