Individual differences

Comportement organisationnel
Différences individuelles

© 2003 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 2–2
Comportement organisationnel

Contributing Disciplines Within the OB Field
 Psychologie
 Sociologie
 Psychologie sociale
 Anthropologie
 Sciences politiques


Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

There Are Few Absolutes in OB
Contingency
Variablesx y

Primary dependent variables
Dependent variables are the key factors that you want to
explain or predict and that are affected by some other
factor.
– Productivity
– Absenteeism
– Turnover
– Organizational citizenship
– Job satisfaction

The Dependent Variables (cont’d)

The Independent Variables
Independent
Variables
Individual-Level
Variables
Organization
System-Level
Variables
Group-Level
Variables

Organization Level variables
 Organizational behavior reaches its highest level
of sophistication when we add formal structure.
 The design of the formal organization, work
processes, and jobs; the organization’s human
resource policies and practices, and the internal
culture, all have an impact.

Group-level variables
 The behavior of people in groups is more than the
sum total of all the individuals acting in their own
way.
 People behave differently in groups than they do
when alone.
 People in groups are influenced by:
– Acceptable standards of behavior by the group
– Degree of attractiveness to each other
– Communication patterns
– Leadership and power
– Levels of conflict

Individual-level variables
 People enter organizations with certain
characteristics that will influence their behavior at
work.
 The more obvious of these are personal or
biographical characteristics such as age, gender,
and marital status; personality characteristics; an
inherent emotional framework; values and
attitudes; and basic ability levels.
 There is little management can do to alter them,
yet they have a very real impact on employee
behavior.
 Four other individual-level variables: perception,
individual decision making, learning, and
motivation.

Biographical Characteristics

Ability

• Number aptitude
• Verbal comprehension
• Perceptual speed
• Inductive reasoning
• Deductive reasoning
• Spatial visualization
• Memory
Dimensions of
Intellectual Ability

Physical Ability

Other Factors
• Body coordination
• Balance
• Stamina
Nine Physical Abilities
Strength Factors
• Dynamic strength
• Trunk strength
• Static strength
• Explosive strength Flexibility Factors
• Extent flexibility
• Dynamic flexibility

Ability-Job
Fit
The Ability-Job Fit
Employee’s
Abilities
Job’s Ability
Requirements

Behavior Modification
Problem-solving Model
• Identify critical behaviors
• Develop baseline data
• Identify behavioral consequences
• Apply intervention
• Evaluate performance improvement

OB MOD Organizational Applications
 Well Pay versus Sick Pay
– Reduce absenteeism by rewarding attendance, not
absence.
 Employee Discipline
– The use of punishment can be counter-productive.
 Developing Training Programs
– OB MOD methods improve training effectiveness.
 Self-management
– Reduces the need for external management control.

Other Individual Differences
 In addition to biographical data, we look at
individual:
– Values
– Culture
– Attitudes
– Personality
to help explain differences in the dependent
variables.

Values

Types of Values

Values in
the
Rokeach
Survey

Values in
the
Rokeach
Survey
(cont’d)

Mean Value Rankings of
Executives, Union
Members, and Activists

Dominant Work Values in Today’s Workforce

Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures

Hofstede’s Framework (cont’d)

The GLOBE
Framework
for
Assessing
Cultures
• Assertiveness
• Future Orientation
• Gender differentiation
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Power distance
• Individual/collectivism
• In-group collectivism
• Power orientation
• Humane orientation

Attitudes

Types of Attitudes

The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Desire to reduce dissonance
• Importance of elements creating dissonance
• Degree of individual influence over elements
• Rewards involved in dissonance

Measuring the A-B Relationship
 Recent research indicates that the attitudes (A)
significantly predict behaviors (B) when
moderating variables are taken into account.
Moderating Variables
• Importance of the attitude
• Specificity of the attitude
• Accessibility of the attitude
• Social pressures on the individual
• Direct experience with the attitude

Self-Perception Theory

An Application: Attitude Surveys

Sample Attitude Survey

Job Satisfaction
 Measuring Job Satisfaction
– Single global rating
– Summation score
 How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs?
– Job satisfaction declined to 50.7% in 2000
– Decline attributed to:
• Pressures to increase productivity
• Less control over work

The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee
Performance
 Satisfaction and Productivity
– Satisfied workers aren’t necessarily more productive.
– Worker productivity is higher in organizations with
more satisfied workers.
 Satisfaction and Absenteeism
– Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.
 Satisfaction and Turnover
– Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
– Organizations take actions to cultivate high performers
and to weed out lower performers.

Responses to Job Dissatisfaction

How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction

Job Satisfaction and OCB
 Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship
Behavior (OCB)
– Satisfied employees who feel fairly treated by and are
trusting of the organization are more willing to engage
in behaviors that go beyond the normal expectations of
their job.

Individual differences

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