This document discusses key concepts in organizational behavior including values, generations in the workforce, cultural dimensions, and theories related to attitudes, perception, learning, and individual behavior. It provides an overview of different generations currently in the workforce and their dominant working values. It also summarizes Geert Hofstede's framework for assessing cultures, examples of cultural dimensions in different countries, and implications for understanding employee behavior across cultures. Finally, it discusses theories such as cognitive dissonance, attribution theory, and their implications for managers.

1. Dr. Edwin B. R. Gbargaye
Asst Professor
Public Management
University of Liberia

2. Values
Value - is a specific mode of
conduct which is personally or
socially preferable

3. Generations Entered
workforce
Approximate
Current Age
Dominant
working
values
Veterans 1950’s-60’s 60+ Hardworking,
conservative,
conforming,
loyalty to the
organization
Boomers 1965 - 1985 40-60 Success,
achievement,
ambitions,
dislike of
authority, loyalty
to career
Dominant Values in Today's Workforce

4. Dominant Values in Today's Workforce
Generations Entered
workforce
Approximate
Current Age
Dominant
working
values
Xers 1985- 2000 25-40 Work/Life
balance, team
oriented, dislike
of rules, loyalty
to relationship
Nexters 2000 - present Under 25 Confident,
financial
success, self
reliant but team
oriented, loyalty
to both self and
relationships

5. A Framework for Assessing
Cultures by Geert Hofstede (1993)
1. Power Distance – the degree to which
people in a country accept that power in
the institutions and organization is
distributed unequally
2. Individualism vs. Collectivism –
Individualism is the degree to which
people in a country prefer to act as
individual rather than members of groups

6. 3.Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life –
Quantity of Life is the degree to which
values such as assertiveness, the
acquisition of money and material goods,
and competition prevail. Quality of Life is
the degree to which people value
relationships show sensitivity and concern
for the welfare of other
A Framework for Assessing
Cultures by Geert Hofstede

7. 4. Uncertainty Avoidance – The degree to
which people prefer structured over
unstructured situations.
5. Long Term vs. Short Term Orientation –
People in long term orientation countries look
to the future and value thrift and persistence.
A short term orientation values the past and
present and emphasizes respect for tradition
and fulfilling social obligations
A Framework for Assessing
Cultures by Geert Hofstede

8. Examples of Cultural Dimensions
Country Power
Distance
Individualism Quantity
of Life
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Long term
Orientation
Philippines
Indonesia High Low Moderate Low Low
Liberia
Japan Moderate Moderate High Moderate Moderate
Germany Low High High Moderate Moderate
USA Low High High Low Low
Russia High Moderate Low High Low

9. Implication on Assessing
Culture
• Not all OB theories and concepts are
universally applicable in managing people
• Consider cultural values when trying to
understand the behavior of people in
different countries
• Moral flavor varies relative to individual’s
ideas as to what is right, good, or
desirable

10. Rokeach Value Survey
- Milton Rokeach created Rokeach Value
Survey (RVS) in 1973.
- The RVS consists of two set of values:
a. Terminal Values – these are goals that
a person would like to achieve during
his/her lifetime
b. Instrumental Values – means of
achieving terminal values

11. Terminal Values
Rank A comfortable life (a prosperous life)
A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution)
A world of peace (free of war and conflicts)
A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all)
Family security (taking care of love ones)
Freedom (independence, free choice)
Happiness (contentedness)
Inner Harmony (freedom from inner conflict)
Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life)
Salvation (saved, eternal life)
Social Recognition (respect, admiration)
True friendship (close companionship

12. Instrumental Values
Rank Ambitious ( hardworking, aspiring)
Capable (competent, effective)
Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)
Clean (neat and tidy)
Courageous (standing up for ones belief)
Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
Honest (sincere, truthful)
Imaginative (daring, creative)
Logical (consistent, rational)
Loving (affectionate, tender)
Obedient (dutiful, respectful)
Polite (courteous, well mannered)
Responsible (dependable, reliable)

13. Most Important Terminal Values
National
Government
Agencies
LGU Business Private

14. Most Important Instrumental Values
National
Government
Agencies
LGU Business Private

15. Implications on RVS
• RVS values vary according to
groups
• Understanding the differences
should be helpful in explaining
behavior of employees in different
organizations

16. Ethical Behavior
• Has there been a decline in
business ethics?

17. Attitudes
• Attitudes are evaluative
statements – either favorable or
unfavorable concerning objects,
people or events
• They reflect how one feels
about something

18. • A person can have thousands of attitudes
but OB focuses on a very limited job-
related attitudes such as:
a. Job satisfaction
b. Job involvement
c. Organizational commitment

19. What determines job satisfaction?
• Mentally challenging work
• Equitable rewards
• Supportive working conditions
• Supportive colleagues

20. Are satisfied workers more productive
than the dissatisfied workers?

21. “ A happy worker is a productive worker”
• Fairly small effect. The introduction of
moderating variable such as: the
behavior is not constrained or controlled
by outside factor like machine-paced
jobs ( influence by the speed of the
machine not by satisfaction level)

22. • Productivity is more likely lead to
satisfaction rather than the other way
around. If you do a good job you
intrinsically feel good about it.
• If the organization rewards
productivity, your higher productivity
should increase verbal recognition,
pay level, chance for promotion, this
will in turn level of satisfaction

23. • Satisfaction a major determinant of
positive Organizational Citizenship
Behavior (OCB). Satisfied employees
would seem more likely:
a. Talk positively about the organization
b. Help others
c. Prone to go beyond the call of duty

24. Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
- is a theory of human motivation that
asserts that it is psychologically
uncomfortable to hold contradictory
cognitions. The theory is that dissonance,
being unpleasant, motivates a person to
change his cognition, attitude, or behavior.
This theory was first explored in detail by
social psychologist Leon Festinger (1956)

25. • Suggests that people seek to minimize
dissonance and the discomfort it causes
• Degree of influence will be low if they
perceive the dissonance to be an
uncontrollable results (no choice)
• Reward or remuneration for their services
are motivated to reduce dissonance
• Dissonance should be moderated by
importance, choice, reward factors

26. What are the implications on the
theory of cognitive dissonance?
• It can predict the propensity to engage in
both attitude and behavioral change
• Dissonance should be moderated by
importance, choice, reward factors

27. Relationship Between Attitude and
Behavior
• A-B studies yield positive result
• Attitudes do influence behavior

28. Perception
Perception – is a process by
which individual organize and
interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment

29. Factors Influencing Perception
a.Factors that reside in the perceiver
b.The objects and targets being
perceived
• OB is concerned with human beings
• Our perception and judgment of a
person’s action, will be significantly
influenced by the assumptions we make
about the person’s internal state

30. Attribution Theory
• has been proposed to develop
explanation of how we judge people
differently depending on what
meaning we attribute to a given
behavior, either it was internally
(under the personal control of
individual) or externally caused
(outside forces).

31. • The determination of whether the
attribution theory is internally or externally
caused depends on three factors:
a. Distinctiveness – an individual
displays different behaviors in different
situation (uniqueness can be judged as
external attribution, if the action is not
unique, it will be judged as internal,

32. b. Consensus – everybody who is faced
with a similar situation respond the same
way over time. If the consensus is high
caused by external but if other
employees who took same route and
change conclusion is internal causation
c. Consistency – more consistent
behavior, the more the observer is
inclined to attribute to internal causes

33. Another important finding from attribution
theory is that there are errors or biases
that distorts attribution.
Fundamental Attribution Error – tendency
to underestimate the influence of external
factors and overestimate the influence of
internal or personal factors.
This is called the “self serving bias” –
feedback or review will be predictably
distorted (+ and -)

34. Shortcuts to Judging Others
• Selectivity – Individuals cannot assimilate
all they observe. Selective perception
allows ”speed read” others but not without
the risk of drawing an inaccurate picture
• Assumed similarity – “like me” effect. In
instances that people are really like them
chances are they will be right. The rest of
the time, they will be wrong

35. • Stereotyping – Judge people on the basis
of our perception of the group to which
he/she belongs. Many stereotypes have
no foundation and can distort judgment
• Halo effect – draw a single impression
about an individual on the basis of single
characteristic such as intelligence,
sociability or appearance

36. Learning
• “Its what we did went we went to
school”
• Continuously “going to school”

37. The Learning Process
Environment Law of
Effect
Shaping
Modeling
Behavior

38. Key Variables Affecting
Individual Behavior
Values
Attitudes
Personality
Ability
Motivation
Perception
Learning
Individual
behavior

39. Implications for Managers
Values
• Values strongly influence a person attitude
• Use RVS to evaluate job applicants and
determine if their values align with the
dominant values in the organization
• An employee’s performance and
satisfaction are likely to be higher if his/her
values fit well in the organization

40. Attitudes
• Attitude influence behavior
• Research on satisfaction/productivity
relationship has important
implications for managers. It suggest
that managers would get better
results by directing their attention
primarily to what will help employees
become more productive (feeling of
accomplishment, rewards, increase
pay, promotion which will lead to job
satisfaction

41. • Dissonance can be managed.
• The pressure to reduce dissonance as
are lessened when employees perceive
the dissonance as externally imposed
and beyond his/her control or if the
rewards are significant enough to offset
the dissonance

42. Perception
• Managers need to recognize that their
employees react to perception not to
reality
• Employees organize and interpret what
they see (potential for perceptual
distortions)
• Managers need to pay attention to how
employees perceive both their jobs and
management practices

43. Learning
• The only issue is whether they are
going to let employee learning occur
randomly or whether they are going to
manage learning – through the
rewards they allocate and the
examples they set

44. Reference
Revisiting Hofstede's Dimensions: Examining the Cultural ...
www.na- sinesspress.com/AJM/BergielEB_Web12_1_.pdfCached
Similar by EB Bergiel - 2012
VALUES LIST OF MILTON ROKEACH, 1973 - Mio-Ecsde
www.mio-ecsde.org/protarea/Annex_4_3_values_lists.pdf
Cognitive Dissonance Theory Leon Festinger ( 1919-1989)
www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Theory/dissonance