Foundations Of Individual

Behavior
 MARS Model of Individual Behavior

Role
Perceptions
Values
Personality Motivation
Individual
Perceptions Behavior and
Emotions Results
Ability
Attitudes
Situational
Stress
Factors
 Employee Motivation

Internal forces that affect a person’s voluntary choice

of behavior
 direction
 intensity
 persistence

R
M
BAR
A
S
 Employee Ability

Natural aptitudes and learned capabilities

required to successfully complete a task
 competencies − personal characteristics that lead to
superior performance
 person − job matching
select qualified people
develop employee
abilities through training
redesign job to fit R
person's existing abilities M
BAR
A
S
 Employee Role Perceptions

Beliefs about what behavior is required to achieve

the desired results:
 understanding what tasks to perform
 understanding relative importance of tasks
 understanding preferred
behaviors to accomplish tasks

R
M
BAR
A
S
 Situational Factors

Environmental conditions beyond the individual’s

short-term control that constrain or facilitate
behavior
 time
 people
 budget
 work facilities
R
M
BAR
A
S
Types of Behavior in Organizations

Task
Performance

Maintaining
Types of Organizational
Work Citizenship
Attendance Work-Related
Behavior
Joining/Staying Counter-
with the Productive
Organization Behaviors
 Schwartz’s Values Model
Self-transcendence

Openness
to Change Conservation

Self-enhancement
 Values Congruence

 Values congruence -- where two or more entities have

similar value systems
 Consequences of incongruence
 Incompatible decisions
 Lower satisfaction and commitment
 Increased stress and turnover
 Benefits of incongruence
 Better decision making
 Enhanced problem definition
 Prevents “corporate cults”
 Hyundai Crosses Cultures in Alabama

© AP Photo/Yonhap

 When Korean automobile giant Hyundai Motor

Company recently opened its manufacturing
plant in Montgomery, Alabama, local residents
and Hyundai executives alike paid close
attention to differences in Korean and American
cultural values.
 Individualism- Collectivism

High
Peru

Italy
Taiwan Portugal
Zimbabwe
Collectivism

China
Turkey
Mexico Chile
Hong
Kong Korea U.S.A.
France
Japan
Egypt
Low
Low Individualism High
 Power Distance
High Power Distance

China
The degree that people
Russia accept an unequal
distribution of power in
society

Japan

U.S.A.

Netherland
s
Low Power Distance
 Uncertainty Avoidance
High U. A.

Japan
France The degree that people tolerate
ambiguity (low) or feel threatened
by ambiguity and uncertainty (high
uncertainty avoidance).

China
U.S.A.

Singapore

Low U. A.
 Achievement-Nurturing
Achievement

Japan
U.S.A. The degree that people value
assertiveness, competitiveness, and
materialism (achievement) versus
relationships and well-being of
China others (nurturing)

Sweden

Nurturing
 Long/Short-Term Orientation
Long-Term Orientation

China
Japan The degree that people value thrift,
savings, and persistence (long-term)
versus past and present issues, respect
for tradition and fulfilling social
Netherlands obligations (short-term).

U.S.A.

Russia
Short-Term Orientation
 Four Ethical Principles

Greatest good for the greatest

Utilitarianism
number of people

Fundamental entitlements
Individual Rights
in society

People who are similar should

Distributive Justice
receive similar benefits

Favor those with whom we have

Care
special relationships
 Influences on Ethical Conduct

Moral intensity
 degree that issue demands ethical principles
Ethical sensitivity
 ability to recognize the presence and determine the relative
importance of an ethical issue
Situational influences
 competitive pressures and other conditions affect ethical
behavior
 Supporting Ethical Behavior

 Ethical code of conduct

 Establishes standards of behavior
 Problem: Limited effect alone on ethical behavior
 Ethics training
 Awareness and clarification of ethics code
 Practice resolving ethical dilemmas
 Ethics officers
 Educate and counsel; hear about wrongdoing
 Ethical leadership
 Demonstrate integrity and role model ethical conduct