MGT3002 WEEK 2 DISCUSSIONS AND PROJECT

Perception, Individual Decision Making, Motivation, Theories of Motivation © 2016 South University

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Organizational Behavior

©2016 South University

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The statement "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder," illustrates both the subjective nature of beauty and the relevance of the individual in making subjective decisions.

Perception is based, to a certain extent, on how people understand the different behavior and situations that they encounter. The attribution theory tries to explain how we attribute some meaning to a particular behavior. The basic focus of the theory is on determining whether the behavior was the direct responsibility of the individual (an internal cause) or the result of outside forces (an external cause). Thus, we may attribute employees' high productivity to their skills and hard work (internal), or to the supervision and direction of management (external).

Some of the most critical kinds of biases and errors in an individual's perception are shown below.

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Organizational Behavior

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Contrast effects, stereotyping, and projection are other common examples of biases and errors in attribution. Anyone who has replaced a popular person in an organization will feel the results of contrast effects where the new person may suffer by comparison in the perception of other organization members. A judgment about a person based on the perceptions of the group is called stereotyping. We may stereotype on the basis of social group, background, gender, race, and function (such as marketing, accounting, or sales). In projection, we attribute our own qualities and characteristics to others. When we do this, we are ignoring the person's real qualities and individual differences.

The role of perceptions and biases cannot be underestimated in key organizational activities such as selection, internal

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Organizational Behavior

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assessments, and target setting. Nonetheless, it is important to manage our own possible biases when we perform these tasks.

Individual Decision Making

Perceptions significantly influence our decision-making. In fact, our actual choice about whether or not a decision needs to be made may depend upon our perceptions of the situation. Thus, one person may see a problem as not important while another may see it as something that requires immediate action.

The rational model of decision-making attempts to deal with these problems. In this model we define the problem, identify the decision criteria, give weight to the criteria in order to prioritize them, develop possible alternatives, rate these alternatives on each criterion, and finally arrive at the best decision. This is a logical, systematic model where we try to deal with the problem as a whole in order to make the correct decision.

But how do we actually make organizational decisions? Complex problems often have a number of complex factors, and the human mind is limited in how much information and how many factors it can actually handle in order to deal with a problem.

We bypass these limitations by creating simplified models that deal with some of the important aspects of the problem, without attempting to address every element. This is referred to as bounded rationality.

Some organizations have recently begun to place more value on intuitive decision-making. In the past, most people would have dismissed intuition as having no place in organizational life. Intuition comes from experience and is an unconscious process. If

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Organizational Behavior

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you look at many of our important leaders, you will find that intuition has played a major part in their decision-making.

To play well, you must thoroughly understand the rules of a game; to be the best, you must know when to break those rules. Applying this maxim to organizational decision-making, there are times when you will need to make decisions that are different from the "standard," or "accepted" ones. The intuitive process tells "great players" when to deviate from standard decisions. Unfortunately, intuition doesn't always tell them why they do so.

Motivation

If everyone in an organization were highly motivated, there would probably be no need for an Organizational Behavior course. However, most people are not highly motivated, and so it is important for you to understand the nature and complexities of human motivation.

Motivation relates to an individual's desire to achieve a goal. The assumption is that all behavior is goal-directed. We, therefore, need to know how motivation works at the individual level and what managers can do to instill motivation in their employees in order to attain organizational goals.

Early theories of motivation, presented by Abraham Maslow, Douglas McGregor, and Frederick Herzberg, provided many important insights into how and why people do what they do. These theories are both well-known and popular, though research evidence hasn't supported them very strongly. However, they have certainly added some degree of understanding, as well as a basic perspective on the complex matter of motivation.

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Organizational Behavior

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Theories of Motivation

Two types of theories, need-based and goal setting, have been proposed to explain motivation. Need-based theories assume that drive or motivation develops from the urge to satisfy a certain need. Goal setting theories assume that motivation is based upon meeting the challenges of specific goals or targets, as well as on feedback.

Among the need-based theories, we will look at the earliest ones proposed by Maslow, McGregor, and Herzberg, followed by those of Alderfer and McClelland. We will then examine the goal setting theories, including the reinforcement theory, equity theory, and expectancy theory.