TOPIC: FUNDAMENTALS OF ORGANIZATIONAL

PSYCHOLOGY
TODAY’S SIX BIG IDEAS ARE RELEVANT TO “INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOR” WHICH IS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL
FACTOR OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR’S FOCUSES

 Job attitude predicts performance and retention.

- Job attitude is a consistent evaluation of your working
environment and professional circumstances. This also means
how you feel, how you think and how you behave towards
your job. (notice) When we talk about attitudes at work,
we’re not talking about mood. Attitude goes beyond
temporary frustrations and circumstances. An attitude is a
consistent way of viewing a situation. It’s a mindset that’s
deeply rooted and persists over time.
- Three most widely known job-related attitudes are job
satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational
commitment.
+ Job satisfaction is your general evaluation of whether you
like your job and derive fulfilment from it.
+ Job involvement: is the degree to which an employee
actively participates in his or her job and considers his or her
performance to be important to his or her self-worth.
+ Organizational commitment is the degree to which an
employee identifies with a particular organization and its
goals and wishes to maintain membership in that
organization.
- Performance could be reflected in two aspects: Productivity
and Profitability (derive from Customer Satisfaction).
This is how job attitude predicts performance:
- Job satisfaction and productivity: it is not easy to ensure but
organizations with more satisfied employees are more
effective than organizations with fewer satisfied employees.
- Job satisfaction and absenteeism: although the correlation
between satisfaction and absenteeism is not strong as reported
in research, it probably makes sense that dissatisfied
employees are more likely to miss work.
- Job satisfaction and customer satisfaction: job satisfaction
positively affects customer outcomes if it comes to frontline
employees. This is because satisfied employees are less
likely to leave their jobs, customer are more likely to
encounter familiar faces and receive experienced services.
- Job involvement: Employees with a high level of job
involvement strongly identify with and really care about the
kind of work they do. Their positive attitude leads them to
contribute in positive ways to their work.
This is how job-related attitude predicts retention:
- Job satisfaction: employees who are happy in their jobs and
feel valued are far more likely to stay with a company than
those who don’t. In contrast, when employees see work as
unfair where they cannot get ahead, or if negative attitudes at
work are unchecked, there will be more frequent turnover.
- Organization commitment: Research show that
organizational commitment also leads to lower level of both
absenteeism and turnover, which is also a better indicator of
turnover than job satisfaction.
 How can employees maintain a positive work attitude,
and what can organizations do to help them a maintain
a positive work attitude?
- Positive work attitude is necessary. Here how we can
maintain a positive work attitude or what can organizations
do to boost this matter:
+ Increase job satisfaction: noticing at the type of input
employees receive at work. For example: do they see the
impact of their work? Do they get feedback on how to
improve? Do they receive praise for a job well done?
 - organizations could offer perceived organizational support
(policies, actions from organizations showing they value
employees’ contribution and well-being).
+ Make employer support: employer provides learning and
development courses and supports goal setting and progress,
make employees feel that employer is investing in their
career.’ And implement regular goal-setting and performance
reviews to help them map their course within the company.
+ Build positive, harmonious workplace culture. Conduct
periodic employee feedback surveys. Ask open-ended
questions about their experiences or any concerns they may
have.

 Some personality traits are better suited to management

than others.
-There are many theories about personality which divide
personality traits into many groups. As surveyed, there are some
certain groups accounting for higher percentage of being
managers. The two most well-known approaches are MBTI and
the Big Five Model. Today we will focus on the Big Five
Model.
-In recent years, research has shown that five basic personality
dimensions underlie all others and encompass most of the
significant variation in human personality. The five personality
traits are:
+ Extraversion: excitability, sociability, talkativeness,
assertiveness, and high amount of emotional expressiveness.
=> gain energy in social situations. Being around helping others
make them feel energized and excited.
=> In contrast, people in low extraversion prefer solitude, feel
exhausted when having to socialize a lot, find it difficult to start
conversations, dislike making small talk, dislike being the center
of attention.
=> People in high extraversion are often suitable for manager,
salespeople positions.
+ Agreeableness: this trait includes attributes such as trust,
altruism, kindness, affection…. People high in agreeableness
tend to be more cooperative while those low in this trait tend to
be competitive and sometimes manipulative.
 People low in agreeableness take little interest in others, do
not care about how other people feel, insult and belittle others
+ Conscientiousness: high level of thoughtfulness, good
impulse control, goal-directed behaviors. Highly conscientious
people tend to be organized and mindful of details. They plan,
think about how their behavior affects others, and are mindful of
deadlines.
 People high in conscientiousness tend to take jobs of
knowledge, this could also be understood that
conscientiousness usually expressed in students with high
GPA.
 In contrast, people low in conscientiousness dislike structure
and schedules, make messes and do not take care of things.
+ Emotional stability: someone is calm, enthusiastic, and
secure (this is positive), while negative stability is described as
tense, nervous, depressed, insecure (or Neuroticism)
 People high in Neuroticism experience a lot of stress, worry
about many different things, get upset easily, experience
dramatic shifts in mood, feel anxious.
 People low in Neuroticism are emotionally stable, deal well
with stress, rarely feel sad or depressed, do not worry much,
are very relaxed.
+ Openness to experience: the degree to which someone has a
wide range of interests and is imaginative, fascinated with
novelty, artistically sensitive, and intellectual.
  People low in openness to experience are often much more
traditional and may struggle with abstract thinking.

 Employee’s satisfaction with his or her job, as well as his or

her likelihood of leaving that job, depends on the degree to
which the individual’s personality matches the job
environment.

 Emotional Intelligence (EI) can and should be developed

over time. (relevant to emotional stability – 5 personality traits
– job satisfaction)
-Emotional Intelligence is the ability to notice and to manage
emotional cues and information. It is composed of 5 dimensions:
+Self-awareness: the ability to be aware of what you are feeling.
+Self-management: the ability to manage one’s own emotions
and impulses.
+Self-motivation: the ability to persist in the face of setbacks
and failures.
+Empathy: the ability to sense how others are feeling.
+Social skills: the ability to handle the emotions of others.
 EI has been shown to be positively related to job performance
at all levels. And another conclusion that has been made is
that EI appears to be relevant to success in jobs that demand a
high degree of social interaction (good interpersonal
communication)
 EI increased = better relationships, improved well-being,
stronger communication intelligence.
 EI SHOULD BE DEVELOPED OVER TIME.
-How to develop EI over time?
+listen
+empathize
+reflect
+practice to be resilient: positivity, emotional insight, balance,
spirituality, reflection.
 Resilience has been associated with various positive states,
including optimism, curiosity, openness to experience. The
positive emotional states are of tremendous value of positive
states.
 The experience of positive emotions (fostered by resilience)
can expand activity, open an employee’s eyes to a range of
possibilities, and increase the likelihood of more creative
solutions for workplace behaviors.