SOPAAN-II

Volume 1, Issue 1, January-June 2016

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCES HUMAN BEHAVIOR AT WORKPLACE: AN

OVERVIEW
Jatinder pal singh
Jatinderpal897@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

There are five major dimensions to be consistent components of personality. The Big Five
personality dimensions are conscientiousness, extroversion/introversion, and openness to
experience, emotional stability, and agreeableness. Conscientiousness - defined as being
reliable and dependable, being careful and organized, and being a person who plans - is the
dimension most strongly correlated to job performance. Extroversion/introversion refers to
the degree to which a person is sociable, talkative, assertive, active, and ambitious. Openness
to experience is the degree to which someone is imaginative, broad-minded, curious, and
seeks new experiences. Emotional stability is the degree to which someone is anxious,
depressed, angry, and insecure. Agreeableness refers to the degree to which a person is
courteous, likable, good-natured, and flexible. Managers must remember that the relevance of
any personality dimension depends on the situation, the type of job, and the level at which a
person is working. Four personality traits that have been consistently related to work-related
behaviour are locus of control, Type-A behaviour, self-monitoring, and Machiavellianism.
Locus of control indicates an individual's sense of control over his/her life, the environment,
and external events. Those with an internal locus of control believe that their actions affect
what happens to them, while those with an external locus of control believe that outside
factors affect what happens to them. People who exhibit Type-behaviour try to do more in
less and less time in an apparently tireless pursuit of everything. Type-A people feel great
time urgency, are very competitive, try to do many things at once, and are hostile. Self-
monitoring, the fourth personality trait is the degree to which people are capable of reading
and using cues from the environment to determine their own behaviour. Strong self-
monitoring skills can help managers and employees read environmental and individual cues
quickly and accurately and adjust behaviour accordingly. People with elements of a
Machiavellian personality put self-interest above the group's interests and manipulate others
for personal gain.

INTRODUCTION

The study of people at work is generally referred to as the study of organizational behaviour.
This paper will start by defining the term organizational behaviour and briefly reviewing its
origins. Organizational behaviour is the systematic study of the actions and attitudes that
people exhibit within organizations. Each person regularly uses intuition or our "gut feelings"

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in trying to explain phenomena. For example, a friend catches a cold and we’re quick to
remind him that he "didn’t take his vitamins". The field of organizational behaviour seeks to
replace intuitive explanations such as this example with systematic study. The objective, of
this paper, is to draw more accurate conclusions (Wilson 1994). The behaviours that get the
bulk of attention in organizational behaviour are three, which have proven to be very
important determinants of employee performance. They are productivity, absenteeism, and
turnover (Wilson 1994). The importance of productivity is obvious. Managers are clearly
concerned with the quantity and quality of the work their employees are performing. But
absence and turnover are particularly cause for concern because of the adverse affect it may
have on an employee’s productivity. In terms of absence, it’s hard for an employee to be
productive if he or she isn’t at work. High rates of employee turnover increase costs and tend
to place less experienced people into jobs. Organizational behaviour is also concerned with
employee job satisfaction, which is an attitude. There are three reasons why managers should
be concerned with their employees’ job satisfaction. First, there is a link between satisfaction
and productivity. Second, satisfaction appears to be negatively related to absenteeism and
turnover. Third managers have a humanistic responsibility to provide their employees with
jobs that are challenging and rewarding (Daniels 1994).The second part of organizational
behaviour’s definition that needs to be explained is "organization". For our purposes
organizational behaviour is specifically concerned with work-related behaviour-and that takes
place in organizations. An organization is a formal structure of planned coordination,
involving two or more people, in order to achieve a common goal. Organizations and human
behaviour Variables Influencing the Individual Human Behaviours’:

• Attitudes
• Values
• Ethics
Skills & Abilities:
Mental and physical capacities to perform various tasks. This comes from knowledge,
learning, and experiences.
Perceptions:
We use the mental process of perception to pay attention selectively to some stimuli and cues
in our environment. There are two types of perception. Social perception process is the
process of gathering, selecting, and interpreting information about how we view themselves
and others. In contrast, physical perception focuses on gathering and interpreting information

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about physical objects rather than people. Closure permits us to interpret a stimulus by filling
in missing information based on our experiences and assumption.
Attitudes:
Attitudes are comprised of feelings, beliefs, and behaviors. One important work-related
attitude is job satisfaction, the general attitude that people have toward their jobs. Main five
factors contribute to job satisfaction: pay; the job itself; promotion opportunities; the
supervisor; and relations with co-workers. The relationship between job satisfaction and work
performance is complex and influenced by multiple organizational and personal factors.
Managers have more influence over job satisfaction than any other individual difference
discussed in this chapter.
Values:
Values are long-lasting beliefs about what is important, worthwhile, and desirable. A person's
value system is the way he/she organizes and prioritizes values. Terminal values are goals for
behavior or for a certain result that someone wants to achieve. Instrumental values are the
means—the instruments—that people believe they should use to attain their goals. Cultural
values can affect personal values ETHICS. A key work-related value is the employee's ethics.
Those who hold a relativist's view of ethics believe that what is right or wrong depends on the
situation or culture. Those with a Universalist’s view believe that ethical standards should be
applied consistently in all situations and cultures. Value conflict occurs when there is
disagreement among values that an individual holds or between individual and organizational
values. To avoid value conflict, managers should work toward integrating and fitting the
values of different employees with the values of the organization. which a person is
courteous, likable, good-natured, and flexible. Managers must remember that the relevance of
any personality dimension depends on the situation, the type of job, and the level at which a
person is working. Four personality traits that have been consistently related to work-related
behavior are locus of control, Type-A behaviour, self-monitoring, and Machiavellianism.
Locus of control indicates an individual's sense of control over his/her life, the environment,
and external events. Those with an internal locus of control believe that their actions affect
what happens to them, while those with an external locus of control believe that outside
factors affect what happens to them. People who exhibit Type-A behavior try to do more in
less and less time in an apparently tireless pursuit of everything. Type-A people feel great
time urgency, are very competitive, try to do many things at once, and are hostile. Self-
monitoring, the fourth personality trait is the degree to which people are capable of reading
and using cues from the environment to determine their own behavior. Strong self-monitoring

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Volume 1, Issue 1, January-June 2016

skills can help managers and employees read environmental and individual cues quickly and
accurately and adjust behaviour accordingly. People with elements of a Machiavellian
personality put self-interest above the group's interests and manipulate others for personal
gain.
Perceptions:
We use the mental process of perception to pay attention selectively to some stimuli and cues
in our environment. There are two types of perception. Social perception process is the
process of gathering, selecting, and interpreting information about how we view themselves
and others. In contrast, physical perception focuses on gathering and interpreting information
about physical objects rather than people. Closure permits us to interpret a stimulus by filling
in missing information based on our experiences and assumption.

CONCLUSION

In simple word behaviour is the function of Person and Environment in which he/she is
working.
The following two factors mainly influence the individual behaviors…
1. The Persons
2. The Environment of the Organization
The Persons No single measure of individual differences can provide a complete
understanding of an individual or predict all the behaviours of an individual. It is therefore
more useful to consider a variety of differences that explain aspects of employee behavior.
These can be
• Skills & Abilities
• Personality
• Perceptions

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