Organizational Behavior
Question 1
What is attribution theory? What are three determinants of attribution? What are its implications for explaining organizational behaviour?
Attribution theory
A theory that explains how individuals pinpoint the causes of their own behaviour and that of others. People will believe others actions to be caused by internal or external factors based on three types of information: Distinctiveness, Consensus and Consistency. The attributions may not always accurate. For example, an executive with Capital Cities Communications/ABC who had a very positive relationship with his boss was not held responsible for profit problems in his district. The boss blame problem on the econonmy. Supervisors and employees who share perceptions and attitudes tends to evaluate each other highly. Supervisors and employees who do not share perceptions and attitudes are more likely to blame each other for performance problems. Kelleys proposed that individuals make attributions based on information given.
Three determinants of attribution
Consensus
Information regarding the extent to which other people behave in the same manner as the person being judged. For example, If lots of people find Amina attractive, consensus is high. If only Ali finds Amina attractive, consensus is low. High consensus is attributed to the stimulus (in the above example, to Amina), while low consensus is attributed to the person (in this case the person is Ali).
Distinctiveness
Information regarding the extent to which other people behave in the same manner as the person being contexts. There is a low distinctiveness if an individual behaves similarly in all situations, and there exists a high distinctiveness when the person only shows the behaviour in particular situations. If the distinctiveness is high, one will attribute this behaviour more to the circumstance instead of person. For examples, Alfi is complimenting Muzammil’s work, if Alfi almost never compliments other people’s work, he shows
What is attribution theory? What are three determinants of attribution? What are its implications for explaining organizational behaviour?
Attribution theory
A theory that explains how individuals pinpoint the causes of their own behaviour and that of others. People will believe others actions to be caused by internal or external factors based on three types of information: Distinctiveness, Consensus and Consistency. The attributions may not always accurate. For example, an executive with Capital Cities Communications/ABC who had a very positive relationship with his boss was not held responsible for profit problems in his district. The boss blame problem on the econonmy. Supervisors and employees who share perceptions and attitudes tends to evaluate each other highly. Supervisors and employees who do not share perceptions and attitudes are more likely to blame each other for performance problems. Kelleys proposed that individuals make attributions based on information given.
Three determinants of attribution
Consensus
Information regarding the extent to which other people behave in the same manner as the person being judged. For example, If lots of people find Amina attractive, consensus is high. If only Ali finds Amina attractive, consensus is low. High consensus is attributed to the stimulus (in the above example, to Amina), while low consensus is attributed to the person (in this case the person is Ali).
Distinctiveness
Information regarding the extent to which other people behave in the same manner as the person being contexts. There is a low distinctiveness if an individual behaves similarly in all situations, and there exists a high distinctiveness when the person only shows the behaviour in particular situations. If the distinctiveness is high, one will attribute this behaviour more to the circumstance instead of person. For examples, Alfi is complimenting Muzammil’s work, if Alfi almost never compliments other people’s work, he shows