Page 229 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes 10.3.3 Attributional Biases

One of the more interesting findings from attribution theory is that there are errors or biases
that distort attributions. The attribution processes may be affected by two very common errors:
the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias.
1. Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to make attributions to internal causes
when focusing on someone else's behaviour is known as the fundamental attribution
error. For example, when a sales manager is prone to attribute the poor performance to
his sales agents to laziness rather than the innovative product line introduced by a
competitor, he is making a fundamental attribution error. Substantial evidence suggests
that when we make judgements about the behaviour of other people, we have a tendency
to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal
or personal factors.
2. Self-serving Bias: Individuals tend to attribute their own successes to internal factors like
ability or effort while putting the blame for failure on external factors like luck. This is
called the self-serving bias. In other words, when we succeed, we take credit for it; when
we fail, we blame the situation or other people.
There are cultural differences in these two attribution errors. The self-serving bias of attribution
theory doesn't apply in all cultures. In countries like Japan, that value collectivism more than
individualism, managers take responsibility for group failure rather than blame other people
or external factors. In cultures like India that are more fatalistic, people tend to believe that fate
is responsible for much that happens. People in such cultures tend to emphasize external causes
of behaviour.
The way individuals interpret the events around them has a strong influence on their behaviour.
People try to understand the causes of behaviour. Managers use attributions in all aspects of
their jobs. In evaluating performance and rewarding employees, managers must determine the
causes of behaviour and a perceived source of responsibility. Attribution theory can explain
how performance evaluation judgements lead to differential rewards. A supervisor attributing
an employee's good performance to internal causes, such as effort or ability, may give a larger
raise than a supervisor attributing the good performance to external causes, such as help from
others or good training.

10.4 Summary

An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings,
thoughts, and behavior. Emotions are subjective experiences, or experienced from an
individual point of view.

Emotions are thought to be related to activity in brain areas that direct our attention,
motivate our behavior, and determine the significance of what is going on around us.
Emotional Intelligence (EI), often measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), is
a term that describes the ability, capacity, skill or (in the case of the trait EI model) a
self-perceived ability, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others,
and of groups.
Practically speaking, we often fail to see reality in this world. We interpret what we see
and call it reality. Perceptions, thus, influence behavioural responses greatly.
Perception is nothing but a person's view of reality. To get a clear picture of what he
visualises, a person first selects what he wants to see organises the obtained information
and interprets the same in his own unique way. In this process he may move closer to
reality or go off the track completely due to certain perceptual errors.

224 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY