Unit 2: Perception, attitude, personality & motivation
Organizational Behaviour notes · PTU syllabus (BBA301-18)
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Unit summary
How people see the world, feel about their jobs and what drives them shape their behaviour at work. This unit covers perception and perceptual errors, work-related attitudes, the determinants and traits of personality, and the major theories of work motivation.
After this unit you can
- Explain the perception process and common perceptual errors
- Explain the components of attitudes
- Explain the determinants and traits of personality
- Compare the theories of Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor, Vroom and Porter-Lawler
PTU syllabus topics
- Nature and process of perception
- perceptual errors
- meaning and components of work-related attitude
- determinants and traits of personality
- theories of work motivation (Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor, Vroom, Porter-Lawler)
Examples
Pay, working conditions, policy, security
Achievement, recognition, growth, responsibility
When missing
Cause dissatisfaction
Little motivation
When present
Prevent dissatisfaction only
Create real motivation
Topic 1
Perception
Perception is the process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment.
- 1Stimuli
Sights, sounds, events
- 2Selection
Attend to some stimuli
- 3Organisation
Group into patterns
- 4Interpretation
Give meaning
- 5Response
Behaviour
- Halo effect
- Judging all traits by one good impression
- Stereotyping
- Judging by the group someone belongs to
- Selective perception
- Seeing what fits our interests
- Projection
- Assuming others are like us
- Contrast effect
- Judging relative to people just met
Topic 2
Attitudes
An attitude is an evaluative statement about objects, people or events. Components: cognitive (belief), affective (feeling) and behavioural (intention to act). Work-related attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement and organisational commitment.
Topic 3
Personality
Personality is the sum of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.
- Determinants: heredity, environment (culture, family, social groups) and situation.
- Big Five traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (emotional stability).
- Other traits relevant at work: locus of control (internal vs external), self-esteem, self-monitoring, risk-taking and Type A / Type B personality.
Topic 4
Theories of work motivation
Maslow's need hierarchy
Physiological → safety → social → esteem → self-actualisation
Satisfy lower needs, then offer growth
Herzberg's two-factor
Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction; motivators create satisfaction
Fix pay and conditions, then add recognition and responsibility
McGregor's Theory X and Y
X: people dislike work; Y: people seek responsibility
Use participative management for Theory Y staff
Vroom's expectancy
Motivation = expectancy × instrumentality × valence
Link effort to performance and performance to valued rewards
Porter-Lawler
Effort → performance → rewards → satisfaction; satisfaction follows performance
Reward performance fairly
Exam tip
Use a diagram for Maslow and Porter-Lawler and a two-column table for Herzberg — they score better than plain text.
Key terms
- Perception
- Interpreting sensory impressions to give meaning
- Halo effect
- Judging a person by one characteristic
- Attitude
- An evaluative statement about something
- Locus of control
- Belief about who controls one's fate
- Expectancy theory
- Motivation depends on expectancy, instrumentality and valence
Quick revision
- Perception: select → organise → interpret.
- Errors: halo, stereotyping, selective perception, projection, contrast.
- Attitude = cognitive + affective + behavioural.
- Big Five: OCEAN.
- Motivation: Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor, Vroom, Porter-Lawler.
Important exam questions
Practice questions written to the PTU exam pattern for this unit's syllabus: short answers (Section A style) and long answers (Sections B and C style).
Short-answer questions
- Q1.Define perception.
- Q2.What is the halo effect?
- Q3.State the three components of an attitude.
- Q4.List the Big Five personality traits.
- Q5.What are hygiene factors?
- Q6.State Vroom's expectancy equation.
Long-answer questions
- Q1.Explain the process of perception and the common perceptual errors.
- Q2.Explain the determinants of personality and the Big Five model.
- Q3.Compare Maslow's and Herzberg's theories of motivation.
- Q4.Explain Vroom's expectancy theory and the Porter-Lawler model.
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