Attribution Theory and Its Relevance to Management Practice - Essay Example

Attribution Theory and Its Relevance to Management Practice Introduction In the recent business environment, the human capital has become quite significant. It has become vital to determine the human behavior, values, judgment decisions, perceptions and ethics. Every individual is different and hold certain values and perceptions depending upon which they logically act in the organizational setting to perform certain activities and interact with others. For the growing importance of human resource and it aspects, the study will discuss upon the attribution theory and its relevance to management practice. This is significant as it explains the way people are being judged depending upon the attributes that are assigned to their behaviors. Attribution Theory An attribution is an informal explanation for behavior or for any event. The attribution theory illustrates that the outcomes and behaviors eventually assist to form behavioral and emotional responses (Borkowski, N. “Organizational Behavior, Theory, and Design in Health Care”). The attributions that are casual in nature exert more stress on people’s perception for their successes and failures. Attribution theory establishes that every causal attribution have three dimensions namely stable or unstable, internal or external and controllable or uncontrollable. Individuals who perceive that they are successful due to the three dimensions that are stable, internal and controllable factors, have a propensity to be extremely motivated and consequently persist to be further victorious than those individuals with the alternative attribution styles. The attribution theory is a common cognitive theory of motivation that focuses upon the principles that present the casual attributes based upon present and future motivation and achievements (Penn State College of Engineering, “Overview: Attribution Theory”). The attribution theory also determines the level or finds out the causes for the dissatisfaction. The theory of attribution for the behavior of dissatisfaction was developed by the social psychologist that explains how an individual uncovers the clarification or reasons for their behavior or effects (Hoyer, W D., “Consumer Behavior”). For the explanation of the behavior and actions there are three factors that influence the nature of explanation. These three factors are stability, focus and controllability. Stability is the reason for the temporary or permanent event. Focus is the problem that is related to the market or consumers. Furthermore, controllability is the event that is under the control of the marketers or customers. In general the customers are dissatisfied when the control is not under the customer, and when it is not customer related rather market related and perceived to be permanent in nature. With the assistance from the attribution theory, the marketers can be guided to deal with the potential and existing perception of customer dissatisfaction. Literature Review on Attribution Theory Heider was the first to recommend a psychological theory of attribution, but Weiner and his colleagues framed a theoretical structure that had turned out to be a major research model of social psychology. The attribution theory was developed from the theories of Fritz Heider, Keith Davis, Edward Jones and Harold Kelley. Fritz Heider was the first person to write about attribution theory in his book ‘The Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships’ in the year 1958. His writings have played a vital role in the commencing and explanation of attribution theory (Heider, “Psychology of Interpersonal Relations”). Harold Kelley theory has focused upon the model of satisfaction. He has described in his thesis about the satisfaction and dissatisfaction causes of the human beings. The theory deals with the causes and the attributes for the perception of an individual (Semin, “A Gloss on Attribution Theory”) B. Weiner had focused his attribution theory upon achievement in the year 1974. He had recognized “ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck” as the major important reasons that affect the attributions for accomplishment. He found out that the dimension of control is external and internal which affects the attribution. The stability dimension focused upon whether it causes change overtime or not. In addition, the controllable dimension focused upon the ability/efficiency from sources that individual cannot control such as “aptitude, mood, others' actions, and luck” (Weiner, “Attribution Theory”). The attribution theory of Keith Davis in the year 1965 illustrated that an individual should not provide explanation with dispositions that has earlier been clarified through the situation. This was first illustrated by Keith Davis as the ‘law of non-common effects’. His work was later researched by Harold Kelley in the year 1967. In that year, he had provided thesis over the concept of Keith Davis and extended his work in providing the theory of ‘discounting principle’. It illustrates that observers should not attribute an effect to any one casual agent such as disposition, when there is presence of another agent such as situational force (Gilbert & Malone, “The Correspondence Bias”). An individual attempts to authenticate their ‘perceptions of reality’ even in the case of being faulty. ‘Pygmalion effect’ and ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ determine the behavior of an individual that are based upon others expectations (Robbins & Judge, “Organizational Behavior”). Attribution Theory to the Management of Employee The attribution theory explains the causes of behavior and judgments of an individual based upon certain variables for the management of the employees. In any organization, individuals generally draw a general intuition about an individual that are based upon a single characteristics, which may be appearance, intelligence, sociability and other factors. This is known as the ‘halo effect’ that operates in the organization (Robbins & Judge, “Organizational Behavior”). There were several studies conducted in the companies’ performance and the problem of halo effect was determined. This was first identified by Edward Thorndike in the year 1920 that illustrated the propensity to construct exact inferences which were on the basis of common impression (Rosenzweig, “The Halo Effect and Other Managerial Delusions”). The contrast effect has the ability to distort the perception of an individual. In general the evaluation of persons is not done on an isolation basis rather they are being compared. The reaction to a person is influenced by other persons whom he has come across (Robbins & Judge, “Organizational Behavior”). The contrast effect judges the employees based upon the evaluation with others that are determined upon certain attributes. Due to such formation of attributes towards an employee the decisions of the management towards the employee alter. There might be more favorable or less favorable decision for the employee that is based upon the contrast effect (Robbins & Judge, “Organizational Behavior”). Stereotyping effect in organization is crucial in judging the individual that is fully based upon the group behavior and performance. The shortcut method is applied in judging the employee or employees based upon the group that employee or employees belong to. Mostly people rely upon generalization in every day operations in the organization since they assist individuals in taking decision quickly. This reduces the complications in managing the employees and it becomes comparatively easier to manage large number of stimuli (Robbins & Judge, “Organizational Behavior”). An individual in an organization tends to take decision from two or more alternatives based upon the perceived behavior of the employees. The perception level of an individual largely influence an individual’s decision making and the quality of choice they make. The employees management decision is influenced upon the individual perception or the group influence that an individual belong to. It becomes complex if numerous variables are included in the organizational operations. To deliver quick decision making in the management of the employees the short cut method of attribution is attached with the individuals or group (Robbins & Judge, “Organizational Behavior”). Attribution Theory to the Management of Consumer Behavior The attribution theory illustrates that people have the tendency to allocate reasons to the behavior of others. A particular customer evaluation can be attributed to two believable casual logics, i.e. the product and other factors. A negative review of the customer may be caused due to the factors that are associated with the customers such as incorrect operations, unreasonable expectations and intentional defamation (Qiu & Li, “Effects of Aggregate Rating On E-wom Acceptance: An Attribution Theory Perspective”). Weiner’s attribution theory of achievement behavior is an inclusive theoretical model that is related to the influence of attribution based upon the cognitive processes, behavior and affect. Weiner in the year 1986 provided a model that includes ‘cognition-emotion-action processes’. In the behavioral context of a consumer, the consumers’ allocation of casual assumptions for the failure of the product and their explanation of the dimensional quality of perceived causes become the sources for influencing their emotions and consequently complaint behavior. The attribution theory concentrates upon how emotion and cognition are jointly formed in influencing consumer’s behavior. For the management of consumer behavior through the attribution theory it is better to focus upon the negative behavior of the consumers. The attribution theory explains the behavior of the consumers in the case of post purchase. This is due to the feedback of satisfactory level, complaint behavior and other feedbacks after the purchase provide the information of the consumer behavior. The analysis reflects the ways of managing the diverse consumer behavior and finds the reasons for such behavior (University of Pretoria, “Attribution Theory-A Perspective for Reaching Consumer Complaint Behavior”). Conclusion The attribution theory has been applied in different ways and several researches have been conducted upon the topic and they have generated different views. The variables that have been applied in the research are still now found in the organizations for managing the employee and the consumer behavior. The decision in judging the individual has been based upon the perception and other shortcut variables. There is complexity in considering countless variables thus the attribution theory is applied which consists of three dimensions. References Borkowski, Nancy. Organizational Behavior, Theory, and Design in Health Care Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2009. Gilbert, Daniel T. & Malone, Patrick S. “The Correspondence Bias”. March 09, 2011. The American Psychological Association, 1995. Hoyer, Wayne D. Consumer Behavior Dreamtech Press, 2008. Heider, F. Psychology of Interpersonal Relations Routledge, 1982. Penn State College of Engineering. “Overview: Attribution Theory”. March 09, 2011. Assessing Women in Engineering, 2005. Qiu, Lingyun & Li, Dong. “Effects of Aggregate Rating On E-wom Acceptance: An Attribution Theory Perspective”. March 09, 2011. PACIS, 2010. Rosenzweig, Phil. “The Halo Effect, and Other Managerial Delusions”. March 09, 2011. The Mckinsey Quarterly, 2007. Robbins, Stephen P. & Judge, Timothy A. Organizational Behavior Prentice Hall, 2010. Semin, Gun R. “A Gloss on Attribution Theory”. March 09, 2011. British Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 1980. University of Pretoria, “Attribution Theory-A Perspective for Reaching Consumer Complaint Behavior”. March 09, 2011. Thesis, 2008. Weiner, B. “Attribution Theory”. March 09, 2011. Overview, No Date. Read More