Organizational behavior knowledge is of utmost importance in the workplace since it provides an understanding of why people behave in a particular way. Therefore, it is critical not only to study these theories but to reflect on them to be able to apply them in professional life and career plan. Overall, I have analyzed the theories related to self-concept, stereotyping, and attribution to gather more information to use in my work settings.
The self-concept is an individual’s perception of oneself, which influences one’s actions and information processing. Lau et al. (2020) elaborate on this notion by characterizing it as congruent (reasonable and fair viewpoint) and incongruent (contrary to the former). This theory links self-concept to work motivation, as people tend to thrive for success in the workplace to enhance the view of themselves (Gray et al., 2020; Tang & Vandenberghe, 2022). Therefore, employees opt for accepting work goals and projects and putting effort into obtaining social feedback that aligns with their self-concepts (Oh & Roh, 2019). The desire to increase job performance can provoke rivalry between colleagues when the micromanaging group project is ineffective (Pomerance et al., 2020). I believe it is unnecessary to opt for setups when something goes wrong just to reach the work goals, but having studied the self-concept theory, it seems logical.
What is more, this theory may be helpful for my work as I usually am assigned group tasks, and the self-concept framework has finally helped me realize why I had difficulties completing such tasks. As a matter of fact, when self-perception is involved, people usually forget that teamwork is key to developing outstanding work projects since their desire to be the best blurs everything else (Oh & Roh, 2019). This theory helped me advance my knowledge of organizational behavior in a group work setting as now I realize what may happen when similar performance is required from the employees. That is why I will remember this concept in the future to be prepared for setbacks at my workplace because of my colleagues who are driven by the idea of enhancing their self-image.
Nevertheless, the self-concept framework is not the only one that can negatively influence the working environment. In fact, stereotyping at the workplace can result in even worse consequences that include losing interest in enhancing job performance and work motivation (Ma et al., 2019; Steffens et al., 2019). It can cause low morale in the group, which will, in turn, contribute to a toxic working environment that may affect all the employees (Carrim, 2019; Rosette et al., 2018). Unfortunately, this type of behavior can also poorly impact the mental health of a victim that endures harassment or inappropriate jokes (or bullying).
Personally, I would not want to work with people that increase their self-worth by bullying their colleagues based on their skin color, ethnicity, or race. Not only is it highly inappropriate, but it is also unnecessary as the only thing that it can give is satisfaction in being superior to someone. As I studied the possible repercussions of such behavior in the workplace, I realized that stereotyping should not even occur in the first place. It is the primary responsibility of managers and HRs to control the working environment inside the group and take measures to prevent toxic behaviors (Rattan & Dweck, 2018). Furthermore, if I ever were to notice stereotyping at my workplace, I would defend the victim and assure one that these are not valid remarks and should not be remembered. In addition, I would encourage my colleague to take action and turn to the HRs and file complaints against such behavior to prevent it from happening in the future (Van Laar et al., 2019). It is of utmost importance to have a friendly working environment to achieve outstanding performance, and stereotyping does not help reach this goal.
Having researched three frameworks of organizational behavior, I found attribution theory to be the most intriguing. It is based on people forming their opinion about their own or others’ performances. However, attribution usually tends to be unreasonable as people decide to explain things in a way that is favorable to them. Still, many scholars consider that this framework can be beneficial in the workplace to motivate employees (Marchiondo et al., 2018). For instance, if a worker is showing disappointing results, a manager may opt for flattering feedback to encourage one to work better in the future (Chang et al., 2021). However, it is likely that an employee will attribute one’s effort and skills to this feedback and not see the actual reason behind it (Marchiondo et al., 2018). Additionally, using an attribution framework as a motivator for the staff can lead to discrimination since workers that show remarkable performance may feel undervalued (Lee & Barnes, 2021). Overall, it is evident that attribution theory is a way for a person to praise one’s own accomplishments and underestimate the triumphs of others to feel better.
It seems that attribution theory in the workplace setting helps employees maintain their self-concept and feel good about themselves. In fact, it is not good to attribute own failures to bad luck and others’ defeats to their own mistakes (Wang et al., 2021; Ye et al., 2019). I consider motivating workers using the basis of the attribution framework unfair since it provokes rivalry and a toxic working environment. Managers or the leadership cannot control the way employees analyze their own performances and the accomplishments of their colleagues, so the least they can do is not encourage such a way of thinking.
To sum up, I have gathered a lot of intriguing and valuable information during my research that I intend to use in my future work. It is critical for me to understand how people’s behavior can be provoked by the aforementioned theories and how to deal with it. That is why realizing the nature of a toxic working environment can assist me in remaining productive and motivated at my position no matter the actions of my coworkers.
References
Carrim, N. M. (2019). Minority employees’ ethnic identity in the workplace. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management.
Chang, T., Chou, S. Y., & Han, B. (2018). Silent leaders in the workplace: Forms of leadership silence, attributions of leadership silence, and accuracy of attributions. International Journal of Business Communication, 58(4), 490–515.
Gray, C. E., McIntyre, K. P., Mattingly, B. A., & Lewandowski, G. W. (2020). Self-concept change at work: characteristics and consequences of workplace self-expansion. In Interpersonal Relationships and the Self-Concept (pp. 195-208). Springer, Cham.
Lau, P. L., Wilkins-Yel, K. G., & Wong, Y. J. (2019). Examining the indirect effects of self-concept on work readiness through resilience and career calling. Journal of Career Development, 47(5), 551–564.
Lee, S. H., & Barnes, C. M. (2021). An attributional process model of workplace gossip. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(2), 300–316.
Ma, A., Axt, J., & Kay, A. C. (2019). A control-based account of stereotyping. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 84, 103819.
Oh, S., & Roh, S. C. (2019). A moderated mediation model of self-concept clarity, transformational leadership, perceived work meaningfulness, and work motivation. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
Pomerance, M. H., Converse, P. D., & Moon, N. A. (2020). Self-concept content and structure: motivation and performance implications. Personnel Review.
Rattan, A., & Dweck, C. S. (2018). What happens after prejudice is confronted in the workplace? How mindsets affect minorities’ and women’s outlook on future social relations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(6), 676–687.
Rosette, A. S., Akinola, M., & Ma, A. (2018). Subtle discrimination in the workplace: Individual-level factors and processes. Oxford Handbooks Online.
Steffens, M. C., Viladot, M. A., & Scheifele, C. (2019). Male Majority, Female Majority, or Gender Diversity in Organizations: How Do Proportions Affect Gender Stereotyping and Women Leaders’ Well-Being? Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
Tang, W., & Vandenberghe, C. (2022). Affective organizational commitment, self‐concept, and work performance: A social comparison perspective. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 30(3), 411–426.
Van Laar, C., Meeussen, L., Veldman, J., van Grootel, S., Sterk, N., & Jacobs, C. (2019). Coping with stigma in the workplace: Understanding the role of threat regulation, supportive factors, and potential hidden costs. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
Wang, Q., Teng, X., Cai, Z., Qu, Y., & Qian, J. (2021). My fault? Coworker incivility and organizational citizenship behavior: The moderating role of attribution orientation on state guilt. Frontiers in Psychology, 12.
Ye, Y., Zhu, H., Deng, X., & Mu, Z. (2019). Negative workplace gossip and service outcomes: An explanation from social identity theory. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 82, 159–168.