Lisa Benton Case

This case was interesting because it provided a few examples of the conflicts that are stated in organization behavior theories and models. The main issues that we see in this particular case are those dealing with perception, personality, and motivation. There seem to be both internal and external factors that are causing the issues. In specific, the internal issues derive from the personality of select individuals, which influence their behavior; but there are external factors that derive from the management and organization itself that are attributing to the individual’s negative behavior. In the following paragraphs, we will explore these issues further by identifying specific incidents that affected Lisa Benton’s performance.

In evaluating the job choices that Lisa Benton, one can assume that she was a “Type A” achiever. We can see this because of the particular strengths and weaknesses that she evaluated per company to make her final job selection. Using McClelland’s theory, we can label Lisa Benton as having a Type A personality because the position she was seeking would require her to have personal responsibility, feedback, and moderate risks. Both job opportunities offered personal responsibly and feedback, however, the position at Right-Away was too visible, therefore, the risks of failing would have been more noticeable to the company’s upper management because it was a smaller organization. Thus, the risks were more than moderate and at that time Lisa Benton did not have sufficient self-efficacy to think she could qualify for the Right Away management position. Furthermore, we can have an idea about what motivates Lisa Benton and in examining the case, Lisa finds the intrinsic rewards more important than the extrinsic rewards. For example, the case states that even though the position at Right Away offered a better salary and upper management position, the learning and training opportunities, the recognition, and career development at