According to a recent survey, businesses in the UK waste £15.5b each year dealing with poorly performing employees with managers spending 11% or approximately 1 hour a day redoing or correcting the mistakes of others. John Ivancevich and Michael Mattson, the co authors of Organization Behaviour and Management state there are 5 major factors that influence individual behavioural at work; they are:
1. Demographic
Demographic factors include socio economic background, education, nationality, race, age and sex etc. Organisations generally prefer employees that belong to good socio-economic background and are well educated as they believe such employees perform better.
2. Abilities and Skills
The physical capacity of an individual to do something can be termed as ability. Skill can be defined as the ability to act in a way that allows a person to perform well.
3. Perception
The cognitive process meant for interpreting the environmental stimuli in a meaningful way is referred to as perception. Every individual on the basis of his or her preference can organise and interpret environmental stimuli.
4. Attitude
According to psychologists, attitude can be defined as a tendency to respond favourably or unfavourably to certain objects, persons or situations. Factors such as family, society, culture, peers and organisational factors influence the formation of attitude.
5. Personality
Personality can be defined as the study of the characteristics and distinctive traits of an individual, the inter-relations between them and the way in which a person responds and adjusts to other people and situations. Several factors that influence the personality of an individual are heredity, family, society, culture and situation.
Using Frederick Herzberg’s ‘Two Factor Theory’ salary is a strong motivator for individuals. The pay progression scheme is an important tool and can be used to ensure that