The Study of the Ways People Explain Their own Behavior

Causal attribution is a way for people to interpret themselves and others' behaviors. Many studies indicate cultural differences between Western European countries and non Western European countries (Earley, 1993). Non-Western European countries are said to be "collectivists" who believe that people of this culture define themselves as members of a collective group. This person plays a role in the group and he can not manage his life almost personally, but it does not need to be necessarily (Gilovich, Keltner, & Nisbett, 2010).

Fritz Heider (1958), after studying how people interpret behaviors of others, proposed the attribution theory. Hider pointed out that people usually attribute other people's behavior to their internal tendencies or their external circumstances. For example, a teacher might want to know whether student enmity reflects an aggressive character (a tendency attribution) or a response to stress or abuse (contextual attribution). In class, we noticed that Juliet was rarely told; while drinking coffee, Jacques kept talking. Because they caused their behavior to be attributed to their personal tendencies, Juliet is very shy and we think that Jack is very extroverted. This attribution is sometimes effective, since people have long-lasting personality traits. However, we underestimate the influence of the situation often by overestimating the influence of the personality, and become a victim of the fundamental attribution mistake. In the class, Jack may be as quiet as Juliet.

Attribution theory accounts for the way people understand the basis of behavior, focuses on the perceptual understanding of behavior, and explains the process by which individuals identify themselves. The organization needs to identify the reason behind the employee's behavior. Organizations should not suddenly decide the perception of employees; it should use attribution theory to achieve factors that influence behavior. Then, depending on whether it is external or internal, the organization can decide how to handle the behavior.

Organizational behavior (OB) is a way to study how people interact in groups. In many cases, this survey is aimed at creating a more efficient business organization. The core idea of ​​organizational behavior research is that scientific methods can be applied to the management of workers. Organizational behavior theory is used for human resources purposes to maximize the output of individual group members. There are various models and philosophy in the behavior of the organization. In the research field, there are improvement of job performance, improvement of job satisfaction degree, promotion of innovation, promotion of leadership, and so on. In order to achieve the desired results, administrators can adopt various strategies such as rebuilding, reforming compensation structures, and changing performance evaluation methods.