$.$ Applying Attribution Theory

Skip to question

Applying Attribution Theory

$$

This activity is important$$because as a manager, you must be able to determine whether your employees are performing effectively and efficiently, with a minimum of errors and disruptions. In order to do this, you will need to conduct a performance appraisal, an evaluation that measures employee performance against established standards. Performance Appraisals allow managers to make informed decisions about promotions, compensation, training, and termination.

$$

The goal of this activity is$$to demonstrate your understanding of the Performance Appraisal process by aligning examples of each step, and placing them in the appropriate order.$$

$$

Read the case of the consumer shopping scenario and answer the questions that follow.

$$

Consider yourself in the position of branch manager at an office of a large corporation. Lately, you$$ve had some trouble with one of your employees named Jake. Last week, Jake arrived late to work three times. Your branch office opens promptly at $8$:$00$ a$.$m$.,$ and customers are almost always waiting at the door. Not having Jake there ready to serve customers has created some real problems. You need to get to the bottom of why Jake is late so the situation can be corrected. Initially, however, you have some ideas of your own about the source of the problem.

$$

Attribution theory explains how we decide whether an observed behavior is caused mainly by the person $($internal factors$)$ or by the environment $($external factors$).$ Use Attribution theory to answer the following questions. Answering these questions correctly will illustrate how you would likely attribute cause for Jake$$s behavior.

$$

$1$c$.$ You pride yourself on running a fairly stric...

You pride yourself on running a fairly strict business, and overall, employees are almost never late for work. Last week was typical $$ almost everyone was on time every day. The exception was Jake, who was late three times. This leads to what type of attribution regarding Jake$$s behavior?