Imagine that you are the supervisor for your client team. In your role as team supervisor, you try to follow a Theory Y management style. You want to provide constructive feedback to improve employee performance when appropriate, but you also want to develop a trusting, positive culture. You use your knowledge of attribution theory to determine when to reward or punish behavior and when to talk with employees about making changes in their behavior.

Using your knowledge of attribution theory, answer the question.

Jack missed an important team meeting. If you blame Jack, you$$ll need to punish him for missing the meeting. But if he missed the meeting because of circumstances beyond his control, you won$$t$.$ In which situation should you attribute the cause to circumstances beyond Jack$$s control?

Jack has a tendency to miss meetings on Fridays. Other team members joke that he$$s usually on the golf course on these days.

Several team members were late to the meeting because of highway construction. Jack is usually on time to meetings and to work in general.

Jack sometimes misses meetings, especially when a lot of work is on the agenda. Unlike the rest of the team, who respect the need to be at important meetings, Jack prefers to avoid participating.