Answer to Question #282653 in Management for Ruchi

Question

An employee does an unsatisfactory job on an assigned project. Explain how his boss will make

attribution to judge his job performance. How attributions about the reasons for his performance

will make difference to the response of the boss toward the employee and outcomes for him?

Answer 1

Discussion

Attribution theory is a model of leadership evaluation that assumes that individuals make inferences about leadership ability by observing and interpreting certain environmental and behavioral cues. Leaders/employers make attributions about the cause of the performance before deciding on the appropriate action to take. An employer attributes various factor’s for a follower's performance (internal, external, stable, unstable). These ascribed attributions influence employer's expectations for future performance as well as his/her behavior toward the follower. The attribution model suggests that employer's observe their followers’ behavior, make inferences about the causes of that behavior (whether it is the result of internal, personal factors or of external, circumstantial ones), and then respond on the basis of those inferences. 

If a leader/employer attributes a follower's poor performance to internal factors such as low effort or a lack of ability, he/she may reprimand, dismiss, or provide training for the employee concerned. If a manager/employer attributes an employee's poor performance to a lack of effort, then it will impact employees' performance appraisal poorly. However, if poor performance is attributed to external factors such as a lack of material, or to work overload, the leader/employer would need to concentrate on these factors and improve the situation instead of giving negative feedback to the employee. If a manager perceives that an employee's poor performance is due to a lack of skill, the manager may most likely assign the employee to required training or provide some assistance in terms of instructions or coaching.

The leader/employer will take corrective action towards the situation, if he/she attributes performance problems to external causal factors or towards follower when he/she attributes the performance problem to internal factors. For instance, a manager who makes an internal attribution by concluding that an employee’s poor performance on a recent project was due to personal characteristics that led to lack of motivation, he/she is likely to decide on a harsher disciplinary action. Corrective action is more likely to be punitive in nature when attributed to lack of effort. However, if he/she made an external attribution by assigning the reason of poor performance to the situation like a lockout situation say due to corona pandemic, the person was not able to visit clients and hence the decline in sales volume, the corrective action by the manager/employer will be targeted towards remedying the situation.

Attributions theory means a lot for management because it establishes that managers' and employees' judgments and actions are often based on perceived causes of behavior. Managers/employers make perceptions about employees based on observed performance and derived attributions to causes. Managers/employers will eventually make a performance-related judgment based on observed behavior and attributions. These decisions based on attributions may influence employee motivation both positively and negatively and hence understanding attributions can improve managerial effectiveness.

Reference

Kelley, H. H., & Michela, J. L. (1980). Attribution theory and research. Annual review of psychology, 31(1), 457-501.