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CHAPTER 4: THE LEADER AS AN INDIVIDUAL 113

Exhibit 4.3 Factors Influencing Whether Attributions Are Internal or External

Observed
Behavior

Does the person
Yes Low distinctiveness Internal attribution
behave in this
way in other
situations? No High distinctiveness External attribution

Does the person
Yes High consistency Internal attribution
have a history of
behaving this way
at other times? No Low consistency External attribution

Do other people
Yes High consensus External attribution
behave in this
way in similar
situations? No Low consensus Internal attribution

2. Consistency. Whether the person being observed has a history of behaving
in the same way. People generally make internal attributions about con-
sistent behavior.
3. Consensus. Whether other people tend to respond to similar situations in
the same way. A person who has observed others handle similar situations
in the same way will likely make an external attribution; that is, it will
seem that the situation produces the type of behavior observed.
In addition to these general rules, people tend to have biases that they apply
when making attributions. When evaluating others, we tend to underestimate the

influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors.

This tendency is called the fundamental attribution error. Consider the case of someone Fundamental attribution error
Fundamental attribution error
the tendency to underestimate
being promoted to CEO. Employees, outsiders, and the media generally focus on the tendency to underestimate
the infl uence of external factors
the characteristics of the person that allowed him or her to achieve the promotion. the infl uence of external factors
on another’s behavior and
on another’s behavior and
In reality, however, the selection of that person might have been heavily infl uenced overestimate the infl uence of
overestimate the infl uence of
internal factors
by external factors, such as business conditions creating a need for someone with internal factors
a strong fi nancial or marketing background at that particular time.
Another bias that distorts attributions involves attributions we make about our
own behavior. People tend to overestimate the contribution of internal factors to their
successes and overestimate the contribution of external factors to their failures. This
tendency, called the self-serving bias, means people give themselves too much credit for Self-serving bias
Self-serving bias
the tendency to overestimate
what they do well and give external forces too much blame when they fail. Thus, if the tendency to overestimate
the infl uence of internal factors
a leader’s subordinates say she doesn’t listen well enough, and the leader thinks sub- the infl uence of internal factors
on one’s successes and the
on one’s successes and the
ordinates don’t communicate well enough, the truth may actually lie somewhere in infl uence of external factors on
infl uence of external factors on
one’s failures
between. At Emerald Pakaging, Kevin Kelly examined his attributions and improved one’s failures
his leadership effectiveness by overcoming the self-serving bias.