Individual Behavior

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 2–1

After studying this chapter,you should be able to:1. Define the key biographical characteristics.2. Identify two types of ability.3. Shape the behavior of others.4. Distinguish between the four schedules of

reinforcement.5. Clarify the role of punishment in learning.6. Practice self-management


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Biographical Characteristics


Biographical CharacteristicsPersonal characteristics—such as age, gender, and marital status—that are objective and easily obtained from personnel records.

Ability, Intellect, and Intelligence


AbilityAn individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.Intellectual AbilityThe capacity to do mental activities.

Multiple IntelligencesIntelligence contains four subparts: cognitive, social, emotional, and cultural.

Physical Abilities


Physical AbilitiesThe capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.

The Ability-Job Fit


Ability-JobFitEmployee’sEmployee’s

AbilitiesAbilitiesJob’s AbilityJob’s Ability

RequirementsRequirements

Individual Differences in the Workplace

Ability and Skills AttitudesPerception

Personality

Work Behavior

• Productivity• Creativity• Performance

Individual DifferencesIndividual Differences

Abilities and Skills

Ability – a person’s talent to perform a mental or physical task

Skill – a learned talent that a person has acquired to perform a task

Key AbilitiesKey Abilities

Mental AbilityMental Ability

Emotional Emotional IntelligenceIntelligence

Tacit KnowledgeTacit Knowledge

Attitudes

Are determinates of behavior because they are linked with perception, personality, feelings, and motivation

Attitude – a mental state of readiness– learned and organized through experience– exerting a specific response to people, objects,

and situations with which it is related

Attitudes: Implications for the Manager

1. Attitudes are learned2. Attitudes define one’s predispositions toward

given aspects of the world3. Attitudes provide the emotional basis of one’s

interpersonal relations and identification with others

4. Attitudes are organized and are close to the core of personality

Diversity Factors

Primary Dimensions (stable) Age Ethnicity Gender Physical attributes Race Sexual / affectional

orientation

Secondary Dimensions (changeable)

Educational background Marital status Religious beliefs Health Work experience

Why Individual Differences Are Important: (1 of 2)

Individual differences have a direct effect on behavior– People who perceive things differently behave

differently– People with different attitudes respond

differently to directives– People with different personalities interact

differently with bosses, coworkers, subordinates, and customers

Why Individual Differences Are Important: (2 of 2)

Individual differences help explain:– Why some people embrace change and others

are fearful of it– Why some employees will be productive only if

they are closely supervised, while others will be productive if they are not

– Why some workers learn new tasks more effectively than others

Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle(1 of 3)

Different people are attracted to different careers and organizations as a function of their own:– abilities– interests– personalities

Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle(2 of 3) Organizations select employees on the basis of

the needs the organization has– skills and abilities– individual attributes such as values and

personality

Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle(3 of 3)

Attrition occurs when:– individuals discover they do not like being part

of the organization and elect to resign, or– the organization determines an individual is not

succeeding and elects to terminate

Each phase of ASA cycle is significantly influenced by the individual differences of each person.Effective managerial practice requires that individual behavior differences be recognized, and when feasible, taken into consideration while carrying out the job of managing organizational behavior.

Personality

A relatively stable set of feelings and behaviors that have been significantly formed by genetic and environmental factors

The relationship between behavior and personality is one of the most complex matters that managers have to understand

Some Major Forces Influencing Personality

IndividuaIndividual l

PersonaliPersonalityty

Cultural forcesCultural forces

Hereditary forcesHereditary forces

Family relationship forcesFamily relationship forces

Social class / group membership Social class / group membership forcesforces

Theories of Personality

Trait Theories: Attempt to learn what traits make up personality and how they relate to actual behavior

Psychodynamic Theories: Focus on the inner workings of personality, especially internal conflicts and struggles

Humanistic Theories: Focus on private, subjective experience and personal growth

Social-Cognitive Theories: Attribute difference in personality to socialization, expectations, and mental processes

Types of Personality Theories

Trait Theories of Personality

Trait theories - theories that endeavor to describe the characteristics that make up human personality in an effort to predict future behavior.– Trait - a consistent, enduring way of

thinking, feeling, or behaving. Allport first developed a list of about 200

traits and believed that these traits were part of the nervous system.

Cattell reduced the number of traits to between 16 and 23 with a computer method called factor analysis.

LO 12.10 Trait perspective

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Trait Theories of Personality

Surface traits - aspects of personality that can easily be seen by other people in the outward actions of a person.

Source traits - the more basic traits that underlie the surface traits, forming the core of personality.– Example: Introversion - dimension of personality

in which people tend to withdraw from excessive stimulation.


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The Big Five Theory

Five-factor model (Big Five) - model of personality traits that describes five basic trait dimensions.– Openness - one of the five factors; willingness to

try new things and be open to new experiences.– Conscientiousness - the care a person gives to

organization and thoughtfulness of others; dependability.


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The Big Five Theory

– Extraversion - dimension of personality referring to one’s need to be with other people.

• Extraverts - people who are outgoing and sociable.• Introverts - people who prefer solitude and dislike being the

center of attention.

– Agreeableness - the emotional style of a person that may range from easygoing, friendly, and likeable to grumpy, crabby, and unpleasant.

– Neuroticism - degree of emotional instability or stability.


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How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior?

Research has shown this to be a better framework. Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to

higher job performance:– Highly conscientious people develop more job knowledge,

exert greater effort, and have better performance.– Other Big Five Traits also have implications for work.

• Emotional stability is related to job satisfaction.• Extroverts tend to be happier in their jobs and have good

social skills.• Open people are more creative and can be good leaders.• Agreeable people are good in social settings.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

See E X H I B I T 5–1

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The Big FivePersonalityDimensions

Locus of Control

Self-efficacy Creativity

Personality and Behavior in Organizations

ConscientiousnConscientiousnessess

ExtroversionExtroversion

Emotional Emotional StabilityStability

AgreeablenessAgreeableness

Openness to Openness to ExperienceExperience

The Big Five Personality Dimensions

Locus of Control

Locus of control of individuals – – Determines the degree to which they believe

their behaviors influence what happens to them– Internals – believe they are masters of their own

fate– Externals – believe they are helpless pawns of

fate, success is due to luck or ease of task

Self-Efficacy

Feelings of self-efficacy have managerial and organizational implications:– Selection decisions– Training programs– Goal setting and performance


Other Personality Traits( Self-Esteem and Self-Monitoring)

Self-Esteem (SE)

Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking themselves.Self-Monitoring

A personality trait that measures an individuals ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors.


Risk-Taking

High Risk-taking Managers– Make quicker decisions– Use less information to make decisions– Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial

organizations Low Risk-taking Managers

– Are slower to make decisions– Require more information before making decisions– Exist in larger organizations with stable

environments Risk Propensity

– Aligning managers’ risk-taking propensity to job requirements should be beneficial to organizations.

Even More Relevant Personality Traits

Type A Personality– Aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to

achieve more in less time• Impatient: always moving, walking, and eating rapidly• Strive to think or do two or more things at once• Cannot cope with leisure time• Obsessed with achievement numbers

– Type B people are the complete opposite– They never suffer from a sense of time urgency, can relax

without guilt and so on.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-35


Personality Types

Proactive Personality

Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres until meaningful change occurs. Creates positive change in the environment, regardless or even in spite of constraints or obstacles.

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Individual Behavior