Individual Differences and Personality

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Individual Differences and Personality

• Implications for Managing Employees

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Diagnosis of Employee Behavior Problems
Define Expected or Desired Behavior
Described Actual Behavior Patterns
GAP What change in behavior is desired? Why
does the gap exist?
Role Expectations
Motivation
Skills/ Abilities/ Knowledge
Resources
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Surface and Deep-Level Diversity
Surface-Level Diversity
Age
Personality
Attitudes
Race/ Ethnicity
Physical Capabilities
Deep-Level Diversity
Self Concepts
Gender
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Individual Diversity Attributes

• These dispositional factors account for 30-50 of
  the differences in an individuals behavior
• Examples
• Concepts of self
• Personality traits
• Cognitive, emotional, and physical competencies
• Values and attitudes
• Skills and knowledge
• Demographic variables

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Concepts of Self
Figure 3-1
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Concepts of Self

• Self Concept
• The bundle of traits, competencies, values that
  comprise our beliefs about ourselves
• Perceived, ideal, should, would selves
• Self Esteem
• Evaluation of the worth of our selves
• Often an outcome not a cause of effective
  performance

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Concepts of Self

• Self Efficacy
• Belief that one is capable of performing a
  particular task
• What kinds of things affect our self efficacy?
• Self Monitoring
• Observing our selves and behaviors and adapting
  them to the situation at hand
• Responding to social cues about what is
  appropriate to do in a particular situation

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Self Management

• Role of persistence and determination in
  succeeding vs. talent and education
• What does Pfeffer say about this quality (Ch.
  19)?

Eighty percent of success is showing up. --
Woody Allen
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What is personality?

• Definition
• Set of unique traits and other mental
  characteristics that give consistency to an
  individual's behavior across situations
• Enduring tendencies to feel, think, and act in
  certain ways across many situations
• Source Nature vs. Nurture?
• What twin studies reveal
• The role of genes
• The role of environment, including culture
• Gene X Environment interactions

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Big Five Personality Traits
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Extraversion

• Tendency to experience positive emotions and
  moods and feel good about oneself and the rest of
  the world
• People high in extraversion tend to be sociable,
  affectionate, outgoing and friendly, and enjoy
  jobs with lots of interpersonal interaction
• In U.S., extraversion is positively related to
  salary levels, promotions, and career
  satisfaction
• People low in extraversion tend to be less
  inclined toward social interaction and have a
  less positive outlook

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Neuroticism (opposite emotional stability)

• Tendency to experience negative emotions and
  moods, feel distressed, and be critical of
  oneself and others
• Cope poorly with stress and may whine

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Agreeableness

• Tendency to get along well with others
• People high in agreeableness are likable,
  affectionate and care about others
• Agreeableness may be needed for jobs requiring
  teamwork and good interpersonal facilitation
  skills
• People with low agreeableness may be distrustful,
  unsympathetic, uncooperative and antagonistic

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Conscientiousness

• Tendency to be careful, scrupulous, and
  persevering
• People high in this trait are organized and
  self-disciplined
• People low in this trait lack direction and
  self-discipline
• Conscientiousness is correlated with successful
  performance in many jobs, but may not be good for
  jobs that require spontaneity and creativity

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Openness to Experience

• Tendency to be original, have broad interests, be
  open to a wide range of stimuli, be daring and
  take risks
• Implications
• Needed for jobs requiring innovation, creativity,
  and spontaneity
• Predictive of cross-cultural sensitivity and
  success in international assignments

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Color Code Personality Type

• Four personality types
• Red (motive power)
• Blue (motive intimacy)
• White (motive peace)
• Yellow (motive fun)

http//www.thecolorcode.com/index.html
What do you think of this personality assessment?
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Flexibility

• Ability to adapt to and manage different
  situations that may arise
• Scores on the flexibility inventory?
• Implications
• Flexibility is preferable in environments where
  change and entrepreneurial action is needed
• Flexibility allows us to take more risks,
  experiment, and learn

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Locus of control

• Definition the extent to which one believes
  that the things that happen to them are under
  their own or others control
• Internal locus belief that ones own abilities
  and efforts control the things that happen to
  them
• External locus belief that others, situations,
  and fate control what happens to them
• Cultural differences may determine locus of
  control

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Type A vs. Type B Syndrome

• Type A tendency to be impatient, driven,
  competitive, oriented toward work, doing more
  than one thing at a time
• Type B tendency to be more relaxed, less
  competitive, less focused on being busy, and are
  more even-tempered
• Scores?

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Cognitive Style Preferences

• Preferences with regard to how we gather and
  process information about the world
• Does not denote a skill but a desired way of
  information gathering and processing (can
  override preferences)
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a popular
  measure of cognitive style

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Extraversion vs. Introversion(E vs. I)

• Extraversion (E)
• Process information through social interaction
• Verbalizes ideas
• Thinks out loud
• Prefers face to face communication

• Introversion (I)
• Processes information internally
• Develops ideas and makes decisions alone
• Responds after reflection
• Prefers written forms of communication

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Sensing vs. Intuition (S vs. N)

• Sensing (S)
• Collects data through senses
• Prefers inductive reasoning
• Focus on details
• Learns through experience
• Focus on parts rather than whole system
• Use data (evidence) rather than theory to guide
  decisions

• Intuition (N)
• Integrates data into internal models
• Prefers deductive thinking
• Focus on global view
• Learns theoretically
• Sees the connection and integration among parts
  of a system
• Uses theory to guide decisions

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Thinking vs. Feeling (T vs. F)

• Thinking (T)
• Decides analytically by using facts and
  principles
• Is logical and objective
• Examines links between causes and effects to make
  decisions
• Use objective criteria in decision making

• Feeling (F)
• Decides on the basis of subjective values, needs,
  and feelings
• Is more subjective and value in decision process
• Decision making may not be rational
• Use more subjective criteria in decision making

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Judging vs. Perceiving (J vs. P)

• Judging (J)
• Emphasize decision making and coming to closure
• Prefers order and structure in decision making
• Difficulty multi-tasking (is more linear)
• May develop entire plan before beginning action
• Likes to find a formula or template to guide
  decision making

• Perceiving (P)
• Emphasize the gathering of information over
  decision making
• Prefers to remain flexible and open to new
  options
• Has difficulty coming to closure
• Likes multi-tasking (is more non-linear)
• Prefers lateral thinking

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Types of Business Students

• Typical student type ESTJ
• 65 E
• 65 S
• 70 T
• 70 J
• Typical faculty type INTJ
• More descriptions www.typelogic.com
• MBTI and careers http//www.personalitypage.com/
  careers.html

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Brain Dominance and Thinking Style
Left Brain Related to Sensing and Thinking Cognit
ive Styles
Right Brain Related to Intuitive
and Feeling Cognitive Styles
Scores Career Planning based on Brain
Dominance
ONet
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Implications of Cognitive Style

• Employee selection and placement
• Individual career choice
• Decision making
• Team building and counseling
• Instruction or training

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Work Attitudes

• Consistent predispositions toward events, people,
  issues, objects, etc.
• Compared to values, attitudes are
• More specific
• Not as long lasting
• Compared to moods, attitudes are
• More long lasting

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Work Attitudes

• Components include
• Affective feelings/emotions about the target
• Cognitive beliefs or thoughts about the target
• Behavioral actions toward the object
• Example Job satisfaction

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Job Satisfaction

• Feelings, beliefs, and intentions with regard to
  job behaviors
• We may have a general level of job satisfaction
  or we may have specific levels of job
  satisfaction regarding work itself, work
  setting, supervisors, coworkers, pay, employment
  security, etc.

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Issues around Job Satisfaction

• Values and personality may determine levels of
  satisfaction and what facets of job satisfaction
  are important to individuals
• People take a comparative approach to job
  satisfaction Satisfaction occurs when our
  expectations are met
• Hedonic adaptationwe quickly adapt to a
  satisfied state such that we become dissatisfied
  again
• However Is job satisfaction a trait rather
  than a state?

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What behaviors are related to job satisfaction?

• Performance Satisfied workers are not always
  likely to perform at a higher level than
  dissatisfied workers
• When might there be a positive relationship
  between job satisfaction and performance?
• When situational constraints are weak when
  workers are free to vary their behaviors in
  response to attitudes
• When a workers attitude is directly relevant to
  the behavior in question (satisfaction with pay
  vs. general conditions)

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What behaviors are related to job satisfaction?

• Absenteeism Satisfied workers are only slightly
  less likely to be absent than dissatisfied
  workers.
• Need to consider whether the absenteeism is
  voluntary vs. involuntary
• Turnover Satisfied workers are less likely to
  leave the organization than dissatisfied workers.

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What behaviors are related to job satisfaction?

• Organizational Citizenship (OCB) behavior that
  is above and beyond the call of duty. Examples
• Helping coworkers, enhancement of organizational
  reputation and goodwill, protection of the
  organization, giving extra time to organizational
  projects, etc.
• Satisfaction is positively related to OCB

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What behaviors are related to job satisfaction?

• Worker well-being and general happiness quality
  of life considerations for the employee
• Workers who are generally satisfied with their
  jobs are usually happier, less stressed, and
  healthier than those who are not satisfied

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Moods and Emotions

• Mood
• A feeling or state of mind
• Positive moods provide excitement, elation, and
  enthusiasm.
• Negative moods lead to fear, distress, and
  nervousness
• Emotion
• Intense, relatively short-lived feelings

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Emotional Intelligence

• The ability to understand and manage ones own
  moods and emotions and the moods and emotions of
  other people.

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Model of Emotional Intelligence
Self Management
Self Awareness
Managing Self
Emotional Trigger
Emotional Response
Behavioral Response
Managing Others
Social Awareness
Relationship Management
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Implications of Emotional Intelligence

• Need to learn to handle our own emotions in
  effective ways
• Need to help others manage their emotions in the
  workplace
• Current concerns workplace civility and
  courtesy (Pfeffer, Ch. 16)
• Some advice?