Organizational Behavior, 9/E Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn Prepared by Michael K. McCuddy Valparaiso University John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Chapter 4 Study Questions What is personality? How do personalities differ? What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 1: What is personality? The overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts and interacts with others. Combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person looks, thinks, acts, and feels. Predictable relationships are expected between people’s personalities and their behaviors. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 1: What is personality? Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 1: What is personality? Heredity and environment. Heredity sets the limits on the development of personality characteristics. Environment determines development within these limits.  About a 50-50 heredity-environment split. Cultural values and norms play a substantial role in the development of personality. Social factors include family life, religion, and many kinds of formal and informal groups. Situational factors reflect the opportunities or constraints imposed by the operational context. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 1: What is personality? Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 1: What is personality? Personality and the self-concept. Personality dynamics. The ways in which an individual integrates and organizes social traits, values and motives, personal conceptions, and emotional adjustments. Self-concept. The view individuals have of themselves as physical, social, and spiritual or moral beings. Self-esteem. Self-efficacy. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? “Big Five” personality dimensions. Extraversion Being outgoing, sociable, assertive. Agreeableness. Being good-natured, trusting, cooperative. Conscientiousness. Being responsible, dependable, persistent. Emotional stability. Being unworried, secure, relaxed. Openness to experience. Being imaginative, curious, broad-minded. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Social traits. Surface-level traits that reflect the way a person appears to others when interacting in various social settings. An important social trait is problem-solving style. The way a person goes about gathering and evaluating information in solving problems and making decisions. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Information gathering in problem solving. Getting and organizing data for use. Sensation-type individuals prefer routine and order and emphasize well-defined details in gathering information. Intuitive-type individuals like new problems and dislike routine. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Information evaluation in problem solving. Making judgments about how to deal with information once it has been collected. Feeling-type individuals are oriented toward conformity and try to accommodate themselves to other people. Thinking-type individuals use reason and intellect to deal with problems and downplay emotions. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Personal conception traits. The way individuals tend to think about their social and physical settings as well as their major beliefs and personal orientation. Key traits. Locus of control. Authoritarianism/dogmatism. Machiavellianism. Self-monitoring. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Locus of control. The extent to which a person feels able to control his/her own life. Externals. More extraverted in their interpersonal relationships and more oriented toward the world around them. Internals. More introverted and more oriented towards their own feelings and ideas. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Authoritarianism/dogmatism. Authoritarianism. Tendency to adhere rigidly to conventional values and to obey recognized authority. Dogmatism. Tendency to view the world as a threatening place. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? People with a high-Machiavellian personality: Approach situations logically and thoughtfully. Are capable of lying to achieve personal goals. Are rarely swayed by loyalty, friendships, past promises, or others’ opinions. Are skilled at influencing others. Try to exploit loosely structured situations. Perform in a perfunctory or detached manner in highly structured situations. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? People with a low-Machiavellian personality: Accept direction imposed by others in loosely structured situations. Work hard to do well in highly structured situations. Are strongly guided by ethical considerations. Are unlikely to lie or cheat. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Self-monitoring. A person’s ability to adjust his/her behavior to external situational factors. High self-monitors. Sensitive to external cues. Behave differently in different situations. Low self-monitors. Not sensitive to external cues. Not able to disguise their behaviors. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Study Question 2: How do personalities differ? Emotional adjustment traits. How much an individual experiences distress or displays unacceptable acts. Type A orientation. Characterized by impatience, desire for achievement, and perfectionism. Type B orientation. Characterized as more easygoing and less competitive in relation to daily events. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Values. Broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes. Values influence behavior and attitudes. Parents, friends, teachers, and external reference groups can influence individual values. Values develop as a product of learning and experiences. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Pick up Figure 4.5 from the textbook. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Gordon Allport’s values categories. Theoretical values. Economic values. Aesthetic values. Social values. Political values. Religious values. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Maglino’s categories of workplace values. Achievement. Helping and concern for others. Honesty. Fairness. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Attitudes. Are influenced by values and are acquired from the same sources as values. Are more specific and less stable than values. An attitude is a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to someone or something in one’s environment. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? The attitude-behavior relationship is stronger when: Attitudes and behaviors are more specific. There is freedom to carry out the behavioral intent. The person has experience with the attitude. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Attitudes and cognitive consistency. Cognitive dissonance. Describes a state of inconsistency between an individual’s attitudes and his or her behavior. Cognitive dissonance can be reduced by: Changing the underlying attitude. Changing future behavior. Developing new ways of explaining or rationalizing the inconsistency. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 3: What are value and attitude differences among individuals, and why are they important? Attitudes and cognitive consistency (cont.). Dissonance reduction choices are influenced by: The degree of control a person has over the situation. The magnitude of the rewards involved. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Workforce diversity. The presence of individual human characteristics that make people different from one another. Challenge of workforce diversity. Respecting individuals’ perspectives and contributions and promoting a shared sense of organizational vision and identity. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? As workforce diversity increases, the possibility of stereotyping and discrimination increases. Demographic characteristics may serve as the basis for stereotypes. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Equal employment opportunity. Nondiscriminatory employment decisions. No intent to exclude or disadvantage legally protected groups. Affirmative action. Remedial actions for proven discrimination or statistical imbalance in workforce. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Demographic characteristics. The background characteristics that help shape what a person becomes. Important demographic characteristics for the workplace. Gender. Age. Able-bodiedness. Race. Ethnicity. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Gender. No consistent differences between men and women in: Problem-solving abilities. Analytical skills. Competitive drive. Motivation. Learning ability. Sociability. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Gender (cont.). As compared to men, women: Are more conforming. Have lower expectations of success. Have higher absenteeism. Are more democratic as leaders. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Age. Aging workforce. Older workers are more susceptible to stereotyping. Age discrimination lawsuits are increasingly common in the United States. Small businesses tend to value older workers. Experienced workers, who are usually older, tend to perform well, be absent less, and have low turnover. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Able-bodiedness. Despite evidence of effective job performance, most disabled persons are unemployed. Most disabled persons want to work. More firms are likely to hire disabled workers in the future. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Racial and ethnic groups. African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans make up an ever-increasing percentage of the American workforce. Potential for stereotypes and discrimination can adversely affect career opportunities. Race cannot be a BFOQ. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Important lessons regarding demographic characteristics. Respect and deal with the needs and concerns of people with different demographics. Avoid linking demographics to stereotypes. Demography is not a good indicator of individual-job fits. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4 Study Question 4: What are individual differences and how are they related to workforce diversity? Aptitude. A person’s capability of learning something. Ability. A person’s existing capacity to perform the various tasks needed for a given job. Includes relevant knowledge and skills. Organizational Behavior: Chapter 4

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