INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: PERSONALITY AND ABILITIES

After reading this chapter you should be able to: 1. Define personality, and describe its role in the study of OB. 2. Distinguish between a test’s reliability and its validity. 3. Identify the big five dimensions of personality, and explain how they relate to serveral aspects of OB. 4. Explain positive and negative affectivity and how they affect behavior in organizations. 5. Distinguish between Type A and Type B behavior patterns and how they influence behavior in organizations. 6. Describe the nature of self-efficacy, and explain how this differs from self-monitoring. 7. Describe Machiavellianism and the conditions under which individuals possessing high amounts of this trait tend to be most successful. 8. Explain achievement motivation (or need for achievement) and the performance differences between people showing high and low amounts of this characteristic. 9. Describe the difference between morning and evening persons and the relevance of this individual difference to on the job behavior. 10. Describe practical intelligence, emotional intelligence, and the roles each plays in career success relative to cognitive intelligence.

Personality: Its Basic Nature and Key Issues (Pp. 97-101) Personality - the unique and relatively stable pattern of behaviors, thoughts, and emotions shown by an individual Role of Personality in Organizational Behavior - knowledge, skills, and ability determine whether a person can do the job - personality determines whether a person wants to do the work Interactionist perspective - behavior results from a comlex interplay between personality and situational factors Person-job-fit - extent to which individuals possess the traits required for specific jobs Personality Measurement Objective tests - questionnaires and inventories that measure various aspects of personality - most widely used measurement method - normative available as a basis for comparison Essential requirements Reliability - consistency in measurement Validity - test measures what it claims to measure

Work-Related Aspects of Personality (Pp. 102-116) Big Five Dimensions of Personality - most fundamental traits Conscientiousness - degree of diligence, perseverance, and organization - related to job performance across many occupations - related to absenteeism Extroversion-introversion - degree of gregarious, assertiveness, and sociability - related to performance in jobs that required interpersonal interaction Agreeableness - degree of cooperativeness and warmth Emotional stability - degree of calmness , self-confidence, and sense of security Openness to experience - degree of creativeness, curiosity, and culture - related to success in training

Tendencies Toward Feeling Good or Bad Work-Related Aspects of Personality (cont.) Tendencies Toward Feeling Good or Bad Mood states - temporary feelings based on current conditions Positive affectivity - tendency to experience positive moods and feelings in many settings and under many different conditions - overall sense of well-being; experience other people and conditions in a positive light Negative affectivity - tendency to experience negative moods in many settings and under many different conditions - individuals and teams with negative affective tone do not perform as well as those with positive affective tone The Type A Behavior Pattern - a pattern of behavior involving high levels of competitiveness, time urgency, and irritability Type B behavior pattern - a pattern of behavior characterized by a casual, laid-back style - Type A - overall edge in job performance, especially tasks involving time pressure or solitary work; impatient with coworkers - Type B - perform better on complex tasks that require accuracy rather than speed

Why Type A’s Often Don’t Make It to the Top Figure 3.6 Why Type A’s Often Don’t Make It to the Top The Top! Irritability, conflict with others Increased health risks Poor decision making Type A’s

Self-Efficacy - an individual’s beliefs concerning her/his ability to Work-Related Aspects of Personality (cont.) Self-Efficacy - an individual’s beliefs concerning her/his ability to perform specific tasks successfully - components Magnitude - level of performance believed possible Strength - confidence in ability to perform at that level Generality - extent to which feelings of self-efficacy extend across situations - development Direct experience - feedback from past performance Vicarious experience - observing the success of others - formal training based on these elements can increase feelings of self-efficacy

specific situations, primarily to make the best possible impression Work-Related Aspects of Personality (cont.) Self-Monitoring - the extent to which individuals adapt their behavior to specific situations, primarily to make the best possible impression on others Work performance - high self-monitors do better in jobs requiring boundary spanning activities Career success - high self-monitors tend to be promoted more often Interpersonal relationships - form less stable relationships Social chameleons - viewed as manipulative Machiavellianism - a willingness to manipulate others for one’s own purposes in a ruthless manner Characteristics - glib and charming - little remorse about harming others - display little empathy Job success - not related to performance on jobs with a great deal of autonomy where coworkers can avoid the clutches of high Machiavellianism individual - high Machiavellianism individuals are more successful in loosely structured organizations

succeed at difficult tasks, and to do them better than others Work-Related Aspects of Personality (cont.) Achievement Motivation - strength of an individual’s desire to excel, to succeed at difficult tasks, and to do them better than others Attraction to difficult tasks - high need achievers prefer tasks that are moderately challenging and of intermediate difficulty Managerial success - high need achievers tend to be: - promoted more rapidly - less inclined to delegate - more interested in performance feedback - more interested in merit-based pay than in seniority-based pay

Achievement Motivation and Task Preference Figure 3.9 Achievement Motivation and Task Preference High Low Need for Achievement High Need for Achievement Task Preference Low Easy Difficult Task Difficulty

real and important when it comes to job performance Work-Related Aspects of Personality (cont.) Individual Differences in Times of Day When People Feel Alert - are both real and important when it comes to job performance Morning persons - feel most energetic and alert early in the day Evening persons - feel most energetic and alert late in the day

Time of Day and Academic Performance Figure 3.10 Time of Day and Academic Performance Early classes 3.27 2.78 Late Classes 3.18 3.07 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 Morning persons do better in early classes. Evening persons do better in late classes Grades Morning Students Evening Students

Intellectual Abilities (Pp. 117-120) Cognitive Intelligence - ability to understand complex ideas, adapt effectively to the environment, learn from experience, engage in various forms of reasoning, and overcome obstacles - information processing Practical Intelligence - adeptness at solving practical problems of everyday life Tacit knowledge - knowledge about how to get things done - action oriented - allows one to achieve personal goals - acquired without help from others Emotional Intelligence - cluster of skills relating to the emotional side of life - ability to recognize and regulate our own emotions, to influence others, to self-motivate, to form effective long-term relationships Other Cognitive Abilities

Physical Abilities (P. 120) Types of Physical Abilities Strength - capacity to exert physical force Flexibility - capacity to move one’s body in an agile manner Stamina - capacity to endure physical activity for prolonged periods Speed - the ability to move quickly - many jobs require blend of physical and intellectual abilities - companies are introducing measures to promote the health and well-being of employees performing physical tasks