1. Chapter 11: Managing Individual Differences & Behavior
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Right Reserved

2. Major Questions You Should Be Able to Answer
11.1 In the hiring process, do employers care about one’s personality and individual traits? 11.2 How do the hidden aspects of individuals-their values and attitudes-affect employee behavior? 11.3 Is it important for managers to pay attention to employee attitudes? 11.4 What are the distortions of perception that can cloud one’s judgment? 11.5 What causes workplace stress, and how can it be reduced?
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3. Personality: Stable psychological traits and behavioral attributes that give a person his or her identity.
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4. The Big Five Personality Dimensions
Extroversion How outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive a person is
Agreeableness How trusting, good-natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted one is.
Conscientiousness How dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented and persistent one is.
Emotional Stability How relaxed, secure, and unworried one is.
Openness to Experience How intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broadminded one is.
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5. Five Traits Important in Organizations
Locus of Control indicates how much people believe they control their own fate through their own efforts
Self-Efficacy belief in one’s personal ability to do a task
Self-Esteem the extent to which people like or dislike themselves, their overall self-evaluation
Self-Monitoring the extent to which people are able to observe their own behavior and adapt it to external situations
Emotional Intelligence the ability to cope to empathize with others, and to be self motivated
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6. Values
Abstract ideals that guide one’s thinking and behavior across all situations
Examples: recognition, status, principals
Values are those concepts, principals, things, people, or activities for which a person is willing to work hard – even make sacrifices for.
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7. Components of Attitudes
A learned predisposition toward a given object
Affective – “I feel” – Feelings or emotions one has about a situation
Cognitive – “I believe” – Beliefs and knowledge one has about a situation
Behavioral – “I intend” – How one intends or expects to behave toward a situation
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8. Work-Related Attitudes
Employee Engagement –
How connected are you to your work?
Job Satisfaction–
How much do you like or dislike your job?
Organizational Commitment–
How well do you identify with your organization and commit to its goals?
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9. Managers Evaluate Behavior…
When Employees are Not Working
Absenteeism-when employees don’t show up for work
Turnover-when employees leave their jobs
That Harms the Organization
Counterproductive Work Behaviors (alcohol abuse, tardiness, violence, theft, etc.)
When Employees are Working
Performance and Productivity
That Exceeds Work Roles
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (suggestions for improvement, training others, punctuality, etc.)
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10. The Perceptional Process
1. Selective Attention:
Did I notice something?
2. Interpretation and Evaluation:
What was it I noticed and what does it mean?
3. Storing in Memory:
Remember it as an event, concept, person or all three?
4. Retrieving from memory to make judgements and decisions:
What do I recall about what?
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11. Four Distortions in Perception
Selective Perception
The tendency to filter out information that is discomforting, that seems irrelevant, or that contradicts one’s belief.
Stereotyping
The tendency to attribute to an individual the characteristics one believes are typical of the group to which that individual belongs.
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12. Four Distortions in Perception
The Halo Effect
When we form an impression of an individual based on a single trait.
Causal Attribution
The activity of inferring causes for observed behavior.
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13. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
(The Pygmalion Effect) – the phenomenon in which people’s expectations of themselves or others lead them to behave in ways that make those expectations come true.
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14. Stress
The tension people feel when they are facing or enduring extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities and are uncertain about their ability to handle them effectively.
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15. Source of Stress
Individual Differences: The stress created by genetic or personality characteristics
Individual Task Demands: The stress created by the job itself
Individual Role Demands: The stress created by others’ expectations (Role overload, Role conflict, and Role ambiguity)
Group Demands: The stress created by co-workers and managers
Organizational Demands: The stress created by the environment and culture
Nonwork Demands: The stresses created by forces outside the organization
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