1. Individual differences: personality and intelligence
Drs Joan Harvey and George Erdos

2. Personality theories Trait theories Most important development
Cattell 16 PF, Eysenck 3 factors etc
Leads to personality profiling using semantic differential type scales
Linked to Big Five

3. Personality theories Narrow band theories Holland
Tolerance of ambiguity
Locus of control
Type A and Type B
Learned helplessness
Adaptation and coping
Self efficacy
Achievement, affiliation, power
Innovativeness
Holland
Conventional, realistic, investigative, enterprising, social, artistic

4. Personality theories: the Big Five
Elements which are relevant to management
Neuroticism
Insecure, emotional, hypochrondriacal
Extraversion introversion
Sociable, person orientated, fun loving
Openness
Curious, creative, innovative vs. traditional
Agreeableness
Trusting, helpful vs. gullible, cynical
Conscientiousness
Self disciplined, ambitious vs. hedonistic, lazy

5. Personality theories: issues
Construct validity
Predictive validity
Content and face validity
Ipsative versus normative measures
Test interpretation
Social desirability
Effects of mood and affect

6. Distant 1
2 x 3 4 5 6
attentive
Emotionally stable 2
3 x
unstable
Dominant
4 x
submissive
Trusting
suspicious
Forthright
discreet
Expedient
Rule conscious
Serious
Lively
Self-assured
apprehensive
Group orientated
5 x
Self reliant
Relaxed, patient
Tense, impatient

8. Personality : summary Difficult to measure Tests used extensively
Problems in relating to work performance
It is what managers say they are looking for in graduates
Probability that personality interacts with attitudes and motivation
Results therefore often disappointing

9. Intelligence 1 General intelligence “g”
General, related to managerial performance
Types of intelligence [Sternberg]
Analytical & higher order processing; knowledge acquisition
Experiential & creative & insightful; responsive to new stimuli; ability to synthesise
Practical & adaptive; can change or modify environment to meet goals

10. Intelligence 2 Components of intelligence and aptitudes
Numerical, systems, verbal, spatial, mechanical, clerical
Assessment of intelligence
Management graduate level tests
Forced choice in some cases
Contain items that measure logic, information-processing, etc.

11. Emotion in the workplace
Transient, ephemeral so difficult to investigate
Strong determinant of behaviour at work:
can influence work productivity, absenteeism, teamworking,
Can affect the effectiveness of any social interactions work, including interviews, meetings, manager-employee communications
Probably 7 main emotions
Anger, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise, happiness and contempt
Although most emotions are a complex mix of several
Easier to judge other people’s intentions and feelings from facial expressions and NVCs than from what they say

12. Emotional Intelligence
Developed as an answer to problem that intelligence is only a partial predictor of success in management, and something else needed to explain
Includes:
Emotionality, self awareness, empathy, motivation and drive, long/short term orientation, some social skills of leadership.
Issues in EI
A variety of measures available to measure it
Which within EI are social skills that can be learned?
Which are permanent traits and cannot be learned- if so, need to be considered when recruiting

13. Safety intelligence
Skills and traits of senior executive managers in relation to safety
Involves trust, commitment, ethical and moral values
Transformational leadership [rather than transactional]
Abilities and understanding regarding
Information
Safety risks to the organization
Decision making
(Kirwan, 2008)

14. Why should we look at SI?
… managers can change and improve existing corporate culture by establishing safety – recognisable for all staff members – as high priority. ” (German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation, 2004)
Management commitment is one of the main drivers of employees safety performance (Michael, Evans, Jansen & Haight, 2005)
Management is one of the
most frequent used
safety climate factors
(Guldenmund, 2000)
Now we know that we don’t know much, but why I sit relevant to look at this?
1. Accident reports: Ueberlingen Mid-Air collision in 2002, two airplanes crash, accident investigation suggests the following.

15. Innovativeness and Creativity
Do we want innovators, or do we want people who are adaptors?
How do we assess creativity?
Creativity as a negative predictor of some management behaviours
Individual and/or innovativeness

16. Thank you for listening
Joan Harvey
George Erdos