3-1

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 3-2

Chapter
3
Individual Differences and
Work Behavior

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 3-3
Why Individual Differences Are Important:
(1 of 2)

• Individual differences have a direct effect

on behavior
• People who perceive things differently
behave differently
• People with different attitudes respond
differently to directives
• People with different personalities interact
differently with bosses, coworkers,
subordinates, and customers
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 3-4
Why Individual Differences Are Important:
(2 of 2)

• Individual differences help explain:

• Why some people embrace change and
others are fearful of it
• Why some employees will be productive
only if they are closely supervised, while
others will be productive if they are not
• Why some workers learn new tasks more
effectively than others

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 3-5
Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle
(1 of 3)

• Different people are attracted to different

careers and organizations as a function of
their own:
• abilities
• interests
• personalities

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 3-6
Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle
(2 of 3)

• Organizations select employees on the

basis of the needs the organization has
• skills and abilities
• individual attributes such as values and
personality

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 3-7
Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle
(3 of 3)

• Attrition occurs when:

• individuals discover they do not like being
part of the organization and elect to resign,
or
• the organization determines an individual is
not succeeding and elects to terminate

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 3-8

Each
Each phase
phase of of the
the ASA
ASA cycle
cycle is
is
significantly
significantly influenced
influenced byby the
the individual
individual
differences
differences of
of each
each person
person

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 3-9

Effective managerial practice requires that

individual behavior differences be
recognized, and when feasible, taken into
consideration while carrying out the job of
managing organizational behavior.

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 3-10

Individual Differences in the Workplace

Individual Differences

Personality
Personality

Perception
Perception Ability
Abilityand
andSkills
Skills Attitudes
Attitudes

Work Behavior
• Productivity
• Creativity
• Performance

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 The Basis for Understanding Work 3-11

Behavior:
• To understand individual differences a
manager must:
1. observe and recognize the differences
and
2. study relationships between variables
that influence behavior

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 Individual Differences Influencing 3-12

Work Behavior:

Hereditary and
Diversity Personality
Factors

Ability and Attitudes

Perception
Skills

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 3-13

Diversity Factors
Primary Dimensions Secondary Dimensions
(stable) (changeable)
• Age • Educational background
• Ethnicity • Marital status
• Gender • Religious beliefs
• Physical attributes • Health
• Race • Work experience
• Sexual / affectional
orientation
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 Sex Differences in Management: 3-14

Selected Results (1 of 2)
Dimension Results
Behavior:
Task-oriented No difference.
People-oriented No difference.
Effectiveness ratings Stereotypical difference in evaluations of managers in
laboratory studies: Males favored. No difference in
evaluations of actual managers.
Response to poor Stereotypical difference: Males use norm of equity,
performer whereas females use norm of equality.
Influence strategies Stereotypical difference: Males use a wider range of
strategies, more positive strategies, and less negative
strategies. The difference diminishes when women
managers have high self-confidence.
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 Sex Differences in Management: 3-15

Selected Results (2 of 2)
Dimension Results
Motivation No difference in some studies.
Non-stereotypical difference in other studies: Female
motivational profile is close to that associated with
successful managers.
Commitment Inconsistent evidence regarding difference.

Subordinates Stereotypical differences in responses to managers in

responses laboratory studies; Managers using style that matches sex
role stereotype are favored.
No difference in responses to actual managers.

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 3-16

Abilities and Skills

• Ability – a person’s talent Key Abilities
to perform a mental or
physical task Mental Ability

• Skill – a learned talent Emotional Intelligence

that a person has
acquired to perform a task
Tacit Knowledge

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 3-17

Attitudes
• Are determinates of behavior because
they are linked with perception,
personality, feelings, and motivation

• Attitude – a mental state of readiness

• learned and organized through experience
• exerting a specific response to people,
objects, and situations with which it is
related
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 3-18

Attitudes: Implications for the Manager

1. Attitudes are learned

2. Attitudes define one’s predispositions
toward given aspects of the world
3. Attitudes provide the emotional basis of
one’s interpersonal relations and
identification with others
4. Attitudes are organized and are close
to the core of personality
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 3-19

Stimuli Manager
Managerstyle
style
The Three
Technology
Work Technology
Noise Components of
environment Noise
factors
Peers
Peers
Reward
Attitudes:
Rewardsystem
system
Compensation
Compensationplan
plan Cognition, Affect,
Career opportunities
Career opportunities
Behavior
“My supervisor is unfair.”
Cognition Beliefs
Beliefsand
andvalues
values “Having a fair supervisor is
important to me.”

Affect Feelings
Feelingsand
andemotions
emotions “I don’t like my supervisor.”

“I’ve submitted a formal

Behavior Intended
Intendedbehavior
behavior request to transfer.”

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 3-20

Cognition
• What individuals know about themselves
and their environment
• Implies a conscious process of acquiring
knowledge
• Evaluative beliefs – favorable or
unfavorable impressions that a person
holds toward an object or person

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 3-21

Affect
• The emotional component of an attitude
• Often learned from
• parents
• teachers
• peer group members
• The part of an attitude that is associated
with “feeling” a certain way about a
person, group, or situation
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 3-22

Cognitive Dissonance
• A discrepancy between attitudes and
behaviors

• A mental state of anxiety

• Occurs when there is a conflict among an

individual’s various cognitions after a
decision has been made
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 3-23
Changing Attitudes

The Communicator

The Message

The Situation

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 How to Increase Your Effectiveness in 3-24

Changing Attitudes: (1 of 2)

1. Concentrate on gradually changing the attitude

over a period of time

2. Identify the beliefs or values that are part of the

attitude and provide the attitude holder with
information that will alter those beliefs or values

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 How to Increase Your Effectiveness in 3-25

Changing Attitudes: (2 of 2)

3. Make the setting (in which the attempted

change occurs) as pleasant and enjoyable as
possible

4. Identify reasons that changing the attitude is to

the advantage of the attitude holder

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 3-26

Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

• Job satisfaction – • Key factors
an attitude people associated with job
have about their jobs satisfaction:
• Results from • Pay
people’s perception • Promotion opportunities
of their jobs • Supervision
• Results from the • Coworkers
degree of fit between
• Working conditions
the individual and the
organization • Job security
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 Satisfaction-Performance Relationships: 3-27

Three Views
Causes

1. Job Satisfaction “The satisfied worker is more

Job
Job Performance
productive.”

Causes
“The more productive worker is
2. Job Performance Job
Job Satisfaction
satisfied.”

Perceived Equity

3. Job Performance Rewards

Rewards Job Satisfaction

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 3-28

Personality
• A relatively stable set of feelings and
behaviors that have been significantly
formed by genetic and environmental factors

• The relationship between behavior and

personality is one of the most complex
matters that managers have to understand

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 3-29

Some Major Forces Influencing Personality

Cultural forces

Individual Social class / group

Hereditary forces
Personality membership forces

Family relationship
forces

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 3-30

Personality and Behavior in Organizations

The Big Five

Personality Locus of Control
Dimensions

Self-efficacy Creativity

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 3-31

The Big Five Personality Dimensions

Extroversion Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Emotional Stability Openness to

Experience

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 3-32

Locus of Control
• Locus of control of individuals –
• Determines the degree to which they
believe their behaviors influence what
happens to them
• Internals – believe they are masters of their
own fate
• Externals – believe they are helpless pawns
of fate, success is due to luck or ease of
task
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 3-33

Self-Efficacy
• Feelings of self-efficacy have managerial
and organizational implications:
• Selection decisions
• Training programs
• Goal setting and performance

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 3-34

How to Develop Employee Creativity

1. Encourage everyone to view old problems from
new perspectives
2. Make certain people know that it is OK to make
mistakes
3. Provide as many people with as many new work
experiences as you can
4. Set an example in your own approach to dealing
with problems and opportunities
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