Download Individual Difference

Individual Behavior and
Differences
A Framework for
Understanding Individuals
3 sets of variables affect human behavior in
organizations
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Individual
Psychological
Organizational
However, people are complex beings and
no one model can describe the interaction
between these variables and behavior.

An effective manager will study
these variables and recognize that
there are individual differences and
attempt to discover relationships
between these variables and
individual behavior.
Individual Variables
•
•
Consists of such things as Abilities and Skills,
demographics and background.
Ability: A trait (inherent or learned) that permits
a person to do something mental or physical.
-i.e. coordination, assertiveness.
Abilities and Skills Cont.
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Skill: Task-related competencies
– i.e. driving a car
– leading employees
– typing
By conducting a thorough job analysis management an
effectively match jobs with people.
– Even if an employee is motivated, if he/she lacks
the required skills and abilities they will fail.
Demographics
1. Age: In an organization, a person’s tenure
affects how they behave. Younger employees
are more aggressive etc.
2. Race, Culture, Gender, etc.: These effect
our perceptions of different actions.
 Cause
us to stereotype or become defensive etc.
Psychological variables
A. Perception: a cognitive process by which a
person gives meaning to the environment.
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Different from sensation. In sensation you just have
the act of receiving environmental stimuli.
In a lot of cases we sense and perceive two
different things.
Perception …
Why?
Because of individual variables etc.
The Perception Process
a. Stimuli
b. Observation
c. Self Influencing Factors
d. Evaluation
c. Behaviors and Attitudes
–
Perceptual problems arise between
managers/subordinates, managers/managers,
groups/groups, subordinates/subordinates
Perceptions …
Perceptual Organization
a. Closure - Why things are sometimes misinterpreted when
incomplete information is provided.
b. Stereotyping - based on a particular bias toward such things
as sex or race.
 Discuss sexual harassment in business
c. Selective Attention
 We attend to things that are novel or important to us.
-Cocktail party effect
d. Emotional State
e. Needs - see what you want or need to see.
Attitudes: A mental state of readiness,
learned through experience, that
affects behavior.
1. Implications for Managers
 attitudes
are learned
 attitudes help form predispositions
 attitudes are a reflection of an individuals
personality
Attitudes …
2. 3 components of attitudes
 Affect
- emotion or feeling component
learned from family etc.
 Cognitive - the individual’s perceptions,
opinions, and beliefs.
 Behavioral - tendency to act toward something
in a particular way.
Attitudes Cont.
3. Attitudes are learned from family, managers,
coworkers, job experiences
4. Cognitive Dissonance
–
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Where a discrepancy exists between the cognitive
and behavioral components of an attitude.
leads to rationalization because one component
eventually has to give in.
Attitudes Cont.
5. Attitude Change-3 basic factors
1. Trust in the Sender

Influences us by his/her expertise, age, sex,
race etc. We adopt attitudes of the people we
respect and like.
2. The Message

Must be convincing a presented in an
enthusiastic way.
3. The Situation

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Distractions - can they help or hinder change.
It depends on how strong the attitude.
Does prevent counter arguing.
Job satisfaction is an attitude
resulting from work
experiences.

i.e. pay, promotion, management, coworkers,
equity, etc.
Job satisfaction is usually
positively correlated with
productivity but not always.


A good work ethic may overcome feelings of
dissatisfaction.
Also one does not cause the other. The
relationship goes both ways.
Personality

A stable set of characteristics, tendencies, and
temperaments that have been significantly
formed by inheritance and by social, culture,
and environmental factors. This set of factors
determine the differences between people.
Personality influences
behavior but can managers
influence personality?

Probably not - usually set in stone by the time
we are working.
Personality…

Theories of personality
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Trait Theories

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Define people based on their psychological characteristics
or traits. i.e. MBTI and MMPI
Psychodynamic Theories (Freud)
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id - ego - superego
id - storehouse of drives
ego - arbitrator
superego - storehouse of values
Personality…
Personality and Behavior
– Sometimes such personality factors is
machiavellianism, androgyny, creativity and locus of
control are used to explain behavior.
–
Locus of Control
Personality…

Locus of Control
 Internalizers
–
believe that they are masters of their own
fate. They are personally responsible for their
actions.
 Externalizers
– believe they are pawns in the game of life
who are controlled by forces outside their
control.
Myers-Briggs Exercise
 Review
the scores
Extraversion/Introversion
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Extraversion--You relate more easily to the
external world of people and things than to the
inner world of ideas.
Introversion--You relate more easily to the
inner world of ideas than to the outer world of
people and things.
Sensing/Intuition
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Sensing--You would rather work with known
facts than look for possibilities and
relationships.
Intuition--You would rather look for
possibilities and relationships than work with
known facts.
Thinking/Feeling
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Thinking--You base your judgements on
impersonal logic and analysis than on personal
values.
Feeling--You base your judgements more on
personal values than on impersonal analysis
and logic.
Judging/Perceiving
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Judging--You like a planned, decided, orderly
way of life rather than a flexible, spontaneous
one.
Perceiving--You like a flexible, spontaneous
way of life rather than a planned, orderly,
decided one.
FIRO-B

Go over explanation and scoring
FISH Video