Bu 604 Session 3Bu 604 Session 3

Individual DifferencesIndividual Differences

AgendaAgenda

• Introduction and Learning from Last Class

• Discussion of Assigned Materials

– What do you take away from this material on Individual Differences and Values

– What can/should an Organizational Leader do with Concepts & Ideas in this Area?

• Case: John Hamilton

Perception, Personality, Emotion and Perception, Personality, Emotion and Values Related to LeadershipValues Related to Leadership

• What do you make of the information in the two chapters you read?– What stood out as particularly important?– What should a manager do with such

information (the SO WHAT question)?

• If management and leadership is about character as well as skills & competencies, then:– What individual difference factors make the

difference?

Chapter 2 - Perceptions, Personality Chapter 2 - Perceptions, Personality and Emotionsand Emotions

• Key Ideas:

– Perception and Perceptual Errors

– Attributions and Expectations

– Individual Difference Factors

– Person – Job Fit

Chapter 3 - Values and Attitudes & Chapter 3 - Values and Attitudes & Their Effects on the WorkplaceTheir Effects on the Workplace

• Key Ideas:

– Attitudes

– Value = Belief + Valence

– Value System

– Person - Job Fit

– Job Satisfaction

– Job Involvement

– Organization Commitment: Affective, Normative, and Continuance

– Occupational Commitment

AttitudesAttitudes

• Three components to attitudes:

– Affect - from very negative to very positive. Attitudes vary in strength & importance to the person

– Cognition (knowledge or belief)

– Intention to Act

Chapter 3 (continued)Chapter 3 (continued)

• Cognitive Dissonance

– Incompatible perceptions/behaviour and beliefs/attitudes

– Creates uncomfortable state

– Individuals will try to reduce

Individual Difference Measures from Individual Difference Measures from CD and BookCD and Book

– Basic Personality or Big Five– Myers-Briggs Type Indicator– Locus of control– How Flexible– How Proactive– Type A– Tolerance for Ambiguity– Self Monitoring– How Creative– Emotional Intelligence– What Do You Value? (From Ch 3 (p.108)

Role of Values and LeadershipRole of Values and Leadership

• A judgmental element of what is right, good, or desirable.

• Content: what is important• Intensity: how important• Value System: a hierarchy based on a ranking

of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity.

• Ethical values are related to moral judgments about right and wrong

• Cognitive Dissonance

Individual DifferencesIndividual Differences

Personality Traits (quite stable)

Values (quite stable)

Past Experiences/Environment + Inherited Predispositions

Attitudes (vary in stability & importance

Perceptions, Attributions & Expectations

Why Study Perception in a Business Why Study Perception in a Business School?School?

• To better understand what information people take in, how they interpret it, and how they make attributions and decisions about events.

• We don’t see reality. We interpret what we see and call it reality.

• Perception and attribution processes guide our decision making and behaviour, regardless of the truth of the attribution

• They directly and indirectly influence short and long-term performance

Perception in OrganizationsPerception in Organizations

• PerceptionPerception

– The set of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information about the environment.

Common Perceptual Shortcuts Used in Judging OthersCommon Perceptual Shortcuts Used in Judging Others

• Selective PerceptionSelective Perception– Selectively interpreting what you see on the basis of your interest,

background, experience, and attitudes.

• Halo EffectHalo Effect– Drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single

characteristic.

• Contrast EffectsContrast Effects– Evaluations of a person that are affected by comparisons with other

people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.

• ProjectionProjection– Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people

• StereotypingStereotyping– Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which

that person belongs.

Attribution TheoryAttribution Theory

• Attribution TheoryAttribution Theory– Suggests that we observe behavior and then attribute

causes to it. That is, we attempt to explain why people behave as they do.

– Key element is Internal versus External

– We start by observing behavior, either our own or someone else’s. We then evaluate that behavior in terms of its degrees of consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness.

Attribution TheoryAttribution Theory

• ConsensusConsensus– The extent to which other people in the same

situation behave in the same way.

• ConsistencyConsistency– The degree to which the same person behaves in the

same way at different times.

• DistinctivenessDistinctiveness– The extent to which the same person behaves in the

same way in different situations.

The Attribution ProcessThe Attribution Process

Attribution ofCauses

(Internal or External)

Observation ofBehavior

Consensus(High or Low)

Distinctiveness(High or Low)

Consistency(High or Low)

Attribution TheoryAttribution Theory

Observation Interpretation Attributionof cause

Ind

ivid

ual

Ind

ivid

ual

beh

avio

ur

beh

avio

ur

DistinctivenessDistinctiveness

ConsensusConsensus

ConsistencyConsistency

ExternalExternal

ExternalExternal

InternalInternal

InternalInternal

High

Low

ExternalExternal

InternalInternal

High

Low

Low

High

What is the effect of attributions?What is the effect of attributions?

• Does attribution theory explain how managers react to their organization’s performance?

• How many examples can you think of?

Person Perception: Making Judgments About Person Perception: Making Judgments About OthersOthers

• Attribution TheoryAttribution Theory

– When we observe behaviour, we try to determine if it is internally or externally caused.

• Fundamental Attribution ErrorFundamental Attribution Error– We tend to underestimateunderestimate the influence of external

factors and overestimate overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about others.

• Self-Serving BiasSelf-Serving Bias– The tendency for individuals to attribute their own

successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.

Values, Attitudes, and Their Effects in Values, Attitudes, and Their Effects in the Workplacethe Workplace

• What is the relationship between values and individual behaviour?

• How do values differ across cultures?

Questions for Consideration

Robbins, R., & Langton, N., Organizational Behaviour,Toronto, Prentice-Hall, 2001.

ValuesValues

• ValuesValues– Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or

end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to its opposite or converse

– They contain a judgmental element in that they carry

the individual’s idea of what is right, good, or desirable.

• Value SystemValue System: a hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity.

• Importance of ValuesImportance of Values: they generally influence attitudes and behaviour.

Robbins, R., & Langton, N., Organizational Behaviour,Toronto, Prentice-Hall, 2001.

Cultural ValuesCultural Values

• Power distancePower distance: equal (low power distance) to extremely unequal power distribution (high)

• Individualism vs. CollectivismIndividualism vs. Collectivism: act as individuals vs. act as a member of groups

• Quantity of Life vs. Quality of LifeQuantity of Life vs. Quality of Life: value material acquisitions vs relationships & welfare of others

• Uncertainty AvoidanceUncertainty Avoidance: preference for structured vs. unstructured situations

• Long-term vs. Short-term OrientationLong-term vs. Short-term Orientation: tendency to look to future & value thrift & persistence vs value the past (traditions) & present social obligations

Hofstede, G., Cultures and Organizations, Academy of Mgmt Executive, Feb., 1993, 81-94.

Examples of National Cultural ValuesExamples of National Cultural Values

PersonalityPersonality

PersonalityPersonality

– The relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another.

– Heredity, environment & situation influence personality and the efficacy of traits

PersonalityPersonalityPersonality

– The relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another.

– Heredity, environment & situation influence personality and the efficacy of traits

•The “Big Five” Personality TraitsThe “Big Five” Personality Traits– A set of fundamental traits that are especially relevant to

organizations.– The traits include agreeableness, conscientiousness, negative

emotionality, extraversion, and openness.

The “Big Five” Personality FrameworkThe “Big Five” Personality Framework

• AgreeablenessAgreeableness– The ability to get along with others. Cooperative,

warm, trusting.

• ConscientiousnessConscientiousness– A measure of reliability. Responsible, organized,

dependable.

• Negative Emotionality (Emotional Stability)Negative Emotionality (Emotional Stability)– Ability to handle stress. Calm, self-confident,

secure.

The “Big Five” Personality FrameworkThe “Big Five” Personality Framework

• ExtraversionExtraversion– The quality of being comfortable with

relationships. Gregarious, assertive, sociable.

• OpennessOpenness– The capacity to entertain new ideas and to

change as a result of new information. Creative, curious, artistic.

““The Big Five” and Job PerformanceThe Big Five” and Job Performance

• ExtroversionExtroversion– positive when job requires social interaction– also positively related to training proficiency

• AgreeablenessAgreeableness– positively related to performance in service jobs

• ConscientiousnessConscientiousness– positive for EVERY job– may be better than ability in predicting job

performance

““The Big Five” and Job Performance The Big Five” and Job Performance (2)(2)

• Emotional StabilityEmotional Stability– A minimum threshold is necessary, which

tends to predict performance for all jobs; after that, it is open to debate

• Openness to ExperienceOpenness to Experience– positively related to training proficiency– anything else?

The Myers-Briggs FrameworkThe Myers-Briggs Framework

M-B differentiates people in terms of four dimensions.

Higher and lower positions in each of the dimensions are used to classify people into one of sixteen different personality categories.

• Introversion (I) - Extroversion (E)

• Sensing (S) - Intuition (N)

• Thinking (T) - Feeling (F)

• Judging (J) - Perceiving (P)

• Emotional IntelligenceEmotional Intelligence

– Skills and abilities that influence one’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands

Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence:

– Self-Awareness – Self-Management of one’s emotions & impulses

– Self-Motivation to persist in face of setbacks

– Empathy

– Social Skills in handling the emotions of others

Emotional IntelligenceEmotional Intelligence

Other Personality Traits at WorkOther Personality Traits at Work

• Locus of ControlLocus of Control– The extent to which people believe that their behavior

has a real effect on what happens to them.

• People who believe that individuals are in control of their lives are said to have an internal locus of control.

• People who think that forces beyond their control dictate what happens to them are said to have an external locus of control.

Other Personality Traits at WorkOther Personality Traits at Work

• Self-EfficacySelf-Efficacy

– A person’s beliefs about his or her capabilities to perform a task.

• AuthoritarianismAuthoritarianism

– The extent to which a person believes that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social systems such as organizations.

Other Personality Traits at WorkOther Personality Traits at Work

• Self-MonitoringSelf-Monitoring– Ability of person to adjust their behaviour to external

situational factors

• Type A-B PersonalityType A-B Personality– Chronic aggressive struggle to achieve more and more in

less and less time

• Risk-TakingRisk-Taking– The degree to which a person is

willing to take chances and

make risky decisions.

Other Personality Traits at WorkOther Personality Traits at Work

• Self-EsteemSelf-Esteem

– The extent to which a person believes that he or she is a worthwhile and deserving individual.

• Machiavellianism

– Degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes the ends justify the means. Interest in gaining power and control over behavior of others.

Person - Job FitPerson - Job Fit

Individual’s Skills & Abilities fit with Required Skills & Abilities

ANDAND

Individual’s Predispositions fit with Task Environment/Culture

LOFQUIST AND DAWIS MODELLOFQUIST AND DAWIS MODEL

JOB PERSON

REQUIREMENTS ABILITIES

CHARACTERISTICS NEEDS

SATISFACTORINESS? PROMOTE

SATISFACTION?

TRANSFERTRAIN

DEMOTE

TURNOVER

WITHDRAWTENURE

Three-Component Model of Organizational Three-Component Model of Organizational CommitmentCommitment

AffectiveCommitment

NormativeCommitment

Involves: Emotional attachment to, identification with, involvement in the organization

Belief that it is one’s moral obligation to remain with the organization

ContinuanceCommitment

Reflects perceived cost associated with discontinuing employment

Responses to Responses to Job Satisfaction - EVLN ModelJob Satisfaction - EVLN Model

Exit Voice

LoyaltyNeglect

Passive

Active

Destructive Constructive

John HamiltonJohn Hamilton

• How would you assess John’s situation?

• What would you recommend he do?

• What would you recommend his employer learn from John’s situation and what would you recommend they do?

Assignment for Next SessionAssignment for Next Session

• Main Focus: Interpersonal Dynamics and Teams

• Development of Team Contracts

• Case: Dividing the Pie