Exploring Individual Differences

1
Exploring Individual Differences

• What makes a good manager? An excellent doctor?
  Sales person?
• Psychometrics study of individual differences
  to predict future behavior
• Early research focused on general mental ability
  (g)

2
I/O Psychologists consider

• Cognitive abilities
• Physical abilities
• Personality
• Interests
• Knowledge
• Emotional Intelligence

3
Assumptions

• Adults have a wide variety of attributes and they
  remain relatively stable
• People are different on these attributes
• Relative differences exist even after training
• Different jobs require different attributes
• Attributes can be measured

4
Mental and Physical Abilities
5
Intelligence

• Historically a common measure used in
  organizations
• Ability to learn and adapt to the environment
• Required for jobs that required that one
  manipulates information
• Reasoning
• Problem solving
• Knowledge acquisition

6
Fairness of Physical Tests

• Important to focus on what is required of the job
  (not who can do the most)
• Most requirements are skills that applicants can
  develop with training if asked to prepare ahead
  of time

7
Personality Variables

• The five factor model of personality
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Emotional stability
• Openness to experience
• Other variables relevant to organizations
• Self esteem
• Locus of control
• Authoritarianism

8
Themes from research evidence

• A combination of factors appears to predict
  success (conscientiousness, agreeableness and
  emotional stability together predict integrity)
• Personality effects work behavior in settings
  where people have more control over their work.
• Personality related to motivational aspects
  (e.g., attendance, responsibility, supportive
  co-worker, etc.)
• Conscientiousness has become a very important
  variable in work settings.
• People can fake tests, but people distorting
  answers (social desirability bias) will not
  necessarily make them a better fit for the job!

9
Other individual differences

• Knowledge
• Information particular to a certain or domain
• Examples accounting, HR laws, computer programs
• What is Emotional intelligence ?
• It is the capacity for recognizing our own
  feelings and those of others, for motivating
  ourselves, and for managing emotions well in
  ourselves and in our relationships. - Daniel
  Goleman, 1998
• Disconnect between science and practice?

10
Exercise Applying individual differences to
positions abroad

• Review Hofstedes dimensions of culture
• Imagine you are the president of Starbucks and
  are hiring American managers to open to coffee
  houses in Japan and France. Considering cultural
  differences, discuss the type of person would you
  want to hire.
• List the five most important characteristics
  (individual differences) that would make them
  successful managers in that country.

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Culture is important to consider in international
orgs

• Hofstedes Theory
• Individualism/collectivism
• Power Distance
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Masculinity/Feminity
• Long term vs. short term orientation