Human Behavior in Organizations

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Human Behavior in Organizations
MGMT 4534 (Monday -Wednesday Sessions)Class 03
Personality and AbilitiesDr. James A.
Burrescia
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Class 3 What to expect! (Monday)
Saturday November 19, 2005
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Class 2 What to expect! (Wednesday)
Saturday November 19, 2005
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Access Class Website
http//coursesite.cl.uh.edu/BPA/burrescia/
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Individual Differences?
MGMT 4534 - Class 03 Material Greenberg Baron
/ Chapter 3
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Personality

• The unique and relatively stable patterns of
  behavior, thoughts, and emotions shown by
  individuals.

Describe your personality!
A Great Personality
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Learning Objectives

• Define personality and describe its role in the
  study of organizational behavior.
• Identify the big five dimensions of personality
  and describe what is meant by positive and
  negative affectivity.
• Describe the Type A and Type B behavior patterns
  and describe the nature of Machiavellianism.
• Define achievement motivation (or need for
  achievement) and describe the difference between
  learning, performance, and avoidance goal
  orientations.
• Describe the differences between morning and
  evening persons and the relevance of this
  individual difference to on-the-job behavior.
• Define cognitive intelligence, practical
  intelligence, emotional intelligence, and
  successful intelligence.

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Personality Concepts

• Personality The unique and relatively stable
  patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotions
  shown by individuals.
• Interactionist Perspective The view that
  behavior is a result of a complex interplay
  between personality and situational factors.
• Person-Job Fit The extent to which individuals
  possess the traits and competencies required to
  perform specific jobs.

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Discussion
1.       Why might two individuals with very
similar personalities behave differently in a
given situation?
Answer All human beings possess a distinct
pattern of traits and characteristics that no
other person fully duplicates, and many of these
characteristics are quite stable over time. An
individual probably also demonstrates such traits
in many different situations. Together, these two
features form the basis for a useful working
definition of personality--the unique and
relatively stable pattern of behaviors, thoughts,
and emotions shown by individuals. Such stable
patterns are important, because they help us to
understand how likely will behave in various
situations.   Why individuals perform tasks and
how they do so takes use to personality. The
kinds of personality traits likely to lead people
to perform the behaviors needed in any given
situation. To say that people behave as they do
solely because of who they are (i.e., their
knowledge, ability, skills, and personality) is
misleading. Doing so ignores an important
determinant of human behavior- the situation a
person faces, or the setting in which that
behavior occurs.
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Discussion
1.       How does a close person-job fit
contribute to good performance?
Answer At the most basic level, you may note
that individuals possess the appropriate
knowledge (to perform specific tasks), abilities
(capacity), and skills (abilities) to perform
tasks. Why individuals perform tasks and how they
do so takes use to personality. The kinds of
personality traits likely to lead people to
perform the behaviors needed in any given
situation. Another implication of this approach
is that some people may be better suited than
others for certain jobs. This notion is referred
to as person-job fit, the extent to which the
traits and abilities of individual, match the
requirements of the jobs they must perform. It
contributes a great deal.
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The Interactionist Perspective
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Measuring Personality

• Objective Tests Questionnaires and inventories
  designed to measure various aspects of
  personality.
• Reliability The extent to which a test yields
  consistent scores on various occasions.
• Validity The extent to which a test actually
  measures what it claims to measure.

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Discussion
1.       Suppose that a test is not reliable is
it of any use to organizations in terms of
selecting the best prospective employee.
Answer An essential requirement of personality
tests is that they are reliable. To have
confidence in an instrument we must be certain
that is stable and consistent over time. A
personality test is an instrument that is
designed to measure individual characteristics
much the way a ruler is designed to measure
various lengths. A measure of personality must
have a high degree of reliability for any
conclusions to be based on it. Organizations
often use these tests to screen candidates and to
place them in jobs. The goals is to increase
person-organization fit. Unreliable personality
tests could result in not selecting the most
appropriate candidate or placing a poor candidate
in a job decreasing productivity.
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The Big Five Dimensions of Personality

• Five basic dimensions of personality that are
  assumed to underlie many specific traits.
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion-Introversion
• Agreeableness
• Emotional Stability
• Openness to Experience

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Conscientiousness

• The extent to which individuals are hardworking,
  organized, dependable, and persevering (high
  conscientiousness) versus lazy, disorganized, and
  unreliable (low conscientiousness).

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Extraversion-Introversion

• The degree to which individuals are gregarious,
  assertive, and sociable (extraverts) versus being
  reserved, timid, and quiet (introverts).

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Agreeableness

• The extent to which individuals are cooperative
  and warm (highly agreeable) versus cold and
  belligerent (highly disagreeable).

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Emotional Stability

• The degree to which individuals are insecure,
  anxious, depressed, and emotional (emotionally
  unstable) versus calm, self-confident, and secure
  (emotionally stable).

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Openness to Experience

• The extent to which individuals are creative,
  curious, and cultured (open to experience) versus
  practical and with narrow interests (closed to
  experience).

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Affectivity

• ? Positive Affectivity The tendency to
  experience positive moods and feelings in a wide
  range of settings and under many different
  conditions.
• ? Negative Affectivity The tendency to
  experience negative moods in a wide range of
  settings and under many different conditions.

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Self-Efficacy

• Individuals beliefs concerning their ability to
  perform specific tasks successfully.
• Judgments of self-efficacy consist of three
  components
• Magnitude The level at which an individual
  believes she or he can perform.
• Strength The persons confidence that she or he
  can perform at that level.
• Generality The extent to which self-efficacy in
  one situation or for one task extends to other
  situations and other tasks.

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Self-Efficacy

• General Self-efficacy Peoples overall beliefs
  about their general capacity to perform tasks
  successfully.
• Beliefs about self-efficacy develop through
• Direct Experience Feedback from performing
  similar tasks in the past.
• Vicarious Experience Observations of others
  performance on these tasks.

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Self-Monitoring

• A personality trait involving the extent to which
  individuals adapt their behavior to the demands
  of specific situations so as to make good
  impressions on others.
• Consequences of self-monitoring
• Work Performance High self-monitors tend to do
  better than low self-monitors in jobs requiring
  boundary-spanning activities.
• Career Success High self-monitors tend to
  obtain more promotions than low self-monitors.
• Interpersonal Relationships High self-monitors
  tend to form less stable and shallower personal
  relationships with others than low self-monitors.

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Self-Monitoring
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Machiavellianism

• A personality trait involving willingness to
  manipulate others for ones own purposes.
• Machiavellian tactics
• Neglecting to share important information (e.g.,
  claiming to forget to tell you about key
  meetings and assignments).
• Finding subtle ways of making you look bad to
  management (e.g., damning you with faint praise).
• Failing to meet obligations (e.g., not holding up
  their end on joint projects, thereby causing you
  to look bad).
• Spreading false rumors about you (e.g., making up
  things about you that embarrass you in front of
  others).

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In-Class Exercise
In the space next to each item, enter a number
that characterizes your own feelings about that
statement. Disagree Strongly 1 Disagree 2
Neither 3 Agree 4 and, Agree Strongly 5

• The best way to handle a person is to tell them
  what they want to hear.
• When you ask someone to do something for you, it
  is best to give the real reasons for wanting it
  rather than give reasons that may carry more
  weight.
• Anyone that completely trusts anyone else is
  asking for trouble.
• It is hard to get ahead without cutting corners
  and bending the rules.
• It is safest to assume that all people have a
  vicious streak and that it will come out when
  given a chance.
• It is never right to lie to someone else.
• Most people are basically good and kind.
• Most poeple work hard only when they are forced
  to do so.

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Measuring Machiavellianism

• Add your responses to questions 1,3, 4, 5, and 8.
• To this number add the sum of 2, 6, and 7 (after
  scoring them in reverse, 51)
• Finally, add your scores

The higher your score . . The more
Machiavellianism you tend to be!!
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Discussion
1.       If you suspect that someone you are
dealing with is high in Machiavellianism, how can
you protect yourself from this person?
Answer The characteristics of high Machs are
very much like those individuals described by
psychologists as being psychopaths. They are glib
and charming, lie easily, have no qualms about
manipulating or conning others, have little
remorse or guilt about harming others, are
callous, and show little empathy. In addition,
they also tend to be impulsive, irresponsible,
and prone to feeling bored.  Because high Machs
are quite merciless and seem to have little
concern with anyones welfare but their own, they
can be potentially dangerous in organizational
settings. You can protect yourself from them.
       Expose them to others. One reason high
Machs often get away with breaking promises,
lying, and using dirty tricks is that their
victims remain silent. One means of blocking
them, therefore, is to make their actions public.
       Pay attention to what others do, not
what they say. High Machs often are masters of
deception. It helps to focus on what others do
rather than on what they say. Avoid situations
that give high Machs an edge. To assure their
success, high Machs prefer to operate in
situations where other peoples emotions run high
and the persons they wish to manipulate are
unsure of how to proceed. Avoid such situations
whenever you can. If this is not possible, at
least refrain from making important decisions or
commitments during such situations
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Type A vs. Type B

• Type A Behavior Pattern A pattern of behavior
  involving high levels of competitiveness, time
  urgency, and irritability.
• Type B Behavior Pattern A pattern of behavior
  characterized by a casual, laid-back style the
  opposite of the Type A behavior pattern.

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Type A vs. Type B

• Task Performance
• Type As tend to excel on tasks involving time
  pressure or solitary work.
• Type Bs have the advantage when it comes to tasks
  involving complex judgments and accuracy as
  opposed to speed.
• Interpersonal Relations
• Type As tend to annoy coworkers, are more likely
  to lose their tempers and lash out at others, are
  more likely to become involved in conflict, and
  are more likely to engage in aggressive and
  counterproductive behavior.

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Discussion
1.       Suppose you were hiring someone to
perform a job that required very fast
performance. Would you prefer a type A or a type
B person? Why?
Type As work harder than Type Bs at various tasks
and as a result, perform at higher levels. Type
As do tend to work faster than Type Bs on many
tasks, even when no pressure or deadline is
involved. Similarly, Type As can get more done
in the presence of distractions. They tend to
seek more difficult and challenging work than
Type Bs. Type As are not always superior to Type
Bs. Type As frequently perform poorly on certain
kinds of tasks, including those requiring
patience or careful judgment. The impatience of
Type As often is incompatible with the
deliberate, carefully considered decisions
required from top-level managers.
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Achievement Motivation

• The strength of an individuals desire to excel
  to succeed at difficult tasks and to do them
  better than other persons.

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High Need Achievers

• Prefer moderately difficult tasks.
• In terms of career success, tend to be
• Promoted more rapidly.
• Less inclined to delegate.
• More interested in performance feedback.
• More interested in merit-based pay than
  seniority-based pay.

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Goal Orientations
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Morning vs. Evening Persons

• Morning Persons Individuals who feel most
  energetic and alert early in the day.
• Evening Persons
• Individuals who feel most energetic and alert
  late in the day.

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Abilities

• Mental and physical capacities to perform various
  tasks.
• Cognitive Intelligence The ability to
  understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to
  the environment, to learn from experience, to
  engage in various forms of reasoning, and to
  overcome obstacles by careful thought.
• Practical Intelligence Adeptness at solving the
  practical problems of everyday life.

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Tacit Knowledge

• Knowledge about how to get things done.
• Major characteristics
• Tacit knowledge is action oriented it involves
  knowing how to do something as opposed to knowing
  that something is the case.
• Tacit knowledge is practically useful it allows
  individuals to achieve goals they personally
  value.
• Tacit knowledge is acquired without direct help
  from others.

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Emotional Intelligence

• A cluster of skills relating to the emotional
  side of life.
• Major components
• The ability to recognize and regulate our own
  emotions.
• The ability to recognize and influence others
  emotions.
• Self motivation.
• The ability to form effective long-term
  relationships with others.

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Successful Intelligence

• Intelligence that represents a good balance
  between cognitive intelligence (IQ), practical
  intelligence, and creative intelligence.

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Classroom Discussion
1.       If you had the choice to be high in one
kind of intelligencecognitive, emotional,
practical, or successfulwhich would you prefer?
Why? Which is more important the work you
currently do or that you expect to be doing in
the future?
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Other Cognitive Abilities

• Perceptual Speed The ability to quickly
  recognize similarities and differences in visual
  stimuli.
• Example A designer recognizing irregular
  patterns in a fabric.
• Number Aptitude The ability to work with
  numbers in a quick and accurate manner.
• Example An accountant spotting an error in a
  financial report.
• Spatial Visualization The ability to imagine
  how various objects will look when rotated or
  moved in space.
• Example An architect planning a change in a
  building design.

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Physical Abilities

• Peoples capacities to engage in the physical
  tasks required to perform a job.
• Common types
• Strength The capacity to exert physical force
  against various objects.
• Flexibility The capacity to move ones body in
  an agile manner.
• Stamina The capacity to endure physical
  activity over prolonged periods.
• Speed The ability to move quickly.