Bu 604 Session 3

1. Bu 604 Session 3 Individual Differences

2. Agenda • 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

3. Perception, Personality, Emotion and Values 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?

4. Chapter 2 - Perceptions, Personality and Emotions • Key Ideas: • Perception and Perceptual Errors • Attributions and Expectations • Individual Difference Factors • Person – Job Fit

5. Chapter 3 - Values and Attitudes & Their 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

6. Attitudes • 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

7. Chapter 3 (continued) • Cognitive Dissonance • Incompatible perceptions/behaviour and beliefs/attitudes • Creates uncomfortable state • Individuals will try to reduce

8. Individual Difference Measures from CD 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)

9. Role 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

10. Individual Differences Past Experiences/Environment + Inherited Predispositions Personality Traits (quite stable) Values (quite stable) Attitudes (vary in stability & importance Perceptions, Attributions & Expectations

11. Why Study Perception in a Business 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

12. Perception in Organizations • Perception • The set of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information about the environment.

13. Common Perceptual Shortcuts Used in Judging Others • Selective Perception • Selectively interpreting what you see on the basis of your interest, background, experience, and attitudes. • Halo Effect • Drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic. • Contrast Effects • Evaluations of a person that are affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics. • Projection • Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people • Stereotyping • Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs.

14. Attribution Theory • Attribution 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.

15. Attribution Theory • Consensus • The extent to which other people in the same situation behave in the same way. • Consistency • The degree to which the same person behaves in the same way at different times. • Distinctiveness • The extent to which the same person behaves in the same way in different situations.

16. The Attribution Process Consensus (High or Low) Observation of Behavior Attribution of Causes (Internal or External) Consistency (High or Low) Distinctiveness (High or Low)

17. Attribution of cause Observation Interpretation High External Distinctiveness Low Internal High External Individual behaviour Consensus Low Internal Low External Consistency High Internal Attribution Theory

18. 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?

19. Person Perception: Making Judgments About Others • Attribution Theory • When we observe behaviour, we try to determine if it is internally or externally caused. • Fundamental Attribution Error • We tend tounderestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about others. • Self-Serving Bias • The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.

20. Values, Attitudes, and Their Effects in the Workplace Questions for Consideration • What is the relationship between values and individual behaviour? • How do values differ across cultures? Robbins, R., & Langton, N., Organizational Behaviour,Toronto, Prentice-Hall, 2001.

21. Values • Values • 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 System: a hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity. • Importance of Values: they generally influence attitudes and behaviour. Robbins, R., & Langton, N., Organizational Behaviour,Toronto, Prentice-Hall, 2001.

22. Cultural Values • Power distance: equal (low power distance) to extremely unequal power distribution (high) • Individualism vs. Collectivism: act as individuals vs. act as a member of groups • Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life: value material acquisitions vs relationships & welfare of others • Uncertainty Avoidance: preference for structured vs. unstructured situations • Long-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.

23. Examples of National Cultural Values

24. Personality Personality • The relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another. • Heredity, environment & situation influence personality and the efficacy of traits

25. Personality Personality • 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 Traits • A set of fundamental traits that are especially relevant to organizations. • The traits include agreeableness, conscientiousness, negative emotionality, extraversion, and openness.

26. The “Big Five” Personality Framework • Agreeableness • The ability to get along with others. Cooperative, warm, trusting. • Conscientiousness • A measure of reliability. Responsible, organized, dependable. • Negative Emotionality (Emotional Stability) • Ability to handle stress. Calm, self-confident, secure.

27. The “Big Five” Personality Framework • Extraversion • The quality of being comfortable with relationships. Gregarious, assertive, sociable. • Openness • The capacity to entertain new ideas and to change as a result of new information. Creative, curious, artistic.

28. “The Big Five” and Job Performance • Extroversion • positive when job requires social interaction • also positively related to training proficiency • Agreeableness • positively related to performance in service jobs • Conscientiousness • positive for EVERY job • may be better than ability in predicting job performance

29. “The Big Five” and Job Performance (2) • Emotional Stability • A minimum threshold is necessary, which tends to predict performance for all jobs; after that, it is open to debate • Openness to Experience • positively related to training proficiency • anything else?

30. The 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)

31. Emotional Intelligence • Emotional 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

32. Other Personality Traits at Work • Locus 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.

33. Other Personality Traits at Work • Self-Efficacy • A person’s beliefs about his or her capabilities to perform a task. • Authoritarianism • The extent to which a person believes that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social systems such as organizations.

34. Other Personality Traits at Work • Self-Monitoring • Ability of person to adjust their behaviour to external situational factors • Type A-B Personality • Chronic aggressive struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time • Risk-Taking • The degree to which a person is willing to take chances and make risky decisions.

35. Other Personality Traits at Work • Self-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.

36. Person - Job Fit Individual’s Skills & Abilities fit with Required Skills & Abilities AND Individual’s Predispositions fit with Task Environment/Culture

37. LOFQUIST AND DAWIS MODEL SATISFACTORINESS? PROMOTE TRANSFER TRAIN REQUIREMENTS ABILITIES DEMOTE JOB PERSON CHARACTERISTICS NEEDS TENURE WITHDRAW SATISFACTION? TURNOVER

38. Three-Component Model of Organizational Commitment Involves: Emotional attachment to, identification with, involvement in the organization Affective Commitment Belief that it is one’s moral obligation to remain with the organization Normative Commitment Continuance Commitment Reflects perceived cost associated with discontinuing employment

39. Responses to Job Satisfaction - EVLN Model Active Exit Voice Constructive Destructive Neglect Loyalty Passive

40. John 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?

41. Assignment for Next Session • Main Focus: Interpersonal Dynamics and Teams • Development of Team Contracts • Case: Dividing the Pie