Individual Behavior and Differences

1. Individual Behavior and Differences

2. A Framework for Understanding Individuals 3 sets of variables affect human behavior in organizations • Individual • Psychological • Organizational

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Abilities and Skills Cont. • 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.

6. 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.

7. Psychological variables A. Perception: a cognitive process by which a person gives meaning to the environment. • 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.

8. Perception … Why? • Because of individual variables etc. The Perception Process a. Stimuli b. Observation c. Self Influencing Factors d. Evaluation c. Behaviors and Attitudes

9. Perceptual problems arise between managers/subordinates, managers/managers, groups/groups, subordinates/subordinates

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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.

13. Attitudes Cont. 3. Attitudes are learned from family, managers, coworkers, job experiences 4. Cognitive Dissonance • Where a discrepancy exists between the cognitive and behavioral components of an attitude. • leads to rationalization because one component eventually has to give in.

14. Attitudes Cont. 5. Attitude Change-3 basic factors

15. 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.

16. 2. The Message • Must be convincing a presented in an enthusiastic way.

17. 3. The Situation • Distractions - can they help or hinder change. It depends on how strong the attitude. • Does prevent counter arguing.

18. Job satisfaction is an attitude resulting from work experiences. • i.e. pay, promotion, management, coworkers, equity, etc.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. Personality influences behavior but can managers influence personality? • Probably not - usually set in stone by the time we are working.

22. Personality… • Theories of personality • Trait Theories • Define people based on their psychological characteristics or traits. i.e. MBTI and MMPI • Psychodynamic Theories (Freud) • id - ego - superego • id - storehouse of drives • ego - arbitrator • superego - storehouse of values

23. Personality… Personality and Behavior • Sometimes such personality factors is machiavellianism, androgyny, creativity and locus of control are used to explain behavior. • Locus of Control

24. 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.

25. Myers-Briggs Exercise • Review the scores

26. Extraversion/Introversion • 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.

27. Sensing/Intuition • 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.

28. Thinking/Feeling • 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.

29. Judging/Perceiving • 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.

30. FIRO-B • Go over explanation and scoring

31. FISH Video