Personality, Culture values and ability

Personality

• structures and propensities inside people that explain their typical

• Creates people’s social reputations

• Captures what people are like

Examples of Personality

Adjectives - responsible, easy going, polite

Cultural values

Shared beliefs about desirable end states or modes of conduct in a given culture

Ability

Refers to the relatively stable capabilities people have to perform a particular range of different but related activities

- ability limits how much a person can improve 

- captures what people can do

What are the Big 5

• Conscientiousness

• Agreeableness

• Neuroticism

• Openness

• Extraversion

Conscientiousness

- Dependable 

- Organized 

- Reliable 

- Ambitious 

- Hard working 

- Preserving

Which of the Big 5 is the most influential in regard to job performance?

Conscientiousness

What do conscientious employees prioritize?

Accomplishment Striving

Agreeableness

- Warm 

- Kind 

- Cooperative 

- Sympathetic 

- Helpful 

Agreeableness people Prioritize…

Communion Striving

Communion Striving

Strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships as a means of expressing personality

Is communion striving beneficial in all occupations?

No - some jobs require disagreeableness

How do Agreeableness people handle conflict?

• walk away

• wait and see attitude

• Giving in to the other person

Extraversion

• Talkative 

• social

• Passionate 

• assertive 

• Bold 

•Dominant

When is extraversion is the easiest to judge in…

zero acquaintance situations

What do extraversion people prioritize?

Status Striving

Status Striving

Strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social structure

What do extraverts test high in?

Positive affectivity - the dispositional tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods like enthusiasm

Explains why extraverts tend to be more satisfied with their jobs

Neuroticism

• Nervous 

• Moody 

• Emotional 

• Insecure

• Jealous 

What is the second most important factor for job performance?

Neuroticism

Neuroticism is synonymous with?

Negative affectivity - the dispositional tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness and annoyance

How do neurotic people handle stress?

• Less likely to believe they can cope with stressors

Neuroticism more likely to be type A or B

A

Neuroticism is strongly related to…

Locus of control - whether people attribute the causes of events to themselves or to the external environment

Neurotic people tend to have external or internal locus of control?

External

Openness to Experience

• Curious

• Imaginative

• Creative

• Complex

Is openness to experience related to job performance across all occupations?

No

What jobs benefit from high levels of openness?

Jobs that are very fluid and dynamic

What kind of environments do people Openness to experience thrive in?

Excel in learning and training environments due to curiosity

Cognitive Ability

Refers to capabilities related to the acquisition and application of knowledge in problem-solving

Types of cognitive ability

• verbal

• Quantitative

• Reasoning

• Spatial

• Perceptual

Verbal Ability

Various capabilities associated with understanding and expressing oral and written communication

Quantitative ability

2 types of mathematical capabilities - number facility and mathematical reasoning

Reasoning Ability

Diverse set of abilities associated with sensing and solving problems

Spatial Ability

capabilities associated with visual and mental representation

Perceptual Ability

Being able to perceive, understand, recall patterns of information

What is another name for general cognitive ability

G factor

General cognitive ability

• underlies or causes all of the more specific cognitive abilities 

• Generalized level of mental ability that determines all other levels of mental ability 

Emotional Intelligence

Human ability that affects social functioning

What are the 4 types of emotional intelligence?

• Self Awareness

• Other Awareness

• Emotion Regulation

• Use of Emotions

Self Awareness

Ability of an individual to understand the types of emotions they are experiencing

Other Awareness

Ability to recognize and understand the emotions others are feeling

Emotion Regulation

Being able to recover quickly from emotional experiences

Use of Emotions

Reflects the degree to which people can harness emotions and employ them to improve their chances of being successful in whatever they are seeking to do

What is the relationship between high EQ I and Low IQ

EQ can compensate for low IQ

Are people with high EQ more likely to participate in counterproductive behaviour?

Yes

What does it mean for an employee to be able?

• Cognitive Ability

• Emotional Ability

• Physical Ability

What is the key driver of typical performance

Conscientiousness

Typical performance

Reflects job performance in the routine conditions that surround daily job tasks

What is the key driver of maximum performance?

Ability

Maximum Performance

Reflects performance in brief special circumstances that demand a person’s best effort

who is more likely to engage in citizenship behaviour?

Conscientious employees

Who is less likely to engage in counterproductive behaviour?

Conscientious employees

Situational Strength

“Strong Situations” have clear behavioural expectations, incentives or instructions that make differences between individuals less important

Trait variation

Some situations provide cues that trigger the expression of a given trait

What is general cognitive ability a strong predictor of?

Task Performance

Is general cognitive ability related to organizational commitment?

No

Learning

reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee’s knowledge or skill that result from experience 

Decision Making

Process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem

Why is learning important?

• Impacts decision making

• Develop high levels of expertise can take longer with in experience

Expertise

Knowledge and skills that distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people

Can learning be directly seen or observed?

No

Explicit Knowledge

• knowledge is the kind of info you’re likely to think about when you picture someone sitting down at a desk to learn 

• Easily transferred through written and verbal communication

Tactic Knowledge

• Learned through experiences

• Difficult to articulate to others

• Sometimes holders dont even recognize they have it

Positive Reinforcement

occurs when a positive outcome follows a desired behaviour (reward)

Negative Reinforcement

Occurs when an unwanted outcome is removed following a desired behaviour

Punishment

Occurs when an unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behaviour

Extinction

Occurs when there is the removal of a positive consequence following an unwanted behaviour

Ex Finding a way to remove attention to an employee who is being distracting

What is the 2 most common types of reinforcement?

Positive and extinction

Continuous Reinforcement

• New learning is acquired most rapidly

• Reward is given after every desired behaviour

• High performance but difficult to maintain

• Ex: Praise

Fixed interval

• Most common reinforcement schedule

• Reward given in fixed time periods

• Potential level of performance average

• Ex: Paycheque

Variable interval

• Rewards people after a varying number of exhibited behaviours

• Potential level of performance high

• Ex: Supervisor walk by

Fixed Ratio

• Reinforces behaviours after a certain number of them have been exhibited

• Reward given following a fixed number of desired behaviours

• Potential level of performance high

• Ex: Piece rate pay

Variable ratio

• Reward is given the following variable number of desired behaviours

• Potential level of performance very high

• Ex: Commission pay

Social Learning Theory

Argues that in addition to learning through reinforcement, people in organizations have the ability to learn through the observation of others

Behaviour modelling

When employees observe the actions of others learn from what they observe and then repeat the observed behaviour

Learning orientation

Building competence is deemed more important than demonstrating competence

Performance prove orientation

focus on demonstrating their competence so that others think favourably of them

Performance avoid orientation

focus on demonstrating their competence so that others will not think poorly of them

Does learning influence job performance?

Learning does influence job performance because learning is moderately correlated with task performance but has a weak positive relationship with organizational commitment

What steps can organizations take to foster learning?

• Training

• knowledge transfer from more experienced people

• Behaviour modelling

• Climate for transfer