MGT 271 Final

Personality

* the structures and propensities inside a person that explain his or her characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior
* what a person is like and determines their social reputation
* collection of multiple traits; traits are recurring trends in people’s responses to their environment
* traits include adjectives like: responsible, easygoing, polite
* traits come from both your genes and your environment

Cultural Values

* shared beliefs about desirable end states or modes of conduct in a given culture
* how you were raised
* can influence the development and expression of people’s personality traits
* described by adjectives such as traditional, informal, assertive

The Big Five Taxonomy

* Five broad dimensions or “factors” can be used to summarize our personalities:


1. Conscientiousness
2. Agreeableness
3. Neuroticism
4. Openness to Experience
5. Extraversion

Conscientiousness

* relevant adjectives
* dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, persevering
* The biggest influence on job performance of any of the Big Five.
* Why? Because conscientious employees prioritize **accomplishment striving** - a strong desire to accomplish task-related goals.
* Correlated to career success, good health.

Agreeableness

* relevant adjectives:
* warm, kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, courteous
* Agreeable people prioritize **communion striving** - a strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships.
* Not related to performance in all jobs or occupations, but beneficial in service-related jobs.

Extraversion

* relevant adjectives:
* talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, dominant
* Easiest to judge in zero acquaintance situations (people have just met).
* Not related to performance across all jobs or occupations.
* Extraverted people prioritize **status striving** - a strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social structure.
* Extraversion correlated with leadership emergence and effectiveness and with job satisfaction.
* Extraverted people also tend to be high in **positive affectivity** - a dispositional tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and elation.

Neuroticism

* relevant adjectives:
* nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous
* Second most important of the Big Five to job performance.
* Few jobs benefit from traits associated with neuroticism.
* Most jobs benefit from employees who are calm, steady, secure.
* Neuroticism is synonymous with **negative affectivity** - tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness, annoyance.
* Associated with low levels of job satisfaction and happiness in general.
* Neuroticism affects how people deal with stress. Specifically, neuroticism is associated with:
* Differential exposure - being more likely to appraise day-to-day situations as stressful.
* Differential reactivity - being less likely to believe that one can cope with the stressors experienced on a daily basis.
* Neuroticism is also strongly related to **locus of control** - whether people attribute the causes of events to themselves or to the external environment.
* Neurotic people hold an external locus of control.
* Less neurotic people hold an internal locus of control.

Table 9-2 External and Internal Locus of Control

* People With an External Locus of Control Tend to Believe:
* Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck.
* Getting a good job depends mainly on being in the right place at the right time.
* Many times exam questions tend to be so unrelated to course work that studying is really useless.
* This world is run by the few people in power, and there is not much the little guy can do about it.
* There’s not much use in trying too hard to please people; if they like you, they like you.
* People With an Internal Locus of Control Tend to Believe:
* People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make.
* Becoming a success is a matter of hard work; luck has little or nothing to do with it.
* In the case of the well-prepared student, there is rarely if ever such a thing as an unfair test.
* The average citizen can have an influence in government decisions.
* People are lonely because they don’t try to be friendly.

Openness to Experience

* relevant adjectives:
* curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, sophisticated
* also called inquisitiveness, intellectualness, culture
* Beneficial in some jobs but not in others; not related to job performance across all occupations.
* Helpful in jobs that are dynamic, creative, opportunities to learn.
* Adaptable, good at finding new and better approaches.

Other Taxonomies of Personality

* Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
* Originally created to test a theory of psychological types advanced by psychologist Carl Jung. It evaluates individuals on the basis of four types of preferences.
* RIASEC Model
* Based on internet research. Interests are expressions of personality that influence behavior through preferences for certain environment and activities. Interests can explain why people are drawn towards some careers and away from others. It suggests that interests can be summarized by six different personality types.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

1. **Extraversion versus Introversion** - being energized by people and social interaction vs. being energized by private time and reflection.
2. **Sensing versus Intuition** - preferring clear and concrete facts/data vs. preferring hunches and speculations based on theory and imagination.
3. **Thinking versus Feeling** - approaching decisions with logic and critical analysis vs. approaching decisions with an emphasis on other’s needs and feelings.
4. **Judging versus Perceiving** - approaching tasks by planning and setting goals vs. preferring to have flexibility and spontaneity when performing tasks.

RIASEC Model

* **Realistic**
* Enjoys practical, hands-on, real-world tasks.
* Tend to be frank, practical, determined, and rugged.
* **Investigative**
* Enjoys abstract, analytical, theory-oriented tasks.
* Tend to be analytical, intellectual, reserved and scholarly.
* **Artistic**
* Enjoys entertaining and fascinating others using imagination.
* Tends to be original, independent, impulsive, and creative.
* **Social**
* Enjoys helping, serving, or assisting others.
* Tends to be helpful, inspiring, informative, and empathetic.
* **Enterprising**
* Enjoys persuading, leading, or outperforming others.
* Tends to be energetic, sociable, ambitious, and risk-taking.
* **Conventional**
* Enjoys organizing, counting, or regulating people or things.
* Tends to be careful, conservative, self-controlled, and structured.

Table 9-3 Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Values

* Individualism-Collectivism
* Individualistic
* The culture is a loosely knit social framework in which people take care of themselves and their immediate family.
* United States, the Netherlands, France
* Collectivistic
* The culture is a tight social framework in which people take care of the members of a broader in-group and act loyal to it.
* Indonesia, China, West Africa
* Power Distance
* Low
* The culture prefers that power be distributed uniformly where possible, in a more egalitarian fashion.
* United Staes, Germany, the Netherlands
* High
* The culture accepts the fact that power is usually distributed unequally within organizations.
* Russia, China, Indonesia
* Uncertainty Avoidance
* Low
* The culture tolerates uncertain and ambiguous situations and values unusual ideas and behaviors.
* United States, Indonesia, the Netherlands
* High
* The culture feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and relies on formal rules to create stability.
* Japan, Russia, France
* Masculinity-Femininity
* Masculine
* The culture values stereotypically male traits such as assertiveness and at the acquisition of money and things.
* United States, Japan, Germany
* Feminine
* The culture values stereotypically female traits such as caring for others and caring about quality of life.
* the Netherlands, Russia, France
* Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation
* Short-Term Oriented
* The culture stresses values that are more past and present oriented, such as respect for tradition and fulfilling obligations.
* United States, Russia, West Africa
* Long-Term Oriented
* The culture stressed values that are more future-oriented, such as persistence, prudence, and thrift.
* China, Japan, the Netherlands
* Indulgent vs. Restraint
* Indulgent
* The culture tends to value expression of desires related to freedom, leisure, and activity.
* United Staes, Brazil, the Netherlands
* Restrained
* The culture tends to value stricter social norms, with a focus on order and regulation.
* China, India, Japan

Figure 9-8 Effects of Personality on Performance and Commitment

* Conscientiousness → Job Performance
* Conscientiousness has a moderate positive effect on performance. Conscientious employees have higher levels of task performance. They are also more likely to engage in citizenship behavior and less likely to engage in counterproductive behavior.
* Conscientiousness → Organizational Commitment
* Conscientiousness has a moderate positive effect on commitment. Conscientiousness employees have higher levels of affective commitment and higher levels of normative commitment. Conscientiousness has no effect on continuance commitment.

Personality Tests

* Many companies use personality tests to assess job applicants as interviewers can’t always assess personality traits during an interview alone.
* Easy to spot extraversion, agreeableness and openness.
* Harder to identify conscientiousness and neuroticism in a short period of time (which are the most important dimensions related to job performance).
* Personality test results determine the next step in the hiring process.
* Red/Yellow/Green
* A highly controversial type of tests are integrity tests (sometimes called honesty tests).
* Focus on predisposition to counterproductive behaviors.
* Clear purpose (assess attitudes toward dishonesty, including confessions of past dishonesty) and veiled purpose (assess general personality traits associated with dishonesty).

Table 9-5 Sample Integrity Test Items

* Clear Purpose
* Would you say that most people lie on their resume?
* Have you ever taken something home from work without saying anything about it?
* If a cashier gave you too much change, do you think you’d point out the error?
* At what dollar value would theft from work become a fireable offense?
* Veiled Purpose
* I rarely do things impulsively.
* I try to avoid hurting people’s feelings.
* There are people out there I’d like to get back at.
* I’m someone who follows the rules.

What Does It Mean for an Employee to Be “Able”?

* Three classifications of abilities:


1. Cognitive
2. Emotional
3. Physical
* Ability refers to ***what people can do***.
* Personality refers ***to what people are like***.

Cognitive Ability

* **Cognitive ability**: Capabilities related to the acquisition and application of knowledge in problem solving.
* It’s relevant to most jobs and occupations. Different types of cognitive ability contribute to employee effectiveness.
* Verbal
* Quantitative
* Reasoning
* Spatial
* Perceptual

Cognitive: Verbal Ability

* Refers to capabilities associated with understanding and expressing oral and written communication.
* *Oral comprehension* is the ability to understand spoken words and sentences.
* *Written comprehension* is the ability to understand written words and sentences.
* *Oral expression* refers to the ability to communicate ideas by speaking.
* *Written expression* refers to the ability to communicate ideas in writing.
* Most important in jobs in which effectiveness depends on understanding and communicating ideas and information to others.

Cognitive: Quantitative Ability

* Refers to two types of mathematical capabilities:
* *Number facility* refers to the capability to do simple math operations such as adding, subtracting, etc.
* *Mathematical reasoning* refers to the ability to choose and apply formulas to solve problems that involve numbers.
* Important to jobs and occupations involving statistics, accounting, and engineering.
* Also important to lower-level jobs such as cashiering.

Cognitive: Reasoning Ability

* A diverse set of abilities associated with sensing and solving problems using insight, rules, and logic.
* *Problem sensitivity* is the ability to sense when there is a problem or one is likely to occur.
* *Deductive reasoning* refers to the use of general rules or hypotheses as a starting point to solve a problem.
* *Inductive reasoning* refers to the ability to generate a hypothesis and plausible solution from pieces of information.
* *Originality* refers to the ability to develop clever, novel ways to solve problems.
* Reasoning ability is crucial to diverse jobs including medicine, law, and criminal justice, designer, or writer.

Cognitive: Spatial Ability

* Capabilities associated with visual and mental representation and manipulation of objects in space.
* Spatial orientation refers to a good understanding of where one is relative to other things in the environment.
* Visualization is the ability to imagine how separate things will look if they are put together in a particular way.
* People with these abilities are good at finding their way without a map or good at interior design or fashion styling.

Cognitive: Perceptual Ability

* Refers to being able to perceive, understand, and recall patterns of information.
* *Speed and flexibility of closure* refers to being able to pick out a pattern of information quickly in the presence of distracting information.
* *Perceptual speed* refers to being able to examine and compare numbers, letters, and objects quickly.
* Jobs requiring high perceptual ability include code-breaking, proofreading, sorting or categorizing things.

General Cognitive Ability

* People with higher-than-average verbal abilities also tend to be higher-than-average when it comes to reasoning, quantitative, spatial, and perceptual abilities.
* This is called General Cognitive Ability.
* Sometimes referred to as the *g-factor* or simply *g*.
* General Cognitive Ability testing and intelligence quotient (IQ) testing are very similar.

Application: Selecting High Cognitive Ability Employees

* One of the most widely used measures of cognitive ability is the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test.
* 50 questions in 12 minutes.
* A score of 17 is the minimum suggested score for an unskilled laborer.
* A score of 21 is equivalent to an IQ of 100, which is average.
* A score of 28 is the minimum suggested score for upper-level managerial and executive work.

Emotional Ability

* **Emotional Intelligence** is a set of abilities related to the understanding and use of emotions that affect social functioning.
* Influences the degree to which people tend to be effective in social situations, regardless of their level of cognitive abilities.
* Types of emotional intelligence:
* Self-awareness
* Other awareness
* Emotion regulation
* Use of emotions

Emotional Ability: Self-Awareness

* The appraisal and expression of emotions in oneself.
* Includes the ability to understand the types of emotions being experienced, the willingness to acknowledge them, and the capability to express them naturally.
* Example of low self-awareness is someone who doesn’t want to admit to himself or show to others his anxiousness when starting a new job.
* Not expressing the emotion can increase stress, and behavior can misinterpreted by others.

Emotional Ability: Other Awareness

* The appraisal and recognition of emotions in others.
* Refers to the ability of an individual to recognize and understand the emotions that people are feeling.
* People high in this aspect are sensitive to others’ feelings and can anticipate the emotions that people will experience in different situations.
* People low in this aspect do not effectively sense others’ emotions and may act in a way that worsens a situation.

Emotional Ability: Emotion Regulation

* The ability to quickly recover from emotional experiences.
* Refers to both negative and positive emotions.
* Examples:
* Not holding on to a negative encounter with another driver during rush hour.
* Not allowing the good news of a pay raise to interfere with normal workday productivity.

Emotional Ability: Use of Emotions

* 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.
* When employees harness their positive emotions they can produce solutions that are more creative.
* For example, psyching oneself up to overcome a challenge is more helpful than giving in to self-doubt.

Assessing Emotional Intelligence

* Tests that measure emotional intelligence.
* SAT-style assessments with questions having correct or incorrect answers.
* Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) asks 133 questions about behaviors and preferences; may measure personality traits more than emotional abilities.
* Short assessment designed specifically to assess each of the four facets of emotional intelligence.

Physical Ability

* Importance varies according to the nature of the job.
* *Strength*: The degree to which the body is capable of exerting force.
* *Stamina*: Ability of lungs and circulatory system to work efficiently for prolonged period.
* *Flexibility and coordination*: Ability to stretch, bend, twist, or reach.
* *Psychomotor*: Capacity to manipulate or control objects.
* *Sensory*: Capabilities associated with vision or hearing.

How Important is Ability?

* General cognitive ability is a strong predictor of job performance.
* Smarter employees fulfill the requirements of their job descriptions more effectively than do less smart employees across all jobs.
* Cognitive ability is more strongly correlated with task performance than with citizenship behavior.
* No correlation is found between cognitive ability and organizational commitment.

Why Are Some Leaders More Powerful Than Others?

* Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others and resist unwanted influence in return.
* Just because a person has the ability to influence others does not mean they will choose to do so.
* **Power** can be seen as the ability to resist the influence attempts of others.
* Voicing a dissent opinion.
* Refusing to perform a specific behavior.
* Organizing an opposition group of coworkers.

Acquiring Power

* **Organizational power** derives from a person’s position within an organization.
* *Legitimate power* is based on a position of authority in an organization.
* *Reward power* is based on control of resources or benefits.
* *Coercive power* is based on ability to punish.
* Personal power derives from the individual.
* *Expert power* is based on expertise, skill, or knowledge.
* *Referent power* exists when others have a desire to identify and be associated with a person.

Most Effective Influence Tactics

* Leaders depend on a number of tactics to cause behavioral or attitudinal changes in others:
* **Rational persuasion**: Using logical arguments and facts.
* **Inspirational appeal**: Appealing to values and ideals to create an emotional reaction.
* **Consultation**: Allowing target to participate in decision.
* **Collaboration**: Working together to maximize outcomes.

Moderately Effective Influence Tactics

* Tactics that are sometimes effective:
* **Ingratiation**: Using favors, compliments, or friendly behavior.
* **Personal appeal**: Appealing to personal friendships or loyalty.
* **Apprising**: Explaining how the target will personally benefit.

Least Effective Influence Tactics

* Least effective tactics:
* **Pressure**: Using coercive power through threats or demands.
* **Coalitions**: Enlisting others to help influence the target.
* **Exchange tactic**: Offering a reward or resource in return for performing a request.

Organizational Politics

* Actions by individuals that are directed toward the goal of furthering their own self-interests.
* **Political skill**: Understanding others at work and using that knowledge to influence others in ways that enhance personal and/or organizational objectives.
* *Networking ability* is an adeptness at identifying and developing contacts.
* *Social astuteness* is the tendency to observe and accurately interpret their behavior.
* *Interpersonal influence* involves having a personal style that’s flexible enough to adapt to different situations.
* *Apparent sincerity* involves appearing to others to have high levels of honesty and genuineness.

Conflict Resolution

* **Conflict**: when two or more individuals perceive that their goals are in opposition.
* Conflict resolution is influenced by two factors:
* How *assertive* leaders want to be in pursuing their own goals.
* How *cooperative* they are with regard to the concerns of others.
* Five different styles of conflict resolution:


1. Competing (high assertiveness, low cooperation)
2. Avoiding (low assertiveness, low cooperation)
3. Accommodating (low assertiveness, high cooperation)
4. Collaboration (high assertiveness, high cooperation)
5. Compromise (moderate assertiveness, moderate cooperation)

Figure 13-5 Styles of Conflict Resolution

* Assertive (high concern for own’s outcomes)
* Competing (win-lose)(low concern for other’s outcomes)
* Collaborating (win-win)(high concern for other’s outcomes)
* Middle
* Compromise
* Unassertive (low concern for own’s outcomes)
* Avoiding (lose-lose)(low concern for other’s outcomes)
* Accommodating (lose-win)(high concern for other’s outcomes)

Organizational Culture

* The shared social knowledge within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitudes and behaviors of its employees.
* Organizational culture:
* is learned from other employees
* tells employees what rules, norms, and values are in the organization
* creates a system of control over employees

Cultural Components

* Three major components to any organization’s culture:
* observable artifacts
* espoused values
* basic underlying assumptions

Observable Artifacts

* **Observable artifacts** are the manifestations of an organization’s culture that employees can easily see or talk about:
* Symbols
* Physical structures
* Language
* Stories
* Rituals
* Ceremonies

Espoused Values

* **Espoused values** are the beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states.
* Espoused values may not always correspond with enacted values.
* Not all companies are open in regards to their values.

Figure 16-2 A Typology of Organizational Culture

* High Sociability
* Networked
* Communal
* Low Sociability
* Fragmented
* Mercenary
* Low Solidarity
* Networked
* Fragmented
* High Solidarity
* Communal
* Mercenary

Figure 16-3 The Service Culture Process

* Service Oriented Leadership Behavior → Service Culture → Service-Oriented Employee Behaviors → Customer Satisfaction → Unit Sales

Table 16-2 Pros and Cons of a Strong Culture

* Advantages of A Strong Culture
* Differentiates the organization from others.
* Allows employees to identify themselves with the organization.
* Facilitates desired behaviors among employees.
* Creates stability within the organization.
* Disadvantages of a A Strong Culture
* Makes merging with another organization more difficult.
* Attracts and retains similar kinds of employees, thereby limiting diversity of thought.
* Can be “too much of a good thing” if it creates extreme behaviors among employees.
* Makes adapting to the environment more difficult.

Maintaining an Organizational Culture

* **Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA)**: theory that employees will be drawn to organizations with cultures that match their personality.
* Organizations will select employees that match.
* Employees will leave or be forced out when they are not a good fit.
* **Socialization**: the primary process by which employees learn the social knowledge needed to understand and adapt to the organization’s culture.


1. *Anticipatory stage* occurs before employment.
2. *Encounter stage* begins when employment begins.
3. *Understanding and adaptation* occurs when norms and expected behaviors are adopted.