Managing Individual Differences & Behavior

11-1 Describe the importance of personality and individual traits in the hiring process.
11-2 Explain the effects of values and attitudes on employee behavior.
11-3 Describe the way perception can cloud judgment.
11-4 Explain how managers can deal with employee attitudes.
11-5 Identify trends in workplace diversity that managers should be aware of.
11-6 Discuss the sources of workplace stress and ways to reduce it.
11-7 Describe how to develop the career readiness competencies of positive approach and emotional intelligence.

Personality: Stable psychological traits and behavioral attributes that give a person their identity.
Proactive Personality: An individual who takes initiative and perseveres to influence their environment.

Extroversion: Includes traits such as being outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive.
Agreeableness: Traits encompass being trusting, good-natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted.
Conscientiousness: Represents dependability, responsibility, achievement-oriented behavior, and persistence.
Emotional Stability: Affects an individual’s relaxation, security, and ability to remain unworried under pressure.
Openness to Experience: Characterized by being intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broad-minded.

Use Professionals: Always rely on licensed psychologists for the administration and interpretation of personality tests; not all psychologists are trained in this field.
Data Supplementation: Do not rely solely on personality tests for hiring decisions; include reference checks, interviews, ability tests, and performance records.
Awareness of Bias: Be vigilant regarding gender, racial, and ethnic biases in test results to avoid legal repercussions.
Graphology vs. Integrity Tests: Graphology tests lack scientific backing; however, integrity tests can successfully screen dishonest job applicants.

Core Self-Evaluation: A broader personality trait comprising four individual traits:
- Self-efficacy
- Self-esteem
- Locus of control
- Emotional stability

Definition: Belief in one’s capability to execute actions required for specific tasks.
Learned Helplessness: A state of debilitating doubt in one’s control over their environment, correlated with low self-efficacy.
Management Strategies:
- Provide constructive feedback.
- Set progressively challenging goals.
- Offer mentoring and role modeling.

Definition: The extent to which individuals value themselves, impacting their positive handling of failure and risk-taking.
- High Self-Esteem: Better equipped to handle challenges and risks.
- Low Self-Esteem: More likely to focus on weaknesses and depend on others.
Management Strategies:
- Reinforce positive attributes.
- Give frequent positive feedback.
- Break tasks into smaller parts to increase confidence.

Definition: Refers to the degree to which individuals believe they can control their life outcomes through their own actions.
- Internal Locus: Belief in personal control over destiny.
- External Locus: Belief that external forces dictate outcomes.
Management Strategies:
- –Employees with internal locus of control should probably be placed in jobs requiring high initiative and lower compliance
  –Employees with external locus of control might do better in highly structured jobs requiring greater compliance
  –Internals may prefer and respond more productively to incentives such as merit pay or sales commissions

Definition: Whether individuals feel secure and unworried, with high emotional stability correlating with better job performance.
Low Emotional Stability Effects: Prone to anxiety and tend to perceive situations negatively.

Definition: The ability to monitor and influence one’s and others' emotions; considered crucial for happiness and performance enhancement.
Associated Benefits:
- Better social relationships.
- Enhanced well-being and creativity.
- Improved emotional control and self-efficacy.
- Positive self-rated performance.

Self-Awareness: Understanding personal emotions and their impact on others.
Self-Management: Controlling one’s emotions and acting adaptively.
Social Awareness: Empathy towards others, understanding their emotional landscape.
Relationship Management: Effective communication and conflict resolution.

Organizational Behavior (OB): Focuses on the understanding and management of people at work, aiming to explain and predict behavior to enhance leadership and motivation.

Values: Abstract ideals directing one’s thinking and behavior over various situations.
Attitude: A learned predisposition influencing behavior toward specific objects.

Definition: Psychological discomfort arising from conflicting attitudes and behaviors.
Factors Affecting Dissonance:
- Importance: How essential is the dilemma to you?
- Control: Your ability to influence the situation.
- Rewards: Personal benefits involved with the dissonance.

Perception: The process of interpreting and understanding one’s environment.

Stereotyping: Applying group characteristics to individuals unfairly, leading to biases based on gender, age, race, etc.
Implicit Bias: Subconscious beliefs affecting actions and decisions; often misreported by individuals thinking they are unbiased.
Halo Effect: Judging individuals based on a single trait.
Recency Effect: Remembering recent information more clearly than prior details.
Causal Attributions: Inferring causes for behaviors; includes fundamental attribution bias and self-serving bias.

Definition: When expectations influence behavior, thus making those expectations come true.
Management Strategies:
- Establish positive expectations for performance.
- Encourage successful mental visualization of tasks.

Employee Engagement: Reflects the involvement, satisfaction, and enthusiasm for work; correlates positively with a culture of development and trust.
Job Satisfaction: Influenced by perception of workload, pay, promotions, coworkers, and supervision; related to enhanced motivation and lower turnover.
Organizational Commitment: Degree of employee alignment with organizational goals and is positively related to job satisfaction.

As a manager, understanding individual differences is crucial for influencing productivity and performance.
Evaluation Factors: Performance, absenteeism, turnover, and organizational citizenship behaviors.