Initian Team Planning Report
Understanding People at Work: Individual Differences and Perception
Chapter 3
Learning Objectives
1-1
Define personality and how it affects work behaviors
Understand the role of values in determining work behaviors
Explain the process of perception and how it affects work behaviors
Understand how individual differences affect ethics
Understand cross-cultural influences on individual differences and perception
Fit
1-2
2
Person-Organization Fit
The degree to which a person’s values, personality, goals, and other characteristics match those of the organization.
Person-Job Fit
The degree to which a person’s skill, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands.
Discussion
How can a company assess person-job fit before hiring employees? What are the methods you think would be helpful?
How can a company determine person-organization fit before hiring employees? Which methods do you think would be helpful?
What can organizations do to increase person-job and person-organization fit after they hire employees?
3
Values
Values refer to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them.
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Values
Terminal Values
A world of beauty
An exciting life
Family security
Inner harmony
Self respect
Instrumental Values
Broad minded
Clean
Forgiving
Imaginative
Obedient
Personality
Personality encompasses the relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns a person has.
Big Five Personality Traits
| Trait | Description |
| Openness | Curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas. |
| Conscientiousness | Organized, systematic, punctual, achievement-oriented, and dependable. |
| Extraversion | Outgoing, talkative, sociable, and enjoys being in social situations. |
| Agreeableness | Nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm. |
| Neuroticism | Anxious, irritable, aggressive, temperamental, and moody. |
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
| Dimension | Explanation | |
| EI | Extraversion: Those who derive their energy from other people and objects. | Introversion: Those who derive their energy from inside. |
| SN | Sensing: Those who rely on their five senses to perceive the external environment. | Intuition: Those who rely on their intuition and hunches to perceive the external environment. |
| TF | Thinking: Those who use their logic to arrive at solutions. | Feeling: Those who use their values and ideas about what is right and wrong to arrive at solutions. |
| JP | Judgment: Those who are organized, systematic, and would like to have clarity and closure. | Perception: Those who are curious, open minded, and prefer to have some ambiguity. |
OB Toolbox: Help, I work with a negative person!
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Understand that you are unlikely to change someone else’s personality
Keep an open mind
Set a time limit
You may also empower the person to act on the negatives they mention
Ask for specifics
Other Personality Traits
1-10
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Affectivity
Proactive Personality
Self-Esteem
Self-Efficacy
Locus of Control
Self-Monitoring
Discussion
Think about the personality traits covered in this section. Can you think of jobs or occupations that seem particularly suited to each trait? Which traits would be universally desirable across all jobs?
Have you ever held a job where your personality did not match the demands of the job? How did you react to this situation? How were your attitudes and behaviors affected?
Can you think of any limitations of developing an “ideal employee” profile and looking for employees who fit that profile while hiring?
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TED Talk
The power of introverts: Susan Cain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KYU2j0TM4
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Perception
Perception is how individuals detect and interpret environmental stimuli.
13
Visual Perception
Our visual perception goes beyond the information physically available. In this figure, we see the white triangle in the middle even though it is not really there.
14
Visual Perception
Which circle is bigger? The circle on the left appears bigger when in fact they are the same size.
15
Self Perception
16
Self-enhancement bias
Self-effacement bias
False consensus error
Social Perception
Our perceptions of the environment are influenced by our values, emotions, feelings, and personalities, which in turn influence our actions.
17
Values, emotions, feelings, and personality
Perceptions
Information from the environment
Actions
Social Perception
18
Stereotypes
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Selective perception
Social Perception
First impressions are initial thoughts and perceptions we form about people, which tend to be stable and salient to contrary information.
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Attributions
Internal or External Attribution
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Consensus
Consistency
Will you make an Internal or External Attribution?
Distinctiveness
Attributions
| Consensus | Distinctiveness | Consistency | Attribution |
| High consensus Everyone else behaves the same way. | High distinctiveness This person does not usually behave this way in different situations. | Low consistency This person usually does not behave this way in this situation. | External |
| Low consensus No one else behaves the same way. | Low distinctiveness This person usually behaves this way in different situations. | High consistency Every time this person is in this situation, he/she acts the same way. | Internal |
Does other people behave the same way?
Does this person behave the same way across different situations?
Does this person behave this way in different occasions in the same situation?
21
Individual Differences and Ethics
Ethics
Personality
Personal Values
Culture
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Personality Around the Globe – Self-Reported Self-Esteem
Source: Adapted from information in Denissen, J.J.A., Penke, L., & Schmitt, D.P. (July 2008). Self-Esteem reactions to social interactions: Evidence for sociometer mechanisms across days, people, and nations. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 95, 181-196; Hitti, M. (2005). Who’s No. 1 in Self-esteem? Serbia is tops, Japan ranks lowest, U.S. is No. 6 in global survey. WebMD, http://www.webmd.com/skin-beauty/news/20050927/whos-number-1-in-self-esteem; Schmitt, D.P., & Allik, J. (2005). The simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale in 53 nationals: Culture-specific features of global self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 623-642.
| Highest |
| 1. Serbia |
| 2. Chile |
| 3. Israel |
| 4. Peru |
| 5. Estonia |
| 6. USA |
| 7. Turkey |
| 8. Mexico |
| 9. Croatia |
| 10. Austria |
| Lowest |
| 1. South Korea |
| 2. Switzerland |
| 3. Morocco |
| 4. Slovakia |
| 5. Fiji |
| 6. Taiwan |
| 7. Czech Republic |
| 8. Bangladesh |
| 9. Hong Kong |
| 10. Japan |
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Discussion
If ethical decision making depends partially on personality, what can organizations do to decrease the frequency of unethical behaviors?
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Informative Podcasts
MBTI personality test (Length 9:21)
https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=650019038
Identical Twins & Personality (Length 4:01)
Interesting personality-related movies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-OF0OaK3o0