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Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., & Colella, A. (2015). Organizational behavior. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

5 Personality, Intelligence, Attitudes, and Emotions

Knowledge Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Define personality and explain the basic nature of personality traits, the Big Five, and other traits important to organizational behavior.

2. Define intelligence and describe its role in the workplace.

3. Define an attitude and describe how attitudes are formed and how they can be changed. Explainthe causes and consequences of job satisfaction and organizational commitment?

4. Discuss the role of emotions in organizational behavior and the concept of emotional intelligence.

Exploring Behavior in Action I Know She's Smart and Accomplished … But Does She Have “Personality”?

Answer “true” or “false” to the following questions:

1. It's maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free.

2. Slow people irritate me.

3. I can easily cheer up and forget my problems.

4. I am tidy.

5. I am not polite when I don't want to be.

6. I would like the job of a race car driver.

7. My teachers were unfair to me in school.

8. I like to meet new people.

The way you answer these questions, or similar items, could determine whether you get the job or not. These questions are examples of the types found on personality tests commonly used to hire people for jobs. One survey found that over 80 percent of employers reported using some form of personality test when hiring employees. Another survey found that 29 percent of adults aged 18 to 24 took a personality test in the past two years in order to be considered for a job. One of the largest testing companies, Unicru (now a part of Kronos), tested over 11 million candidates in one year for companies such as Universal Studios. Personality testing has taken the employment field by storm. Employers are no longer relying only on stellar resumes and amazing experience; they also care about whether an applicant has the right temperament to carry out the job and fit in with the organization. “Although personality-based testing has been around for years, it's now in the spotlight,” said Bill Byham, CEO of Development Dimensions International, a consulting firm that is a leader in the personality testing field.

So, what are the right answers? That depends on what the employer is looking for. Common things that employers look for are conscientiousness, ability to handle stress, ability to get along with others, potential leadership, problem-solving style, and service orientation. Different employers look for different personality profiles, and often it depends on the job being sought.

For example, Karen Schoch, who hires employees for Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, states, “A person must be qualified to do the job, but they also require the right personality. We're a hospital that puts a premium on patient care, and we want people who can deliver the concept.” Thus, she looks for people who have a blend of compassion, diplomacy, energy, and self-confidence.

Harbor Group LLC, a Houston financial advisory firm, examines dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness to predict how its associates will handle stress. David Hanson, a founding principal at First Harbor, states, “Stress can result in lower productivity, increased absenteeism, tardiness, and high employee turnover.” Thus, it is important for his company to identify how people deal with stress so that they can develop ways to counteract the effects of stress.

Southwest Airlines, a company well known for its relaxed, fun culture, takes creating a relaxed, warm environment on its flights seriously. To accomplish this goal, Southwest Airlines carefully screens job applicants to ensure that only individuals with personalities and attitudes consistent with the desired culture are hired. Libby Sartain, former vice president of the People Department at Southwest, put it this way: “If we hire people who don't have the right attitude, disposition, and behavioral characteristics to fit into our culture, we will start to change that culture.” Herb Kelleher, former CEO, has said, “We look for attitudes; people with a sense of humor who don't take themselves too seriously. We'll train you on whatever it is you have to do, but the one thing Southwest cannot change in people is inherent attitudes.” Thus, Southwest tests people for kindness and creativity.

These four organizations all have different cultures and work environments. Therefore, they all look for different personality traits in new employees. The extent to which the personality of associates fits with an organization's culture has been found to have a positive impact on both associates and the organization, and personality testing is one way to make sure that employees have the right disposition to mesh with the organization's culture. This emphasis on cultural fit is found in many high-involvement organizations, where identifying and selecting individuals who complement a carefully developed and maintained culture is a highly important task.

A popular and valid personality test used in organizations is the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI). The HPI measures seven everyday personality characteristics: adjustment, ambition, sociability, interpersonal sensitivity, prudence, inquisitiveness, and learning approach. In addition there is another assessment, Hogan Development Survey (HDS), which measures negative personality characteristics. Using these tests to assess associates and to make staffing decisions has led to increases in associate performance, safety behavior, effective leadership behavior, and retention. For example, an international fragrance manufacturer used the HPI and HDS to select sales representatives. Those selected with the HPI and HDS had an annual sales revenue of $4 million compared to $875,000 for representatives selected on other measures.

Sources: S.E.Fallaw & T.Kranowitz, “CEB Global Assessment Trends Report,” SHL Talent Measurement (2013). At http://www.shl.com/us/forms/content/gatr ; Hogan Assessment Systems, Why Is Personality Testing Important to Recruitment? (January 12, 2010), at http://www.hoganassessments.com/_hoganweb/documents/Why%20Personality%20Testing%20is%20Important%20to%20Recruitment.pdf ; A.E.Cha, “Employers Relying on Personality Tests to Screen Applicants,” Washington Post (March 27, 2005), p. A01; A.Overholt. “True or False: You're Hiring the Right People,” Fast Company 55 (Jan. 2002), p. 110; S. B.Fink, “Getting Personal: 10 Reasons to Test Personality Before Hiring,” Training 43 (Nov. 2006), p. 16; V.Knight. “Personality Tests as Hiring Tools,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) (Mar. 15, 2006). p. B3A; B.Dattner. “Snake Oil or Science? That's the Raging Debate on Personality Testing,” Workforce Management 83(10) (Oct. 2004), p. 90, at www.workforce3.com , accessed March 2007; E.Frauenheim. “The (Would Be) King of HR Software,” Workforce Management 85(15) (Aug. 14, 2006), pp. 34–39, accessed at www.workforce3.com , March 2007; www.kronos.com , accessed Mar. 2007; K.Brooker, “The Chairman of the Board Looks Back,” Fortune 143(11)(2001): 62–76; R.Chang, “Turning into Organizational Performance,” Training and Development 55(5)(2001): 104–111; K.Ellis, “Libby Sartain,” Training 38(1)(2001): 46–50; L.Ellis, “Customer Loyalty,” Executive Excellence 18(7)(2001): 13–14; K.Freiberg and J.Freiberg, Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success (Austin, TX: Bard Press, 1996); K.Freiberg and J.Freiberg. “Southwest Can Find Another Pilot,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) (March 26, 2001), p. A22; H.Lancaster, “Herb -Kelleher Has One Main Strategy: Treat Employees Well,” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) (Aug. 31, 1999), p. B1; S. F.Gale, “Three Companies Cut Turnover with Tests,” Workforce 81(4)(2002): 66–69; Hogan Assessment Systems HPI + HDS: Combining Assessments to Predict Job Performance (January 18, 2014). At http://www.hoganassessments.com/sites/all//files/HPI-HDS%20ROI%20Study.pdf .

The Strategic Importance of Personality, Intelligence, Attitudes, and Emotions

The discussion of personality testing in Exploring Organizational Behavior in Action illustrates how important it is for organizations to select the right individuals. Everyone has individual differences that cannot be easily changed. As Herb Kelleher mentioned above, organizations can train people to do only so much; there are individual differences in people that are not easily influenced. In this chapter we explore three such differences: personality, intelligence, and emotions. We also explore another individual difference: attitudes that can be more easily affected by one's organizational experience. All of these human attributes influence organizational effectiveness by influencing associates' performance, work attitudes, motivation, willingness to stay in the organization, and ability to work together in a high-involvement environment.

In Chapter 1 , we stated that an important part of high-involvement work systems was that organizations engage in selective hiring, illustrating the importance of hiring people with the right set of attributes. A great deal of research has been done that has shown that certain traits, such as conscientiousness 1 and intelligence, 2 are related to associates' performance. Associates' traits have also been linked to how likely they will be to engage in counterproductive work behavior, such as being frequently absent or stealing. 3 In addition to traits directly affecting performance, the degree to which associates' traits fit the work environment and culture is also linked with how satisfied and committed associates are to their organization 4 and how likely they will be to remain in the organization. 5 Furthermore, the attributes of top leaders in the organization have a direct impact on organizational functioning by relating to the group dynamics among top decision makers 6 and the strategic decisions they make. 7 Thus, the individual traits and attitudes of everyone in the organization can have an important impact on the functioning of that organization.

Because personalities have such important effects on behavior in organizations, care must be taken in adding new people. For a manufacturing firm emphasizing stable, efficient operations because it competes on the basis of low cost, hiring newcomers who are serious, conscientious, and emotionally stable is logical. For a manufacturing firm competing on the basis of frequent process and product innovations, hiring newcomers who embrace change and are inquisitive is important. Furthermore, as you will learn in this chapter, it is critical to hire associates who fit the characteristics of the particular jobs they will hold. Inside the same firm, personalities suitable for the tasks required in sales may be less suitable for the tasks involved in research and development. Although personality, intelligence, attitudes, and emotions are not perfect predictors of job performance and should never be used alone in selection decisions, they are important.

In this chapter, we open with a discussion of fundamentals of personality, including its origins and the degree to which it changes over time. Building on this foundation, we examine a major personality framework, the Big Five, that has emerged as the most useful for understanding workplace behaviors. Next, we discuss several cognitive and motive-based characteristics of personality not explicitly included in the major framework. Next, we examine intelligence, another individual difference that has become a controversial topic in employee selection. We then move on to an exploration of attitudes, including attitude development and change as well as several important types of workplace attitudes. Finally, we address emotions and their role in organizations.

Fundamentals of Personality

The term personality may be used in several ways. One common use—or, rather, misuse—of the word is in describing the popularity of our classmates or colleagues. We may think that Hank has a pleasant personality or that Sonya is highly personable. In your high-school yearbook, someone was probably listed with the title of Mr. or Ms. Personality. When personality is used in this way, it means that person is popular or well liked. This meaning has little value, however, in understanding or predicting behavior. To know that some people are popular does not enable us to have a rich understanding of them, nor does it improve our ability to interact with them.

For our purposes, personality describes a person's most striking or dominant characteristics—jolly, shy, domineering, assertive, and so on. This meaning of personality is more useful because a set of rich characteristics tells us much about the behavior we can expect a person to exhibit and can serve as a guide in our interactions with her.

More formally, personality is a stable set of characteristics representing the internal properties of an individual, which are reflected in behavioral tendencies across a variety of situations. 8 These characteristics are often referred to as “traits” and have names such as dominance, assertiveness, and neuroticism. More important than the names of personality traits, however, is the meaning given to them by psychologists. The traditional meaning of personality traits rests on three basic beliefs:

1. Personality traits are individual psychological characteristics that are relatively enduring—for example, if a person is introverted or shy, he or she will likely remain so for a long period of time.

2. Personality traits are major determinants of one's behavior—for example, an introverted person will be withdrawn and exhibit nonassertive behavior.

3. Personality traits influence one's behavior across a wide variety of situations—an introverted person will be withdrawn and nonassertive at a party, in class, in sports activities, and at work.

personality

A stable set of characteristics representing internal properties of an individual, which are reflected in behavioral tendencies across a variety of situations.

Some researchers and managers have criticized these traditional beliefs about personality traits, believing instead that personality can undergo basic changes. They believe, for example, that shy people can become more assertive and outgoing. Furthermore, by examining our own behaviors, we may learn that sometimes we behave differently from situation to situation. Our behavior at a party, for example, may be different from our behavior at work.

Still, we often can observe consistencies in a person's behavior across situations. For example, many people at various levels of Scott Paper saw Al Dunlap act in hard-hearted ways and exhibit outbursts of temper when he served this company as CEO. Many individuals at Sunbeam, where he next filled the CEO role, observed the same behaviors. Apparently, family members also experienced similar treatment. When Dunlap was fired by the board of directors at Sunbeam, his only child said, “I laughed like hell. I'm glad he fell on his.…”9 His sister said, “He got exactly what he deserved.”10

Determinants of Personality Development

To properly understand personality, it is important to examine how it develops. Both heredity and environment play important roles in the development of personality.

Heredity

From basic biology, we know that parents provide genes to their children. Genes in turn determine height, hair color, eye color, size of hands, and other basic physical characteristics. Similarly, genes seem to influence personality, as demonstrated in three different types of studies.

The first type of study involves examinations of identical twins. Identical twins have identical genes and should therefore have similar personalities if genes play an important role. Moreover, if genes influence personality, identical twins separated at birth should have more similar adult personalities than regular siblings or fraternal twins who have been raised apart. This is precisely the case, as has been found in a number of studies.11 Consider identical twins Oskar and Jack, who were parented by different people. Oskar was raised in Germany by his Roman Catholic maternal grandmother, whereas Jack was raised outside Germany by his Jewish father. As adults, however, both of the brothers were domineering, prone to anger, and absentminded.12

The second type of study involves assessments of newborns. Because newborns have had little exposure to the world, the temperaments they exhibit—including their activity levels, adaptability, sensitivity to stimulation, and general disposition—are probably determined to a large degree by genetics. If newborn temperament in turn predicts personality later in life, a link between genes and personality is suggested. Several studies have provided evidence for this relationship. In one such study, newborns ranging in age from 8 to 12 weeks were tracked into adult life. Temperament in the early weeks of life was found to predict personality later in life.13

The third type of study supporting genetic effects focuses directly on genes. In several studies, researchers have identified distinct genes thought to influence personality. Gene D4DR serves as a useful example. This gene carries the recipe for a protein known as dopamine receptor, which controls the amount of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is crucial because it seems to affect initiative and adventure-seeking. Individuals with a long version of the gene, where a key sequence of DNA repeats itself six or more times, are more likely to be adventure-seeking than individuals with a short version of the gene.14

Although genes clearly play an important role in personality, we must be careful not to overemphasize their effects. Researchers typically believe that 50 percent of adult personality is genetically determined. Furthermore, we should not conclude that a single magical gene controls a particular aspect of personality. The best information currently available suggests that combinations of genes influence individual personality traits.15 For example, gene D4DR plays an important role in how much adventure a person desires, but other genes also affect this trait.

Environment

Beyond genes, the environment a person experiences as a child plays an important role in personality. In other words, what a child is exposed to and how she is treated influence the type of person she becomes. Warm, nurturing, and supportive households are more likely to produce well-adjusted, outgoing individuals.16 Socioeconomic circumstances of the household may also play a role, with favorable circumstances being associated with value systems that promote hard work, ambition, and self-control.17 Events and experiences outside the home can also affect personality. Schools, churches, and athletic teams are important places for lessons that shape personality.

Although research suggests that personality is reasonably stable in the adult years,18 events and experiences later in life can affect personality. Reports have described, for example, how a heart attack survivor reaches deep inside to change himself. In addition, some psychological theories suggest that change may occur over time. One theory proposes a model of personality that includes possible transitions at various points in life, including infancy, early childhood, late childhood, the teenage years, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood, for instance.19 The specific changes that might occur are less important than the fact that change is possible.

The Big Five Personality Traits

For managers and associates to effectively use personality traits in predicting behavior, they must work with a concise set of traits. But thousands of traits can be used to describe a person. Which traits are most useful? Which correspond to the most meaningful behavioral tendencies in the workplace? These questions have puzzled researchers for many years. Fortunately, a consensus among personality experts has emerged to focus on five traits. These traits, collectively known as the Big Five, include extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience, as shown in Exhibit 5-1.

Exhibit 5-1 The Big Five Personality Traits

Extraversion

The extraversion trait was an important area of study for many well-known psychologists in the early-to-middle portion of the twentieth century, including Carl Jung, Hans Eysenck, and Raymond Cattell. For Jung and many of his contemporaries, this aspect of personality was considered the most important driver of behavior. Extraversion is the degree to which a person is outgoing and derives energy from being around other people. In more specific terms, it is the degree to which a person: (1) enjoys being around other people, (2) is warm to others, (3) speaks up in group settings, (4) maintains a vigorous pace, (5) likes excitement, and (6) is cheerful.20 Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines clearly fits this mold.

extraversion

The degree to which an individual is outgoing and derives energy from being around other people.

Research has shown that people scoring high on this dimension, known as extraverts, tend to have a modest but measurable performance advantage over introverts in occupations requiring a high level of interaction with other people.21 Specific occupations where extraverts have been found to perform particularly well include sales and management. In contrast, introverts, who do not score high on extraversion, tend to do particularly well in occupations such as accounting, engineering, and information technology, where more solitary work is frequently required. For any occupation where teams are central, or in a high-involvement organization where teams are emphasized, extraverts may also have a slight edge, as teams involve face-to-face interaction, group decision making, and navigation of interpersonal dynamics.22 A team with a very high percentage of extraverts as members, however, may function poorly, for too many team members may be more interested in talking than in listening. Research suggests that extraversion is related to job satisfaction, with extraverts exhibiting slightly more satisfaction regardless of the specific conditions of the job situation.23 Extraversion has even been found to relate to investors' overconfidence and overreaction in financial markets.24

Conscientiousness

The conscientiousness trait has played a central role in personality research in recent years. Many current personality researchers believe this dimension of personality has the greatest effect of all personality dimensions on a host of outcomes in the workplace. Conscientiousness is the degree to which a person focuses on goals and works toward them in a disciplined way. In specific terms, it is the degree to which a person: (1) feels capable, (2) is organized, (3) is reliable, (4) possesses a drive for success, (5) focuses on completing tasks, and (6) thinks before acting.25

conscientiousness

The degree to which an individual focuses on goals and works toward them in a disciplined way.

Research has shown that individuals scoring high on conscientiousness have a performance edge in most occupations and tend to perform well on teams.26 This is to be expected, because irresponsible, impulsive, low-achievement-striving individuals generally are at a disadvantage in activities both inside and outside the workplace. In an important study, hundreds of individuals were tracked from early childhood through late adulthood.27 Their success was assessed in terms of job satisfaction in midlife, occupational status in midlife, and annual income in late adulthood. Conscientiousness, which was fairly stable over the participants' lifetimes, positively affected each of these success measures. This is the reason companies such as Microsoft, Bain & Company, and Goldman Sachs emphasize conscientiousness when searching for new associates.28 Indeed, conscientiousness is also linked to leadership emergence.29 Interestingly, research shows that conscientiousness has a stronger positive effect on job performance when the person also scores high on agreeableness, the trait considered next.30

Agreeableness

The agreeableness trait has also received a great deal of attention in recent years. Agreeableness is the degree to which a person is easygoing and tolerant—the degree to which a person: (1) believes in the honesty of others, (2) is straightforward, (3) is willing to help others, (4) tends to yield under conflict, (5) exhibits humility, and (6) is sensitive to the feelings of others.31

agreeableness

The degree to which an individual is easygoing and tolerant.

Research has not shown a consistent pattern of job outcomes for individuals scoring high or low on agreeableness. After all, being agreeable and disagreeable can be valuable at different times in the same job. A manager, for example, may need to discipline an associate in the morning but behave very agreeably toward union officials in the afternoon. A salesperson may need to be tough in negotiations on one day but treat a long-standing customer with gracious deference on the next day.

Agreeable individuals do, however, seem to be consistently effective in teamwork.32 They create inter personal dynamics, as they are sensitive to the feelings of others and often try to ensure the participation and success of all team members. Teams with many members who are agreeable have been found to perform well.33 Having an extremely high percentage of very agreeable team members, however, may be associated with too little debate on important issues. When teams must make important decisions and solve non-routine problems, having some individuals with lower scores on agreeableness may be an advantage.

Emotional Stability

The trait of emotional stability relates to how a person copes with stressful situations or heavy demands. Specific features of this trait include the degree to which a person: (1) is relaxed, (2) is slow to feel anger, (3) rarely becomes discouraged, (4) rarely becomes embarrassed, (5) resists unhealthy urges associated with addictions, and (6) handles crises well.34 Research has shown that emotionally stable individuals tend to have an edge in task performance across a large number of occupations.35 This is reasonable, for stable individuals are less likely to exhibit characteristics that may interfere with performance, such as being anxious, hostile, and insecure. Similarly, emotionally stable individuals seem to have modest but measurable advantages as team members.36 Several studies reveal that teams perform more effectively when composed of members scoring high on this trait.37 Furthermore, when individuals are high on emotional stability, in combination with high extraversion and high conscientiousness, they are more likely to have team leadership potential, than those who do not have this personality profile.38 Finally, research shows that emotional stability is positively linked to job satisfaction, independent of the specific conditions of the job situation.39

emotional stability

The degree to which an individual easily handles stressful situations and heavy demands.

Openness to Experience

The openness trait is the degree to which a person seeks new experiences and thinks creatively about the future. More specifically, openness is the degree to which a person: (1) has a vivid imagination, (2) has an appreciation for art and beauty, (3) values and respects emotions in himself and others, (4) prefers variety to routine, (5) has broad intellectual curiosity, and (6) is open to reexamining closely held values.40 Research suggests that both individuals scoring high and individuals scoring low on openness can perform well in a variety of occupations and can function well on teams.41 Those who score high on this dimension of personality, however, are probably more effective at particular tasks calling for vision and creativity, such as the creative aspects of advertising, the creative aspects of marketing, and many aspects of working in the arts. At W.L. Gore and Associates, maker of world-renowned GORE-TEX® products (such as sealants and fabrics), strong openness is valued. “Gore has been a team-based, flat lattice organization that fosters personal initiative. There are no traditional organizational charts, no chains of command, nor predetermined channels of communication.… We work hard at maximizing individual potential, maintaining an emphasis on product integrity, and cultivating an environment where creativity can flourish.”42 Individuals with lower openness scores may be more effective in jobs calling for strong adherence to rules, such as piloting airplanes and accounting.

openness to experience

The degree to which an individual seeks new experiences and thinks creatively about the future.

The Big Five as a Tool for Selecting New Associates and Managers

Given the links between important competencies and specific personality traits, it is not surprising that personality assessment can play a role in hiring decisions. Although no single tool should be used as the basis for hiring new associates and managers, personality assessment can be a useful part of a portfolio of tools that includes structured interviews and skills evaluations. In some reviews of available tools, Big Five assessments have been shown to provide useful predictions of future job performance.43 It is important, however, to develop a detailed understanding of how personality traits predict performance in a specific situation. Such understanding requires that the general information just discussed be supplemented by: (1) an in-depth analysis of the requirements of a particular job in a particular organization and (2) an in-depth determination of which traits support performance in that particular job. In some cases, only certain aspects of a trait may be important in a specific situation. For example, being slow to anger and not prone to frustration may be crucial aspects of emotional stability for particular jobs, whereas being relaxed may be much less important for these jobs. Call center operator positions call for this particular combination of characteristics. They have to respond positively to customers, even when customers are rude or hostile.44

The Big Five and High-Involvement Management

We now turn to competencies that are important for high-involvement management. Combinations of several Big Five traits likely provide a foundation for important competencies. Although research connecting the Big Five to these competencies has not been extensive, the evidence to date suggests important linkages.

Recall that high-involvement management focuses on developing associates so that substantial authority can be delegated to them. Available research suggests that managers' competencies in developing, delegating, and motivating are enhanced by high extraversion, high conscientiousness, and high emotional stability.45 This research is summarized in Exhibit 5-2 and is consistent with our earlier discussion, which pointed out that conscientious, emotionally stable individuals have advantages in many situations and that extraverts have a slight advantage in situations requiring a high level of interaction with people.

Exhibit 5-2 The Big Five and High-Involvement Management

Source: Adapted from P.J.Howard and J.M.Howard, The Owner's Manual for Personality at Work (Austin, TX: Bard Press, 2001).

Competencies	Description	Big Five Traits*
For Managers
Delegating to others	Patience in providing information and support when empowering others, but also the ability to confront individuals when there is a problem	E+	C+	A−	ES+	O+
Developing others	Interest in sharing information, ability to coach and train, and interest in helping others plan careers	E+	(C+)	A++	ES+	(O+)
Motivating others	Ability to bring out the best in other people, desire to recognize contributions of others, and in general an interest in others	E++	C+	(A+)	ES+
For Associates
Decision-making skills	Careful consideration of important inputs, little putting off of decisions, and no tendency to change mind repeatedly	E+	C++	A−	ES+	O+
Self-development	Use of all available resources for improvement, interest in feedback, and lack of defensiveness	E+	C++	A+	ES+	(O−)
Self-management	Little procrastination, effective time management, and a focus on targets	E+	C+	(A−)
Teamwork	Willingness to subordinate personal interests for the team, ability to follow or lead depending on the needs of the team, and commitment to building team spirit	E+	C+	A++	ES+	O+
*Entries in the exhibit are defined as follows: E = extraversion, C = conscientiousness, A = agreeableness, ES = emotional stability (many researchers define this using a reverse scale and use the label “need for stability” or “neuroticism”), and O = openness to experience. A + indicates that higher scores on the trait appear to promote the listed competency. A ++ indicates that higher scores on a trait appear to have very significant effects on the listed competency. Similarly, a − indicates that low levels of a trait appear to promote the listed competency. Parentheses are used in cases where some aspects of a trait are associated with the listed competency but the overall trait is not. For example, only the first and fourth aspects of conscientiousness (feels capable and possesses a drive for success) have been found to be associated with the competency for developing others.

As might be expected, available research also indicates that these same characteristics provide advantages to associates in high-involvement organizations. For associates, competencies in self-development, decision making, self-management, and teamwork are crucial. Conscientious, emotionally stable individuals are likely to work at these competencies, and being an extravert may present a slight advantage.46 Agreeableness and openness do not appear to have consistent effects on the competencies discussed here.

Cognitive and Motivational Properties of Personality

We turn next to several cognitive and motivational concepts that have received attention as separate and important properties related to personality. They are defined as follows (see Exhibit 5-3):

· Cognitive properties—properties of individuals' perceptual and thought processes that affect how they typically process information

· Motivational properties—stable differences in individuals that energize and maintain overt behaviors

Exhibit 5-3 Cognitive and Motivational Concepts of Personality

Cognitive Concepts

Differences in how people use their intellectual capabilities may result in vastly different perceptions and judgments. Personality concepts that focus on cognitive processes help us to understand these differences. Three such concepts are locus of control, authoritarianism, and self-monitoring.

The personality concept of locus of control refers to a person's tendency to attribute the cause or control of events either to herself or to factors in the external environment. People who tend to believe that they have control over events are said to have an “internal” locus of control. Those who consistently believe that events are controlled by outside forces in the environment have an “external” locus of control.47

locus of control

The degree to which an individual attributes control of events to self or external factors.

Internals believe they can control what happens to them. This often leads them to engage in work and leisure activities requiring greater skill48 and to conform less to group influences.49 Internals, then, tend to think they can be successful if they simply work hard enough, and this belief may be reflected in their work habits, especially on difficult tasks. They also tend to exhibit a greater sense of well-being, a finding that holds worldwide.50 Externals believe that what happens to them is more a matter of luck or fate, and they see little connection between their own behavior and success or failure. They are more conforming and may therefore be less argumentative and easier to supervise. Structured tasks and plenty of supervision suit them well. Overall, associates with an internal locus of control experience more positive work outcomes than people with an external locus of control, including higher motivation and less job stress.51

The original research on authoritarianism began as an effort to identify people who might be susceptible to anti-Semitic ideologies. Over time, the concept evolved into its present meaning—the extent to which a person believes in conventional values, obedience to authority, and the legitimacy of power and status differences in society.52 Authoritarianism has been extensively researched. Individuals who score high on this concept tend to believe that status and the use of power in organizations are proper. They are submissive to people in power and aggressive toward those who break rules.53 Furthermore, they may be more willing to accept unethical behavior in others when those others are in powerful or high-status positions.54 Such people tend to adjust readily to rules and regulations and emerge as leaders in situations requiring a great deal of control by the manager. Leaders who display authoritarian characteristics may result in their subordinates exerting effort on the job.55

authoritarianism

The degree to which an individual believes in conventional values, obedience to authority, and legitimacy of power differences in society.

Related to authoritarianism, is social dominance orientation (SDO) .56 SDO refers to a general attitudinal orientation concerning whether one prefers social relationships to be equal or to reflect status differences. Furthermore, people with a high SDO view their own groups as superior and dominant over other “outgroups.”57 SDO is negatively related to the Big Five personality traits agreeableness and openness to experience.58 People high in SDO have also been found to be more likely to discriminate against job applicants from different demographic groups59 and prefer to work in nondiverse organizations60 as compared with people low in SDO.

social dominance orientation

A general attitudinal orientation concerning whether one prefers social relationships to be equal or to reflect status differences.

Self-monitoring is an important personality concept that describes the degree to which people are guided by their true selves in decisions and actions. It determines whether people are fully consistent in behavior across different situations. Low self-monitors follow the advice given by Polonius to Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet 61: “To thine own self be true.” Low self-monitors ask, “Who am I, and how can I be me in this situation?”62 In contrast, high self-monitors present somewhat different faces in different situations. They have been referred to as “chameleon-like,” as they try to present the appropriate image to each separate audience.63 High self-monitors ask, “Who does this situation want me to be, and how can I be that person?”64

self-monitoring

The degree to which an individual attempts to present the image he or she thinks others want to see in a given situation.

High self-monitors can be quite effective in the workplace, with a tendency to outperform low self-monitors in several areas.65 Because they are highly attentive to social cues and the thoughts of others, they are sometimes more effective at conflict resolution. Because they are attentive to social dynamics and the expectations of others, they frequently emerge as leaders. Because they are more likely to use interpersonal strategies that fit the desires of other people, they tend to perform well in jobs requiring cooperation and interaction. Management is one such job, and research indicates that high self-monitors are more effective managers. In one study, MBA graduates were tracked for five years after graduation. MBAs who were high self-monitors received more managerial promotions.66

Motivational Concepts

Motivational concepts of personality are reflected more in a person's basic needs than in his or her thought processes. Two important concepts in this category are achievement motivation and approval motivation.

Achievement motivation is commonly referred to as the need for achievement (or n-Ach). It is an important determinant of aspiration, effort, and persistence in situations where performance will be evaluated according to some standard of excellence.67 Thus, need for achievement is the strength of a person's desire to perform in terms of a standard of excellence or to succeed in competitive situations. Unlike most conceptualizations of personality traits, need for achievement has been related to particular situations. That is, it is activated only in situations of expected excellence or competition. The interaction of personality and the immediate environment is obvious in this theory, and it affects the strength of motivation.

achievement motivation

The degree to which an individual desires to perform in terms of a standard of excellence or to succeed in competitive situations.

Persons with a high need for achievement set their goals and tend to accept responsibility for both success and failure. They dislike goals that are either extremely difficult or easy, tending to prefer goals of moderate difficulty. They also need feedback regarding their performance. People with a high need for achievement are also less likely to procrastinate than people with a low need for achievement.68

This personality characteristic is often misinterpreted. For example, some may think that need for achievement is related to desire for power and control. High need achievers, however, tend to focus on task excellence rather than on power.

Regulatory Focus

Regulatory fit theory (RFT) is based on the premise that people are motivated to seek pleasure and to avoid pain.69 According to RFT, people tend toward either being promotion-focused or prevention-focused. Promotion-focused individuals seek out growth and development opportunities (i.e., they are motivated to seek pleasure). When promotion-focused people achieve desired goals, they experience happy, joyful emotions. By contrast, prevention-focused individuals seek out belonging, safety and security (i.e., they are motivated to avoid pain). When prevention focused individuals achieve desired goals, they are likely to experience calmness and contentment.70 A promotion focus has been shown to be related to risk taking, entrepreneurial behavior, work engagement, high job satisfaction, and positive relationships with one's supervisor.71 A prevention focus has been shown to be related to workaholic behavior, low job satisfaction, and poor relationships with one's supervisor.72 Although individuals tend to be predisposed to a promotion or prevention focus, work conditions and leadership behaviors can influence what type of regulatory focus one adopts in a given work situation.73

regulatory focus

The extent to which an individual is promotion focused or prevention focused.

Ironically, the assessment of one's own personality is an evaluative situation, and people high in approval motivation tend to respond to personality tests in socially desirable ways. In other words, such people will try to convey positive impressions of themselves. Such tendencies lead individuals to “fake” their answers to personality questionnaires according to the perceived desirability of the responses. Many questionnaires contain “lie” scales and sets of items to detect this social approval bias. Such precautions are especially important when personality tests are used to select, promote, or identify persons for important organizational purposes.

Some Cautionary and Concluding Remarks

Personality characteristics may change to some degree, and situational forces may at times overwhelm the forces of personality. People can adjust to their situations, particularly those who are high self-monitors. An introverted person may be somewhat sociable in a sales meeting, and a person with an external locus of control may, on occasion, accept personal responsibility for his failure. Furthermore, some people can be trained or developed in jobs that seem to conflict with their personalities. Fit between an individual's personality and the job does, however, convey some advantages. Overall, the purpose of measuring personality is to know that some people may fit a given job situation better than others. For those who fit less well, we may want to provide extra help, training, or counseling before making the decision to steer them toward another position or type of work. We also note that personality testing in organizations should focus only on “normal” personality characteristics. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), it is illegal to screen out potential employees based on the results of personality tests designed to measure psychological disabilities (e.g., depression or extreme anxiety).

The information on personality and performance presented in this chapter has been developed largely from research in the United States and Canada. Research in Europe is reasonably consistent,74 but other parts of the world have been studied less. Great care must be taken in applying the results of U.S.- and Canadian-based research to other regions of the world.

In conclusion, determining the personality and behavioral attributes of higher performers in an organization can help a firm to improve its performance over time, as suggested in the Experiencing Organizational Behavior feature. Patricia Harris, vice president of McDonald's Corporation, USA, and global chief diversity officer, exemplifies such a high performer whose personality fits the organization's strategies and goals.

Experiencing Organizational Behavior “I Have Ketchup in My Veins”

Patricia Sowell Harris uses the above phrase to describe her commitment and fit with the McDonald's Corporation. Ms. Harris, the global chief diversity officer, is in charge of developing and implementing McDonald's award-winning diversity strategy at more than 34,000 restaurants in 118 countries. She began her career with the company in 1976 in a secretarial position and soon began rising through the ranks, while attending college part-time and raising a family. Many of Ms. Harris's positions have been in human resource management, and she is often attributed in making McDonald's a current leader and early forerunner in promoting employee diversity, leading the company to win the coveted Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's “Freedom to Compete Award” in 2006, national Restaurant Association's Diversity Award in 2009, and recently named one of the “Top 10 Diversity Champions in the Country” by Working Mother magazine, among many other honors. Under Ms. Harris's leadership, McDonald's has become a company widely recognized as achieving excellence through diversity.

Several attributes of Patricia Harris have led to her phenomenal career. First of all, she is high on conscientiousness. Ms. Harris's colleagues describe her as “driven,” and she has often “stepped out of her comfort zone” to take on new job challenges. She is also goal-driven to develop diversity processes and programs to help build McDonald's business all over the world. While being extremely performance-focused, Ms. Harris also displays agreeableness by serving as a mentor to many other McDonald's associates and crediting her own mentors and team members when asked about her success. Her high need for achievement came through when, early in her career, she told her boss and mentor: “I want your job!” Ms. Harris also has a strong internal locus of control because she focuses on making her environment and the company's a better place to work. Finally, she demonstrates a great deal of intelligence in dealing with her job. In addition to a temperament that makes her very well suited for her career, she possesses the knowledge and intelligence that have helped make McDonald's a leader in diversity. Rich Floersch, executive vice president in Charge of Human Relations, states: “She's very well informed, a true student of diversity. She is good at analyzing U.S. diversity principles and applying them in an international market. She's also a good listener who understands the business and culture very well.”

Nathan Mandell Photography

Patricia Harris would probably be a success anywhere she worked—yet her true passion for McDonald's and its diversity initiatives seems to set her apart from most other executives. In 1985, when Ms. Harris was first asked to become an affirmative action manager, she was apprehensive about taking the job because affirmative action was not a popular issue at the time. She overcame her apprehension and started on her path to dealing with diversity issues. She states, “This job truly became my passion. It's who I am, both personally and professionally.” By working on diversity issues, Ms. Harris was able to realize not only her professional goals but also her personal goals of helping women and minorities.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, said, “None of us is as good as all of us,” focusing on the importance of inclusion and ownership by all employees. This value permeates McDonald's corporate vision, and also coincides with the personal vision of Patricia Harris. Harris says that her company's mission “is to create an environment in which everyone within McDonald's global system is able to contribute fully regardless of role.” She illustrates how this occurs in her book None of Us Is as Good as All of Us.

Patricia Sowell Harris exemplifies what happens when an individual's traits, abilities, and passion line up with the vision of the organization.

Sources: K.Whitney, “Diversity Is Everybody's Business at McDonald's,” Diversity Executive (Jan. 18, 2009, http://www.diversity-executive.com/article.php?article5480; ”National Restaurant Association Honors McDonald's with Diversity Award,” QSRWeb.com (May 14, 2009), http://www.qsrweb.com/news/national-restaurant-association-honors-mcdonalds-with-diversity-award/; A.Pomeroy, “She's Still Lovin' It,” HRMagazine (Dec. 2006), pp. 58–61; “An Interview with Pat Harris, Vice President Diversity Initiatives with McDonald's Corporation,” http://www.employmentguide.com/careeradvice/Leading_the_Way-in_Diversity.html, accessed Apr. 18, 2007; J.Lawn, “Shattered Glass and Personal Journeys,” FoodManagement (July 2006), at http://www.food-management.com/article/13670; “Ray Kroc: Founder's Philosophies Remain at the Heart of McDonald's Success,” Nation's Restaurant News (April 11, 2005), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_15_39/ai_n13649039; P.H.Harris, None of Us Is as Good as All of Us. (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2009); McDonald's Corporation, “Writing the Book on Diversity: Pat Harris Tells How McDonald's Does It,” http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/amazing_stories/people/writing_the_book_on_diversity.html, accessed Jan. 29, 2014; “Pat Harris,” Diversity Best Practices, http://www.diversitybestpractices.com/person/pat-harris, accessed January 29, 2014.

Intelligence

In the preceding section, we saw how important personality is to organizational behavior and achieving a high-involvement workplace. There is another stable individual difference that can greatly affect organizational behavior, particularly job performance. This trait is cognitive ability, more commonly referred to as intelligence . Intelligence refers to the ability to develop and understand concepts, particularly more complex and abstract concepts.75 Despite its importance, intelligence as an aspect of human ability has been somewhat controversial. Some psychologists and organizational behavior researchers do not believe that a meaningful general intelligence factor exists. Instead, they believe that many different types of intelligence exist, and that most of us have strong intelligence in one or more areas. These areas might include the following:76

· Number aptitude—the ability to handle mathematics

· Verbal comprehension—the ability to understand written and spoken words

· Perceptual speed—the ability to process visual data quickly

· Spatial visualization—the ability to imagine a different physical configuration—for example, to imagine how a room would look with the furniture rearranged

· Deductive reasoning—the ability to draw a conclusion or make a choice that logically follows from existing assumptions and data

· Inductive reasoning—the ability to identify, after observing specific cases or instances, the general rules that govern a process or that explain an outcome—for example, to identify the general factors that play a role in a successful product launch after observing one product launch at a single company

· Memory—the ability to store and recall previous experiences

intelligence

General mental ability used in complex information processing.

Most psychologists and organizational behavior researchers who have extensively studied intelligence believe, however, that a single unifying intelligence factor exists—a factor that blends together all of these areas. They also believe that general intelligence has meaningful effects on success in the workplace. Existing evidence points to the fact that general intelligence is an important determinant of workplace performance and career success.77 This is particularly true for jobs and career paths that require complex information processing, as opposed to simple manual labor. Exhibit 5-4 illustrates the strong connection between intelligence and success for complex jobs.

Exhibit 5-4 Intelligence and Success

Job	Effects of Intelligence
Military Jobs*	Percentage of Success in Training Attributable to General Intelligence
Nuclear weapons specialist	77%
Air crew operations specialist	70%
Weather specialist	69%
Intelligence specialist	67%
Fireman	60%
Dental assistant	55%
Security police	54%
Vehicle maintenance	49%
General maintenance	28%
Civilian Jobs **	Degree to which General Intelligence Predicts Job Performance (0 to 1 scale)
Sales	.61
Technical assistant	.54
Manager	.53
Skilled trades and craft workers	.46
Protective professions workers	.42
Industrial workers	.37
Vehicle operator	.28
Sales clerk	.27
* Source: M.J.Ree and J.A.Earles, Differential Validity of a Differential Aptitude Test, AFHRL-TR-89–59 (San Antonio, TX: Brooks Air Force Base, 1990).
** Source: J.E.Hunter and R.F.Hunter, “Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance,” Psychological Bulletin 96 (1984): 72–98.

Although the use of intelligence tests is intended to help organizations select the best human capital, as explained in the Experiencing Organizational Behavior feature on page 153, their use is controversial. It is controversial because some question the ability of these tests to accurately capture a person's true level of intelligence. Also, there can be legal problems with intelligence tests if they result in an adverse impact. However, if a test accurately reflects individual intelligence, it can help managers select higher-quality associates. The superior human capital in the organization will then lead to higher productivity and the ability to gain an advantage over competitors. A competitive advantage, in turn, usually produces higher profits for the organization.78

Attitudes

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between an individual's personality and attitudes. The behavior of Southwest associates and managers described in the opening case, for example, might be interpreted by some as based primarily on attitudes rather than personality, whereas others might believe that personality plays a larger role. Regardless, managers are concerned about the attitudes of associates because they can be major causes of work behaviors. Positive attitudes frequently lead to productive efforts, whereas negative attitudes often produce poor work habits.

An attitude is defined as a persistent mental state of readiness to feel and behave in a favorable or unfavorable way toward a specific person, object, or idea. Close examination of this definition reveals three important conclusions. First, attitudes are reasonably stable. Unless people have strong reasons to change their attitudes, they will persist or remain the same. People who like jazz music today will probably like it tomorrow, unless important reasons occur to change their musical preferences.

attitude

A persistent tendency to feel and behave in a favorable or unfavorable way toward a specific person, object, or idea.

Second, attitudes are directed toward some object, person, or idea; that is, we may have an attitude toward our job, our supervisor, or an idea the college instructor presented. If the attitude concerns the job (for example, if a person dislikes monotonous work), then the attitude is specifically directed toward that job. We cannot extend that negative job attitude to an attitude toward jazz music.

Experiencing Organizational Behavior Intelligence and Intelligence Testing in the National Football League

Each spring, representatives of National Football League teams join a large group of college football players in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are in town to participate in the so-called draft combine, where the players are given the opportunity to demonstrate their football skills. After showing their speed, strength, and agility, the players hope to be selected by a team early in the draft process and to command a large salary. For some, success at the combine is critical to being chosen by a team. For others, success is important because the combine plays a role in determining the amount of signing bonuses and other financial incentives.

PCN/Corbis Images

Talented football players work to achieve the best physical condition they can in anticipation of the important evaluations. They focus on the upcoming medical examinations, weightlifting assessments, 40-yard dashes, vertical- and broad-jump tests, and tackling-dummy tests. They may be less focused on another key feature of the draft combine—the intelligence test. The practice of testing general intelligence has been a fixture of the NFL since the early 1970s. The test that is used by all teams, the Wonderlic Personnel Test, has 50 questions and a time limit of 12 minutes in its basic version. It has been in use in personnel testing since 1937, and over 130 million people have taken the test.

The use of the Wonderlic in selecting NFL players has been somewhat controversial, with some commentators praising its ability to predict performance and others arguing that it is culturally biased and unfair. Teams place different levels of importance on the intelligence test. The Green Bay Packers, for example, historically have not put a great deal of emphasis on it. “The Wonderlic has never been a big part of what we do here,” said former Green Bay general manager and current consultant Ron Wolf. “To me, it's [just] a signal. If it's low, you better find out why it's low, and if the guy is a good football player, you better satisfy your curiosity.” The Cincinnati Bengals, in contrast, have generally taken the test very seriously, in part “because it is the only test of its kind given to college players.” In Atlanta, former head coach Dan Reeves showed his faith in the intelligence-testing process by choosing a linebacker who was equal in every way to another linebacker, except for higher intelligence scores. In New York, intelligence and personality testing has been taken to an extreme for the NFL. The Giants organization has used a test with nearly 400 questions. The late Giants manager George Young stated, “Going into a draft without some form of psychological testing on the prospects is like going into a gunfight with a knife.”

Can a player be too smart? According to some, the answer is yes. “I've been around some players who are too smart to be good football players,” said Ralph Cindrich, a linebacker in the NFL many years ago. Many others have the opinion that high intelligence scores are indicative of a player who will not play within the system but will want to improvise too much on the field and argue with coaches too much off the field. There isn't much evidence, however, to support this argument. Many successful quarterbacks, for example, have had high scores. Super Bowl winner Tom Brady of the New England Patriots scored well above average, as did the New York Giants' Eli Manning.

Quarterbacks score higher on the test than players in several other positions but do not score the highest. Average scores for various positions are shown below, along with scores from the business world for comparison. A score of 20 correct out of 50 is considered average and equates to approximately 100 on a standard IQ test. Any score of 15 (the lowest score shown below) or above represents reasonable intelligence.

1. Offensive tackles—26

2. Centers—25

3. Quarterbacks—24

4. Fullbacks—17

5. Safeties—19

6. Wide receivers—17

7. Chemists—31

8. Programmers—29

9. News reporters—26

10. Halfbacks—16

11. Salespersons—24

12. Bank tellers—17

13. Security guards—17

14. Warehouse workers—15

Many players become tense over the NFL intelligence test. What types of questions are causing the anxiety? A sample of the easier questions follows (to learn more, go to www.wonderlic.com):

1. The 11th month of the year is: (a) October, (b) May, (c) November, (d) February.

2. Severe is opposite of: (a) harsh, (b) stern, (c) tender, (d) rigid, (e) unyielding.

3. In the following set of words, which word is different from the others? (a) sing, (b) call, (c) chatter, (d) hear, (e) speak.

4. A dealer bought some televisions for $3,500. He sold them for $5,500, making $50 on each television. How many televisions were involved?

5. Lemon candies sell at 3 for 15 cents. How much will 1 dozen cost?

6. Which number in the following group of numbers represents the smallest amount? (a) 6, (b) .7, (c) 9, (d) 36, (e) .31, (f) 5.

7. Look at the following row of numbers. What number should come next? 73 66 59 52 45 38.

8. A plane travels 75 feet in second. At this speed, how many feet will it travel in 5 seconds?

9. A skirt requires yards of material. How many skirts can be cut from 42 yards?

10. ENLARGE, AGGRANDIZE. Do these words: (a) have similar meanings, (b) have contradictory meanings, (c) mean neither the same nor the opposite?

11. Three individuals form a partnership and agree to divide the profits equally. X invests $4,500, Y invests $3,500, Z invests $2,000. If the profits are $2,400, how much less does X receive than if profits were divided in proportion to the amount invested?

Sources: D.Dillon. “Testing, Testing: Taking the Wonderlic,” Sporting News.com (Feb. 23, 2001), at www.sportingnews.com/voices/dennis_dillon/20010223.html; K.Kragthorpe, “Is Curtis Too Smart for NFL?” Utah Online (Apr. 23, 2003), www.sltrib.com/2003/Apr/04232003/Sports/50504.asp; J.Litke, “Smarter Is Better in the NFL, Usually: But Not Too Smart to Be Good Football Players,” National Post (Canada), (May 1, 2003), p. S2; J.Magee, “NFL Employs the Wonderlic Test to Probe the Minds of Draft Prospects,” SignOnSanDiego.com (April 20, 2003), www.signonsandiego.com/sports/nfl/magee/200304209999–ls20nflcol.html; J.Merron,. “Taking Your Wonderlics,” ESPN Page 2 (Feb. 2, 2002), www.espn.go.com/page2/s/closer/020228.html; T.Silverstein, “What's His Wonderlic? NFL Uses Time-Honored IQ Test as Measuring Stick for Rookies,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (April 18, 2001), p. C1; A.Barra “Do These NFL Scores Count for Anything?” Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition) (April 25, 2006), p. D.6; “NFL Testing Provides Valuable Lesson for All Employers,” Assessment Psychology Online (March 1, 2005), http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/nfl.htm, accessed January 2014; M.Florio,. “We're Officially out of the Wonderlic Business,” NBC Sports (April 18, 2013), http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/18/were-officially-out-of-the-wonderlic-business/.

Third, an attitude toward an object or person relates to an individual's behavior toward that object or person. In this sense, attitudes may influence our actions. For example, if an individual likes jazz music (an attitude), he may go to a jazz club (a behavior) or buy a jazz CD (a behavior). If an associate dislikes her work (an attitude), she may avoid coming to work (absenteeism behavior) or exert very little effort on the job (poor productivity behavior). People tend to behave in ways that are consistent with their feelings. Therefore, to change an unproductive worker into a productive one, it may be necessary to deal with that worker's attitudes.

As illustrated in Exhibit 5-5, our behavior toward an object, person, or idea is influenced by our attitudes. In turn, our attitudes are constantly developing and changing as a result of our behaviors. It is important to recognize that our behaviors are also influenced by other factors, such as motivational forces and situational factors. We therefore can understand why behaviors are not always predictable from attitudes. For example, we may have a strong positive attitude about a close friend. But we might reject an opportunity to go to a movie with that friend if we are preparing for a difficult exam to be given tomorrow. Thus, attitudes include behavioral tendencies and intentions, but our actual behaviors are also influenced by other factors.

Exhibit 5-5 Influence of Attitudes on Behavior

Attitude Formation

Understanding how attitudes are formed is the first step in learning how to apply attitude concepts to organizational problems. This understanding can be developed by examining the three essential elements of an attitude: (1) cognitive, (2) affective, and (3) behavioral.79

· The cognitive element of an attitude consists of the facts we have gathered and considered about the object, person, or idea. Before we can have feelings about something, we must first be aware of it and think about its complexities.

· The affective element of an attitude refers to the feelings one has about the object or person. Such feelings are frequently expressed as like or dislike of the object or person and the degree to which one holds these feelings. For example, an employee may love the job, like it, dislike it, or hate it.

· Finally, most attitudes contain a behavioral element, which is the individual's intention to act in certain ways toward the object of the attitude. As previously explained, how we behave toward people may depend largely on whether we like or dislike them based on what we know about them.

The formation of attitudes may be quite complex. In the following discussion, we examine some ways in which attitudes are formed.

Learning

Attitudes can be formed through the learning process.80 As explained in Chapter 4, when people interact with others or behave in particular ways toward an object, they often experience rewards or punishments. For example, if you touch a cactus plant, you may experience pain. As you experience the outcomes of such behavior, you begin to develop feelings about the objects of that behavior. Thus, if someone were to ask you how you felt about cactus plants, you might reply, “I don't like them—they can hurt.” Of course, attitudes can also develop from watching others experience rewards and punishments. A person may not touch the cactus herself, but a negative attitude toward cacti could develop after she watches a friend experience pain.

Self-Perception

People may form attitudes based on simple observations of their own behaviors.81 This is called the self-perception effect, and it works as follows. An individual engages in a particular behavior without thinking much about that behavior. Furthermore, no significant positive rewards are involved. Having engaged in the behavior, the person then diagnoses his actions, asking himself what the behavior suggests about his attitudes. In many instances, this person will conclude that he must have had a positive attitude toward the behavior. Why else would he have done what he did? For example, an individual may join co-workers in requesting an on-site cafeteria at work, doing so without much thought. Up to that point, the person may have had a relatively neutral attitude about a cafeteria. After having joined in the request, however, he may conclude that he has a positive attitude toward on-site cafeterias.

Influencing people through the foot-in-the-door technique is based on the self-perception effect. This technique involves asking a person for a small favor (foot-in-the-door) and later asking for a larger favor that is consistent with the initial request. After completing the small favor with little thought, the target often concludes that she has a positive view toward whatever was done, and therefore she is more likely to perform the larger favor. In one study of the foot-in-the-door technique, researchers went door-to-door asking individuals to sign a petition for safer driving.82 The request was small and noncontroversial; thus, most people signed the petition without much thought. Weeks later, colleagues of the researchers visited these same people and asked them to put a large, unattractive sign in their yards that read “Drive Carefully.” These same colleagues also approached other homeowners who had not been asked for the initial small favor. Fifty-five percent of the individuals who had signed the petition agreed to put an ugly sign in their yards, whereas only 17 percent of those who had not been asked to sign the petition agreed to the yard sign.

Need for Consistency

A major concept associated with attitude formation is consistency.83 Two well-known theories in social psychology, balance theory and congruity theory, are important to an understanding of attitude consistency. The basic notion is that people prefer that their attitudes be consistent with one another (in balance or congruent). If we have a specific attitude toward an object or person, we tend to form other consistent attitudes toward related objects or persons.

A simple example of attitude formation based on consistency appears in Exhibit 5-6. Dan is a young accounting graduate. He is impressed with accounting theory and thinks that accountants should work with data to arrive at important conclusions for management. Obviously, he has a positive attitude toward accounting, as illustrated by the plus sign between Dan and accounting in the exhibit. Now suppose that Dan's new job requires him to work with someone who dislikes accounting (represented by the minus sign between the new colleague and accounting). In this case, Dan may form a negative attitude toward the person in order to have a consistent set of attitudes. Dan likes accounting and may have a negative attitude toward those who do not.

Exhibit 5-6 Formation of Consistent Attitudes

Two Important Attitudes in the Workplace

The two most thoroughly examined attitudes in organizational behavior are job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job satisfaction is a broad attitude related to the job. A high level of satisfaction represents a positive attitude toward the job, while a low level of satisfaction represents a negative attitude. Organizational commitment, as defined here, is a broad attitude toward the organization as a whole. It represents how strongly an individual identifies with and values being associated with the organization. Strong commitment is a positive attitude toward the organization, whereas weak commitment is a less positive attitude. As we discuss below, these two attitudes can impact behavior that is important to the functioning of an organization; thus, it is important to consider job satisfaction and organizational commitment as desirable aspects of human capital.84

Job Satisfaction and Outcomes

Organizations need to be concerned with the satisfaction of their associates, because job satisfaction is linked to many important behaviors that can have an impact on the bottom line of an organization's performance. Satisfaction has a highly positive effect on intentions to stay in the job and a modest effect on actually staying in the job.85 Factors such as attractive job openings during a booming economy and reaching retirement age can cause satisfied people to leave, but in general satisfaction is associated with low turnover. With the costs of replacing a departed worker generally quite high, maintaining higher levels of satisfaction is important. High satisfaction also has a modestly positive effect on regular attendance at work.86 Factors such as a very liberal sick-leave policy can, however, cause even highly satisfied associates and managers to miss work time. Satisfaction also has a moderately strong relationship with motivation.87

Job satisfaction has a reasonably straightforward relationship with intention to stay, actually staying, absenteeism, and motivation. In contrast, the specific form of the relationship between satisfaction and job performance has been the subject of a great deal of controversy. Many managers and researchers believe that high satisfaction produces strong performance. This idea seems reasonable, for a positive attitude should indeed result in strong effort and accountability. Other managers and researchers, however, believe that it is strong performance that causes workers to be satisfied with their jobs. For this second group of investigators, a positive attitude does not cause strong performance but strong performance does cause a positive attitude. Still others believe that satisfaction and performance are not related or are only weakly related. For this last group, factors other than attitudes, such as skills and incentive systems, are believed to have much stronger effects on job performance.

A recent study has helped to put these differences of opinion into perspective.88 In this study, all previously published research on satisfaction and performance was synthesized using modern quantitative and qualitative techniques. The study concluded with an integrative model suggesting that all three of the groups mentioned are correct to some degree. High satisfaction causes strong performance, strong performance also causes high satisfaction, and the relationship between the two is weaker in some situations. On this last point, low conscientiousness and the existence of simple work are examples of factors that may cause the relationship to be weaker. Individuals who have positive attitudes toward the job but who are lower in conscientiousness may not necessarily work hard, which weakens the effects of job satisfaction on performance. In addition, strong performance at simple work does not necessarily result in strong satisfaction, which weakens the effects of performance on satisfaction. For engineers, managers, and others with complex jobs, performance and satisfaction have a reasonably strong connection.

Managerial Advice Job Satisfaction Takes a Dive!

In 1987, a majority, 61.1 percent, of Americans responded that they were satisfied with their jobs. This was the first year that the Conference Board, a global independent membership organization that collects and disseminates information for senior executives around the world, surveyed workers about their job satisfaction. At the end of 2009, following a steady decrease over the years, that figure had plummeted to 45.3 percent. While, the percentage of satisfied employees has slightly increased in recent years, 2013 marked the seventh straight year that less than half of all employees report being satisfied with their jobs. A less-scientific MSNBC poll of almost 45,000 people found that less than 34 percent of respondent were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their jobs, and 11.5 percent hated every part of their jobs.

Why are Americans so unhappy with their jobs? One could argue it is because of the economic conditions. Associates are required to do more, are afraid of losing their jobs, and are likely to receive fewer extrinsic rewards (“No raises this year!”). However, this is not the entire story. “It says something troubling about work in America. It is not about the business cycle or one grumpy generation,” says Linda Barrington, managing director of human capital at the Conference Board. One of the major reasons that respondents were dissatisfied with their jobs was because the jobs were uninteresting. Ratings of interest in one's work dropped almost 19 percentage points between 1987 and 2009, with only about half of respondents currently finding their jobs interesting. Based on the 2013 survey, the following 20 aspects of one's job are important to job satisfaction. They are ranked in order of importance.

1. [MANL]Growth potential

2. Communication

3. Recognition

4. Performance Review

5. Interest in work

6. Workload

7. Work/life balance

8. Supervisor

9. Physical environment

10. Promotion policy

11. Quality of equipment

12. Wages

13. Training

14. People at work

15. Family leave

16. Flex time

17. Bonus

18. Sick days

19. Vacation

20. Pension

These findings should be a wake-up call for employers. John Gibbons, program director of employee engagement research and services at the Conference Board, says, “Widespread job dissatisfaction negatively affects employee behavior and retention, which can impact enterprise-level success.” Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, concurs: “What's really disturbing about growing job dissatisfaction is the way it can play into the competitive nature of the U.S. workforce down the road and on the growth of the U.S. economy—all in a negative way.” Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at the Conference Board, argues, “Given that job satisfaction is a key element of engagement that, in turn, partially determines business performance, retention, and a host of other business metrics, improving job satisfaction should be on the top of the agenda for business leaders.” It is imperative that managers pay attention to these findings, given the effects that low satisfaction and commitment can have on the climate, functioning, and bottom-line success of an organization.

Sources: http://www.conference-board.org/aboutus/about.cfm; The Conference Board, “U.S. Job Satisfaction at Lowest Level in Two Decades” (Jan. 5, 2010), at http://www.conference-board.org/utilities/pressDetail.cfm?press_ID53820; “Are You Satisfied with Your Job?” NBC News (Jan. 5, 2010). http://business.newsvine.com/_question/2010/01/05/3716711-are-you-satisfied-with-your-job?threadId5759420&pc525&sp525#short%20comment; “Job Satisfaction Falls to a Record Low: Economists Warn Discontent Could Stifle Innovation, Hurt U.S. Productivity,” MSNBC (Jan. 5, 2010), C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Americans' job satisfaction falls to record low - Careers- msnbc_com.mht; J.Hollon, “A Ticking Time Bomb: Job Satisfaction Hits Record-Low Levels,” Workforce, (Jan. 5, 2010). at http://www.workforce.com/articles/a-ticking-time-bomb-job-satisfaction-hits-record-low-levels; RebeccaRay, ThomasRizzacasa, and GadLevanon, Job Satisfaction: 2013 Edition (The Conference Board: June 2013), https://www.conference-board.org/publications/publicationdetail.cfm?publicationid=2522.; G.Levanon, “The Determinants of Job Satisfaction,” Human Capital Exchange (June 25, 2013). at http://hcexchange.conference-board.org/blog/author.cfm?author=447.

Organizational Commitment and Outcomes in the Workplace

Similar to satisfaction, commitment has important effects on intentions to stay in the job and modest effects on actually staying in the job and attending work regularly.89 Commitment also is significantly related to motivation. Interestingly, length of employment plays a role in the relationship between commitment and staying in the job. A high level of organizational commitment tends to be more important in decisions to stay for associates and managers who have worked in their jobs for less time.90 For longer-term employees, simple inertia and habit may prevent departures independent of the level of commitment to the organization. Commitment also has positive effects on job performance, but the effects are somewhat small.91 This link to performance appears to be stronger for managers and professionals. Although the relationship between commitment and regular job performance is not extremely strong, organizational commitment does have a very strong relationship with discretionary organizational citizenship behaviors, such as helping others and taking on voluntary assignments.92

Causes of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

Given that job satisfaction and organizational commitment can impact on many important organizational behaviors, it is imperative that organizations understand what makes their associates satisfied and committed. Many of the same factors that lead to job satisfaction also lead to organizational commitment. These factors include:

· Role ambiguity93

· Supervision/leadership94

· Pay and benefits95

· Nature of the job96

· Organizational climate97

· Stress98

· Perceptions of fair treatment99

Although these factors have all been linked to satisfaction and commitment, the relationships are not always so simple. For example, in order to best understand whether someone will be satisfied with a given dimension of her work, you need to consider her comparison standard. People compare desirable facets of their work with what they expect to receive or what they think they should receive.100 So, while one person may be very satisfied with earning $100,000 per year, another person may find this amount unsatisfactory because she was expecting to earn more.

Another complication arises when we consider that associates may be committed to their organization for different reasons. There are three general reasons why people are committed to their organizations.101 Affective commitment is usually what we think of when we talk about organizational commitment because it means someone has strong positive attitudes toward the organization. Normative commitment means that someone is committed to the organization because he feels he should be. Someone who stays with an organization because he does not want to let his co-workers down is normatively committed. Finally, associates may experience continuance commitment , which means that they are committed to the organization because they do not have any better opportunities. Different factors affect different types of commitment.102 On the one hand, benefits may affect continuance commitment when a person is committed to an organization only because her retirement plan will not transfer to another organization. On the other hand, benefits may not influence how positive one feels about the organization, so that benefits would be unrelated to affective commitment.

affective commitment

Organizational commitment due to one's strong positive attitudes toward the organization.

normative commitment

Organizational commitment due to feelings of obligation.

continuance commitment

Organizational commitment due to lack of better opportunities.

One other thing to note about the factors affecting satisfaction and commitment is that the presence of high-involvement management is particularly important. Individuals usually have positive experiences working with this management approach, and thus strong satisfaction and commitment is likely to develop through the learning mechanism of attitude formation. As part of high-involvement management, individuals are selected for organizations in which their values fit, they are well trained, they are encouraged to think for themselves, and they are treated fairly (e.g., receive equitable compensation). As described in the Managerial Advice feature on page 158, a recent Conference Board survey found these to be among the most important determinants of employee satisfaction.

Finally, satisfaction and commitment are not totally dependent on situational factors; personality also can play a role. Some individuals have a propensity to be satisfied and committed, whereas others are less likely to exhibit positive attitudes, no matter the actual situation in which they work.103 In addition to one's personality disposition, emotions can also affect job attitudes. Thus, we discuss emotions in the workplace later in this chapter.

Attitude Change

Personality characteristics are believed to be rather stable, as we have seen, but attitudes are more susceptible to change. Social forces, such as peer pressure or changes in society, act on existing attitudes, so that over time attitudes may change, often in unpredictable ways. In addition, in many organizations, managers find they need to be active in changing employee attitudes. Although it is preferable for associates to have positive attitudes toward the job, the manager, and the organization, many do not. When the object of the attitude cannot be changed (e.g., when a job cannot be redesigned), managers must work directly on attitudes. In such cases, it is necessary to develop a systematic approach to change attitudes in favorable directions. We discuss two relevant techniques next.

Persuasive Communication

Most of us experience daily attempts by others to persuade us to change our attitudes. Television, radio, and Internet advertisements are common forms of such persuasive communication. Political campaigns are another form. Occasionally, a person who is virtually unknown at the beginning of a political campaign (such as Barack Obama) can win an election by virtue of extensive advertising and face-to-face communication.

The persuasive communication approach to attitude change consists of four elements:104

1. Communicator—the person who holds a particular attitude and wants to convince others to share that attitude

2. Message—the content designed to induce the change in others' attitudes

3. Situation—the surroundings in which the message is presented

4. Target—the person whose attitude the communicator wants to change

Several qualities of the communicator affect attitude change in the target. First, the communicator's overall credibility has an important effect on the target's response to the persuasion attempt. Research shows that people give more weight to persuasive messages from people they respect.105 It is more difficult to reject messages that disagree with our attitudes when the communicator has high credibility.

Second, people are more likely to change their attitudes when they trust the intentions of the communicator. If we perceive that the communicator has something to gain from the attitude change, we are likely to distrust his or her intentions. But if we believe the communicator is more objective and less self-serving, we will trust his or her intentions and be more likely to change our attitudes. Individuals who argue against their own self-interests are effective at persuasion.106

Third, if people like the communicator or perceive that person to be similar to them in interests or goals, they are more likely to be persuaded.107 This is one reason that movie stars, athletes, and other famous people are used for television ads. These people are widely liked and have characteristics that we perceive ourselves to have (correctly or incorrectly) or that we would like to have.

Finally, if the communicator is attractive, people have a stronger tendency to be persuaded. The effects of attractiveness have been discussed in studies of job seeking and political elections. One of the most notable examples is the U.S. presidential election of 1960. By many accounts, Richard Nixon had equal, if not superior, command of the issues in the presidential debates that year, but the more handsome John Kennedy received higher ratings from the viewing public and won the election.108

The message involved in the communication can also influence attitude change. One of the most important dimensions of message content is fear arousal. Messages that arouse fear often produce more attitude change.109 For example, a smoker who is told that smoking is linked to heart disease may change his attitude toward smoking. The actual amount of fear produced by the message also seems to play a role. If the smoker is told that smoking makes teeth turn yellow, rather than being told of a link to heart disease, the fear is weaker, and the resulting attitude change also is likely to be weaker.

Greater fear usually induces larger changes in attitudes, but not always. Three factors beyond amount of fear play a role:110

1. The probability that negative consequences will actually occur if no change in behavior is made

2. The perceived effect of changing behavior

3. The perceived ability to change behavior.

Returning to our smoker, even if the message regarding smoking risk arouses a great deal of fear, he still may not alter his attitude if he does not believe that he is likely to develop heart disease, if he has been smoking for so many years that he does not believe that quitting now will help the situation, or if he does not believe he can stop smoking.

So far, we have discussed how the communicator and the message affect attitude change. In general, each affects the degree to which the target believes the attitude should be changed. Frequently, however, people are motivated by factors outside the actual persuasion attempt. Such factors may be found in the situation in which persuasion is attempted. We can see a good example of this when a person is publicly reprimanded. If you have ever been present when a peer has been publicly chastised by an instructor, you may have been offended by the action. Instead of changing your attitude about the student or the student's skills, you may have changed your attitude about the instructor. Other situational factors include the reactions of those around you. Do they smile or nod their heads in approval when the communicator presents her message? Such behaviors encourage attitude change, whereas disapproving behavior may influence you to not change your attitudes.

Finally, characteristics of the target also influence the success of persuasion. For example, people differ in their personalities, their perceptions, and the way they learn. Some are more rigid and less willing to change their attitudes—even when most others believe that they are wrong. Locus of control and other characteristics also influence attitudes. People with high self-esteem are more likely to believe that their attitudes are correct, and they are less likely to change them. Therefore, it is difficult to predict precisely how different people will respond, even to the same persuasive communication. The effective manager is prepared for this uncertainty.

Cognitive Dissonance

Another way in which attitudes can change involves cognitive dissonance . Like balance and congruity theories, discussed earlier in this chapter, dissonance theory deals with consistency.111 In this case, the focus is usually on consistency between attitudes and behaviors—or, more accurately, inconsistency between attitudes and behaviors. For example, a manager may have a strong positive attitude toward incentive compensation, which involves paying people on the basis of their performance. This manager, however, may refuse workers' requests for such a compensation scheme. By refusing, she has created an inconsistency between an attitude and a behavior. If certain conditions are met, as explained below, this inconsistency will create an uneasy feeling (dissonance) that causes the manager to change her positive attitude.

cognitive dissonance

An uneasy feeling produced when a person behaves in a manner inconsistent with an existing attitude.

What are the key conditions that lead to dissonance and the changing of an attitude? There are three.112 First, the behavior must be substantially inconsistent with the attitude rather than just mildly inconsistent. Second, the inconsistent behavior must cause harm or have negative consequences for others. If no harmful or negative consequences are involved, the individual exhibiting the inconsistent behavior can more easily move on without giving much consideration to the inconsistency. Third, the inconsistent behavior must be voluntary and not forced, or at least the person must perceive it that way.

In our example, the manager's behavior satisfies the first two conditions. It was substantially inconsistent with her attitude, and it had negative consequences for the workers who wanted incentive pay. We have no way of knowing whether the third condition was met because we do not know whether someone higher in the organization ordered the manager to refuse the requests for incentive compensation or whether a union agreement prohibited such a compensation scheme. If the manager's behavior was not forced by a higher-level manager or an agreement, dissonance is more likely to occur, leading to a change of the manager's attitude toward incentive pay from positive to negative.

If an executive had wanted to change this manager's attitude toward incentive pay, he could have gently suggested that such pay not be used. If the manager acted on this suggestion, she may have experienced dissonance and changed the attitude because her behavior was at least partly voluntary. She was not required to act in a manner inconsistent with her attitude, but she did so anyway. To eliminate the uneasy feeling associated with the inconsistent behavior, she may convince herself that she does not like incentive pay as much as she previously thought.

Emotions

During a salesforce team meeting, Chad became frustrated with team leader Antonio's presentation. He felt that Antonio was ignoring the needs of his unit. In a pique of anger, Chad yelled out that Antonio was hiding something from everyone and being dishonest. Antonio's reaction to Chad's outburst was to slam his fist on the table and tell him to be quiet or leave. Next door, in the same company, Kristin had just learned that her team had won a coveted account. She jumped with joy and was all smiles when she ran down the hall to tell her teammates. Everyone she passed grinned and felt better when they saw Kristin running past their desks.

Chad, Antonio, and Kristin are all displaying their emotions at work. Despite the common norms that associates should hide their emotions when they are at work,113 people are emotional beings, and emotions play a big role in everyday organizational behavior. Indeed, organizational scholars have recently begun studying the role emotions play at work,114 and organizations have become more concerned with the emotions of their employees. For example, Anne Kreamer, former television executive and author of It's Always Personal: Navigating Emotion in the New Workplace, says, “We all work all the time now. We need to demystify the role of emotion, so that employers show more empathy and employees find more balanced approaches.”115

Emotions are complex reactions that have both a physical and a mental component. These reactions include anger, happiness, anxiety, pride, contentment, and guilt. Emotional reactions include a subjective feeling accompanied by changes in bodily functioning such as increased heart rate or blood pressure.116 Emotions can play a part in organizational functioning in several ways. First, associates' emotions can directly affect their behavior. For example, angry associates may engage in workplace violence117 or happy employees may be more likely to help other people on the job.118 Another way in which emotions come into play at work is when the nature of the job calls for associates to display emotions that they might not actually be feeling. For example, on a rocky airplane ride, flight attendants have to appear calm, cool, and collected, while reassuring passengers that everything is okay. However, these flight attendants may have to do this while hiding their own fear and panic. This dynamic is called emotional labor. Finally, both business scholars and organizations have become concerned with what has been termed emotional intelligence. We turn now to discussions of these three roles that emotions play in organizational behavior.

emotions

Complex subjective reactions that have both a physical and mental component.

Direct Effects of Emotions on Behavior

Emotions can have several direct causal effects on behavior. The relationship between emotions and other important behaviors, such as job performance, is less clear. While it would seem most likely that positive emotions would always lead to high performance, this is not always the case. In some instances, negative emotions, such as anger, can serve as a motivator. Research on creativity demonstrates this point. Some researchers have found that positive emotions increase creativity,119 while others have found that negative emotions lead to greater creativity.120 Positive emotions should lead to greater creativity because when people feel good they are more likely to be active and inquisitive. On the other hand, negative emotions, such as fear, can serve as a signal that something is amiss, leading people to search for creative solutions to solve the problem. Indeed, a recent study found that people were most creative when they were experiencing emotional ambivalence—that is, both positive and negative emotions at the same time.121

The direct effects of emotions can be either beneficial or harmful to organizational effectiveness. The impact of these emotions, whether negative or positive, is even greater when one considers the phenomenon of emotional contagion . Emotional contagion occurs when emotions experienced by one or a few members of a work group spread to other members.122 One study found that leaders' emotions were particularly important in influencing the emotions of followers.123 This study indicated that charismatic leaders have a positive influence on organizational effectiveness because they are able to induce positive emotions in their followers. Thus, angry and anxious leaders are likely to develop followers who are angry and anxious, whereas leaders who are happy and passionate about their work are likely to develop followers who experience the same emotions. Exhibit 5-7 summarizes the direct effects of emotions.

emotional contagion

Phenomenon where emotions experienced by one or a few members of a work group spread to other members

Exhibit 5-7 The Direct Effects of Emotion

Sources: S.Lyubomirsky, L.King, & E.Deiner, “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?” Psychological Bulletin, 131 (2005): 803–855; T. A.Judge, B. A.Scott, & R.Ilies, “Hostility, job attitudes, and workplace deviance: Test of a multilevel model,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 91 (2006): 126–138; M. S.Hershcovis, N.Turner, J.Barling, K. A.Arnols, K. E.Dupre, M.Inness, M. M.LeBlanc, & N.Sivanathan, “Predicting Workplace Aggression: A Meta-analysis,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 92 (2007): 228–238; A. P.Brief, H. M.Weiss, “Organizational Behavior: Affect in the Workplace,” in S. T.Fiske (ed.), Annual Review of Psychology, 53 (2002): 279–307. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.

Positive Emotions Influence: Social activity

Altruism and helping behavior

Effective conflict resolution

Job satisfaction

Motivation

Organizational citizenship behavior

Negative Emotions Influence:

Aggression against co-workers

Aggression toward the organization

Workplace deviance

Job dissatisfaction

Decision making

Negotiation outcomes

Emotional Labor

Many service and sales jobs require that individuals display certain emotions, regardless of what they are really experiencing. For example, flight attendants are expected to be warm and cordial, call center employees are expected to keep their cool when customers are hostile toward them, and sales associates are expected to be enthusiastic about the product they are selling, no matter what they actually feel. The process whereby associates must display emotions that are contrary to what they are feeling is termed emotional labor .124 Organizations often indicate to employees what emotions they must express and under what circumstances. When these required emotions, or display rules, are contrary to what associates are actually feeling, they can experience stress, emotional exhaustion, and burnout.125 Emotional labor does not always lead to overstressed employees. When associates actually come to feel the emotions they are required to display, they can experience positive outcomes such as greater job satisfaction.126

emotional labor

The process whereby associates must display emotions that are contrary to what they are feeling.

Even when associates may not feel the emotions they are required to express, several factors can influence whether this acting will have a negative outcome on associates' well-being. First, the manner in which supervisors enforce display rules can influence whether emotional labor is harmful to associates.127 When supervisors are quite demanding, associates will become more exhausted. Another factor that influences the effects of emotional labor is the self-identities of associates.128 When associates have a strong self-identity as a service worker or a caregiver, then they will be less likely to experience negative effects from emotional labor. For example, a hospice care worker may feel tired and frustrated, but behave in a caring and nurturing manner with her patients. If the care worker has a strong self-identity as a caregiver, she will experience less exhaustion from her emotional labor. Finally, when associates have networks of supportive people and caring mentors, the negative effects of emotional labor will be mitigated.129

Emotional Intelligence

Are some people just better dealing with emotions (theirs and others) than are other people? Around the end of the twentieth century, there was an explosion of studies concerning the role of emotional intelligence . The best-accepted definition of emotional intelligence (EI) is that it is the ability to

emotional intelligence

The ability to accurately appraise one's own and others' emotions, effectively regulate one's own and others' emotions, and use emotion to motivate, plan, and achieve.

· Accurately appraise one's own and others' emotions

· Effectively regulate one's own and others' emotions

· Use emotion to motivate, plan, and achieve130

A person displaying high emotional intelligence can accurately determine his or her own emotions and the effect those emotions will have on others, then go on to regulate the emotions to achieve his or her goals.

Emotional intelligence has been linked to career success, leadership effectiveness, managerial performance, and performance in sales jobs.131 It also is the subject of many management development programs, popular books,132 and articles that may at times inflate the value of emotional intelligence relative to cognitive intelligence.133 The specific abilities generally associated with emotional intelligence include:134

· Self-awareness. Associates with high self-awareness understand how their feelings, beliefs, and behaviors affect themselves and others. For example, a supervisor knows that her reaction to a valuable (and otherwise high-performing) associate's chronic lateness and excuses is one of anger, but she realizes that if she displays this anger, it will cause the associate to withdraw even further.

· Self-regulation. Self-regulation is the ability to control one's emotions. The supervisor may feel like yelling at the associate or being punitive in making work assignments; however, if she is high in self-regulation, she will choose her words and actions carefully. She will behave in a manner that will more likely encourage the associate to come to work on time rather than make the associate withdraw even more.

· Motivation or drive. This characteristic is the same as achievement motivation, discussed previously in this chapter, and drive, discussed above under trait theories. Associates with high EI want to achieve for achievement's sake alone. They always want to do things better and seek out feedback about their progress. They are passionate about their work.

· Empathy. Effective empathy means thoughtfully considering others' feelings when making decisions and weighting those feelings appropriately, along with other factors. Consider again our example of the supervisor dealing with the tardy associate. Suppose she knows that the associate is frequently late because the work group treats him poorly. The supervisor can display empathy by acknowledging this situation and can act on it by attempting to change work arrangements rather than punishing the associate for being late. Thus, she can remove an obstacle for the associate and perhaps retain an associate who performs well and comes to work on time.

· Social skill. Social skill refers to the ability to build effective relationships with the goal of moving people toward a desired outcome. Socially skilled associates know how to build bonds between people. Often, leaders who appear to be socializing with co-workers are actually working to build relationships and exercise their influence in a positive manner.

While emotional intelligence is quite a popular concept right now, it is not without its critics.135 One major criticism is that emotional intelligence is not intelligence at all, but, rather, a conglomeration of specific social skills and personality traits. Another criticism is that sometimes emotional intelligence is so broadly defined that it is meaningless. Nonetheless, the basic abilities that make up emotional intelligence are important influences on organizational behavior, whether they form one construct called emotional intelligence or are simply considered alone.

The Strategic Lens

Understanding personality, intelligence, attitudes, and emotions enables managers to more effectively manage the behavior of their associates. Selecting new associates based on personality and intelligence can have an impact on organizational performance, as demonstrated by Outback Steakhouse and the National Football League. Hiring associates who fit its culture in turn enables an organization to better implement its strategy, as illustrated by the success of Patricia Harris at McDonald's. Organizations can further increase existing associates' organizational fit, performance, and tenure by creating work environments that lead to positive attitudes and emotionally healthy environments. Furthermore, from the examples presented throughout the chapter and summarized above, we can see how knowledge of personality, intelligence, attitudes, and emotions allows executives to more effectively implement their strategies through management of behavior in their organizations.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Specifically, how can you use knowledge of personality, attitudes, intelligence, and emotions to make better hiring decisions?

2. If top executives wanted to implement a strategy that emphasized innovation and new products, how could they use knowledge of personality, attitudes, and emotions to affect the organization's culture in ways to enhance innovation?

3. How could a manager use know-ledge about personality and attitudes to form a high-performance work team?

Back to the Knowledge Objectives

1. What is meant by the term personality? How do the he Big Five and other personality traitsinfluence behavior and performance in the workplace? Give an example of someone you know whose personality did not fit the job he or she had. What was the outcome?

2. What is intelligence, and what is its effect in the workplace?

3. How are attitudes similar to and different from personality? How do attitudes form? How can managers influence job satisfaction and organizational commitment? Why should organizations care about job satisfaction and organizational commitment?

4. What is the relationship between emotions and behavior? Why is emotional intelligence important for career success? job.

What This Chapter Adds to Your Knowledge Portfolio

In this chapter, we have discussed personality in some detail. We have seen how personality develops and how important it is in the workplace. We have also discussed intelligence. If an organization is to be successful, its associates and managers must understand the effects of personality and intelligence and be prepared to act on this knowledge. Moving beyond enduring traits and mental ability, we have examined attitude formation and change. Without insights into attitudes, associates and managers alike would miss important clues about how a person will act in the workplace. Finally, we have briefly examined emotions and their various roles in behavior and organizational life. More specifically, we have made the following points:

· Personality is a stable set of characteristics representing the internal properties of an individual. These characteristics, or traits, are relatively enduring, are major determinants of behavior, and influence behavior across a wide variety of situations.

· Determinants of personality include heredity and environment. Three types of studies have demonstrated the effects of heredity: (1) investigations of identical twins, (2) assessments of newborns and their behavior later in life, and (3) direct examinations of genes. Studies of environmental effects have emphasized childhood experiences as important forces in personality development.

· There are many aspects of personality. Five traits, however, have emerged as particularly important in the workplace. These traits, collectively known as the Big Five, are extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.

· Extraversion (the degree to which a person is outgoing and derives energy from being around people) tends to affect overall job performance, success in team interactions, and job satisfaction. For performance, fit with the job is important, as extraverts have at least modest advantages in occupations calling for a high level of interaction with other people, whereas introverts appear to have advantages in occupations calling for more solitary work.

· Conscientiousness (the degree to which a person focuses on goals and works toward them in a disciplined way) also affects job performance, success as a team member, and job satisfaction. Higher levels of conscientiousness tend to be positive for these outcomes.

· Agreeableness (the degree to which a person is easygoing and tolerant) does not have simple, easily specified effects on individual job performance but does appear to contribute positively to successful interactions on a team.

· Emotional stability (the degree to which a person handles stressful, high-demand situations with ease) affects job performance, success as a team member, and job satisfaction. Higher levels of emotional stability tend to be positive.

· Openness to experience (the degree to which a person seeks new experiences and thinks creatively about the future) does not have simple links to overall job performance, success at teamwork, or job satisfaction, but individuals scoring higher on this aspect of personality do appear to have an edge in specific tasks calling for vision and creativity.

· The Big Five personality traits may play a role in high-involvement management. Certain combinations of these traits seem to provide a foundation for the competencies needed by managers and associates. Absent these trait combinations, individuals may still be effective in high-involvement systems, but they may need to work a little harder.

· A Big Five assessment can be useful in selecting new associates and managers but must be combined with other tools, such as structured interviews and evaluations of the specific skills needed for a particular job.

· Beyond the Big Five, several cognitive and motivational personality concepts are important in the workplace. Cognitive concepts correspond to perceptual and thought processes and include locus of control, authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and self-monitoring. Motivational concepts correspond to needs in individuals and are directly involved in energizing and maintaining overt behaviors. They include achievement motivation and regulatory focus.

· There are many areas of intelligence, including number aptitude, verbal comprehension, and perceptual speed. Most psychologists who have extensively studied intelligence believe these various areas combine to form a single meaningful intelligence factor. This general intelligence factor has been found to predict workplace outcomes.

· An attitude is a persistent mental state of readiness to feel and behave in favorable or unfavorable ways toward a specific person, object, or idea. Attitudes consist of a cognitive element, an affective element, and a behavioral element.

· Attitudes may be learned as a result of direct experience with an object, person, or idea. Unfavorable experiences are likely to lead to unfavorable attitudes, and favorable experiences to favorable attitudes. Attitudes may also form as the result of self-perception, where an individual behaves in a certain way and then concludes he has an attitude that matches the behavior. Finally, attitudes may form on the basis of a need for consistency. We tend to form attitudes that are consistent with our existing attitudes.

· Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are two of the most important workplace attitudes. Job satisfaction is a favorable or unfavorable view of the job, whereas organizational commitment corresponds to how strongly an individual identifies with and values being associated with the organization. Attitudes may change through exposure to persuasive communications or cognitive dissonance.

· Persuasive communication consists of four important elements: the communicator, message, situation, and target. Dissonance refers to inconsistencies between attitude and behavior. Under certain conditions, a behavior that is inconsistent with an existing attitude causes the attitude to change. Key conditions include: (1) the behavior being substantially inconsistent with the attitude, (2) the behavior causing harm or being negative for someone, and (3) the behavior being voluntary.

· Emotions are the subjective reactions associates experience that contain both a psychological and physiological component. Emotions can influence organizational behavior directly, as the basis of emotional labor, or through associates' emotional intelligence.

Thinking about Ethics

1. Is it appropriate for an organization to use personality tests to screen applicants for jobs? Should organizations reject applicants whose personalities do not fit a particular profile, ignoring the applicants' performance on previous jobs, their capabilities, and their motivation?

1. Should organizations use intelligence tests to screen applicants even though some people question the accuracy of such tests? Why or why not?

2. Are there right and wrong values? How should values be used to manage the behavior of associates in organizations?

3. Can knowledge of personality, attitudes, and values be used inappropriately? If so, how?

4. Is it appropriate to change people's attitudes? If so, how can a person's attitudes be changed without altering that person's values?

Key Terms

1. personality

2. extraversion

3. conscientiousness, p.143

4. agreeableness

5. emotional stability

6. openness to experience

7. locus of control

8. authoritarianism

9. social dominance orientation

10. self-monitoring

11. achievement motivation

12. regulatory focus

13. intelligence

14. attitude

15. affective commitment

16. normative commitment

17. continuance commitment

18. cognitive dissonance

19. emotions

20. emotional contagion

21. emotional labor

22. emotional intelligence

Human Resource Management Applications

Personality traits and intelligence are often used in employee selection. Human resource management (HRM) departments are often charged with developing selection procedures or choosing vendors of selection tests. Furthermore, HRM departments are often responsible for conducting job analyses to determine what traits and abilities are necessary to perform various jobs.

HRM departments conduct employee surveys and climate audits to assess the satisfaction and commitment of current employees. Exit interviews may also be conducted to determine why people leave the organization.

Finally, Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are part of the HRM function. These programs help employees cope with problems resulting from emotional strain on the job.

Building Your Human Capital Big Five Personality Assessment

Different people have different personalities, and these personalities can affect outcomes in the workplace. Understanding your own personality can help you to understand how and why you behave as you do. In this installment of Building Your Human Capital, we present an assessment tool for the Big Five.

Instructions

In this assessment, you will read 50 phrases that describe people. Use the rating scale below to indicate how accurately each phrase describes you. Rate yourself as you generally are now, not as you wish to be in the future; and rate yourself as you honestly see yourself. Keep in mind that very few people have extreme scores on all or even most of the items (a “1” or a “5” is an extreme score); most people have midrange scores for many of the items. Read each item carefully, and then circle the number that corresponds to your choice from the rating scale.

1	2	3	4	5
Not at all like me	Somewhat unlike me	Neither like nor unlike me	Somewhat like me	Very much like me

1.	Am the life of the party.	1	2	3	4	5
2.	Feel little concern for others.	1	2	3	4	5
3.	Am always prepared.	1	2	3	4	5
4.	Get stressed out easily.	1	2	3	4	5
5.	Have a rich vocabulary.	1	2	3	4	5
6.	Don't talk a lot.	1	2	3	4	5
7.	Am interested in people.	1	2	3	4	5
8.	Leave my belongings around.	1	2	3	4	5
9.	Am relaxed most of the time.	1	2	3	4	5
10.	Have difficulty understanding abstract ideas.	1	2	3	4	5
11.	Feel comfortable around people.	1	2	3	4	5
12.	Insult people.	1	2	3	4	5
13.	Pay attention to details.	1	2	3	4	5
14.	Worry about things.	1	2	3	4	5
15.	Have a vivid imagination.	1	2	3	4	5
16.	Keep in the background.	1	2	3	4	5
17.	Sympathize with others' feelings.	1	2	3	4	5
18.	Make a mess of things.	1	2	3	4	5
19.	Seldom feel blue.	1	2	3	4	5
20.	Am not interested in abstract ideas.	1	2	3	4	5
21.	Start conversations.	1	2	3	4	5
22.	Am not interested in other people's problems.	1	2	3	4	5
23.	Get chores done right away.	1	2	3	4	5
24.	Am easily disturbed.	1	2	3	4	5
25.	Have excellent ideas.	1	2	3	4	5
26.	Have little to say.	1	2	3	4	5
27.	Have a soft heart.	1	2	3	4	5
28.	Often forget to put things back in their proper place.	1	2	3	4	5
29.	Get easily upset.	1	2	3	4	5
30.	Do not have a good imagination.	1	2	3	4	5
31.	Talk to a lot of different people at parties.	1	2	3	4	5
32.	Am not really interested in others.	1	2	3	4	5
33.	Like order.	1	2	3	4	5
34.	Change my mood a lot.	1	2	3	4	5
35.	Am quick to understand things.	1	2	3	4	5
36.	Don't like to draw attention to myself.	1	2	3	4	5
37.	Take time out for others.	1	2	3	4	5
38.	Shirk my duties.	1	2	3	4	5
39.	Have frequent mood swings.	1	2	3	4	5
40.	Use difficult words.	1	2	3	4	5
41.	Don't mind being the center of attention.	1	2	3	4	5
42.	Feel others' emotions.	1	2	3	4	5
43.	Follow a schedule.	1	2	3	4	5
44.	Get irritated easily.	1	2	3	4	5
45.	Spend time reflecting on things.	1	2	3	4	5
46.	Am quiet around strangers.	1	2	3	4	5
47.	Make people feel at ease.	1	2	3	4	5
48.	Am exact in my work.	1	2	3	4	5
49.	Often feel blue.	1	2	3	4	5
50.	Am full of ideas.	1	2	3	4	5

Scoring Key for Your Big Five Personality Assessment

To determine your scores, combine your responses to the items above as follows:

Extraversion=(Item 1+Item 11+Item 21+Item 31+Item 41)+(30−(Item 6+Item 16+Item 26+Item 36+Item 46))Extraversion=(Item 1+Item 11+Item 21+Item 31+Item 41)+(30−(Item 6+Item 16+Item 26+Item 36+Item 46))

Conscientiousness=(Item 3+Item 13+Item 23+Item 33+Item 43+Item 48)+(24−(Item 8+Item 18+Item 28+Item 38))Conscientiousness=(Item 3+Item 13+Item 23+Item 33+Item 43+Item 48)+(24−(Item 8+Item 18+Item 28+Item 38))

Agreeableness=(Item 7+Item 17+Item 27+Item 37+Item 42+Item 47)+(24−=(Item 2+Item 12+Item 22+Item 32))Agreeableness=(Item 7+Item 17+Item 27+Item 37+Item 42+Item 47)+(24−=(Item 2+Item 12+Item 22+Item 32))

Emotional stability=(Item 9+Item 19)+(48−(Item 4+Item 14+Item 24+Item 29+Item 34+Item 39+Item 44+Item 49))Emotional stability=(Item 9+Item 19)+(48−(Item 4+Item 14+Item 24+Item 29+Item 34+Item 39+Item 44+Item 49))

Openness to experience=(Item 5+Item 15)+Item 25+Item 35+Item 40+Item 45+Item 50)+(18−(Item 10+Item 20+Item 30))Openness to experience=(Item 5+Item 15)+Item 25+Item 35+Item 40+Item 45+Item 50)+(18−(Item 10+Item 20+Item 30))

Scores for each trait can range from 10 to 50. Scores of 40 and above may be considered high, while scores of 20 and below may be considered low.

Source: International Personality Item Pool. 2001. A Scientific Collaboration for the Development of Advanced Measures of Personality Traits and Other Individual Differences (http://ipip.ori.org).

An Organizational Behavior Moment Whatever Is Necessary!

Marianna could feel the rage surge from deep within her. Even though she was usually in control of her behavior, it was not easy to control her internal emotions. She could sense her rapid pulse and knew that her face was flushed. But she knew that her emotional reaction to the report would soon subside in the solitary confines of her executive office. She would be free to think about the problem and make a decision about solving it.

Marianna had joined the bank eight months ago as manager in charge of the consumer loan sections. There were eight loan sections in all, and her duties were both interesting and challenging. But for some reason there had been a trend in the past six months of decreasing loan volume and increasing payment delinquency. The month-end report to which she reacted showed that the past month was the worst in both categories in several years.

Vince Stoddard, the president, had been impressed by her credentials and aggressiveness when he hired her. Marianna had been in the business for 10 years and was the head loan officer for one of the bank's competitors. Her reputation for aggressive pursuit of business goals was almost legendary among local bankers. She was active in the credit association and worked long, hard hours. Vince believed that she was the ideal person for the position.

When he hired her, he had said, “Marianna, you're right for the job, but I know it won't be easy for you. Dave Kattar, who heads one of the loan sections, also wanted the job. In fact, had you turned down our offer, it would have been Dave's. He is well liked around here, and I also respect him. I don't think you'll have any problems working with him, but don't push him too hard at first. Let him get used to you, and I think you'll find him to be quite an asset.”

But Dave was nothing but a “pain in the neck” for Marianna. She sensed his resentment from the first day she came to work. Although he never said anything negative, his aggravating way of ending most conversations with her was, “Okay, Boss Lady. Whatever you want is what we'll do.”

When loan volume turned down shortly after her arrival, she called a staff meeting with all of the section heads. As she began to explain that volume was off, she thought she noticed several of the section heads look over to Dave. Because she saw Dave only out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't be certain, but she thought he winked at the other heads. That action immediately angered her—and she felt her face flush. The meeting accomplished little, but each section head promised that the next month would be better.

In fact, the next month was worse, and each subsequent month followed that pattern. Staff meetings were now more frequent, and Marianna was more prone to explode angrily with threats of what would happen if they didn't improve. So far she had not followed through on any threats, but she thought that “now” might be the time.

To consolidate her position, she had talked the situation over with Vince, and he had said rather coolly, “Whatever you think is necessary.” He hadn't been very friendly toward her for several weeks, and she was worried about that, also.

“So,” Marianna thought to herself, “I wonder what will happen if I fire Dave. If I get him out of here, will the others shape up? On the other hand, Vince might not support me. But maybe he's just waiting for me to take charge. It might even get me back in good graces with him.”

Discussion Questions

1. What role did personality play in the situation at the bank? Which of the Big Five personality traits most clearly influenced Marianna and Dave? Which of the cognitive and motivational aspects of personality played a role?

2. Working within the bounds of her personality, what should Marianna have done when trouble first seemed to be brewing? How could she have maintained Dave's job satisfaction and commitment?

3. How should Marianna proceed now that the situation has become very difficult?