INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN

ORGANISATIONS

SUBMITTED BY: Ridhuraj Dadhwadia

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Abhishek Dubey
DATE: 17th November 2022
ENROLMENT NUMBER: 200266
PROGRAME: BA (hons) Psychology
SCHOOL: School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, SLAS
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INTRODUCTION
Individual differences according to the APA Dictionary of Psychology (2020), refers to
characteristics of an individual which makes them different from another. Individual
differences are important in a workplace or any other organisation for various reasons. The
core and simplest of them all are that organisations are build by individuals working different
roles that they have been assigned while coordinating with each other to promote productivity
and achieve goals.
Individual differences can be of various types.

Intelligence Motor ability

Achievement Physical

Attitude Gender

Nationality Racial

Personality Interest

Economic status Emotional

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The importance of accepting and integrating individual differences in workplace environment
and business models and structures is crucial. Some of the advantages and/or pros of adoption
of individualistic perspective are listed below:
1. Employee engagement – it leads to increased and higher engagement voluntarily and
consciously by the employees themselves. The acceptance and consideration of the
uniqueness and distinctiveness makes the employee feel as if they are assets not
liabilities that are important part of the organisation.
2. Increased creativity – when an employee is given freedom and power to think their
own ideas without any constraints, it often leads to better brainstorming. This is
because the ideas do not have to be filtered or constrained to a box, leaving scope for
divergent thinking. They are also able to think more as collective group of individuals
who are motivated because of the appreciation and encouragement given in the form
of rewards and resource allocation.
3. Increased performance – flexibility which is the result of liberty exercised in the
workplace helps motivate employees intrinsically to achieve goals and plans better
and faster.
4. Better problem solving – the less restriction, the more fruitful and constructive the
problem-solving process is.
5. Importance of personalisation – the appeal of accepting the distinctiveness and
individuality of an employee encourages them to contribute and be happy with their
workplace. This all, leads to increased employee satisfaction, which leads to high
contribution and usage of their own unique skills for goal attainment.
6. Effective collaboration – the promotion of collaboration can also be done by including
unique perspectives to make people feel that they have contributed significantly and
take responsibility.
Now we will investigate the ways and techniques which can be used to promote individuality
in the workplace.
A research study found out that promoting individuality at the entrance level or starting level
is an effective strategy. The orientation process which focuses on individuality and
incorporation of every employee’s skill and idea ensured better customer satisfaction along
with better retention capabilities than other orientation groups which focused on norms and
traditional method.
Another strategy is the establishment of a true psychologically safe environment rather than a
pseudo one. The safety ensures that individuals can speak freely about their views on various
components of company that may lack and others which only superficially show inclusion in
their workplace. This ensures the safety an individual feels when they offer to express their
grievance and/or ideas.
The third strategy that can be used by organisations is to make sure there is freedom to
express one’s individuality but to achieve that leaders of that organisation need to set up an
example. It shows that the workplace is safe space to share and be proud of their individuality
and not be ashamed of it. This can be about personal life, harassment, problems, etc which
are faced and experienced by the higher ups themselves.

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Policy making of an organisation acts as a backbone that increases output and productivity.
Policies themselves show what will the base be for morals, values and rules set and
implemented. Getting these right leads to a great inculcation of individuality in the essence of
organisation itself. The task of policies does not end at just creating them. another important
aspect of policies is the implementation of it into practice, these needs to be no biases and
complete unambiguity.
Management aspect that has the workplace running is an important aspect which needs
proper strategizing and planning. The degree of consistency along with liberty for better
functioning of the individuals at different levels i.e., individual and group is one of the main
objectives.
Designing of jobs in such a way that utilisation of unique skills, perspectives and ideas are
also integrated is a strong technique. This does not mean weaving of jobs for every other
individual that decides to join the organisation. If done properly at a large scale, it increases
employee satisfaction, feeling of empowerment and lastly increased freedom to work. The
‘intraprenuership’ is an important factor which can be taken in use to advance and adapt their
skills to the roles making the team even more agile than it is or can be.

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