Individual differences:

Individuals are different in their Personality

 What is personality:
-The overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person
as that person reacts and interacts with others.
-Combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person looks, thinks,
acts, and feels.
-Indicates Predictable relationships

 Individual

Individuals are different

-Self –concept : View on themselves as social, physical , moral being E.g. talkative,
defensive .. Etc

-Some are Self –esteems (own worth based on self-evaluation)

-Eg High/Low- see themselves as capable, worthwhile, boosting, ego, overconfident,
loose key points

-Some have Self-efficacy: likelihood of successfully completing a specific task.

Personality dimensions. “Big Five” personality dimensions

 Extraversion: Being outgoing, sociable, assertive.

 Agreeableness: Being good-natured, trusting, and cooperative.
 Conscientiousness. Being responsible, dependable, and persistent.
  Emotional stability: Being unworried, secure, relaxed.
 Openness to experience: Being imaginative, curious, and broad-minded.

Differ in Problem solving style:

 Information gathering , processing & decision making

Information Evaluation

Known / Conformity/
Sensation accommodative (feel)

New &
Deal with problems
Intuitive (thinking)

 Different in the way individuals tend to think about their social and physical settings as
well as their major beliefs and personal orientation. (Personal conception traits)

Key traits.

 Locus of control – Control of own life

 Authoritarianism– adhere to conventional values

 Dogmatism - World as a threatening place

 Machiavellianism – Approach logical & thoughtful

 Self-monitoring – Adjust behaviour

Different in how much an individual experience emotional distress/ displays unacceptable

acts. - emotional adjustment
Type A & Type B orientations

 Type A : Impatience, Desire for achievement

 Type B : Easy going, Less competitive

Different in Values and interests

Different in Aptitudes.

 A person’s capability of learning something.

Different in Abilities.

 A person’s existing capacity to perform the various tasks needed for a given job.

 Includes relevant knowledge and skills.

Different in Attitudes.

 Influenced by Predisposition (to respond in a –ve or +ve way)

 Are influenced by values

 Are more specific

 Is a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to someone or

something in one’s environment.

cognitive consistency

 describes the state between an individual’s attitudes and his/her behavior.

Vs

Cognitive dissonance

 which can be reduced by:

 Changing the underlying attitude/values.
 Changing future behavior.
 Developing new ways of explaining or rationalizing the inconsistency.

 Managers need to identify differences

 How?

 Perceptions may help, but….

Common perception distortions

 Stereotypes

 Halo effect

 Selective perception

 Projection

 Devil effect

 Self fulfilling prophecy

Once identified: Assign & Motivate

Motivation, Job-design & performance

Motivation refers to forces within an individual that account for the level, direction, and persistence of
effort expended at work.

 Direction — an individual’s choice when presented with a number of possible

alternatives.

 Level — the amount of effort a person puts forth.

 Persistence — the length of time a person stays with a given action.

Acquired needs theory.

 Need for achievement (nAch).

 The desire to do something better or more efficiently, to solve problems, or to

master complex tasks.

 Need for affiliation (nAff).

 The desire to establish and maintain friendly and warm relations with others.

 Need for power (nPower).

 The desire to control others, to influence their behavior, or to be responsible for

others.

 Reinforcement

 The administration of a consequence as a result of a behavior.

 Proper management of reinforcement can change the direction, level, and persistence
of an individual’s behavior

 Organizational behavior modification (OB Mod).

 The systematic reinforcement of desirable work behavior and the non-reinforcement or

punishment of unwanted work behavior.

 Uses four basic strategies:

 Positive reinforcement.

 Negative reinforcement.
  Punishment.

 Extinction.

Job

 Core job characteristics.

 Skill variety.

degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities and involves the
use of a number of different skills and talents of the individual.

 Task identity.

Degree to which the job requires the completion of a “whole” and identifiable
piece of work; one that involves doing a job from beginning to end with a visible
outcome

 Core job characteristics (cont.).

  Task significance.

  Degree to which the job is important and involves a meaningful

contribution to the organization or society in general.

 Autonomy.

  Degree to which the job gives the employee substantial freedom,

independence, and discretion in scheduling the work and in determining
the procedures used in carrying it out.

Job Analysis

 JA a basic HR activity because it focuses attention on the;

 job content :- Task, duty , responsibility

 job requirements

 job context :- ???

Manager’s role in understanding individuals
 Attitude
 Potential intended behaviour
 Implications
 Observe (more time)
 Get representative information rather than more recent information
 Motivation, performance & rewards