The Role of Individual

Attributes in Understanding
Organizational Behavior

Personality Dimensions
Individual Attributes

Individual Performance = Individual

Differences X Motivation X Organizational
Support

• Individual Differences: the capacity to perform

• Motivation: the willingness to perform
• Organizational support: the opportunity to
perform
Individual Attributes
Dispositional factors account for 30-50% of
the differences in an individual’s behavior

Examples:
• Personality traits
• Values and attitudes
• Cognitive, emotional, and physical
competencies
• Skills and knowledge
• Demographic variables
What is personality?
Definition
• Set of unique traits and other mental
characteristics that give consistency to an
individual's behavior across situations

Source: Nature vs. Nurture?

• University of Minnesota twin studies
• The role of genes
• The role of environment, including culture
• Genes X environment interactions
Personality Development
Does personality
change across the life
span?

Are there “windows of

opportunity” for
personality change?
How do we measure
personality?
1. Observation

2. Projective tests such

as inkblots and TAT's
(see on next slides)

3. Validated paper and

pencil (or computerized)
tests and inventories
Projective Test:
TAT

Just look
at the
picture
briefly
(10-15
seconds)
and write
the story it
suggests.
Just look at the picture briefly (10-15 seconds) and write the story it suggests.
Problems in personality
measurement
• People must give reliable and truthful
answers
• People must understand the language
used
• Responses may be affected by mood
• People may have multiple identities
across situations and find it difficult to
portray their "real" personality
 So,

Let’s do some
self assessment!
Locus of control (Green)
• Definition: the extent to which one believes
that the things that happen to them are under
external or internal control
• Sphere specific locus of control: personal,
interpersonal, or sociopolitical locus of control
• Important in the following areas: Motivation,
leadership, job selection and design, stress,
and change
• Cultural differences in locus of control
Locus of Control: Internals
Believe their own abilities and efforts
control the things that happen to them

Are independent, like to participate in

decisions, are involved in work, adjust to
work and handle job stress well, like to
influence others, are future rather than
present oriented, are achievement
oriented, and may chafe under too many
rules, restrictions, and rigidity
Locus of Control: Externals

Believe that others, situations, and fate

control what happens to them.

They prefer structure, do not like to work

independently, have few expectations
based on past successes or failures, and
are susceptible to influence attempts
 Means and Ranges of MBA Students &
NUWC/NAVY Managers (SSLC)

Class Personal Interpersonal Sociopolitical

Mean Range Mean Range Mean Range N

EMBA III 59 43-69 54 38-64 48 38-68 21

KMBA 2000 54 32-68 53 24-64 39 22-55 18
KMBA 2001 54 34-66 54 38-65 40 24-66 23
KMBA 2002 53 32-65 47 34-64 40 30-56 18
PMBA 2002 58 46-65 51 32-62 40 20-54 25
NUWC 2002 55 40-64 55 45-62 40 27-54 10
KMBA 2003 54 41-62 50 38-63 39 26-50 24
NUWC 2003 58 46-67 53 36-65 41 14-57 23
NAVY 2003 51 28-61 54 43-62 38 24-49 13
NUWC 2004 55 45-65 47 27-63 42 30-53 13
PMBA 2004 56 41-66 52 34-64 41 24-58 26

AVERAGE 55 52 41
Machiavellianism (Blue)
Degree to which one uses deceit, lying, and
compromising ethics to attain one’s own self
interest; strong believers in “the end justifies
the means”

High Machs:
– Have lots of self confidence and self esteem
– Are cool and calculating
– Try to manipulate ambiguous situations to control
them
– Do not let feelings and loyalty to get in the way of
obtaining own ends
Machiavellianism
Differences between locus of control
(interpersonal sphere) and
Machiavellianism:

They are positively related, but

internals use “legitimate” methods of
influence while high Machs use more
duplicitous techniques
  
Means (Ranges) of Machiavellian Scores

EMBA Full Time and Part Time MBA Undergraduates

 
     

1986 64 (43-85) 1986 80 (46-112) 1990 81 (55-118)

1987 61 (35-83) 1992 64 (47-87) 1994 76 (49-106)

1988 59 (40-79) 1993 73 (42-103) 1997 73 (54-100)

1989 61 (41-95) 1994 65 (31-91) 1999 77 (37-122)

1998 72 (41-97) 1996 67 (50-87) 2000 74 (49-85)

1999 64 (47-91) 1997 70 (42-118) 2000 75 (42-104)

  1998 76 (52-111)  2004 73 (42-103)

2002 68 (45-90)  1999 75 (40-97)   2005 69 (42-98)

NUWC
 2003 62 (41-88)  2001 75 (53-100)  
Navy
2003 62 (33-86) 2002 73 (49-109)  
NUWC 
 2004 70 (45-90) 2002 76 (49-98)  
NUWC
  2003 77 (48-94) 2004 69 (44—107)  

Average 64 Average 72 Average 75

Kolb McIntyre Learning Style
(yellow)
Measures the ways people prefer to learn

Why important?
– Determines how we train others and help them to
change and adapt
– Helps us understand why "some people never
learn”
– May be linked to other dispositional variables:
risk taking, being creative, emotionality
– Helps us see there are variable ways to
determine the "truth"
 CE Sensing

Horizontal arrow:
Information evaluation

Accommodators Divergers

AE RO

Extraversion Introversion
Convergers Assimilators

Vertical arrow:
Information gathering

AC Intuition
Model of Emotional Intelligence
(purple)
Managing Individual
Self Self Awareness
And Regulation Motivation

Emotional Emotional Behavioral

Trigger Response Response

Managing
Others Motivational
Empathy
Influence
 Emotional Intelligence

Self-Awareness Social Awareness

•Emotional self awareness •Empathy
•Accurate self-assessment •Organizational awareness
•Self-confidence •Service orientation

Self-Management Relationship Management

•Emotional self-control •Development of others
•Trustworthiness •Inspirational leadership
•Conscientiousness •Influence
•Adaptability •Communication
•Optimism •Change catalyst
•Achievement-orientation •Conflict management
•Initiative •Bond building
•Teamwork and collaboration

Definition: A person’s abilities to perceive, identify,

http://www.eiconsortium.org
understand, and successfully manage emotions in
self and others
Big Five Personality Variables
(booklet with pink descriptions)
General personality variables that are
said to cover the most important
traits that differentiate us from each
other

Extraversion, emotional stability,

agreeableness, openness to
experience, and conscientiousness
Correlations of Traits with Satisfaction, Leadership, and Motivation
Trait Job Leadership Motivation
Satisfaction
       

Neuroticism -.29 -.24 -.31

Extraversion .25 .31 --

Openness .02 .24 --

Agreeableness .17 .08 --

Conscientious .26 .28 .24

-ness
Total R .41 .48 .49

# of samples 163 73 65
Research on the “Big Five” Traits

Absenteeism

– Extraversion is positively related to absenteeism

– Conscientiousness is negatively related to
absenteeism
– No differences found between racial groups, and
thus less adverse impact when using for
selection purposes compared to cognitive ability
tests
Research on the “Big Five” Traits
Agreeableness
– Needed for jobs requiring teamwork and good
interpersonal facilitation skills
– However, negatively related to career satisfaction

Extraversion
– Related to positive affectivity and interpersonal
facilitation
– Positively related to salary levels, promotions, and
career satisfaction
Research on the “Big Five” Traits
Dark side to conscientiousness
– Not helpful for jobs that require creativity, innovation,
spontaneity, or quick decision making ("analysis
paralysis")

Openness to experience
– Needed for jobs requiring innovation, creativity, and
spontaneity
– May be predictive of cross-cultural sensitivity and
success in international assignments
– Negatively related to salary levels obtained
Research on the “Big Five” Traits

Emotional Stability (Neuroticism)

– Related to negative affectivity (whiners?)

– Cope poorly with stress
– Negatively related to career satisfaction
Research on the “Big Five” Traits:
European Samples
Conscientiousness and emotional stability are valid
predictors across job criteria and occupational groups
(police, professionals, managers, salespeople, and skilled
labor)

Extraversion: positively related to extrinsic career success

(salary, promotion) more for European than US executives

Neuroticism: negatively related to extrinsic success more for

US than European executives
Other personality traits
Authoritarianism
• Rigid adherence to conventional values, belief in rigid
hierarchies and status systems
• Prefers highly structured work situations and directive
leadership
• Obeys authority unquestionably

Dogmatism
• Rigidity and inability to change
• Closemindedness
Other personality traits
Self Monitoring
– Extent to which people try to control the way they
present themselves to others

– High self monitors:

• Behave in socially acceptable ways
• Manage others’ impressions of them well

– Low self monitors:

• Insensitive to cues about how to behave and are not
concerned about how others see them
• May provide open and honest feedback
Other Personality Traits
Type A/Type B personality syndrome

• Type A's are impatient, cynical, and

sometimes hostile; connection to
coronary heart disease has been made

• Type B's are laid back, relaxed, pace

themselves. May be related to career
success vs. quality of life cultural values
Other Dispositional Variables:
Self Concept
– General set of TCV's that one
perceives makes up one's self
• Perceived and ideal self concepts (strong
vs. weak due to reinforcement history,
inner vs. other-directed for standards,
fixed vs. ordinal standards used to
evaluate level of one's self concept, high
vs. low)
• Social identities (role and global)
Why is studying personality
important to managers?
• Useful in selection, training, motivation,
communication, and change
• Job/career fit and success
• Affects how we make decisions, solve
problems, handle conflicts, deal with politics,
and cope with stress
• Helps us understand how others are different
from us, despite similar experiences and
situations
Why is studying personality
important to managers?
• Personality predicts how well we do in terms of
"contextual performance" (i.e., commitment,
absenteeism, involvement, dedication,
interpersonal facilitation)

• Abilities and job experiences predict task

performance better

• Cultural differences may impact personality:

may determine one's success in managing
cross-culturally