Chapter 2

Individual Differences,
Values, and Diversity
 Leaning Objectives
• DEFINE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND
IMPORTANTOF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
• IDENTIFY PERSONALITY
• EXPLAIN THE PERSONALITY AND STRESS
RELATED
• DEFINE THE INDIVIDUAL VALUES
• DESCRIBE IMPORTANT OF DIVERSITY IN THE
WORKPLACE

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 Self-Awareness and Awareness of
Others

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 Self-Awareness and Awareness of
Others
• Individual differences are the ways in
which people are similar and how they vary
in their thinking, feeling, and behavior.
• In OB, the term individual differences is
used to refer to the ways in which people
are similar and how they vary in their
thinking, feeling, and behavior.

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 Self-Awareness and Awareness
of Others
• Self-awareness mean being aware of
one’s own behaviors, preferences,
styles, biases, personalities, etc.
• Awareness of others is being aware
of behaviors, preferences, styles,
biases, personalities, etc. of others.

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 Components of Self
• Self-concept is the view individuals
have of themselves as physical, social,
spiritual, or moral beings.
• Self-esteem is a belief about one’s own
worth based on an overall selfevaluation
• Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief about
the likelihood of successfully completing a
specific task..

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 Development of Self

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 Personality
• Personality is the overall combination of
characteristics that capture the unique
nature of a person as that person reacts to
and interacts with others.

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 Big Five Personality Traits
• Personality traits—enduring characteristics
describing an individual’s behavior.
• have been developed, many of which have been
used in OB research and can be looked at in
different ways. A key starting point is to
consider the personality dimensions that recent
research has distilled from extensive lists into
what is called the “Big Five”:

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 Big Five Personality
– Extraversion
• Being outgoing, sociable, assertive
– Agreeableness
• Being good-natured, trusting, cooperative
– Conscientiousness
• Being responsible, dependable, persistent
– Emotional stability
• Being unworried, secure, relaxed
– Openness to experience
• Being imaginative, curious, broad-minded

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 Social Traits
• Social traits are surface-level traits that reflect
the way a person appears to others when
interacting in social settings.
• Problem-solving style reflects the way a person
gathers and evaluates information when solving
problems and making decisions

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 Four problem solving style summaries

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 Personal Conception Traits
• Personal conception traits represent
individuals’ major beliefs and personal
orientation concerning a range of issues
concerning social and physical setting.
• Locus of control is the extent a person
feels able to control his or her own life and
is concerned with a person’s internal–
external orientation.

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 Personal Conception Traits
• A proactive personality is the disposition
that identifies whether or not individuals act
to influence their environments.

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 Ways in which those high in internal locus of control differ from those high in
external locus of control.

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 Personal Conception Traits
• Authoritarianism is a tendency to adhere
rigidly to conventional values and to obey
recognized authority.
• Dogmatism leads a person to see the world as a
threatening place and to regard authority as
absolute.

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 Personal Conception Traits
• Machiavellianism causes someone to view and
manipulate others purely for personal gain.

• Self-monitoring is a person’s ability to adjust

his or her behavior to external situational
(environmental) factors.

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 Emotional Adjustment Traits
• Emotional adjustment traits are traits related t
how much an individual experiences emotional
distress or displays unacceptable acts.
• Type A orientations are characterized by
impatience, desire for achievement, and a more
competitive nature than Type B.
• Type B orientations are characterized by an
easygoing and less competitive nature than Type
A.

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 Personality and Stress
• Stress is tension from extraordinary demands,
constraints, or opportunities.

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 Sources of Stress
1-Work Stressors (Work-related stressors)
Without doubt, work can be stressful, and job demands
can disrupt one’s work-life balance. A list of common
stressors includes the following:
Task demands—being asked to do too much or
being asked to do too little
Role ambiguities—not knowing what one is
expected to do or how work performance is
evaluated

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  Role conflicts—feeling unable to satisfy multiple,
possibly conflicting, performance expectations
 Ethical dilemmas—being asked to do things that violate
the law or personal values
 Interpersonal problems—experiencing bad relationships
or working with others with whom one does not get along
 Career developments—moving too fast and feeling
stretched; moving too slowly and feeling stuck on a
plateau
 Physical setting—being bothered by noise, lack of
privacy, pollution, or other unpleasant working conditions

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 Sources of Stress
2-Life stressors
Family events (e.g.,the birth of a new child)
Economic difficulties (e.g., the sudden loss of a
big investment)
Personal affairs (e.g., a separation or divorce)

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 Outcomes of Stress
– Constructive stress (or eustress)
• Moderate levels of stress act in a positive way for
both individuals and organization
– Destructive stress (or distress)
• Low and especially high levels of stress act in a
negative way for both individuals and organization
– Job burnout
• A loss of interest in and satisfaction with a job due to
stressful working conditions

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 Stress and health
– Stress can harm a person’s physical and
psychological health
– Health problems associated with stress
• Heart attack.
• Stroke.
• Hypertension.
• Migraine headache.

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 Managing Stress
Coping is a response or reaction to distress that has
occurred or is threatened.
Problem-focused coping mechanisms manage the
problem that is causing the distress.
Emotion-focused coping mechanisms regulate
emotions or distress.

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 Managing Stress
• Stress Prevention Stress prevention is the best
first-line strategy in the battle against stress. It
involves taking action to keep stress from
reaching destructive levels in the first place.
Work and life stressors must be recognized
before one can take action to prevent their
occurrence or to minimize their adverse
impacts.

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 Managing Stress
MANAGING STRESS WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
Be confident—think: “I can do this”
Be positive
Be punctual—don’t procrastinate
Be patient—some things just take time to do
Believe in yourself—you are unique in this world, and so
are your talents
Set goals for yourself—then work hard to achieve them
Get fun out of life—don’t take yourself too seriously

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 Values
• Values can be defined as broad preferences
concerning appropriate courses of action or
outcomes. As such, values reflect a person’s
sense of right and wrong or what “ought” to be. 40

“Equal rights for all” and “People should be

treated with respect and dignity” are
representative of values.

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 Values
Sources of Values
•Parents, friends, teachers, siblings, education,
experience, and external reference groups are all value
sources that can influence individual values. Indeed,
peoples’ values develop as a product of the learning and
experience they encounter from various sources in the
cultural setting in which they live.

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 Values
• Terminal values reflect a person’s preferences
concerning the “ends” to be achieved.
• Instrumental values reflect a person’s beliefs
about the means to achieve desired ends.

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 What are culture and values?
• Gordon Allport’s values categories
– Theoretical values
– Economic values
– Aesthetic values
– Social values
– Political values
– Religious values

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 What are culture and values?
• Maglino’s categories of workplace values
– Achievement
– Helping and concern for others
– Honesty
– Fairness

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 What are culture and values?
• Value congruence
– occurs when individuals express positive
feelings upon encountering others who exhibit
values similar to their own

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 Diversity

• Workforce diversity is a mix of people within

a workforce who are considered to be, in some
way, different from those in the prevailing
constituency.

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 Diversity
Seven important reasons for organizations to engage policies,
practices, and perspectives to diversify their workforces are:
Resource Imperative
Capacity-Building Strategy
Marketing Strategy
Business Communications Strategy
Economic Payback
Social Responsibility
Legal Requirement

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 Types of Diversity

• Given that diversity addresses how people differ from

one another in terms of physical or societal
characteristics, it can be considered from many
perspectives, including demographic (gender,
race/ethnicity, age), disability, economic, religion,
sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, and
even others.

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 What are individual differences and
how are they related to workforce
diversity?
• Gender
– No consistent differences between men and
women in:
• Problem-solving abilities
• Analytical skills
• Competitive drive
• Motivation
• Learning ability
• Sociability

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 What are individual differences and
how are they related to workforce
diversity?
• Age
– Aging workforce
– Older workers are more susceptible to
stereotyping
– Experienced workers, who are usually older,
tend to perform well, be absent less, and have
low turnover

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 What are individual differences and
how are they related to workforce
diversity?

• Able-bodiedness
– Despite evidence of effective job performance,
most disabled persons are unemployed
– Most disabled persons want to work
– More firms are likely to hire disabled workers in
the future

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 What are individual differences and
how are they related to workforce
diversity?

• Racial and ethnic groups

– African Americans, Asian Americans, and
Hispanic Americans make up an ever-
increasing percentage of the American
workforce

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 What are individual differences and
how are they related to workforce
diversity?
• Important lessons regarding
demographic characteristics
– Respect and deal with the needs and concerns
of people with different demographics
– Avoid linking demographics to stereotypes
– Demography is not a good indicator of
individual-job fits

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 What are individual differences and
how are they related to workforce
diversity?
• Aptitude
– A person’s capability of learning something
• Ability
– A person’s existing capacity to perform the
various tasks needed for a given job
– Includes relevant knowledge and skills

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 A&Q

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