INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

The IndividualInterpersonal Influence and

Group Behavior

Organizational Processes

•Skills & Abilities•Perception•Personality•Attitudes•Values

Group behavior and work teamsIntergroup conflict and negotiationsOrganizational power and politicsCommunication

LeadershipCommunicationsDecision makingReward SystemJob Design

THE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENTTHE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUALBEHAVIOR IN THE

ORGANIZATION

• First law of human behavior:– “People are different. What one person

considers a golden opportunity another considers a threat.”

• Caveat

PERCEPTION

• Perception is the process by which individuals make sense of their world.

• The process by which individuals attend to, organize, interpret, and retain information from their environments.

• Perceptual filters– how people experience stimuli– personality, psychology, experience, preferences,

beliefs-based differences

• Objective vs. perceived realities

Perception

• People perceive the world uniquely• Differences in perceptions can cause

problems – Communication– Conflict– Motivation– Judgment– Decision Making

Social Perception

How we gather information about the social world--about peoples’ behavior, moods, motives, and traits

Similar to object perception, but• People are more dynamic than objects• We’re trying to figure out intentions,

motives, and causes of behavior

Attribution

Why did they do that?

– internal causes• traits• skills• abilities

– external causes• situational constraints

PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS

• Selective perception– notice and accept stimuli which are consistent with our values, beliefs,

and expectations

• Closure– tendency to fill in the gaps when information is missing

– we assume that what we don’t know is consistent with what we do know

• Primacy/Recency effects– Disproportionately high weight is given to the first/last information

obtained about a stimulus

• Fundamental attribution error– The tendency to ignore external causes of behavior and to attribute other

people’s actions to internal causes.

PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS

• Stereotyping– A person has beliefs about a class of stimulus objects and

generalizes those beliefs to encounters with members of that class of objects.

• Halo Effects– Generalizing from an overall evaluation of an individual

to specific characteristics and visa versa.

• Expectancy effect– People perceive stimuli in ways that confirm their

expectations– Self fulfilling prophecy

PERCEPTION IMPLICATIONS:SELF AWARENESS

Guard against specific biases

• Stereotypes– Be aware that stereotyping can occur with very little

information, remain open to new information– Recognize that stereotypes rarely apply to a specific

individual

• Fundamental attribution error?• Primacy/recency?• Halo?• Expectancy?

PERCEPTION IMPLICATIONS:OUR EMPLOYEES

•

SELF-PERCEPTION

• The same processes and biases lead to both accurate and inaccurate perceptions of ourselves.

• Self-serving bias– attribute successes to ourselves - internal– attribute failures to the environment – external

• Implication for feedback?• Implication of our own self-awareness?

JENSEN SHOES

• What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of Brooks and Kravitz performance, interactions, and career management thus far?

• What were Brooks’ assumptions about Kravitz’s abilities, attitudes and motivations? Discuss the accuracy of these assumptions.

• What were Kravitz’ assumptions about Brooks’ abilities, attitudes and motivations? Discuss the accuracy of these assumptions.

• What perceptual biases and distortions occurred and influenced the

interactions between Kravitz and Brooks? • What would Brooks and Kravitz have had to do differently to result

in a more effective working relationship? 1. From their own perspective2. From the other’s perspective

IMPROVING THE RELATIONSHIP: BROOKS

•

IMPROVING THE RELATIONSHIP: KRAVITZ

•

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

PERSONALITY

Unique set of traits and characteristics that are relatively stable over time and determine a person’s preferences and behavior.

Does personality matter?Implication?

Which dimensions of personality?

Self Awareness Social Awareness

(Empathy)

Self-Management Relationship Management

(Social Skills)

Recognitionof emotions

Regulationof emotions

Self(Personal Competence)

Other(Social Competence)

Emotional Intelligence

• Ability to detect, express, and manage emotion in oneself and others.

Emotional Intelligence

• Some suggest that EI is the best predictor of work success

• It’s “learnable”• It’s related to communication, motivation (self and

others), effective leadership

(Hendrie Weisinger, “Emotional Intelligence at Work” (Jossey-Bass, 1998).

SELF-ESTEEM (SELF CONCEPT)

How we perceive ourselves in terms of our abilities, competencies, and effectivenessGlobal, role-specific, job-based, organization-based

High self esteem is related to higher performance, commitment, loyalty, and longevity.

What can managers do to foster high self esteem?

FOSTERING SELF-ESTEEM(SELF CONCEPT)

LOCUS OF CONTROL

The extent to which people believe their actions determine what happens to them in life.InternalExternal

Why is locus of control important?How?

JUNGS TYPOLOGY

• 16 personality types based on 4 sets of preferences

• Extraversion vs. Introversion

• Sensation vs. Intuition (N)—Perception

• Thinking vs. Feeling—Judgment

• Perception vs. Judgment

THE “BIG FIVE”:Conscientiousness

The degree to which a person is dependable, organized, thorough, perseverant, honest

Most consistent personality predictor of performance

Also predicts lack of problem behavior

THE “BIG FIVE”: Agreeableness

The extent to which a person is polite, good natured, flexible, cooperative, trusting.

May predict job performance in jobs…

THE “BIG FIVE”:Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)

The degree to which a person is anxious, depressed, moody, emotionally unstable, temperamental.

May predict job performance in what type of jobs?

THE “BIG FIVE”: Openness

The degree to which a person is imaginative, curious, flexible, open to change.

May predict job performance where?

THE “BIG FIVE”: Extraversion

The degree to which a person is sociable, talkative, assertive, active, ambitious.

May predict job performance in what type of jobs?