HRM 601 Organizational Behavior

Session 3

Individual Difference, Personality & Attitudes

Individual Performance Factors

• Individual Abilities

• Effort

• Organizational Support

Personality

• A relatively stable

• And unique

• Pattern of behavior, thoughts & emotions

• Shown by an individual

Erikson’s Psycho-Social Model of Personality Development

• Infancy: Trust vs Mistrust• Toddler-hood: Autonomy vs Shame • Childhood: Competency vs Inferiority• Adolescence: Identity vs Role confusion• Early Adulthood: Intimacy vs isolation• Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs stagnation• Late Adulthood: Ego integrity vs despair

The Big Five Personality Traits

• Conscientiousness• Organized, self-

disciplined, responsible

• Disorganized, undisciplined, irresponsible

Big Five Cont’d

• Extroversion - introversion

• Sociable, talkative, active

• Sober, quiet, reserved

Big Five Cont’d

• Agreeableness• Good-natured, gentle,

cooperative, forgiving• Cantankerous,

irritable, uncooperative

Big Five Con’t

• Emotional stability• Calm. enthusiastic,

secure• Anxious, depressed,

angry, insecure

Big Five Con’t.

• Openness to experience

• Imaginative, creative, sensitive

• Insensitive, narrow, unimaginative

Other Traits

• Locus of control

– Internal vs external

• Self-monitoring

– High self-monitors vs Low self-monitors

Cognitive Ability

• General intelligence -- ability to think analytically, reason, problem solve– Verbal– Numerical– General knowledge– Reasoning ability– Spatial ability

Physical Ability

• Motor skills: manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, reaction time

• Fitness: strength, stamina

Measuring Personality & Ability

• Reliability: The extent to which test scores are consistent from time to time

• Validity: Extent to which a test is actually measuring what it claims to measure

Measuring Personality & Ability

• Projective tests: Test which use ambiguous stimuli to measure personality.

• Objective tests: Inventories or questionnaires used to measure personality. These are scored by any objective key so there is no room for interpretation to answers

Attitude Defined

• Stable cluster of

• Feelings

• Beliefs

• and Behavioral Intentions

• Towards specific people, things, or events

Attitudinal Components

• Beliefs -- cool thoughts

• Feelings -- hot emotions

• Behavioral intentions -- tendency to respond or behave consistent with attitude

Developing an Attitude

• Information

• Learning

• Modeling

Predicting Behavior

• Thought and feeling consistency

• Subjective norms

• Direct experience

• Attitude accessibility

Job Satisfaction

• Feelings,

• Beliefs, and

• Evaluations of a person’s job

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

• Motivators– personal growth– recognition– responsibility– promotion opportunities– achievement

Two Factor Theory, Con’t.

• Hygiene– supervision– pay– company policies– working conditions– co-workers– job security

Consequences of Job Satisfaction

• Withdrawal behavior– Absenteeism– Turnover– Time theft

Influences of Job Satisfaction

• Quality supervision

• Fair pay

• Empowerment

• Person-job fit

Organizational Commitment

• Extent to which an individual

• Identifies with,

• Is involved with,

• Is unwilling to leave

• The organization

Consequences of Organizational Commitment

• Continuance

• Willingness to make shared sacrifices

• Organizational citizenship

Influences of Organizational Commitment

• Social responsibility

• Enriched jobs

• Participatory management

• Aligning workers’ interests with company

• Demonstrating trust