This document discusses individual differences and how they impact work behavior. It covers key topics such as: - The attraction-selection-attrition cycle and how individual differences influence each phase. - The importance of recognizing individual differences in perception, attitudes, personalities, and abilities in order to effectively manage work behavior. - Common individual differences that impact the workplace such as skills, attitudes, personality traits, diversity factors, and how they shape productivity, creativity, and job performance.

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Chapter
Individual Differences and
Work Behavior
3

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Why Individual Differences Are Important:
(1 of 2)
• Individual differences have a direct effect
on behavior
• People who perceive things differently
behave differently
• People with different attitudes respond
differently to directives
• People with different personalities interact
differently with bosses, coworkers,
subordinates, and customers

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Why Individual Differences Are Important:
(2 of 2)
• Individual differences help explain:
• Why some people embrace change and
others are fearful of it
• Why some employees will be productive
only if they are closely supervised, while
others will be productive if they are not
• Why some workers learn new tasks more
effectively than others

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Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle
(1 of 3)
• Different people are attracted to different
careers and organizations as a function of
their own:
• abilities
• interests
• personalities

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Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle
(2 of 3)
• Organizations select employees on the
basis of the needs the organization has
• skills and abilities
• individual attributes such as values and
personality

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Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle
(3 of 3)
• Attrition occurs when:
• individuals discover they do not like being
part of the organization and elect to resign,
or
• the organization determines an individual is
not succeeding and elects to terminate

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Each phase of the ASA cycle is
significantly influenced by the individual
differences of each person
Each phase of the ASA cycle is
significantly influenced by the individual
differences of each person

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Effective managerial practice
requires that individual behavior
differences be recognized, and when
feasible, taken into consideration
while carrying out the job of
managing organizational behavior.

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Individual Differences in the Workplace
Ability and SkillsAbility and Skills AttitudesAttitudesPerceptionPerception
PersonalityPersonality
Work Behavior
• Productivity
• Creativity
• Performance
Individual DifferencesIndividual Differences

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The Basis for Understanding Work
Behavior:
• To understand individual differences a
manager must:
1.1. observe and recognize the differences
and
2.2. study relationships between variables
that influence behavior

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Ability andAbility and
SkillsSkills
PerceptionPerception AttitudesAttitudes
Hereditary andHereditary and
DiversityDiversity
FactorsFactors
PersonalityPersonality
Individual Differences Influencing Work
Behavior:

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Diversity Factors
Primary Dimensions
(stable)
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Physical attributes
• Race
• Sexual / affectional
orientation
Primary Dimensions
(stable)
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Physical attributes
• Race
• Sexual / affectional
orientation
Secondary Dimensions
(changeable)
• Educational background
• Marital status
• Religious beliefs
• Health
• Work experience
Secondary Dimensions
(changeable)
• Educational background
• Marital status
• Religious beliefs
• Health
• Work experience

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Sex Differences in Management:
Selected Results (1 of 2)
Dimension Results
Behavior:
Task-oriented
People-oriented
Effectiveness ratings
Response to poor
performer
Influence strategies
No difference.
No difference.
Stereotypical difference in evaluations of managers in
laboratory studies: Males favored. No difference in
evaluations of actual managers.
Stereotypical difference: Males use norm of equity,
whereas females use norm of equality.
Stereotypical difference: Males use a wider range of
strategies, more positive strategies, and less negative
strategies. The difference diminishes when women
managers have high self-confidence.

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Sex Differences in Management:
Selected Results (2 of 2)
Dimension Results
Motivation No difference in some studies.
Non-stereotypical difference in other studies: Female
motivational profile is close to that associated with
successful managers.
Commitment Inconsistent evidence regarding difference.
Subordinates
responses
Stereotypical differences in responses to managers in
laboratory studies; Managers using style that matches
sex role stereotype are favored.
No difference in responses to actual managers.

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Abilities and Skills
• Ability – a person’s talent
to perform a mental or
physical task
• Skill – a learned talent
that a person has
acquired to perform a task
• Ability – a person’s talent
to perform a mental or
physical task
• Skill – a learned talent
that a person has
acquired to perform a task
Key AbilitiesKey Abilities
Mental AbilityMental Ability
EmotionalEmotional
IntelligenceIntelligence
Tacit KnowledgeTacit Knowledge

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Attitudes
• Are determinates of behavior because
they are linked with perception,
personality, feelings, and motivation
• Attitude – a mental state of readiness
• learned and organized through experience
• exerting a specific response to people,
objects, and situations with which it is
related

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Attitudes: Implications for the Manager
1. Attitudes are learned
2. Attitudes define one’s predispositions
toward given aspects of the world
3. Attitudes provide the emotional basis of
one’s interpersonal relations and
identification with others
4. Attitudes are organized and are close
to the core of personality

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Manager styleManager style
TechnologyTechnology
NoiseNoise
PeersPeers
Reward systemReward system
Compensation planCompensation plan
Career opportunitiesCareer opportunities
Manager styleManager style
TechnologyTechnology
NoiseNoise
PeersPeers
Reward systemReward system
Compensation planCompensation plan
Career opportunitiesCareer opportunities
Beliefs and valuesBeliefs and valuesBeliefs and valuesBeliefs and values
Feelings and emotionsFeelings and emotionsFeelings and emotionsFeelings and emotions
Intended behaviorIntended behaviorIntended behaviorIntended behavior
StimuliStimuli
WorkWork
environmentenvironment
factorsfactors
CognitionCognition
AffectAffect
BehaviorBehavior
““My supervisor is unfair.”My supervisor is unfair.”
““Having a fair supervisor isHaving a fair supervisor is
important to me.”important to me.”
““I don’t like my supervisor.”I don’t like my supervisor.”
““I’ve submitted a formalI’ve submitted a formal
request to transfer.”request to transfer.”
The ThreeThe Three
Components ofComponents of
Attitudes:Attitudes:
Cognition, Affect,Cognition, Affect,
BehaviorBehavior

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Cognition
• What individuals know about themselves
and their environment
• Implies a conscious process of acquiring
knowledge
• Evaluative beliefs – favorable or
unfavorable impressions that a person
holds toward an object or person

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Affect
• The emotional component of an attitude
• Often learned from
• parents
• teachers
• peer group members
• The part of an attitude that is associated
with “feeling” a certain way about a
person, group, or situation

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Cognitive Dissonance
• A discrepancy between attitudes and
behaviors
• A mental state of anxiety
• Occurs when there is a conflict among an
individual’s various cognitions after a
decision has been made

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Changing Attitudes
The CommunicatorThe Communicator
The MessageThe Message
The SituationThe Situation

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How to Increase Your Effectiveness in
Changing Attitudes: (1 of 2)
1. Concentrate on gradually changing the attitude
over a period of time
2. Identify the beliefs or values that are part of the
attitude and provide the attitude holder with
information that will alter those beliefs or values

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How to Increase Your Effectiveness in
Changing Attitudes: (2 of 2)
3. Make the setting (in which the attempted
change occurs) as pleasant and enjoyable as
possible
4. Identify reasons that changing the attitude is to
the advantage of the attitude holder

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Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
• Job satisfaction –
an attitude people
have about their jobs
• Results from
people’s perception
of their jobs
• Results from the
degree of fit between
the individual and the
organization
• Job satisfaction –
an attitude people
have about their jobs
• Results from
people’s perception
of their jobs
• Results from the
degree of fit between
the individual and the
organization
• Key factors
associated with job
satisfaction:
• Pay
• Promotion opportunities
• Supervision
• Coworkers
• Working conditions
• Job security
• Key factors
associated with job
satisfaction:
• Pay
• Promotion opportunities
• Supervision
• Coworkers
• Working conditions
• Job security

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Satisfaction-Performance Relationships:
Three Views
2. Job Performance2. Job Performance
1. Job Satisfaction1. Job Satisfaction
3. Job Performance3. Job Performance
Job SatisfactionJob SatisfactionJob SatisfactionJob Satisfaction
Job PerformanceJob PerformanceJob PerformanceJob Performance
Job SatisfactionJob SatisfactionJob SatisfactionJob Satisfaction
CausesCauses
CausesCauses
““The satisfied worker is moreThe satisfied worker is more
productive.”productive.”
““The more productive worker isThe more productive worker is
satisfied.”satisfied.”
RewardsRewardsRewardsRewards
Perceived EquityPerceived Equity

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Personality
• A relatively stable set of feelings and
behaviors that have been significantly
formed by genetic and environmental factors
• The relationship between behavior and
personality is one of the most complex
matters that managers have to understand

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Some Major Forces Influencing Personality
IndividualIndividual
PersonalityPersonality
Cultural forcesCultural forces
Hereditary forcesHereditary forces
Family relationshipFamily relationship
forcesforces
Social class / groupSocial class / group
membership forcesmembership forces

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The Big Five
Personality
Dimensions
Locus of Control
Self-efficacy Creativity
Personality and Behavior in Organizations

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ConscientiousnessConscientiousness
ExtroversionExtroversion
EmotionalEmotional
StabilityStability
AgreeablenessAgreeableness
Openness toOpenness to
ExperienceExperience
The Big Five Personality Dimensions

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Locus of Control
• Locus of control of individuals –
• Determines the degree to which they
believe their behaviors influence what
happens to them
• Internals – believe they are masters of their
own fate
• Externals – believe they are helpless pawns
of fate, success is due to luck or ease of
task

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Self-Efficacy
• Feelings of self-efficacy have managerial
and organizational implications:
• Selection decisions
• Training programs
• Goal setting and performance

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How to Develop Employee Creativity
1. Encourage everyone to view old problems from
new perspectives
2. Make certain people know that it is OK to make
mistakes
3. Provide as many people with as many new work
experiences as you can
4. Set an example in your own approach to dealing
with problems and opportunities