Individual Differences Chapter

Chapter 2
Values, Personality, and
Individual Differences
People are Different

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2-2
Chapter 2 Study Questions
• What are culture and values?
• What is personality?
• How do personalities differ?
• What are individual differences and how are
they related to workforce diversity?

What are culture and values?
• Culture
– The learned and shared way of thinking and
acting among a group of people or society

• Cultural intelligence
– the ability to identify, understand, and act with
sensitivity and effectiveness in cross-cultural
situations.

• Values and national culture
– Cultures vary in underlying patterns of values
and attitudes
– Hofstede’s five dimensions of national culture:
• Power distance
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Individualism-collectivism
• Masculinity-femininity
• Long-term/short-term orientation.

• Power distance
– The willingness of a culture to accept status
and power differences among members.
– Respect for hierarchy and rank in
organizations.

• Uncertainty avoidance
– The cultural tendency toward discomfort with
risk and ambiguity.
– Preference for structured versus unstructured
organizational situations.

• Individualism-collectivism
– The cultural tendency to emphasize individual
self-interests or group relationships
– Preferences for working individually or in
groups.

• Masculinity-femininity
– The tendency of a culture to value stereotypical
masculine or feminine traits.
– Emphasizes competition/assertiveness versus
interpersonal sensitivity/relationships.

• Long-term/short-term orientation
– The tendency of a culture to emphasize future-
oriented values versus present-oriented values.
– Adoption of long-term or short-term
performance horizons.

• Terminal values
– reflect a person’s preferences concerning the
“ends” to be achieved
• Instrumental values
– reflect a person’s beliefs about the means for
achieving desired ends

Figure 2.1

• Values
– Broad preferences concerning appropriate
courses of action or outcomes.
– Values influence behavior and attitudes.

Figure 2.2

• Gordon Allport’s values categories
– Theoretical values
– Economic values
– Aesthetic values
– Social values
– Political values
– Religious values

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

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

What is personality?
• Personality
– The overall profile or combination of
characteristics that capture the unique nature of
a person as that person reacts and interacts
with others.

Figure 2.3

• Heredity and environment
– Heredity sets the limits on the development of
personality characteristics
– Environment determines development within
these limits
– About a 50-50 heredity-environment split

Figure 2.4

• Personality and the self-concept
– Personality dynamics
• The ways in which an individual integrates and
organizes social traits, values and motives, personal
conceptions, and emotional adjustments
– Self-concept
• The view individuals have of themselves as physical,
social, and spiritual or moral beings
• Self-esteem
• Self-efficacy

How do personalities differ?
• “Big Five” personality dimensions
– Extraversion
• Being outgoing, sociable, assertive
– Agreeableness
• Being good-natured, trusting, cooperative
– Conscientiousness
• Being responsible, dependable, persistent

• “Big Five” personality dimensions
– Emotional stability
• Being unworried, secure, relaxed
– Openness to experience
• Being imaginative, curious, broad-minded

• Social traits
– Surface-level traits that reflect the way a person
appears to others when interacting in various
social settings

• Information gathering
– Getting and organizing data for use
– Styles range from sensation to intuitive

• Evaluation in problem solving
– Making judgments about how to deal with
information once it has been collected
– Styles vary from an emphasis on feeling to an
emphasis on thinking

Figure 2.5

• Personal conception traits
– The way individuals tend to think about their
social and physical settings as well as their
major beliefs and personal orientation
concerning a range of issues

• Locus of control
– The extent to which a person feels able to
control his/her own life
– Concerned with a person’s internal-external
orientation

Figure 2.6

• Authoritarianism
– Tendency to adhere rigidly to conventional
values and to obey recognized authority
• Dogmatism
– Tendency to view the world as a threatening
place

• People with a high-Machiavellian
personality:
– Approach situations logically and thoughtfully.
– Are capable of lying to achieve personal goals.
– Are rarely swayed by loyalty, friendships, past
promises, or others’ opinions.

• People with a low-Machiavellian
personality:
– Accept direction imposed by others in loosely
structured situations
– Work hard to do well in highly structured
situations

• Self-monitoring
– A person’s ability to adjust his/her behavior to
external, situational (environmental) factors

• Emotional adjustment traits
– How much an individual experiences distress or
displays unacceptable acts.
– Type A orientation
– Type B orientation

• Stress
– A state of tension experienced by individuals
facing extraordinary demands, constraints, or
opportunities

• Source of stress
– Stressors
• The wide variety of things that cause stress for
individuals
– Types of stressors
• Work-related stressors
• Life stressors

• Work-related stressors
– Task demands
– Role ambiguities
– Role conflicts
– Ethical dilemmas
– Interpersonal problems
– Career developments
– Physical setting

• Life stressors
– Family events
– Economic difficulties
– Personal affairs

• Stress and performance
– 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

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

• Stress management
– Stress prevention
• Taking action to keep stress from reaching
destructive levels in the first place
– Stress management
• Begins with the recognition of stress symptoms and
continues with actions to maintain a positive
performance edge

• Stress management (cont.)
– Personal wellness
• Pursuit of one’s job and career goals with the
support of a personal health promotion program
– Employee assistance programs
• Provide help for employees who are experiencing
personal problems and related stress

What are individual differences and
how are they related to workforce
diversity?
• Workforce diversity
– The presence of individual human
characteristics that make people different from
one another

diversity?
• Stereotyping
– occurs when one thinks of an individual
belonging to a group and the characteristics
commonly associated with the group are
assigned to the individual in question

diversity?
• Equal employment opportunity
– Nondiscriminatory employment decisions
• No intent to exclude or disadvantage legally
protected groups
– Affirmative action
• Remedial actions for proven discrimination or
statistical imbalance in workforce

diversity?
• Demographic characteristics
– The background characteristics that help shape
what a person becomes

diversity?
• Gender
– No consistent differences between men and
women in:
• Problem-solving abilities
• Analytical skills
• Competitive drive
• Motivation
• Learning ability
• Sociability

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

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

diversity?
• Racial and ethnic groups
– African Americans, Asian Americans, and
Hispanic Americans make up an ever-
increasing percentage of the American
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

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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