INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

THE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENT The Individual Interpersonal Influence and Group Behavior Organizational Processes Group behavior and work teams Intergroup conflict and negotiations Organizational power and politics Communication Skills & Abilities Perception Personality Attitudes Values Leadership Communications Decision making Reward System Job Design INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR 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 external 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? From their own perspective From the other’s perspective

IMPROVING THE RELATIONSHIP: BROOKS

IMPROVING THE RELATIONSHIP: KRAVITZ

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Page 2:

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?

Emotional Intelligence Ability to detect, express, and manage emotion in oneself and others. Other (Social Competence) Self (Personal Competence) Self Awareness Social Awareness (Empathy) Self-Management Relationship Management (Social Skills) Recognition of emotions Regulation of emotions

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 effectiveness Global, 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. Internal External 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?