1. Managing Individual Differences & Behavior
Chapter Eleven
Managing Individual Differences & Behavior

2. Formal and Informal Aspects of an Organization
The
Organization
Informal
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior: which is dedicated to better understanding and management of people at work.
Looks at:
Individual behavior
Group behavior
Values & Attitudes
Values: are abstract ideas that guide one’s thinking and behavior across all situations.
Attitudes: learned predispositions toward given objects.
When Attitudes & Reality Collide: Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance: the psychological discomfort a person experiences between his or her cognitive attitude and incompatible behavior.
Work Related Attitudes: Job Satisfaction, Involvement, & Organizational Commitment
Job Satisfaction: is the extent to which you feel positively or negatively about various aspects of your job.
Job Involvement: is the extent to which you identify or are personally involved with your job.
Organizational Commitment: reflects the extent to which an employee identifies with an organization and is committed to its goals.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. The Big Five Personality Dimensions
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Emotional stability
Openness to experience
Four Important Traits in Organizations
Locus of Control: indicates how much people believe they control their fate through their own efforts.
Self-efficacy: belief in one’s personal ability to do a task.
Self-Esteem: the extent to which people like or dislike themselves.
Self-Monitoring: the extent to which people are able to observe their own behavior and adapt it to external situations.
The Four Steps in the Perceptual Process
Selective
Attention
Interpretation
&
Evaluation
Storing in Memory
Retrieving
From Memory
To Make
Judgments &
Decisions
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. Three Distortions in Perception
Selective perception: “I don’t want to hear that.”
Stereotyping: “those sorts of people are pretty much the same.”
The halo effect: “one trait tells me all I need to know.”
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Self-fulfilling prophecy: describes the phenomenon in which people’s expectations of themselves or others leads them to behave in ways that make those expectations come true.
Causal Attribution
Causal attribution: is the activity of inferring causes for observed behavior.
Attributional Tendencies
Fundamental attribution: people attribute another person’s behavior to his or her personal characteristics rather than to situational factors.
Self-serving bias: people tend to take more personal responsibility for success than for failure.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

6. What is Stress?
Stress: is the tension people feel when they are facing or enduring extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities and are uncertain about their ability to handle them effectively.
The Consequences of Stress
Physiological signs
Sweaty palms
Restlessness
Backaches
Headaches
Upset stomach
Nausea
Psychological signs
Boredom
Irritability
Nervousness
Anger
Anxiety
Hostility
depression
Behavioral signs:
Sleeplessness
Changes in eating habits
Increased smoking/alcohol/drug abuse
Reducing Stressors in the Organization
Create a supportive organizational climate
Make jobs interesting
Make career counseling available

7. Five Sources of Stress Stress! Individual Task Demands Individual Role
Group
Demands
Organizational
Demands
Non-work
Demands
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.