1. Management A Practical Introduction Third Edition
Angelo Kinicki &
Brian K. Williams

2. Chapter 11: Managing Individual Differences & Behavior
Supervising People as People
Values, attitudes, & behavior
Dealing with work-related attitudes & behavior
Personality & individual behavior
Perception & individual behavior
Workplace stress
The Manager’s Toolbox: Leading Younger Workers in Attaining Job Satisfaction
Summary:
Managing younger workers will challenge traditional management practices. Because younger workers today are less trusting of organizations and authority in general, and are not interested in “paying dues” managers will need new strategies. Specifically managers should:
make training an obsession
allow younger workers to learn independently while creating bonds with mentors
teach people by showing them their results
provide frequent feedback
provide frequent rewards for great performance
For Discussion:
As part of the “younger workforce” what aspects of old school management appeal to you? What aspects do you dislike? Why? How could you help your boss better understand your needs?

3. 11.1 Values, Attitudes, & Behavior
HOW DO INDIVIDUAL VALUES AND ATTITUDES AFFECT PEOPLE’S ACTIONS?
Organizational behavior (OB) is dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work
OB focuses on individual behavior and group behavior and tries to help managers explain behavior and predict behavior
Abstract ideals that guide one’s thinking and behavior across all situations are values
For managers, values are the things for which people are willing to work hard

4. 11.1 Values, Attitudes, & Behavior
An attitude is a learned predisposition toward a given object
Attitudes have three components:
-the affective component consists of the feelings or emotions one has about a situation
-the cognitive component consists of the beliefs and knowledge one has about a situation
-the behavioral component (also known as the intentional component) refers to how one intends or expects to behave toward a situation
Together, values and attitudes influence workplace behavior (actions and judgments)

5. 11.1 Values, Attitudes, & Behavior
The term cognitive dissonance was proposed by Leon Festinger to describe the psychological discomfort a person experiences between his or her cognitive attitude and incompatible behavior
How people deal with the discomfort depends on the importance of the elements creating dissonance, how much control they have over the matters that create dissonance, and what rewards are at stake
To reduce cognitive dissonance, people change their attitude and/or behavior, belittle the importance of the inconsistent behavior, and find consonant elements that outweigh the dissonant ones

6. 11.2 Work Related Attitudes & Behaviors Managers Need To Deal With
DO MANAGERS NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES?
Managers need to be aware that attitudes affect behavior - a happy employee performs better
Managers need to be particularly interested in job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship
Lecture Note: Ask students to think about some of the companies that are considered great places to work. How are the attitudes of employees at these companies different from those at other companies? What does this tell you about how companies can create a positive work environment?

7. 11.2 Work Related Attitudes & Behaviors Managers Need To Deal With
1. The extent to which a person feels positively or negatively about various aspects of their work is their job satisfaction
2. The extent to which people identify with or are personally involved with their job is job involvement
3. Organizational commitment reflects the extent to which an employee identifies with an organization and is committed to its goals
4. Employee behaviors that are not directly part of employees’ job descriptions-that exceed their work-role requirements are called organizational citizenship behaviors

8. 11.2 Work Related Attitudes & Behaviors Managers Need To Deal With
Managers need to manage two behaviors: performance and productivity, and absenteeism and turnover
The method a manager uses to evaluate performance must match the job being done
Absenteeism (when an employee doesn’t show up for work) is related to job dissatisfaction
Absenteeism may be a precursor to turnover (when employees leave their jobs)

9. 11.3 Personality & Individual Behavior
WHY ARE PERSONALITIES IMPORTANT?
Personalities (stable psychological traits and behavioral attributes that give people their identity) are important for managers to understand because they affect how people perceive and act
The Big Five personality dimensions are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience

10. 11.3 Personality & Individual Behavior
where:
-extroversion refers to how outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive a person is
-agreeableness refers to how trusting, good-natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted, and persistent one is
-conscientiousness refers to how dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, and persistent one is
-emotional stability refers to how relaxed, secure, and unworried one is
-openness to experience refers to how intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broad-minded one is

11. 11.3 Personality & Individual Behavior
DO PERSONALITY TESTS PREDICT BEHAVIOR IN THE WORKPLACE?
Extroversion (an outgoing personality) has been associated with management success
Conscientiousness (a dependable personality) is strongly correlated with job performance and training performance
An individual who scores well on conscientiousness is probably a good worker and may have a proactive personality (be more apt to take initiative and persevere to influence the environment)

12. 11.3 Personality & Individual Behavior
Managers need to understand five traits to understand workplace behavior:
1. The locus of control indicates how much people believe they control their fate through their own efforts
2. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s personal ability to do a task
3. Self-esteem is the extent to which people like or dislike themselves - their overall self-evaluation
4. Self-monitoring is the extent to which people are able to observe their own behavior and adapt it to external situations
5. Emotional intelligence is the ability to cope, empathize with others, and be self-motivated

13. 11.4 Perception & Individual Behavior
HOW DOES PERCEPTION INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR?
Perception is the process of interpreting and understanding one’s environment
There are four steps in the perceptual process: selective attention, interpretation and evaluation, storing in memory, and retrieving from memory to make judgments & decisions
Practical Action: How Can Managers Harness the Pygmalion Effect to Lead Employees?
This Practical Action explores how the Pygmalion Effect can be put into action. To effectively encourage people to work harder and be more productive, managers must create positive performance expectations by doing things like providing constructive feedback, instilling confidence in their staff, and helping managers master key skills and tasks.

14. 11.4 Perception & Individual Behavior
Figure 11.2: The Four Steps in the Perceptual Process

15. 11.4 Perception & Individual Behavior
HOW CAN PERCEPTION BE DISTORTED?
Four distortions in perception are:
1. Selective perception - the tendency to filter out information that is discomforting, that seems irrelevant, or that contradicts one’s beliefs
2. The tendency to attribute to an individual the characteristics one believes are typical of the group to which that individual belongs is called stereotyping
3. The halo effect occurs when people form an impression of an individual based on a single trait
4.The activity of inferring causes for observed behavior is called causal attribution

16. 11.4 Perception & Individual Behavior
The phenomenon in which people’s expectations of themselves or others leads them to behave in ways that make those expectations come true is called the self-fulfilling prophecy or the Pygmalion effect
When managers’ expectations of an individual’s performance are high, the individual tends to be more productive and successful
When managers expect employees to perform badly, they probably will

17. 11.5 Understanding Stress & Behavior
HOW CAN WORKPLACE STRESS BE REDUCED?
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 is called stress
The source of stress is called a stressor
Stressors can be hassles (simple irritants), crises (sudden occasions of overwhelming terror), or strong stressors (extreme physical discomfort)
Lecture Note: Job stress is a common complaint these days. Ask students to identify their sources of stress and how they reduce their stress. Then ask them to think about stress in the workplace. How might it be different? What could they do to minimize it?

18. 11.5 Understanding Stress & Behavior
There are six sources of on-the-job stress:
1. Stress created by personality characteristics
2. Stress created by individual task demands
3. Stress created by individual role demands
4. Stress created by group demands
5. Stress created by organizational demands
6. Stress created by non-work demands

19. 11.5 Understanding Stress & Behavior
WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS?
Positive stress is constructive, negative stress is destructive
Negative stress shows up physiologically, psychologically, and behaviorally
Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and even physical exhaustion
Employees who are burned out are less productive

20. 11.5 Understanding Stress & Behavior
Managers can make buffers or administrative changes to reduce the stressors that lead to employee burnout
Some changes managers can make include:
-creating a supportive organizational climate
-making jobs interesting
-making career counseling available