Individual Differences: Mental Functioning, Emotional Intelligence, Personality Perception, Attitude

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Individual DifferencesMental Functioning,
Emotional Intelligence, Personality Perception,
Attitudes, and Values
B f (P,E) (Behavior is a function of the
person and the environment.)
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Why is the study of Individual Differences of
interest to managers?

• Selection
• Placement
• Training
• Motivation
• Leadership

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Mental Ability

• General Intelligence (g factor)
• Correlates with most tests of specific ability
• Correlates with performance in most jobs
• Specific Intelligences (s factors)
• e.g., memory verbal comprehension, numerical
  ability, word comprehension, perceptual speed
• Correlate with Job Satisfaction in work utilizing
  the specific ability in question

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Cognitive Styles

• How do we gather information?
• Sensing - Look at the facts, details.
• Intuiting - Brainstorm, get a general overview.
• How do we choose between alternatives?
• Thinking - Analyze objectively, reason.
• Feeling - Consider the impact on people.

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Cognitive Styles

• Sensation / Thinking (ST) (e.g., technician)
• Intuitive / Thinking (NT) (e.g., planner)
• Sensation / Feeling (SF) (e.g., teacher)
• Intuitive / Feeling (NF) (e.g., artist)

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Myers-Briggs Test

• Has 4 dimensions
• Sensing vs. Intuiting
• Thinking vs. Feeling
• Extraversion vs. Introversion
• Judger vs. Perceiver
• (decisive vs. flexible)
• Higher and lower positions in each of the
  dimensions are used to classify people into one
  of 16 different personality categories.

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Emotional Intelligence

• Dimensions
• Knowing ones own emotions
• Controlling ones emotions
• Recognizing others emotions (Empathy)
• Influencing others emotions
• Author Daniel Goleman says incompetence in
  management occurs more often from lack of EQ than
  lack of IQ

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Personality

• Nature of Personality
• Internal State
• Uniqueness
• Consistency
• Stability
• Managers should be aware of subordinates
  characteristics.
• Managers should also be aware of their own
  characteristics.

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Personality Theories

• Developmental Stage (Psychodynamic)
• (Freud, etc.)
• Trait-Based (Big Five, etc.)
• e.g., Neurotic, Extraversion, Authoritarian
  (Eysenck)
• Motive-Based
• e.g., Achievement, Affiliation, Power
  (McClelland)
• Belief-Based
• e.g., Internal vs. External Locus of Control
  (Rotter)

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Personality Theory The Big Five Traits

• Extraversion (vs. Introversion)
• Sociable, friendly.
• Emotional Stability (vs. Neuroticism)
• Neurotics are often critical and feel angry with
  others and themselves.
• Agreeableness
• Likable, care about others.
• Conscientiousness
• Careful, persevering.
• Openness to Experience
• Flexible, with broad interests.

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Other Characteristics

• Self-Monitoring Tendency to manage impressions
  others have of you
• Risk taking and thrill seeking
• Self-Esteem Degree to which people feel good
  about themselves and abilities.

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Locus of Control

• People who believe that they are in control of
  their own lives are said to have an Internal
  locus of control.
• People who think that forces beyond their control
  dictate what happens to them are said to have an
  External locus of control.

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Testing Intelligence and Personality

• When using in selection and placement Back up
  with validity studies.
• In General
• Intelligence Tests- Moderate Validity
• Personality Tests- Low Validity

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Perception

• The link between the person and the environment
• Broadly defined, includes Social Perception
  (impressions of people)

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The Perception Process
Organizing the selected data into patterns for
interpretation and response
Screening the data and selecting what to process
Observing data via the senses
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Perception

• Why are perceptions often distorted?
• Why do people not always perceive things as they
  are?
• Why do people perceive things differently?
• Different people
• Same person at different times

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Sources of Perceptual Distortions

• Selectivity (perceiving only part of envir. or
  some parts more than others)
• External Factors (i.e., currently in physical
  environment)
• Similarity, Size, Nearness, Motion
• Internal Factors
• Experience, Motivation
• Closure (adding to your perception)
• Stereotyping
• Halo Effects
• Projection

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General Perception Problems

• Selectivity
• Only notice stimuli which are consistent with our
  values and beliefs
• Closure
• Assume that what we dont know is consistent with
  what we do know

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Values and Attitudes

• Values (Basic Convictions What is right, good,
  desirable)
• General - Contain many attitudes
• e.g., Conservative, Liberal, etc.
• Attitudes (Beliefs, Assumptions)
• Evaluative judgments focused on specific objects,
  concepts
• e.g., Attitude toward welfare payments

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Types of Values

• Terminal Values
• Desired Goals
• e.g., World Peace, Happiness, Freedom, True
  Friendship, Equality, Family Security
• Instrumental Values
• Means of Achieving Terminal Values
• e.g., Ambition, Politeness, Self-Reliance,
  Honesty, Cheerfulness, Open-Mindedness

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Work Values Across Generations

• Group Entered Workforce Values
• Veterans 1945-1964 Loyal to
  Organization
• Conforming
• Boomers 1965-1984 Loyal to Careers
• Dislike Authority
• Xers 1985-1999 Loyal to
  Relationships
• Seek Work-Life Balance
• Nexters 2000-Present Loyal to
  Self Relationships
• Self-Reliant but
• Team-oriented

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Attitudes The ABC Model

• Affect
• Feelings for an object
• Behavioral Intentions
• Observed Behavior toward it
• Cognition
• Beliefs about it

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Attitude Change Techniques

• Persuasion
• Cognition -gt Behavior
• Conditioning
• Affective -gt Cognition -gt Behavior
• Cognitive Dissonance Production
• Behavior -gt Cognition -gt Affective
• (Based on the assumption that people are
  motivated to protect their self-concepts. This
  requires a perceived consistency among the three
  components.)