In this chapter, the following content will be discussed: In the hiring process, do employers care about one’s personality and individual traits? How do the hidden aspects of individuals their values and attitudes affect employee behavior? What are the distortions of perception that can cloud one’s judgment? Is it important for managers to pay attention to employee attitudes?. | Chapter Eleven Managing Individual Differences & Behavior: Supervising People as People McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Major Questions You Should Be Able to Answer In the hiring process, do employers care about one’s personality and individual traits? How do the hidden aspects of individuals—their values and attitudes—affect employee behavior? What are the distortions of perception that can cloud one’s judgment? Major Questions You Should Be Able to Answer Is it important for managers to pay attention to employee attitudes? What trends in workplace diversity should managers be aware of? What causes workplace stress, and how can it be reduced? Personality & Individual Behavior Personality the stable psychological traits and behavioral attributes that give a person his or her identity The Big Five Personality Dimensions Extroversion how outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive a person is Agreeableness how trusting, good-natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted one is Conscientiousness how dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, and persistent one is The Big Five Personality Dimensions Emotional stability how relaxed, secure, and unworried one is Openness to experience how intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broad-minded one is Cautions About Using Personality Testing in the Workplace Table Five Traits Important in Organizations Locus of control indicates how much people believe they control their fate through their own efforts internal, external Expect different degrees of structure and compliance for each type Employ different reward systems for each type Some Ways That Managers Can Boost Employee Self-Esteem Table The Traits of Emotional Intelligence Table Sources: Adapted from D. Goleman, R. Boyatzis, and A. McKee, “Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance,” Harvard Business Review, December 2001, p. 49; and Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002, p. 39. Organizational Behavior Organizational Behavior tries to help managers not only explain workplace behavior but also to predict it, so that they can better lead and motivate their employees to perform productively individual, group behavior Three Components of Attitudes Affective feelings or emotions one has about a situation Cognitive beliefs and knowledge one has about a situation Behavioral how one intends or expects to behave toward a situation The Four Steps in the Perceptual Process Figure The New Diversified Workforce Diversity represents all the ways people are unlike and alike—the differences and similarities in age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capabilities, and socioeconomic background What Is Stress? Stress 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
