Individual Differences

(Perception, Attitudes &

Personality )
 What is Personality?
Personality
The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts
and interacts with others; measurable traits a person
exhibits.

Personality
Personality
Personality Traits
Determinants
Determinants
Enduring characteristics • •Heredity
Heredity
that describe an • •Environment
individual’s behavior. Environment
• •Situation
Situation

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Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB
• Core Self-evaluation
– Self-esteem
– Locus of Control
• Machiavellianism
• Narcissism
• Self-monitoring
• Risk taking
• Type A vs. Type B personality
• Proactive Personality
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 An OB Model for Studying Individual
Differences
The Unique Individual Forms of Self-
Expression

Personality Self-Management
traits
Attitudes

Self Concept
• Self-esteem Abilities
• Self-efficacy
• Self-monitoring Emotions
9

Insert Figure 2.7 here

 Perception

• Seeing is believing.
• I wouldn’t have seen it if
I hadn’t believed it.
 Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy: “A person’s belief about his or her chances of
successfully accomplishing a specific task.”
A Model of Self-Efficacy

Sources of Self-Efficacy Beliefs:

- Prior experience
- Behavior models
- Persuasion from others
- Assessment of physical/emotional
state
 Locus of Control

Internal External
10

Locus of Control
External Locus of Control:
Describes people who believe
that fate, luck, or outside forces
are responsible for what
happens to them.

Internal Locus of Control:

Describes people who believe
that ability, effort, or their own
actions determine what
happens to them.
 Locus of Control
 Internal locus of control: belief that one controls
key events and consequences in one’s life.

 External locus of control: One’s life outcomes attributed to

environmental factors such
as luck or fate.

For class discussion: What sort of locus

of control “balance” do today’s managers
need to seek to be successful without
experiencing excessive stress?
11

Self-Monitoring

The extent to which

people try to control
the way they present
themselves to others.
– Can be high or low
 Self-Monitoring
Self-Monitoring
A personality trait that measures
an individual’s ability to adjust
his or her behavior to external,
situational factors.

High
HighSelf-Monitors
Self-Monitors
••Receive
Receivebetter
betterperformance
performanceratings
ratings
••Likely
Likelyto
toemerge
emergeas
asleaders
leaders
••Show
Showless
lesscommitment
commitmenttototheir
their
organizations
organizations
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 Personality Characteristics
in Organizations
Self-Monitoring
Behavior based on cues

High self monitors Low self monitors

– flexible: adjust – act from internal states
rather than from
behavior according situational cues
to the situation and – show consistency
the behavior of – less likely to respond to
others work group norms or
– can appear supervisory feedback
unpredictable and
 Who Is Most Likely to . . .
Low self monitors High self
monitors

Get promoted
Accomplish tasks, meet other’s
expectations, seek out central
positions in social networks

Change employers
Self-promote 
Make a job-related geographic
move

Demonstrate higher levels of managerial 

self-awareness;
base behavior on other’s cues
and the situation
12

Self-Esteem

The extent to which

people have pride in
themselves and their
capabilities.
– Can be high or low
– Not situation specific
 Personality Characteristics
in Organizations

Self-Esteem
Feelings of Self Worth

Success tends Failure tends

to increase to decrease
self-esteem self-esteem
 Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism (Mach)
Degree to which an individual is pragmatic,
maintains emotional distance, and believes
that ends can justify means.

Conditions
ConditionsFavoring
FavoringHigh
HighMachs
Machs
••Direct
Directinteraction
interactionwith
withothers
others
••Minimal
Minimalrules
rulesand
andregulations
regulations
••Emotions
Emotionsdistract
distractfor
forothers
others

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 Freud & Personality Structure
“Personality arises from conflict twixt agressive,
pleasure-seeking impulses and social restraints”

Satisfaction
without the guilt?
Super
Ego Ego

Id
 Freud & Personality Structure
Id - energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives
Pleasure Principle

Ego - seeks to gratify the Id in realistic ways

Reality Principle
Super
Ego Ego
Super Ego
- voice of conscience
that focuses on how
Id we ought to behave
 Defense Mechanisms
Ego Id
When the inner war
gets out of hand, the
result is Anxiety

Ego protects itself via

Defense Mechanisms

Super
Ego
Defense Mechanisms reduce/redirect
anxiety by distorting reality
The Big Five Model of Personality

Extraversion Conscientiousness

Openness to
Neuroticism
Experience

Agreeableness
 Extraversion (Positive Affectivity)
• Personality trait that predisposes individuals
to experience positive emotional states and
feel good about themselves and the world
around them

Extraverts Introverts
 Neuroticism (Negative Affectivity)
• Personality trait that reflects people’s
tendency to experience negative emotional
states, feel distressed, and generally view
themselves and the world around them
negatively

High Low
 Agreeableness
• Personality trait that captures the distinction
between individuals who get along well with
other people and those who do not

High Low
 Conscientiousness
• Personality trait that describes the extent to
which an individual is careful, scrupulous, and
persevering

High Low
6

The Big Five Model of Personality

• Extroversion: The tendency to experience positive
emotional states and feel good about oneself and the
world around.
• Neuroticism: The tendency to experience negative
emotional states and view oneself and the world around
negatively.
• Agreeableness: The tendency to get along well with
others.
• Conscientiousness: The extent to which a person is
careful, scrupulous, and persevering.
• Openness to Experience: The extent to which a person is
original, has broad interests, and is willing to take risks.
 The Big Five
Emotional Stability • Calm/Anxious
• Secure/Insecure

Extraversion • Sociable/Retiring
• Fun Loving/Sober

Openness • Imaginative/Practical
• Independent/Conforming

Agreeableness • Soft-Hearted/Ruthless
• Trusting/Suspicious

Conscientiousness • Organized/Disorganized
• Careful/Careless
 Big Five Personality Traits
Gregarious, assertive,
Extraversion
sociable
Cooperative, warm,
Agreeableness
agreeable
Hardworking, organized,
Conscientiousness
dependable
Calm, self-confident,
Emotional stability
cool
Openness to Creative, curious,
experience cultured
7

Insert Figure 2.3 here

13

Type A vs. Type B Personality

Type A: A person who has
an intense desire to
achieve, is extremely
competitive, and has a
strong sense of urgency.

Type B: A person who

tends to be easygoing and
relaxed.
 Personality Types
Type A’s
1. are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;
2. feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place;
3. strive to think or do two or more things at once;
4. cannot cope with leisure time;
5. are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of
how many or how much of everything they acquire.

Type B’s
1. never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying
impatience;
2. feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or
accomplishments;
3. play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their superiority
at any cost;
4. can relax without guilt.
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15

Advice to Managers
• Realize and accept that some workers are more likely than others to
be positive and enthusiastic because of their personalities. Similarly,
realize and accept that some workers are more likely than others to
complain and experience stress because of their personalities.
• Provide an extra measure of direct supervision to workers who don’t
take the initiative to solve problems on their own and always seem
to blame someone or something else when things go wrong.
• Provide additional encouragement and support to workers with low
self-esteem who tend to belittle themselves and question their
abilities.
• Realize and accept that Type A individuals can be difficult to get
along with and sometimes have a hard time working in teams.
• Let subordinates who seem overly concerned about other people
liking them know that sometimes it is necessary to give honest
feedback and be constructively critical (such as when supervising
others).
Six
Six Universal
Universal Emotions
Emotions

Happiness Fear Anger

Surprise Sadness Disgust

 Emotions
Emotions: “Complex, patterned, organismic reactions to how we
think we are doing in our lifelong efforts to survive and flourish
and to achieve what we wish for ourselves.”

Positive and Negative Emotions

Negative emotions (Goal incongruent):
- Anger - Fright/anxiety
- Guilt/shame - Sadness
- Envy/jealousy - Disgust

Positive emotions (Goal congruent)

- Happiness/joy - Pride
- Love/affection - Relief
 Emotions
Emotions and
and
Organizational
Organizational
Behavior
Behavior

Felt
Felt Displayed
Displayed
Emotions
Emotions Emotions
Emotions
Emotional
Labor
Emotions In The Workplace

Intensity Frequency
of Emotions and Duration

Gender Emotionless
and Emotions People
External Constraints
on Emotions

Organizational Cultural
Influences Influences
Emotions and OB Applications
Ability and
Selection

Deviant Leadership
Behavior

Decision
Motivation Making

Interpersonal
Conflict
 Chapter Check-Up: Personality
Alison arrives to class and realizes that she’s
forgotten her homework to turn in. She says “Oh
man, it’s just not my lucky day today.” Alison has
______________.

Alison has a high external locus of control. Alison believes that things
outside of her control determine what happens.

If Alison works on a team with you, and you have a very high
internal locus of control, what kinds of discussions do you
think the two of you might have? Discuss with a friend.
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Chapter Check-Up: Personality
Julia is known for being a go-getter. She never leaves a task incomplete,
and is involved in a number of activities. Moreover, she’s at the top of
her class. She’s so busy that sometimes, she forgets to stop and eat
lunch. Julia can be easily characterized as someone that has/is a Type
____ Personality.

A
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 Chapter Check-Up: Personality
Julia is also likely to not be very
• Happy?
• Fun?
• Creative?
• Stressed?

In general, Type A’s are rarely creative because they

generally don’t allocate the necessary time for new
solution development; they usually rely on past
experiences to solve problems in order to be speedy.

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reserved.