Module 4: Understanding the people at work: Individual differences and

Perception

Competencies:

1. Define personality and describe how it affects work behaviors.

2. Understand the role of values in determining work behaviors.

3. Explain the process of perception and how it affects work behaviors.

4. Understand how individual differences affect ethics.

5. Understand cross-cultural influences on individual differences and

perception.

Discussion:

Individual differences matter in the workplace. Human beings bring in their

personality, physical and mental abilities, and other stable traits to work.

Imagine that you are interviewing an employee who is proactive, creative, and

willing to take risks. Would this person be a good job candidate? What

behaviors would you expect this person to demonstrate?

The question posed above is misleading. While human beings bring their traits

to work, every organization is different, and every job within the organization is

also different.

Behavior is a function of the person and the situation interacting with each

other. Think about it. Would a shy person speak up in class? While a shy

person may not feel like speaking, if the individual is very interested in the

subject, knows the answers to the questions, and feels comfortable within the

classroom environment, and if the instructor encourages participation and

participation is 30% of the course grade, regardless of the level of shyness, the

person may feel inclined to participate. Similarly, the behavior you may expect

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from someone who is proactive, creative, and willing to take risks will depend

on the situation.

When hiring employees, companies are interested in assessing at least two

types of fit.

a. Person–organization fit - refers to the degree to which a person’s

values, personality, goals, and other characteristics match those of

the organization.

b. Person–job fit - is the degree to which a person’s skill, knowledge,

abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands. Thus,

someone who is proactive and creative may be a great fit for a

company in the high-tech sector that would benefit from risk-

taking individuals but may be a poor fit for a company that

rewards routine and predictable behavior, such as accountants.

Similarly, this person may be a great fit for a job such as a

scientist, but a poor fit for a routine office job. The opening case

illustrates one method of assessing person–organization and

person–job fit in job applicants.

Values - refer to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most

important to them. Values are established throughout one’s life as a result of

the accumulating life experiences and tend to be relatively stable.

2 Types of Values

1. Terminal values refer to end states people desire in life, such as leading a

prosperous life and a world at peace.

2. Instrumental values deal with views on acceptable modes of conduct,

such as being honest and ethical, and being ambitious.

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Where do values come from?

 Research indicates that they are shaped early in life and show stability

over the course of a lifetime. Early family experiences are important

influences over the dominant values. People who were raised in families

with low socioeconomic status and those who experienced restrictive

parenting often display conformity values when they are adults, while

those who were raised by parents who were cold toward their children

would likely value and desire security.

Personality - It encompasses the relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and

behavioral patterns a person has. Our personality differentiates us from other

people, and understanding someone’s personality gives us clues about how

that person is likely to act and feel in a variety of situations. In order to

effectively manage organizational behavior, an understanding of different

employees’ personalities is helpful. Having this knowledge is also useful for

placing people in jobs and organizations.

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Five (5) Personality Traits

a. Openness is the degree to which a person is curious, original,

intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas. People high in openness

seem to thrive in situations that require being flexible and learning new

things. They are highly motivated to learn new skills, and they do well in

training settings.

b. Conscientiousness refers to the degree to which a person is organized,

systematic, punctual, achievement oriented, and dependable.

Conscientiousness is the one personality trait that uniformly predicts

how high a person’s performance will be, across a variety of occupations

and jobs.

c. Extraversion is the degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, and

sociable, and enjoys being in social situations. One of the established

findings is that they tend to be effective in jobs involving sales.

d. Agreeableness is the degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive,

trusting, kind, and warm. In other words, people who are high in

agreeableness are likeable people who get along with others. Not

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 surprisingly, agreeable people help others at work consistently, and this

helping behavior is not dependent on being in a good mood.

e. Neuroticism refers to the degree to which a person is anxious, irritable,

aggressive, temperamental, and moody. These people have a tendency to

have emotional adjustment problems and experience stress and

depression on a habitual basis. People very high in neuroticism

experience a number of problems at work. For example, they are less

likely to be someone people go to for advice and friendship.

Positive and Negative Affectivity

 You may have noticed that behavior is also a function of moods. When

people are in a good mood, they may be more cooperative, smile more,

and act friendly. When these same people are in a bad mood, they may

have a tendency to be picky, irritable, and less tolerant of different

opinions. Yet, some people seem to be in a good mood most of the time,

and others seem to be in a bad mood most of the time regardless of what

is actually going on in their lives. This distinction is manifested by

positive and negative affectivity traits.

Self-monitoring - refers to the extent to which a person is capable of

monitoring his or her actions and appearance in social situations. In other

words, people who are social monitors are social chameleons who understand

what the situation demands and act accordingly, while low social monitors

tend to act the way they feel.

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Proactive personality refers to a person’s inclination to fix what is perceived

as wrong, change the status quo, and use initiative to solve problems. Instead

of waiting to be told what to do, proactive people take action to initiate

meaningful change and remove the obstacles they face along the way. In

general, having a proactive personality has a number of advantages for these

people. For example, they tend to be more successful in their job searches.

Self-esteem - is the degree to which a person has overall positive feelings

about his or herself. People with high self-esteem view themselves in a positive

light, are confident, and respect themselves. On the other hand, people with

low self-esteem experience high levels of self-doubt and question their self-

worth. High self-esteem is related to higher levels of satisfaction with one’s job

and higher levels of performance on the job.

Self-efficacy - is a belief that one can perform a specific task successfully.

Research shows that the belief that we can do something is a good predictor of

whether we can actually do it. Self-efficacy is different from other personality

traits in that it is job specific. You may have high self-efficacy in being

successful academically, but low self-efficacy in relation to your ability to fix

your car. At the same time, people have a certain level of generalized self-

efficacy and they have the belief that whatever task or hobby they tackle, they

are likely to be successful in it.

Locus of control

 deals with the degree to which people feel accountable for their own

behaviors. Individuals with high internal locus of control18 believe that

they control their own destiny and what happens to them is their own

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 doing, while those with high external locus of control19 feel that things

happen to them because of other people, luck, or a powerful being.

Internals feel greater control over their own lives and therefore they act

in ways that will increase their chances of success. For example, they

take the initiative to start mentor-protégé relationships. They are more

involved with their jobs. They demonstrate higher levels of motivation

and have more positive experiences at work.

PERCEPTION

 It may be defined as the process with which individuals detect and

interpret environmental stimuli. What makes human perception so

interesting is that we do not solely respond to the stimuli in our

environment. We go beyond the information that is present in our

environment, pay selective attention to some aspects of the environment,

and ignore other elements that may be immediately apparent to other

people. Our perception of the environment is not entirely rational. For

example, have you ever noticed that while glancing at a newspaper or a

news Web site, information that is interesting or important to you jumps

out of the page and catches your eye? If you are a sports fan, while

scrolling down the pages you may immediately see a news item

describing the latest success of your team. If you are the parent of a

picky eater, an advice column on toddler feeding may be the first thing

you see when looking at the page. So what we see in the environment is a

function of what we value, our needs, our fears, and our emotions.

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Visual Perception

 Our visual perception definitely goes beyond the physical information

available to us. First of all, we extrapolate from the information available

to us. Take a look at the following figure. The white triangle you see in

the middle is not really there, but we extrapolate from the information

available to us and see it there.

Individual Differences and Ethics

 Our values and personality influence how ethical we behave. Situational

factors, rewards, and punishments following unethical choices as well as

a company’s culture are extremely important, but the role of personality

and personal values should not be ignored. Research reveals that people

who have an economic value orientation, that is, those who value

acquiring money and wealth, tend to make more unethical choices. In

terms of personality, employees with external locus of control were found

to make more unethical choices.

ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITY:

1. Why is it so expensive for companies to replace workers?

2. In modern times it is possible that an employee could have a number of

different jobs in a short amount of time. Do you think this frequent job

changing could skew results for this type of “ideal” employee selection? Do

you think potential candidates can use these screening mechanisms to their

advantage by making themselves seem like perfect candidates when in fact

they are not?

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 3. What personality traits may not seem like a good fit based on an initial

screening but in fact would make a good employee?

4. Do you feel that hard work and dedication could overcome a person-job

mismatch?

COMPREHENSION CHECK:

ETHICAL DILEMMA:

You are applying for the job of sales associate. You have just found out that

you will be given a personality assessment as part of the application process.

You feel that this job requires someone who is very high in extraversion, and

someone who can handle stress well. You are relatively sociable and can cope

with some stress but honestly you are not very high in either trait. The job

pays well and it is a great stepping-stone to better jobs. How are you going to

respond when completing the personality questions? Are you going to make an

effort to represent yourself as how you truly are? If so, there is a chance that

you may not get the job. How about answering the questions to fit the

salesperson profile? Isn’t everyone doing this to some extent anyway?

Discussion Questions

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of completing the questions

honestly?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of completing the questions in a

way you think the company is looking for?

3. What would you really do in a situation like this?

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MODULE 5: Individual Attitudes and Behaviors

Competencies:

1. Identify the major work attitudes that affect work behaviors.

2. List the key set of behaviors that matter for organizational performance.

3. Understand the link between work attitudes and ethics.

4. Understand cross-cultural differences in job attitudes and behaviors at

work.

5.1 Work Attitudes

Discussion

Our behavior at work often depends on how we feel about being there.

Therefore, making sense of how people behave depends on understanding their

work attitudes. An attitude refers to our opinions, beliefs, and feelings about

aspects of our environment. We have attitudes toward the food we eat, people

we interact with, courses we take, and various other things. At work, two

particular job attitudes have the greatest potential to influence how we behave.

These are job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

 Job satisfaction - refers to the feelings people have toward their job. If

the number of studies conducted on job satisfaction is an indicator, job

satisfaction is probably the most important job attitude. Institutions

periodically conduct studies of job satisfaction to track how satisfied

employees are at work.

 Organizational commitment - is the emotional attachment people have

toward the company they work for. There is a high degree of overlap

between job satisfaction and organizational commitment, because things

that make us happy with our job often make us more committed to the

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 company as well. Companies believe that these attitudes are worth

tracking because they are often associated with important outcomes

such as performance, helping others, absenteeism, and turnover.

How Can You Be Happier at Work?

• Have a positive attitude about it. Your personality is a big part of

your happiness. If you are always looking for the negative side of

everything, you will find it.

• A good fit with the job and company is important to your

happiness. This starts with knowing yourself: What do you want

from the job? What do you enjoy doing? Be honest with yourself

and do a selfassessment.

• Get accurate information about the job and the company. Ask

detailed questions about what life is like in this company.

• Develop good relationships at work. Make friends. Try to get a

mentor. Approach a person you admire and attempt to build a

relationship with this person. An experienced mentor can be a

great help in navigating life at a company. Your social network can

help you weather the bad days and provide you emotional and

instrumental support during your time at the company as well as

afterward.

• Pay is important, but job characteristics matter more to your job

satisfaction. Don’t sacrifice the job itself for a little bit more money.

When choosing a job, look at the level of challenge, and the

potential of the job to make you engaged.

• Be proactive in managing organizational life. If the job is stressful,

cope with it by effective time management and having a good social

network, as well as being proactive in getting to the source of

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 stress. If you don’t have enough direction, ask for it! • Know when

to leave. If the job makes you unhappy over an extended period of

time and there is little hope of solving the problems, it may be time

to look elsewhere.

What Causes Positive Work Attitudes?

• Research shows that people pay attention to several aspects of

their work environment, including how they are treated, the

relationships they form with colleagues and managers, and the

actual work they perform. We will now summarize the factors that

show consistent relations with job satisfaction and organizational

commitment.

Personality - Can assessing the work environment fully explain how satisfied

we are on the job? Interestingly, some experts have shown that job satisfaction

is not purely environmental and is partially due to our personality. Some

people have a disposition to be happy in life and at work regardless of

environmental factors.

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Person–Environment Fit - The fit between what we bring to our work

environment and the environmental demands influences our work attitudes.

Therefore, person–job fit and person–organization fit are positively related to

job satisfaction and commitment. When our abilities match job demands and

our values match company values, we tend to be more satisfied with our job

ore committed to the company we work.

Job Characteristics - The presence of certain characteristics on the job seems

to make employees more satisfied and more committed. Using a variety of

skills, having autonomy at work, receiving feedback on the job, and performing

a significant task are some job characteristics that are related to satisfaction

and commitment. However, the presence of these factors is not important for

everyone. Some people have a high growth need. They expect their jobs to help

them build newand m skills and improve as an employee. These people tend to

be more satisfied when their jobs have these characteristics.

Psychological Contract - After accepting a job, people come to work with a set

of expectations. They have an understanding of their responsibilities and

rights. In other words, they have a psychological contract with the company.

Organizational Justice - A strong influence over our satisfaction level is how

fairly we are treated. People pay attention to the fairness of company policies

and procedures, treatment from supervisors, and pay and other rewards they

receive from the company.

Relationships at Work - Two strong predictors of our happiness at work and

commitment to the company are our relationships with coworkers and

managers. The people we interact with, their degree of compassion, our level of

social acceptance in our work group, and whether we are treated with respect

are all important factors surrounding our happiness at work. Research also

shows that our relationship with our manager, how considerate the manager

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is, and whether we build a trust-based relationship with our manager are

critically important to our job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Stress - Not surprisingly, the amount of stress present in our job is related to

our satisfaction and commitment. For example, experiencing role ambiguity

(vagueness in relation to what our responsibilities are), role conflict (facing

contradictory demands at work), and organizational politics, and worrying

about the security of our job are all stressors that make people dissatisfied. On

the other hand, not all stress is bad. Some stressors actually make us happier!

For example, working under time pressure and having a high degree of

responsibility are stressful, but they can also be perceived as challenges and

tend to be related to high levels of satisfaction.

5.2 Work Behaviors

One of the important objectives of the field of organizational behavior is

to understand why people behave the way they do. Which behaviors are

we referring to here? We will focus on four key work behavior

• job performance,

• organizational citizenship behaviors,

• absenteeism, and

• turnover.

These are not the only behaviors Organization BEhavior is concerned

about, but understanding what is meant by these terms and

understanding the major influences over each type of behavior will

give you more clarity about analyzing the behaviors of others in the

workplace.

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Job performance -or in-role performance, - refers to the performance level on

factors included in the job description. For each job, the content of job

performance may differ. Measures of job performance include the quality and

quantity of work performed by the employee, the accuracy and speed with

which the job is performed, and the overall effectiveness of the person

performing the job. In many companies, job performance determines whether a

person is promoted, rewarded with pay raises, given additional responsibilities,

or fired from the job. Therefore, job performance is tracked and observed in

many organizations and is one of the main outcomes studied in the field of

organizational behavior.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors - It involve performing behaviors that

are more discretionary. Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB)10 are

voluntary behaviors employees perform to help others and benefit the

organization. Helping a new coworker understand how things work in your

company, volunteering to organize the company picnic, and providing

suggestions to management about how to improve business processes are

some examples of citizenship behaviors. These behaviors contribute to the

smooth operation of business.

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Absenteeism - refers to unscheduled absences from work. Absenteeism is

costly to companies because of its unpredictable nature. When an employee

has an unscheduled absence from work, companies struggle to find

replacement workers at the last minute. This may involve hiring contingent

workers, having other employees work overtime, or scrambling to cover for an

absent coworker.

Turnover - refers to an employee leaving an organization. Employee turnover

has potentially harmful consequences, such as poor customer service and poor

companywide performance. When employees leave, their jobs still need to be

performed by someone, so companies spend time recruiting, hiring, and

training new employees, all the while suffering from lower productivity. Yet, not

all turnover is bad. Turnover is particularly a problem when high-performing

employees leave, while a poor performer’s turnover may actually give the

company a chance to improve productivity and morale.

Tips for Leaving Your Job Gracefully

Few people work in one company forever, and someday you may decide that

your current job is no longer right for you. Here are tips on how to leave

without burning any bridges.

• Don’t quit on an impulse. We all have bad days and feel the

temptation to walk away from the job right away. Yet, this is

unproductive for your own career. Plan your exit in advance, look

for a better job over an extended period of time, and leave when the

moment is right.

• Don’t quit too often. While trading jobs in an upward fashion is

good, leaving one place and getting another job that is just like the

previous one in pay, responsibilities, and position does not help

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 you move forward in your career, and makes you look like a

quitter. Companies are often wary of hiring job hoppers.

• When you decide to leave, tell your boss first, and be nice. Don’t

discuss all the things your manager may have done wrong. Explain

your reasons without blaming anyone and frame it as an issue of

poor job fit.

• Do not badmouth your employer. It is best not to bash the

organization you are leaving in front of coworkers. Do not tell them

how happy you are to be quitting or how much better your new job

looks. There is really no point in making any remaining employees

feel bad.

• Guard your professional reputation. You must realize that the

world is a small place. People know others and tales of

unprofessional behavior travel quickly to unlikely places.

• Finish your ongoing work and don’t leave your team in a bad spot.

Right before a major deadline is probably a bad time to quit. Offer

to stay at least 2 weeks to finish your work, and to help hire and

train your replacement.

• Don’t steal from the company! Give back all office supplies, keys,

ID cards, and other materials. Don’t give them any reason to

blemish their memory of you. Who knows…you may even want to

come back one day.

ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITY:

(ETHICAL DILEMMA)

You are a department manager in an advertising agency. The employees of the

department have recently completed an attitude survey. Three employees in

your department reported that they were harassed by senior people in the

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department and they are experiencing a hostile work environment. You do not

know who these people are, but you feel that you need to do something. The

surveys were filled out confidentially, and employees were assured that their

identities would not be revealed to management. You feel that you can identify

who they are because the person in HR who administered the survey is a friend

of yours and that person can tell you the demographics of the employees,

which would help you identify them.

QUESTION:

1. Should you ask for the identity-revealing information? What are the

advantages and disadvantages of finding out the identity of these people?

2. How would you handle a situation like this now and in the future.?

COMPREHENSION CHECK:

You found out that one employee from your company has created a blog about

the company. Other current and ex-employees are also posting on this blog,

and the picture they are painting is less than flattering. They are talking about

their gripes, such as long work hours and below-market pay, and how the

company’s products are not great compared to those of competitors. Worse,

they are talking about the people in the company by name. There are a couple

of postings mentioning you by name and calling you unfair and unreasonable.

QUESTIONS:

1. What action would you take when you learn the presence of this blog?

Would you take action to stop this blogger? How?

2. Would you do anything to learn the identity of the blogger? If you found out,

what action would you take to have the employee disciplined?

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3. What would you change within the company to deal with this situation?

4. Would you post on this blog? If so, under what name, and what comments

would you post?

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MODULE 6: MANAGING STRESS AND EMOTION IN WORKPLACE

Competencies:

1. Understand the stress cycle.

Stress - It is defined by psychologists as the body’s reaction to a change that

requires a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response. It is an

inevitable feature of life. It is the force that gets us out of bed in the morning,

motivates us at the gym, and inspires us to work. It is a given factor in our

lives. We may not be able to avoid stress completely, but we can change how

we respond to stress, which is a major benefit. Our ability to recognize,

manage, and maximize our response to stress can turn an emotional or

physical problem into a resource.

Workplace Stressors are events or contexts that cause a stress reaction by

elevating levels of adrenaline and forcing a physical or mental response. The

key to remember about stressors is that they aren’t necessarily a bad thing.

The saying “the straw that broke the camel’s back” applies to stressors. Having

a few stressors in our lives may not be a problem, but because stress is

cumulative, having many stressors day after day can cause a buildup that

becomes a problem.

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3 Outcomes of Stress

a. Physiological - Stress manifests itself internally as

nervousness, tension, headaches, anger, irritability, and

fatigue. Stress can also have outward manifestations.

b. Psychological - Depression and anxiety are two

psychological outcomes of unchecked stress, which are as

dangerous to our mental health and welfare as heart

disease, high blood pressure, and strokes. The Harris poll

found that 11% of respondents said their stress was

accompanied by a sense of depression. “

c. Work Outcomes - Stress is related to worse job attitudes,

higher turnover, and decreases in job performance in terms

of both in-role performance and organizational citizenship

behaviors.

Emotions

• It is defined as a short, intense feeling resulting from some event.

Not everyone reacts to the same situation in the same way. For

example, a manager’s way of speaking can cause one person to feel

motivated, another to feel angry, and a third to feel sad. Emotions

can influence whether a person is receptive to advice, whether they

quit a job, and how they perform individually or on a team.

Types of Emotions

a. Positive emotions such as joy, love, and surprise result from our reaction

to desired events. In the workplace, these events may include achieving a

goal or receiving praise from a superior. Individuals experiencing a

positive emotion may feel peaceful, content, and calm. A positive feeling

generates a sensation of having something you didn’t have before. As a

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 result, it may cause you to feel fulfilled and satisfied. Positive feelings

have been shown to dispose a person to optimism, and a positive

emotional state can make difficult challenges feel more achievable.

b. Negative emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness can result from

undesired events. In the workplace, these events may include not having

your opinions heard, a lack of control over your day-to-day environment,

and unpleasant interactions with colleagues, customers, and superiors.

Negative emotions play a role in the conflict process, with those who can

manage their negative emotions finding themselves in fewer conflicts

than those who do not.

c. Emotional Contagion is both positive and negative emotions can be

contagious, with the spillover of negative emotions lasting longer than

positive emotions. As you may have experienced in the past, contagion

can be especially salient in a team setting. Research shows that emotions

are contagious and that team members affect one another even after

accounting for team performance.

Emotions Affect Attitudes and Behaviors at Work

Emotions shape an individual’s belief about the value of a job, a company, or a

team. Emotions also affect behaviors at work. Research shows that individuals

within your own inner circle are better able to recognize and understand your

emotions.

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Six (6) Emotions Affecting Work

Emotional labor refers to the regulation of feelings and expressions for

organizational purposes. The following are the three Major Levels of Emotional

Labor:

a. Surface acting requires an individual to exhibit physical signs, such as

smiling, that reflect emotions customers want to experience. A children’s

hairdresser cutting the hair of a crying toddler may smile and act

sympathetic without actually feeling so. In this case, the person is

engaged in surface acting.

b. Deep acting takes surface acting one step further. This time, instead of

faking an emotion that a customer may want to see, an employee will

actively try to experience the emotion they are displaying. This genuine

attempt at empathy helps align the emotions one is experiencing with the

emotions one is displaying. The children’s hairdresser may empathize

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 with the toddler by imagining how stressful it must be for one so little to

be constrained in a chair and be in an unfamiliar environment, and the

hairdresser may genuinely begin to feel sad for the child.

c. Genuine acting occurs when individuals are asked to display emotions

that are aligned with their own. If a job requires genuine acting, less

emotional labor is required because the actions are consistent with true

feelings.

COMPREHENSION CHECK: (FINALS)

You work at a paper supply company that employs 50 people. A coworker,

Jeswin, is not your favorite person to work with. She is often late to work, can

be unprofessional with coworkers, and isn’t someone you can routinely count

on to go above and beyond her job duties. Last week you even noticed that her

breath smelled like alcohol when you spoke to her about some last minute

orders that needed to be filled. But, you don’t like to rock the boat and you

don’t like to be disloyal to your coworkers, so you didn’t say anything. However,

Allan Dave just approached you and asked whether you smelled alcohol on

Jeswin’s breath last Thursday. You are surprised and ask him why. Allan Dave

mentions that he heard some gossip and wants to confirm if it is true or not.

What will you do?

1. Should you admit you smelled alcohol on Jeswin’s breath last week?

Why or why not?

2. What are the implications of each course of action?

3. Would you change your answer if, instead of working at a paper supply

company, you worked as a nurse?

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