Personality & Individual Differences

Be yourself is the worst advice you can give some people. --T. Masson

First, a few administrative things

Collect Student Information Digital Photos

Student Information
Full name (and preferred name) Year Major/Minor E-mail address Hometown Any special needs? List work experience What are your long term career goals? Anything else you feel is important for me to know

Learning Objectives
Define the key biographical characteristics & how they affect the OB dependent variables Identify two types of ability & the importance of ability-job fit Explain the factors that determine an individuals personality Describe personality traits & discuss the personality-job fit theory Define Emotional Intelligence (EQ) & Why it is relevant to the workplace

Factors that influence Individual Behavior:

Biographical Characteristics
Abilities Personality

Emotional Intelligence

Biographical Characteristics
These variables are more manageable when it comes to finding and analyzing variables that have an impact on turnover, satisfaction, etc. Age- older workers are less likely to resign

Gender - women have higher rates of absence

Marital Status Married employees have fewer absences, less turnover, & more satisfied. Tenure- negatively related to turnover, positively related to satisfaction

Who Cares what value do biographical characteristics have for managers and organizations?

It can help in making choices among job applicants.

Abilities
Intellectual Abilities That required to do mental activities. *Found to be strong predictors of future job performance. Physical Abilities That required to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.

Ability-Job Fit
The Ability - Job Fit Employee performance is enhanced when there is a high ability - job fit. We need to keep this in mind from an HR perspective as well as an individual trying to make a job decision. What predictions can we make if the fit is poor? If employees lack the required abilities? If employees abilities far exceed the requirements of the job?

Personality
What is Personality?

The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others Measurable traits that a person exhibits. An enduring combination of motives, emotions, values, interests, attitudes and competencies.

Determinants of Personality
Heredity/ Physiological Determinants physical differences, IQ, potential, temperament Environment culture, norms of family, friends & social groups, other influences Situation in class vs. at a party on-the-field/court vs. off-the-field/court

Personality Traits
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (next class) Extraverted/Introverted Sensing/Intuitive Thinking/Feeling Judging/Perceiving Big 5 Model Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Emotional stability Openness to Experience

Assess your own personalitywith the major personality attributes influencing OB

Locus of control:
Machiavellianism

internal.external
lowhigh

Self-Esteem:
Self-Monitoring

low.high
low.high

Risk Taking

low..high

Type A Personality BA

Type As & Type Bs

Type A Personality

Always moving, walking, and eating rapidly. Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place. Strive to think or do two or more things at once. Cannot cope with leisure time. Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire.

Type B Personality

Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience. Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments unless such exposure is demanded by the situation. Play for fun & relaxation, instead of exhibit their superiority at any cost. Can relax without guilt.

The Person-Job Fit

Today, managers are more interested in an applicants flexibility to meet changing situations (instead of ability to perform a specific job)
Hollands personality-job fit theory captures the notion of matching the job requirements with personality characteristics

Hollands Personality-Job Fit Theory

Holland, a career development scholar, suggests that career success and satisfaction depends on the degree of fit between the person and his or her work environment
Degree of congruence between personality traits and work environment determines persons performance, satisfaction, length of time in career Holland contends there are 6 types or themes that represent characteristics of both the work environment and the traits and interests of people working in those environments.

Hollands Personality-Job Fit Theory

Few people fall squarely into 1 type
Realistic Investigative Artistic Social Enterprising Conventional The Career Key Test is a mini version of Hollands assessment. What do you think of your results on this test?

Person-Organization Fit
What is Personality-Organization Fit?
Examples Why might managers today pay more attention to the person-organization fit rather than the personjob fit?

Emotional Intelligence
(see pg. 111 in textbook)

What is Emotional IQ?

Five Dimensions of EQ
Self-awareness - impact on others, aware of feelings Self-management - manage own emotions and impulses Self-motivation - ability to persist in face of failures Empathy ability to sense how others are feeling Social skills - ability to handle emotions of others What was your EQ? Do you agree with the results? How can managers increase their EQ?

Practicing Emotional Intelligence

1. Label their feelings, rather than labeling people or situations" 2. Distinguish between thoughts and feelings. 3. Take responsibility for their feelings. 4. Use their feelings to help them make decisions. 5. Show respect for other people's feelings. 6. Feel energized, not angry. 7. Validate other people's feelings. 8. Practice getting a positive value from their negative emotions. 9. Don't advise, command, control, criticize, judge or lecture others. 10. Avoid people who invalidate them, or don't respect their feelings.

Who Cares?
So why IS it important that we understand personality & individual differences?

What relevance does it have for managers?

What relevance does it have for organizations?

Why is it important that we understand personality & individual differences?

To help you learn more about the dimensions of your own personality. To understand why individuals think, feel, and act differently. To help managers create a good fit between people and jobs.

By selecting people with the right attributes By redesigning jobs to fit individuals strengths

To help organizations create a good personorganization fit

Reminders
Guest Speaker Complete MBTI test and bring results to class on February 2

Video Clip