FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev.

0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in Mgt 102:Human Behavior in Organization Module No. 2

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. 2

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, MENTAL ABILITY, AND PERSONALITY

MODULE OVERVIEW

Could you name persons who are exactly the same in all aspects? No two persons are alike.
And this is not amazing. Even two identical twins are distinct. Your family is different from you.
Could you imagine living in this world dealing with diverse people? You belong to several
organizations, then you interact with those people who comprise it. There is no single way to
relate with them.
This module provides some important learnings on individual differences, mental ability and
personality.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By studying this module, you are expected to:

1. define Individual Differences;

2. list the consequences of individual differences; and
3. identify what makes people different from each other.

LEARNING CONTENTS

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Have you tried being scolded by your teacher during your elementary days? How about
achieving an award? For sure your classmates have experienced the same too. Do you have the
same reaction? The same response? Maybe yes but the degree of the reaction or response is
different. This leads to the definition of what individual differences is?

Individual differences refers to the variation of reactions of people whenever they are
confronted with the same situation. These variations could be traced to our personal
characteristics.

For instance, when management introduced a new system in inventory control, Employee A
appreciates it and very eager to learn the system. Performance of his duties turned out to be more
efficient. Employee B, however, is reluctant to learn the new system because he is used to the
traditional one, was distracted and his performance to his duties is less efficient.

Individual differences has several consequences that need to be addressed especially in the
workplace setting. Managers most especially middle managers who are responsible in
maintaining good interpersonal relationship among employees, must understand and relate well

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with people in the organization. They must be aware of those consequences arising out of
differences between people. Some of these are:

People…

1. differ in productivity;

2. differ in the quality of work;

3. react differently to empowerment;

4. react differently to style of leadership;

5. differ in terms of need for contact with other people;

6. differ in terms of commitment to organization; and

7. differ in terms of level of self-esteem

What Makes People Different From Each Other

We should know what makes people different from each other. Consider the following:

 Demographics;

 Aptitude and ability

 Personality

DEMOGRAPHICS

Workers’ behavior is sometimes affected by their demographic characteristics such as

gender, generational and age-based differences, and culture.

Gender differences entails differences in perception of male and female in the workplace.
It influenced by both physical and emotional factors such as upbringing and capacity of
employee to perform job duties.

Generational and age-based differences often also a challenge to a leader in the

workplace. This is another form of diversity. People belong to the same generation may
have similar ideas, work attitudes and the like. Age differences of workers may also cause
variation of behavior of workers. Most often age is associated with experience. Therefore,
it matters when a 60-year old employee says he has 40 years working experience
compared a 22-year old with only 2 years working experience, however this will not always
be the case but in general, we consider age and experience are related.

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Individuals also differs in job performance and behavior because of their differences in
culture. Culture refers to acquired knowledge and shared ways of thinking that people use
to interpret experience among group of people or society. With this definition, culture
implies two dimensions:

1. Social Culture which refers to the social environment of human-created beliefs,

customs, knowledge and practices that define conventional behavior in a
society.

2. Organizational culture is a collection of values, beliefs, norms and practices that

is shared and guide among employees of an organization.

APTITUDE AND ABILITY

Another reason why people differ from each other is in terms of their aptitude and ability.
This also affects their behavior towards their work

When we say aptitude, it refers to the innate capability of a person to learn a certain skill
while ability is the capacity of an individual to carry out or perform a certain task. These two are
some of the requirements before one could be considered for employment.

An individual’s ability comprises of two factors: physical and mental:

The capability of an individual to perform tasks which demands stamina, strength, dexterity
and similar characteristics refers to physical ability. These are:

1. Dynamic strength-this is ability to exert muscular force repeatedly over a period of time

2. Trunk strength- ability to exert muscular strength using the trunk muscles

3. Static strength- it is also called isometric strength since this is used for isometric
exercises. It is referred to as the ability to exert force against external objects. Some
activities which need this strength are: climbing, mountain biking, motocross and
similar activities.

4. Explosive strength-ability to expend maximum force for a minimal time. Jumping,

wrestling, gymnastics are some sports that requires this type of physical ability

5. Extent flexibility-is generally a joint-specific wherein this is the ability to flex the trunk
and back muscles as far as possible.

6. Dynamic flexibility- this is the ability to make rapid, repeated flexing movements.

7. Body coordination- this is the ability to harmonize actions of different parts of the body
simultaneously

8. Balance- ability to maintain stability despite of the forces pulling off equilibrium

9. Stamina- ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolonged force.

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Study Guide in Mgt 102:Human Behavior in Organization Module No. 2

VARIOUS THEORIES OF INTELIGENCE

1. Dimensions of Intellectual Ability

a. Cognitive

b. Social

c. Emotional

d. Cultural

2. Triarchic Theory

a. Componential

b. Experiential

c. Contextual

3. Multiple Intelligence Theory

a. Linguistic

b. Logical/Mathematical

c. Musical

d. Spatial

e. Bodily Kinesthetic

f. Intra Personal

g. Inter Personal

h. Naturalist

Intellectual or mental ability is also referred to as intelligence. This is one of the major causes of
individual differences. Refers to the capability or potentials perceived through cognitive processes.

There are different dimensions of intellectual ability. These are:

1. Cognitive intelligence which refers to persons’ ability to apply knowledge such as,
learning, remembering, reasoning, solving problems and making sound judgements.

2. Social intelligence is the capacity to know one’s self and others. This could be
developed through experience with people and learning from success and failures in
social setting.

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3. Emotional intelligence is the capability of person to understand and manage his own
emotions and feelings also that of other people. Person that has emotional intelligence
has empathy for others too.

4. Cultural intelligence as mostly defined in the business education sector is the ability to
relate and work effectively across cultures.

THE TRIARCHIC THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE BY ROBERT STERNBERG

1. Componential intelligence (analytical intelligence)- this involves a person’s analytic

skills, those associated with ability to allocate resources.

2. Experiential intelligence(creative intelligence)- this deals with how well the task is
perform whether how familiar the task is. This also involves divergent thinking, ability to
generate new ideas.

3. Contextual intelligence (practical intelligence)- this involves application of knowledge to

a real world situations. It integrates the ideas of common sense, wisdom and street
smarts.

THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

This theory was developed by an eminent researcher, Howard Gardner, as a means of

understanding intelligence. Under this theory, he proposed eight components as follows:

1. Linguistic- refers to a person’s ability to comprehend both spoken and written language
as well as their ability to speak and write.

2. Logical-Mathematical- This covers person’s ability to make precision, to count,

organize, reason, think logically, make abstract thought and identify relationship or
connections between objects.

3. Musical- this component of intelligence involves individual’s ability to understand and

interpret the meanings of sounds and also the ability to appreciate and enjoy different
types of music.

4. Spatial- in this intelligence component, person has the ability to comprehend three-
dimensional images and shapes, which is a primary function of the right side of the
brain. Further, this is the ability to perceive and visualize images in the brain,
recreating them from memory.

5. Bodily-kinesthetic- this enables how well a person control his body in terms of physical
activity and fine motor skills. Dancing, gymnastics, playing sports are among the
activities that involves high kinesthetic intelligence.

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6. Intrapersonal- this refers to person’s ability to understand himself/herself. This is also

the capability to explore inner world and own feelings. A person having this intelligence
could easily identify what he wants and can manage their own life effectively.

7. Interpersonal- this intelligence component refers to the ability to understand and

recognize distinctions among others such as feelings, motives, and intentions. An
individual with high interpersonal intelligence could easily manage people.

8. Naturalist- this involves person’s ability to relate well with his natural surroundings.
Naturalist can easily distinguish patterns in the external physical environment

PERSONALITY

This is one factor that makes people different from each other. The differences in
personality could translate to different behaviors of people in one organization.

Personality is a set of characteristics possessed by a person that makes him/her unique

such as the way of thinking, behaving and feeling.

Determinants of Personality

1. Hereditary

These factors are determined at conception and these include the following

a. Physical stature

b. Facial attractiveness

c. Gender

d. Temperament

e. Muscle composition and reflexes

f. Energy level

g. Biological rhythms

2. Environmental Factors- These factors influence the formation of individual’s

personality. These include the following

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a. Cultural factor- This is established norms, values and attitudes that are
inherited from one generation to the next

b. Social Factor- this involves family life, religion and other groups, formal or
informal, in which individual belongs

c. Situational factor- in this factor a person behaves differently in varying

situations.

KINDS OF PERSONALITY FACTORS AND TRAITS

1. Emotional stability- This factor considers an individual as calm, self-confident and

secure. If one has high degree of this factor can be expected to withstand stress.

2. Extraversion- A person having this personality is sociable, gregarious and assertive.

3. Openness to experience- This involves persons who are imaginative, curious, broad-
minded and artistically sensitive.

4. Agreeableness- this personality factor refers to the person’s interpersonal orientation.

A person who is agreeable is warm, cooperative and trusting

5. Conscientiousness- this refers to individual’s reliability. A person with high degree of

conscientiousness is responsible.

6. Self-monitoring behavior- Person having this personality trait is flexible. He has the
ability to adjust to different situations.

7. Risk taking and thrill seeking- This has something to do with eagerness of an individual
to take risk and thrill needed in workplaces most especially in the field of business.

8. Optimism- this personality factor is very important for the individual in achieving
positive result. This involves confidence in reaching a successful outcome.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Managing one’s emotion especially in the workplace is very important. It is one way on
how each and everyone in the organization could work harmoniously to achieve their common
goal. This concept has something to do with emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ).
This was introduced by Daniel Goleman. EQ is the ability the ability of the person to accurately
perceive, evaluate, express and regulate emotions and feelings.

FIVE COMPONENTS OF EQ

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1. self-regulation- a person with high EQ has self-control. He has the ability to calm down
anxiety, control impulsiveness and react appropriately to anger
ETHICS DEFINED
2. Motivation- one is motivated when he has the passion to work for reasons that go
beyond external reward such as money, status power and the like.

3. Empathy- this the ability to place oneself in another’s position. Also, the capacity to
understand and feel what other person is experiencing from within their frame of
reference

4. Self-awareness- this is an understanding of one’s own personality.

5. Social skills- this is the capability to manage relationship inside and outside the
organization. One has the ability to build networks and this is very essential most
especially in the field of business.

SUMMARY

 Working with others is easy when one is acquainted with individual differences
 The reasons why individuals are different from each other are: Demographics, aptitude
and ability and personality
 A person’s ability consist of ,mental and physical
 Personality is determined by heredity and environment
 The components of EQ are: self-regulation, motivation, empathy, self-awareness and
social skills
REFERENCES

BOOK REFERENCES
Banfield Paul, Introduction to Human Resource Management, 3rd ed, , Oxford University
Press,2018

Martin,Graeme, Siebet Sabina, Managing People and Organizations in Changing Context,

Routledge, 2016

Medina, Roberto G., Human Behavior in Organization, Rex Bookstore,2011

Zarate, Cynthia, Organizational Behavior and Management in Philippine Organizations, Rex
Bookstore

ELECTRONIC REFERENCES

Judge, T. Robins, S.Organizational Behavior(17th ed).Pearson education limited, 2017

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Scott, S. (2019). Gender Differences Within the Workplace. Retrieved from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/gender-differences-within-workplace-10512.html

Shanu, U. (2013). The Meanings and Dimensions of Culture. Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/ujjmishra1/the-meanings-and-dimensions-of-culture

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