Individual Behavior,

Personality, and
Values

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Individual Behavior at OhioHealth

OhioHealth has weathered

economic recessions and
national skills shortages by
being an employer of choice for
job applicants, minimizing
absenteeism and turnover,
encouraging extra-role behavior,
and supporting high
performance.

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MARS Model of Individual Behavior

Situational
factors
Personality
Motivation
Values
Self-concept Individual
Perceptions Ability behavior and
results
Emotions &
attitudes
Role
Stress perceptions

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Employee Motivation

 Internal forces that affect a person’s

voluntary choice of behavior
• direction
• intensity
• persistence

S
M
A BAR

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Employee Ability

 Natural aptitudes and learned capabilities

required to successfully complete a task
 Competencies - personal characteristics that
lead to superior performance
 Person - job matching
• selecting
• developing S
M
• redesigning
A BAR

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Role Perceptions

 Beliefs about what behavior is required to

achieve the desired results:
• understanding what tasks to perform
• understanding priority of tasks
• understanding preferred behaviors
to accomplish tasks

S
M

A BAR

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Situational Factors

 Environmental conditions beyond the

individual’s short-term control that constrain
or facilitate behavior
 Constraints – time, budget, facilities, etc
 Cues – e.g. signs of nearby hazards

S
M

A BAR

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Types of Individual Behavior

Goal-directed behaviors under the

Task Performance
person’s control

Contextual performance – cooperation

Organizational
and helpfulness beyond required job
Citizenship
duties

more

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Types of Individual Behavior (con’t)

Counterproductive Voluntary behaviors that potentially

Work Behaviors harm the organization

Joining/staying with Agreeing to employment relationship;

the Organization remaining in that relationship

Maintaining Work
Attending work at required times
Attendance

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Defining Personality

 Relatively enduring pattern of thoughts,

emotions, and behaviors that characterize a
person, along with the psychological
processes behind those characteristics
• External traits – observable behaviors
• Internal states – thoughts, values, etc inferred from
behaviors
• Some variability, adjust to suit the situation

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 Nature vs. Nurture of Personality
 Influenced by Nature
• Heredity explains about 50 percent of
behavioral tendencies and 30 percent
of temperament
• Minnesota studies – twins had similar
personalities
 Influenced by Nurture
• Socialization, learning
• Personality stabilizes throughout
adolescence
• Executive function steers behavior
guided by our self-concept

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Five-Factor Personality Model
(CANOE)

Conscientiousness Organized, dependable

Agreeableness Trusting, helpful, flexible

Neuroticism Anxious, self-conscious

Openness to Experience Creative, nonconforming

Extraversion Outgoing, talkative, energetic

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Five-Factor Personality and
Organizational Behavior

 Conscientiousness and emotional stability

• Strongest personality predictors of performance
 Extraversion
• Linked to sales and mgt performance
• Related to social interaction and persuasion
 Agreeableness
• Effective in jobs requiring cooperation and helpfulness
 Openness to experience
• Linked to higher creativity and adaptability to change

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Jungian Personality Theory

 Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung

 Identifies preferences for perceiving the
environment and obtaining/processing
information
 Commonly measured by Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI)

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Jungian & Myers-Briggs Types

Extraversion (E) Introversion (I)

•Talkative Getting •Quiet
•Externally-focused energy •Internally-focused
•Assertive •Abstract

Sensing (S) Intuitive (N)

•Concrete Perceiving •Imaginative
•Realistic information •Future-focused
•Practical •Abstract

Thinking (T) Feeling (F)

•Logical Making •Empathetic
•Objective decisions •Caring
•Impersonal •Emotion-focused

Judging (J) Perceiving (P)

•Organized Orienting to the •Spontaneous
•Schedule-oriented external world •Adaptable
•Closure-focus •Opportunity-focus

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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
 Extroversion versus introversion
• similar to five-factor dimension
 Perceiving information
• Sensing – uses senses, factual, quantitative
• Intuition – uses insight, subjective experience
 Judging (making decisions)
• Thinking – rational logic, systematic data collection
• Feeling – influenced by emotions, how choices affect
others
 Orientation toward the external world
• Perceiving – flexible, spontaneous, keeps options open
• Judging – order and structure
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Values in the Workplace

 Stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our

preferences
 Define right or wrong, good or bad
 Value system -- hierarchy of value

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Schwartz’s Values Model

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Schwartz’s Values Model

 Openness to change – motivation

to pursue innovative ways
 Conservation -- motivation to
preserve the status quo
 Self-enhancement -- motivated by
self-interest
 Self-transcendence -- motivation to
promote welfare of others and
nature

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Values and Behavior
 Habitual behavior usually consistent with
values, but conscious behavior less so
because values are abstract constructs
 Decisions and behavior are linked to values
when:
1. Have logical reasons to apply values in that
situation
2. Situation allows/encourages values enactment
3. Mindful of our values

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In Search of Congruent Values

Scott Reed (far right) and his siblings joined the Chick-fil-
A restaurant chain because its strong family values were
compatible with their personal values. “Chick-fil-A’s core
values line up well with mine,” says Reed.

. 2-21
In Search of Congruent Values

Similarity of a person’s values hierarchy to another

source
 Person-organization value congruence
 Espoused-enacted value congruence
 Organization-community values congruence
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Three Ethical Principles

Greatest good for the greatest number

Utilitarianism of people

Individual Fundamental entitlements

Rights in society

Distributive People who are similar should receive

Justice similar benefits

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Influences on Ethical Conduct

 Moral intensity
• degree that issue demands ethical principles
 Ethical sensitivity
• ability to recognize the presence and determine the
relative importance of an ethical issue
 Situational influences
• competitive pressures and other external factors
 Mindfulness
• actively evaluate whether action violates values

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Supporting Ethical Behavior

 Ethical code of conduct

 Ethics training

 Ethics hotlines

 Ethical leadership and shared values

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Cross-Cultural Values at Infosys

Infosys Technologies, one of

India’s largest technology
companies, anticipated cross-
cultural differences when it
acquired an Australian company.
Infosys held seminars where
employees from both countries
learned about their cultures and
discussed how they can manage
employees with these different
values.

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Individualism

High Individualism
The degree to which people
USA
value personal freedom, self-
Italy sufficiency, control over
India
themselves, being appreciated
for unique qualities
Denmark

Taiwan

Low Individualism
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Collectivism

High Collectivism
The degree to which people
value their group membership
Italy and harmonious relationships
Taiwan
within the group

India

Denmark

USA

Low Collectivism
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Power Distance

High Power Distance  High power distance

Malaysia • Value obedience to authority
Venezuela • Comfortable receiving
commands from superiors
• Prefer formal rules and authority
Japan to resolve conflicts
 Low power distance
USA • expect relatively equal power
sharing
Denmark
Israel
• view relationship with boss as
interdependence, not
Low Power Distance dependence

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Uncertainty Avoidance
High U. A.
 High uncertainty avoidance
Greece
Japan • feel threatened by ambiguity
and uncertainty
Italy • value structured situations and
direct communication

USA  Low uncertainty avoidance

• tolerate ambiguity and
uncertainty
Singapore

Low U. A.
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Achievement-Nurturing
Achievement
 High achievement
Japan
orientation
• assertiveness
China • competitiveness
USA • materialism

France  High nurturing orientation

Chile • relationships
• others’ well-being
Sweden

Nurturing
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Cultural Diversity within the
United States

 Increasing surface-level diversity

• Also associated with some deep-level diversity
(e.g. racial differences in individualism)

 Regional differences in deep-level diversity

• e.g. openness to experience, neuroticism,
collectivism
• Regional variations likely caused by:
- local institutions (schools, religion)
- physical environment
- migration

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Individual Behavior,
Personality, and
Values