Chapter 2: Diversity

and Individual
Differences

1
Nature Versus Nurture
• Is someone’s personality “good” because
we have something in common with them
or “bad” because they ignore us?

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 NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

The Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Personality is a stable and unique pattern
of traits, characteristics, and resulting
behaviors that produce an individual’s
identity.

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 NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

The Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Personality traits are the characteristics
that describe our thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors.

Neck, Organizational Behavior. © SAGE Publications, 2017. 4

 Understanding Individual Differences
• The interactionist view of individual
differences suggests that heredity and the
environment both influence the development of
individual differences.
 Heredity consists of an individual’s gene pool,
gender, race, and ethnic background and has an
early influence on personality.
 Environmental influences such as physical
location, parents, culture, religion, education,
and friends also influence personality.
 Individual Characteristics
• Three major individual difference
characteristics can affect leadership style:
 Skills are acquired talents that a person
develops related to specific tasks.
 Abilities, also called aptitude, are natural
talents to do something mental or physical.
 Personality refers to a set of
psychological characteristics that make
each person unique.
 Skills and Abilities
• The skills that are most relevant to managers
are divided into three categories:
 technical- knowledge of the job processes,
methods, tools and techniques;
 Interpersonal - knowledge of interpersonal
relationships.
 Conceptual - knowledge of problem solving, etc.
• There tends to be a lag time between learning a
skill and translating it into actual behavior.
 Myers−Briggs Type Indicator and
the Four Temperaments
Figure 2.3
Myers-Briggs
Preferences

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 MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR AND THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS

Myers−Briggs Preferences
The four pairs of preferences:
• Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)
• Sensing (S) vs. Intuitive (N)
• Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
• Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)

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The Big Five Model
Table 2.2: The Big Five Model

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Other Personality
Attributes
Figure 2.4
Dimensions of
Personality

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 OTHER PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES

Locus of Control

• The extent to which people feel they have

influence over events.
– Internal vs external

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 OTHER PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES

Machiavellianism

• Machiavellianism is a term used to

describe people who manipulate others
and use unethical practices for personal
gain.

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 OTHER PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES

Self-Monitoring

The degree to which people adjust their

behavior to accommodate different
situations.

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 OTHER PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES

Proactive Personality

The extent to which individuals take the

initiative to change their circumstances.

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 OTHER PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES

Type A–Type B Orientation

Type A orientation
• competitive, impatient, aggressive, and
achievement-oriented.
Type B orientation
• relaxed, easy-going, more patient, and
less competitive.

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18

Type C–Type D Orientation

Type C Tendency to supress conflict with others by supressing your

own feelings

The research shows that they have a high propensity for

developing cancer

Type D Optimistic about temselves and their future. In the face of a

illness, they spend time trying to get better and not
complaining.

Social Inhibition
Neuroticism
 OTHER PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES

Risk-taking Propensity
• Risk-taking propensity is the tendency to
engage in behaviors that might have
positive or negative outcomes.
• Self- esteem

• Self-efficacy

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 The Importance of Values
• Personal values lie at the core of a
person’s behavior and play a significant
role in unifying one’s personality.
• Like personality, values are shaped early
in life and are resistant to change. They
are also heavily influenced by culture.
• Your values can therefore impact your
career choices.
 Types of Values
• Instrumental values prescribe desirable
conduct or methods for attaining an end such
as honesty, kindness, and hard work are
examples for instrumental values. We differ in
our level of value maturity, so different
instrumental values are held by individuals at
different stages of development.

• Terminal values are desired states or end

goal such as happiness, health, prosperity.
 Career Orientation
Schein described eight typical “career
anchors” :
• Technical/ functional • Entrepreneurial
competence creativity
• General manager • Service/dedication to
competence a cause
• Autonomy/independence • Pure challenge
• Security or stability • Lifestyle
 Technical/functional
General manager
competence
Autonomy/independence
Security or stability
Entrepreneurial creativity
Service/dedication to a
cause
Pure challenge
Lifestyle

Figure 3.5 Career Anchors