Lecture Three Notes

Chapter Three
Individual Differences
Chapter Overview .............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Learning Outcomes....................................................................................................... 2
Real-World Challenge: Individual Differences That Make a Difference at
Southwest Airlines ........................................................................................................ 2
Chapter Outline ............................................................................................................. 2
I. People in Organizations ...................................................................................... 2
II. Personality and Individual Behavior .............................................................. 5
III. Other Important Personality Traits ................................................................. 7
IV. Intelligence ..................................................................................................... 10
V. Learning Styles .............................................................................................. 14
Summary and Application .......................................................................................... 16
Discussion Questions................................................................................................. 16
Understand Yourself Exercise—Work Locus of Control ......................................... 17
Group Exercise—Strengths-Based Development .................................................... 18
Video Exercises ........................................................................................................... 19
Chapter Overview
Chapter 1 showed how managers strive to enhance performance behaviors, enhance commitment and
engagement, promote citizenship behaviors, and minimize dysfunctional behaviors by their employees.
Chapter 2 identified how various environmental factors—diversity, globalization, technology, ethics, and
new employment relationships—all impact organizational behavior (OB).
The text now turns to part two with a fundamental question underlying OB: Why do individuals do what
they do? Chapter 3 identifies and discusses critical individual characteristics that affect people’s
behaviors in organizations. The discussion of other important individual characteristics is continued in
Chapter 4. Core theories and concepts that drive employee motivation are introduced and discussed in
Chapter 5. Finally, in Chapter 6 we focus on how managers can implement motivation theories and
concepts.
In this chapter, we explore some of the key characteristics that differentiate people from one another in
organizations. We first introduce the essential nature of individual differences and how people “fit” as
individuals in organizations. We then look at personality frameworks that shed considerable light on
different personality profiles. Next, we examine other specific personality traits and discuss different
types of intelligence. We close this chapter with an examination of different styles for processing
information and learning.
© 2020 Cengage. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Explain the nature of individual differences, the concept of fit, and the role of realistic job previews.
2. Define personality and describe general personality frameworks and attributes that affect behavior
in organizations.
3. Identify and discuss other important personality traits that affect behavior in organizations.
4. Discuss different kinds of intelligence that affect behavior in organizations.
5. Describe different learning styles that influence how people process information and that affect
behavior in organizations.
Real-World Challenge: Individual Differences That Make a Difference at

Southwest Airlines
Summary: Fun and friendly customer service is essential to the success of Southwest Airlines’ business
strategy. Southwest believes it can train new hires on whatever they need to do, but it cannot change
employees’ inherent nature. To support its goals of hiring fun, creative, innovative employees, Southwest
Airlines looks for leadership and a sense of humor in the people it hires. The company looks for
empathetic people with other-oriented, outgoing personalities who work hard and have fun at the same
time.
Real-World Challenge: Southwest asks for your advice about how to better hire empathetic employees
with creativity and fun-loving characteristics who fit with the company’s unique culture. After reading
this chapter, you should have some good ideas.
Real-World Response: Job candidates do more than interview for a job; they audition—and the audition
begins the moment they request an application. Managers jot down anything memorable about the initial
conversation, both good and bad. Employees observe whether recruits are consistently friendly to the
crew and to other passengers or if they complain. Southwest’s hiring methods not only ensure that it hires
people whose personalities fit the culture, but who also help it execute its customer service strategy.
Chapter Outline
I. People in Organizations
A. Individual Differences
Individual differences are personal attributes that vary from one person to another. Individual
differences may be physical, psychological, and emotional.
Basic categories of individual differences include personality, intelligence, learning styles,

attitudes, values and emotions, perception, and stress.
Managers should also be aware of psychological contracts that exist between the organization
and its employees. In an ideal situation, then, understanding differences across people and
creating effective psychological contracts can help facilitate a good fit between people and the
organization.
B. The Concept of Fit
Being good at our job is important but is not enough—we need to fit with our organization and
workgroup as well. That is, there are actually different forms of fit. These different forms of fit
are summarized in Table 3.1.
1. Person-Job Fit
Person-job fit is the fit between a person’s abilities and the demands of the job and the fit
between a person’s desires and motivations and the attributes and rewards of a job.
Because job performance is usually the most important determinant of an employee’s

success, person-job fit is usually the primary focus of most staffing efforts.
It is important to consider not only the fit between an individual’s talents and the job
requirements, but also the fit between an individual’s motivations and the rewards offered
by the job.
Research suggests that person-job fit leads to higher job performance, satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and intent to stay with the company. Because people differ in
their personality and motivations as well as their skills, organizations must consider
individual differences beyond skills when making hiring decisions.
2. Person-Group Fit
Good person-group fit (or person-team fit) means that an individual fits with the
workgroup’s work styles, skills, and goals.
Person-group fit leads to improved job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intent
to stay with the company. Teamwork, communication, and interpersonal competencies can
be as critical in team-oriented organizations as team members’ ability to perform core job
duties.
3. Person-Organization Fit
Person-organization fit is the fit between an individual’s values, beliefs, and personality
and the values, norms, and culture of the organization.
The strength of this fit influences important organizational outcomes including job
performance, retention, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.
Organizational values and norms that are important for person-organization fit include
integrity, fairness, work ethic, competitiveness, cooperativeness, and compassion for fellow
employees and customers.
Research suggests that people may experience differing degrees of fit with the job and with
the organization. Essentially, it is possible to like what you do but not where you do it or to
like where you work but not what you do there.
So how can you maximize person-organization fit? A good place to start is to identify those
qualifications, competencies, and traits that relate to the organization’s strategy, values, and
processes and hire people with those characteristics.
Employees must be able and willing to adapt to a company by learning, negotiating,

enacting, and maintaining the behaviors appropriate to the company’s environment.
Of course, hiring for any type of fit does not mean simply hiring those with whom we are
most comfortable, which can lead to dysfunctional stereotyping and discrimination against
people who may actually contribute a great deal to the company’s success.
4. Person-Vocation Fit
Person-vocation fit is the fit between a person’s interests, abilities, values, and personality
and a profession. Our adjustment and satisfaction are greater when our occupation meets
our needs.
Although individuals usually choose a vocation long before applying to an organization,

understanding person-vocation fit can still be useful to organizations and managers.
Companies wanting to develop their own future leaders, or smaller organizations that need
employees to fill multiple roles, may be able to use vocational interests in determining
whether job applicants would be a good fit with the organization’s future needs.
C. Realistic Job Previews
Realistic job previews (RJPs) involve the presentation of both positive and potentially negative
information to job candidates.
The goal is not to deter candidates, but rather to provide accurate information about the job and
organization and build trust.
If a common reason for employees leaving an organization is that the job is not what they
expected, this is a good sign that the recruiting message can be improved.
Given the relatively low cost associated with their development, RJPs may be useful for
organizations trying to reduce turnover rates for jobs that departing employees say were not
what they expected when they accepted job offers.
II. Personality and Individual Behavior
Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from
another.
Managers should strive to understand basic personality attributes and how they can affect people’s
behavior and fit in organizational situations, not to mention their perceptions of and attitudes
toward the organization.
A. The “Big Five” Framework
Researchers have identified five fundamental personality traits that are especially relevant to
organizations. These traits, illustrated in Figure 3.1, are now commonly called the “Big Five”
personality traits.
The personality of any given person can fall anywhere along each of these five traits.
Agreeableness refers to a person’s ability to get along with others.
It seems likely that highly agreeable people are better at developing good working relationships
with coworkers, subordinates, and higher-level managers, whereas less agreeable people are not
likely to have particularly good working relationships. The same pattern might extend to
relationships with customers, suppliers, and other key organizational constituents.
Conscientiousness refers to the extent to which a person can be counted on to get things done.
In general, research suggests that being strong on conscientiousness is often a good predictor of
job performance for many jobs.
The third of the Big Five personality dimensions is neuroticism. People who are relatively
more neurotic tend to experience unpleasant emotions such as anger, anxiety, depression, and
feelings of vulnerability more often than do people who are relatively less neurotic.
People with less neuroticism might be expected to better handle job stress, pressure, and
tension. Their stability might also lead them to be seen as being more reliable than their less
stable counterparts.
Extraversion reflects a person’s comfort level with relationships.
Research suggests that extroverts tend to be higher overall job performers than introverts and
that they are more likely to be attracted to jobs based on personal relationships, such as sales
and marketing positions.
For this particular trait, the opposite version is also given a name—introversion. An introvert
tends to be less comfortable in social situations.
Finally, openness reflects a person’s rigidity of beliefs and range of interests.
People with more openness might be expected to be better performers due to their flexibility
and the likelihood that they will be better accepted by others in the organization. Openness may
also encompass a person’s willingness to accept change; people with high levels of openness
may be more receptive to change, whereas people with little openness may resist change.
The potential value of the Big Five framework is that it encompasses an integrated set of traits
that appear to be valid predictors of certain behaviors in certain situations. Thus, managers who
can both understand the framework and assess these traits in their employees are in a good
position to understand how and why they behave as they do.
On the other hand, managers must be careful to not overestimate their ability to assess the Big
Five traits in others. There are also times when using more specific personality traits to predict
outcomes such as turnover or performance are more useful than the more general Big Five traits
because the more specific trait more directly influences the intended outcome.
Another limitation of the Big Five framework is that it is primarily based on research conducted
in the United States. Thus, generalizing it to other cultures (or even within the United States)
presents unanswered questions.
B. The Myers-Briggs Framework
The Myers-Briggs framework is also a popular framework that some people use to characterize
personality. Many people know of this framework through a widely used questionnaire called
the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI.
The MBTI was based on Carl Jung’s work and first developed by Isabel Briggs Myers (1897–
1979) and her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs, to help people understand themselves and each
other so that they could find work that matches their personality.
The MBTI uses four scales with opposite poles to assess four sets of preferences. The four
scales are:
1. Extroversion (E)/Introversion (I): Extroverts are energized by things and people. Their
motto is “ready, fire, aim.” Introverts find energy in ideas, concepts, and abstractions. They
are reflective thinkers whose motto is “ready, aim, aim.”
2. Sensing (S)/Intuition (N): Sensing people are detail oriented. They want and trust facts.
Intuitive people seek out patterns and relationships among the facts they have learned. They
trust their intuition and look for the “big picture.”
3. Thinking (T)/Feeling (F): Thinkers value fairness and decide things impersonally based on
objective criteria and logic. Feelers value harmony and focus on human values and needs as
they make decisions or judgments.
4. Judging (J)/Perceiving (P): Judging people are decisive and tend to plan. They develop
plans and follow them, adhering to deadlines. Perceptive people are adaptable,
spontaneous, and curious. They start many tasks and often find it difficult to complete
them. Deadlines are meant to be stretched.
The possible combinations of these preferences result in sixteen personality types, which are
identified by the four letters that represent one’s tendencies on the four scales. For example,
ENTJ reflects extraversion, intuition, thinking, and judging.
Although the framework and Myers-Briggs instrument were not developed or intended to be
used to identify personality profiles and label people, too often this is what is done with the
results. This is problematic as it can lead to discrimination and poor career counseling.
Jung said, “The classification of individuals means nothing, nothing at all.” Nonetheless, the
MBTI has become so popular that it is likely that you will encounter it during your career. It
can be a fun team-building tool for illustrating some of the ways that people differ, but it should
not be used in making organizational decisions including hiring and promotions.
III. Other Important Personality Traits
A. Locus of Control
Locus of control is the extent to which people believe that their behavior has a real effect on
what happens to them.
Some people, for example, believe that if they work hard they will succeed. They may also
believe that people who fail do so because they lack ability or motivation. People who believe
that individuals are in control of their lives are said to have an internal locus of control.
Other people think that fate, chance, luck, or other people’s behavior determines what happens
to them. People who think that forces beyond their control dictate what happens to them are
said to have an external locus of control.
B. Authoritarianism
Another important personality characteristic is authoritarianism, the extent to which a person

believes that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social systems
such as organizations.
A person who is highly authoritarian may accept directives or orders from someone with more
authority purely because the other person is “the boss.”
On the other hand, a person who is not highly authoritarian, although she or he may still carry
out reasonable directives from the boss, is more likely to question things, express disagreement
with the boss, and even refuse to carry out orders if they are for some reason objectionable.
C. Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism is another important personality trait. The term “Machiavellianism” is used

to describe behavior directed at gaining power and controlling the behavior of others.
More Machiavellian individuals tend to be rational and unemotional, may be willing to lie to
attain their personal goals, put little emphasis on loyalty and friendship, and enjoy manipulating
others’ behavior.
Less Machiavellian individuals are more emotional, less willing to lie to succeed, value loyalty
and friendship highly, and get little personal pleasure from manipulating others.
D. Tolerance for Risk and Ambiguity
Two other closely related traits are tolerance for risk and tolerance for ambiguity.
Tolerance for risk (also called risk propensity) is the degree to which a person is comfortable
accepting risk and is willing to take chances and to make risky decisions.
A manager with a high tolerance for risk might lead the organization in new and different
directions.
A manager with low tolerance for risk might lead an organization to stagnation and excessive
conservatism or might help the organization successfully weather turbulent and unpredictable
times by maintaining stability and calm.
Tolerance for ambiguity reflects the tendency to view ambiguous situations as either
threatening or desirable.
Intolerance for ambiguity reflects a tendency to perceive or interpret vague, incomplete, or

fragmented information or information with multiple, inconsistent, or contradictory meanings
as an actual or potential source of psychological discomfort or threat.
Being tolerant of ambiguity is related to creativity, positive attitudes toward risk, and
orientation to diversity.
The best managerial strategy is to place individuals with a low tolerance for ambiguity in well-
defined and regulated tasks.
E. Type A and B Traits
The Type A personality is impatient, competitive, ambitious, and uptight. The Type B
personality is more relaxed and easygoing and less overtly competitive than Type A.
Although Type As often have higher job performance than Type Bs, Type As are also more
prone to stress and coronary heart disease.
As shown in Figure 3.2, Type A and B profiles reflect extremes with most people simply
tending toward one or the other.
Understanding the personality type of your coworkers and boss can help you to better
understand and manage this potential source of work conflicts. Recognizing your personality
type can help you to identify work situations that are good fits for you.
F. The Bullying Personality
Workplace bullying is a repeated mistreatment of another employee through verbal abuse;

conduct that is threatening, humiliating, or intimidating; or sabotage that interferes with the
other person’s work.
Bullying costs employers through higher turnover, greater absenteeism, higher workers’
compensation costs, and higher disability insurance rates, not to mention a diminished
reputation as a desirable place to work.
Who tends to become a bully? Bullying is complex and comes in a variety of forms, but
common to all types is the abuse of authority and power, stemming from the bully’s need to
control another person.
High Machiavellians manipulate and exploit others to advance their personal agendas, which is
the foundation of bullying.
Although there is no clear personality profile that predicts who will be targeted, people who are
more introverted, less agreeable, less conscientious, less open to experience, and more
emotionally unstable seem to be more likely to be bullied.
G. Role of the Situation
The relationship between personality and behavior changes depending on the strength of the
situation we are in.
Strong organizational cultures might decrease the influence of personality on employee

behaviors by creating clear guidelines for employee behavior. Weaker organizational cultures
might allow greater individual employee expression, resulting in a wider variety of employee
behaviors.
Global Issues: How Others See Americans

Summary: This chapter’s Global Issues feature is from a Newsweek survey reporting the characteristics
foreigners most and least often associate with them. It may give you some insight into how you might be
perceived differently in different parts of the world.
IV. Intelligence
There are many types of intelligence, or mental abilities, including general mental ability,
information processing capacity, verbal ability, and emotional intelligence.
A. General Mental Ability
General mental ability is the capacity to rapidly and fluidly acquire, process, and apply
information.
It involves reasoning, remembering, understanding, and problem solving. It is associated with

the increased ability to acquire, process, and synthesize information and has been defined
simply as the ability to learn.
The strong association between measures of general mental ability and performance in a wide
variety of task domains is one of the most consistent findings in the field of OB.
Research has supported the idea that mental ability is most important in complex jobs, when
individuals are new to the job, and when there are changes in the workplace that require
workers to learn new ways of performing their jobs.
Information processing capacity involves the manner in which individuals process and
organize information.
Information processing capacity also helps explain differences between experts and novices on
task learning and performance, as experts process and organize information more efficiently
and accurately than novices. General mental ability influences information processing capacity.
Age also explains differences in information processing capacity.
Mental ability tests typically use computerized or paper-and-pencil test formats to assess
general mental abilities, including verbal or mathematical reasoning, logic, and perceptual
abilities.
Despite being easy to use and one of the most valid selection methods for all jobs, mental
ability tests produce racial differences that are three to five times larger than other methods that
are also valid predictors of job performance such as structured interviews.
Because hiring discrimination can be legally problematic when using mental ability tests, it is
best to evaluate the effect of mental ability tests on protected groups before using them on job
candidates.
B. Multiple Intelligences
Increasingly, researchers and scholars are realizing that there is more than one way to be smart.
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences suggests that there are a number of distinct forms of
intelligence that each individual possesses in varying degrees:
1. Linguistic: words and language

2. Logical–mathematical: logic and numbers
3. Musical: music, rhythm, and sound
4. Bodily–kinesthetic: body movement and control
5. Spatial–visual: images and space
6. Interpersonal: other people’s feelings
7. Intrapersonal: self-awareness
The different intelligences represent not only different content domains but also learning
preferences. The theory suggests that assessment of abilities should measure all forms of
intelligence, not just linguistic and logical–mathematical, as is commonly done.
According to this theory, learning and teaching should focus on the particular intelligences of
each person. The theory also emphasizes the cultural context of multiple intelligences.
Knowing your strongest areas of intelligence can guide you to the most appropriate job and
learning environments to enable you to achieve your potential.
As a manager, it is possible to develop the same skills in different ways for different
subordinates. Using a person’s preferred learning style helps to make learning easy and
enjoyable.
C. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EI) is an interpersonal capability that includes the ability to perceive
and express emotions, to understand and use them, and to manage emotions in oneself and
other people.
Expert Daniel Goleman describes five dimensions of EI that include three personal
competencies (self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation) and two social competencies
(empathy and social skills).
EI involves using emotional regulatory processes to control anxiety and other negative
emotional reactions and to generate positive emotional reactions.
The five dimensions comprising EI are:
1. Self-awareness: being aware of what you are feeling

2. Self-motivation: persisting in the face of obstacles, setbacks, and failures
3. Self-management: managing your own emotions and impulses
4. Empathy: sensing how others are feeling
5. Social skills: effectively handling the emotions of others
People differ in the degree to which they are able to recognize the emotional meaning of others’
facial expressions, although seven universal emotions are expressed in the face in exactly the
same way regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, age, gender, or religion. These emotions are joy,
sadness, fear, surprise, anger, contempt, and disgust.
There is some evidence that components of EI are malleable skills that can be developed,
including facial expression recognition.
The ability to understand what others think and feel, know how to appropriately persuade and
motivate them, and know how to resolve conflicts and forge cooperation are some of the most
important skills of successful managers.
There is also controversy associated with the concepts of EI.
Some have argued that its theoretical conceptualization is overly inclusive, lacks specificity,
and encompasses both static trait components and malleable state components. It is not clear if
it is simply a learned skill or an innate capability.
Several researchers have also argued that EI is simply a surrogate for general intelligence and
well-established personality traits.
However, a number of studies have supported the usefulness of EI.
EI has been found to be related to, and yet distinct from, personality dimensions, and various
measures of EI provided incremental predictive power regarding life satisfaction and job
performance, even after controlling for Big Five personality dimensions.
Case Study: Emotional Intelligence at FedEx
Summary: Global shipping company FedEx has a “people first” philosophy and believes that for the
company to deliver world-class customer service its managers must also have an attitude of service in
managing their associates. FedEx recognizes that leadership has grown more complex and wants to
develop leadership capabilities in its managers to manage its changing workforce. FedEx decided to
increase its focus on EI in its leadership development training. The EI training and coaching program
focused on showing managers how to manage themselves first and take charge of their own emotions and
behaviors so that they can be effective influencers and role models.
1. Do you think that EI would be important for a manager at FedEx to have? Explain your
answer?
The definition for EI in the text is an interpersonal capability that includes the ability to perceive and
express emotions, to understand and use them, and to manage emotions in oneself and other people.
FedEx increased its focus on EI in its leadership development training because the company has a
“people first” philosophy and believes to deliver world-class customer service; its managers must also
have an attitude of service in managing their associates. EI would be an important skill for success as
a manager at FedEx.
2. How does FedEx develop its new leaders’ EI?
FedEx keeps a running measurement of leadership performance with an annual survey where all
employees provide feedback about their managers. The survey’s themes include fairness, respect,
listening, and trust. FedEx increased its focus on EI in its leadership development training. The
training consists of a five-day course and six-month follow-up coaching process that identifies new
managers’ strengths and gives them specific EI competencies to improve on.
3. What else do you think that FedEx can do to enhance its managers’ EI?
The majority of leaders receiving the leadership development training showed large improvements in
relationships, influence, and decision making as a result of their improved empathy, emotional
literacy, and ability to navigate emotions. FedEx has been extremely pleased with the success of the
EI development program, training over 100 facilitators to run the program and coach new leaders
worldwide. The program’s success could be enhanced by offering the same content in different
learning styles.
V. Learning Styles
Learning style refers to individual differences and preferences in how we process information when
problem solving, learning, or engaging in similar activities.
There are numerous typologies, measures, and models that capture these differences and
preferences.
A. Sensory Modalities
One approach addresses our preference for sensory modality. A sensory modality is a system
that interacts with the environment through one of the basic senses.
The most important sensory modalities are:
 Visual: learning by seeing
 Auditory: learning by hearing
 Tactile: learning by touching
 Kinesthetic: learning by doing
According to researchers, about 20–30 percent of American students are auditory; about 40
percent are visual; and the remaining 30–40 percent are either tactile/kinesthetic, visual/tactile,
or some combinations of the above major senses.
B. Learning Style Inventory
A second approach to understanding learning styles, the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, is one
of the more dominant approaches to categorizing cognitive styles.
David Kolb suggests that there are four basic learning styles:
1. Convergers: depend primarily on active experimentation and abstract conceptualization to

learn. People with this style are superior in technical tasks and problems and inferior in
interpersonal learning settings.
2. Divergers: depend primarily on concrete experience and reflective observation. People with
this style tend to organize concrete situations from different perspectives and structure their
relationships into a meaningful whole. They are superior in generating alternative
hypotheses and ideas and tend to be imaginative and people- or feeling-oriented.
3. Assimilators: depend on abstract conceptualization and reflective observation. These
individuals tend to be more concerned about abstract concepts and ideas than about people.
They also tend to focus on the logical soundness and preciseness of ideas, rather than the
ideas’ practical values; they tend to work in research and planning units.
4. Accommodators: rely mainly on active experimentation and concrete experience and focus
on risk taking, opportunity seeking, and action. Accommodators tend to deal with people
easily and specialize in action-oriented jobs, such as marketing and sales.
There are many differences in how styles are conceptualized, and there have been numerous
criticisms of Kolb’s measures and the underlying theory.
These measures are subject to a variety of statistical and inferential problems, and many show
low reliability.
Most of the research has also focused on children—less work has focused on how the styles
influence adult learning.
Despite these limitations, evidence suggests that cognitive and learning styles may be important
for understanding human behavior and performance in a variety of contexts.
C. Learning Style Orientations
Finally, Annette Towler and Robert Dipboye developed a learning style orientation measure to
address some of the limitations of the Kolb inventory and identify key styles and preferences
for learning.
They identified five key factors:
1. Discovery learning: an inclination for exploration during learning. Discovery learners
prefer subjective assessments, interactional activities, informational methods, and active-
reflective activities.
2. Experiential learning: a desire for hands-on approaches to instruction. Experiential learning
is positively related to a preference for action activities.
3. Observational learning: a preference for external stimuli such as demonstrations and
diagrams to help facilitate learning. Observational learning is positively related to
preference for informational methods and active-reflective methods.
4. Structured learning: a preference for processing strategies such as taking notes, writing
down task steps, and so forth. Structured learning is related to preferences for subjective
assessments.
5. Group learning: a preference to work with others while learning. Group learning is related
to preferences for action and interactional learning.
Summary and Application

Understanding individuals in organizations is important for all managers. A basic framework for
facilitating this understanding is the psychological contract—people’s expectations regarding what they
will contribute to the organization and what they will get in return. Organizations strive to achieve an
optimal person-job fit, but this process is complicated by the existence of individual differences.
Personalities are the relatively stable sets of psychological and behavioral attributes that distinguish one
person from another. The Big Five personality traits are agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism,
extraversion, and openness. Myers-Briggs dimensions and EI also offer insights into personalities in
organizations. Other important personality traits are locus of control, self-efficacy, authoritarianism,
Machiavellianism, tolerance for risk and ambiguity, Type A and Type B traits, and tendencies to bully.
Learning styles, or individual differences and preferences in how we process information when problem
solving, learning, or engaging in similar activities, are also important individual differences and
preferences, and there are numerous typologies, measures, and models that capture them.
Everyone is different. We each have different personalities, demographics, and intelligences. By

understanding the characteristics of your coworkers, managers, and subordinates, you will be best able to
choose the OB tool or management style that will be most effective. Remember that flexibility is the key
to effective management. We next continue our discussion of other important individual differences that
affect OB in Chapter 4. Among the major topics we will cover in that chapter are attitudes, values,
emotions, perceptions, and stress.
Discussion Questions
1. What is a psychological contract? Why is it important? What psychological contracts do you
currently have?
A psychological contract is the overall set of expectations held by an individual with respect to what
he or she will contribute to the organization and what the organization, in return, will provide to the
individual. It is important because it is the framework within which an employee does her or his job.
It sets up the expectations that both the employee and the organization have for their relationship.
Students may have psychological contracts where they work, with service clubs, and with social
organizations.
2. What individual differences do you feel are most important to organizations? Why?
The individual differences that are most important in organizations are emotional stability, because it
is associated with not being anxious, depressed, angry, anxious, and insecure, and conscientiousness,
because it is associated with being careful, thorough, responsible, organized, as well as being
hardworking, achievement-oriented, and persistent. Being agreeable is also beneficial because highly
agreeable people are better at developing good working relationships with coworkers, subordinates,
and higher-level managers. These qualities correlate positively with performance motivation.
3. If you were denied a job because of your score on a personality test, what would be your
reaction?
Students may say they would think that the test was flawed because they have emotional stability,
conscientiousness, and agreeableness, the qualities most suited for success in the workplace.
4. If your supervisor exhibited bullying behaviors, what would you do?
Students could follow the suggestions offered in the Improve Your Skills feature. For example, if the
supervisor was a control freak, the students would avoid direct suggestions, let him or her think new
ideas are his or her own, not criticize him or her, build a relationship with a mentor, and document
work. If the situation became too stressful, students could suggest a person could transfer or leave,
after filing a complaint.
5. Which of Gardner’s multiple intelligences do you feel are most important for managers?
Answers will vary. Some may think linguistic intelligence is the most important form of intelligence
for managers because they have to communicate their vision effectively to the employees and
motivate them to carry out the organization’s goals and strategies.
6. Do you think EI is important to managers? How would you assess EI in deciding who to
promote to a managerial position?
EI is important to managers because as Daniel Goleman explains, EI is “the capacity for recognizing
our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in
ourselves and in our relationships.” The five dimensions of EI (self-awareness, self-motivation, self-
management, empathy, and social skills) make the difference between strong and weak managers. I
would assess EI of an employee by observing workplace behavior, which would serve as a basis for a
promotion to a managerial position.
7. If you were a manager, what individual differences would be important to you in hiring an
assistant? Why?
Students’ answers will vary here. Some may say they would hire someone with EI and
conscientiousness because these individual differences have shown to correlate positively with
motivation at work.
Understand Yourself Exercise—Work Locus of Control

1. Do you think that your score accurately reflects your locus of control at work? Why or why
not?
If students are not currently working outside of attending school or they have limited work
experience in any kind of multilevel environment (i.e., anything other than being an
entrepreneur), they might struggle with this question. If necessary, encourage them to think of
school-related examples.
2. How do you think the work locus of control might influence your effectiveness as a
manager?
A manager with an external locus of control is more likely to believe that whatever happens to
them is caused by forces beyond their control. This could be seen by the manager’s supervisors as
abdicating responsibility if the manager attempts to place blame for poor performance on those
forces. It could also negatively affect the manager’s reputation even when the manager
experiences success, because the success could be attributed to those forces, such as subordinates,
as well.
A manager with an internal locus of control is more likely to take responsibility for both
successes and failures, which can be viewed favorably by supervisors. However, it might hamper
the manager’s ability to understand or empathize with the subordinates they manage. The
manager might have an attitude that everyone should be able to succeed since the manager
presumably has.
3. What do you think is the ideal locus of control in a work setting and why?
Students will likely answer that a mix of external and internal is ideal as it would allow managers
to empathize with subordinates while taking responsibility for them and any successes and
failures the group/company experiences. It would also allow managers to attribute successes to
those who contributed to them.
4. What might you do in the next year to make your work locus of control consistent with your
answer to question 3?
If students answered that a mix is ideal, then they will need to determine where their locus
actually is and answer the question from that point.
Group Exercise—Strengths-Based Development

Learning Objective: This exercise incorporates many ideas contained in this chapter with the main point
reinforcing the fact that each individual is different. Intelligence is a related concept in this situation as is
identifying other personality traits present when deciding the co-op’s course of action.
Summary: When drought threatened the survival of Ohio farming co-op Auglaize Provico, CEO Larry
Hammond realized that he would have to change the business model. Hammond then implemented
strengths-based development to leverage the unique strengths and talents of each employee. The strengths
approach recognizes that everyone has different talents and natural patterns of thought, feeling, and
behavior. Recognizing and building on those talents with pertinent skills and knowledge creates strengths.
Auglaize’s management had previously used a “deficit” development approach, spending a lot of time
identifying employees’ weaknesses and trying to correct them. This meant that a lot of Auglaize’s
management was relatively negative. Hammond wanted to change that approach.
Every employee in the co-op took an assessment to measure and identify his or her top five talents and
received at least two consultations on their individual strengths. This enabled Auglaize to build on what
its employees naturally do best. Employees became more engaged, productive, and energized, and the
organization became more successful.
Task: Groups of three to five can answer the following questions and then present their answers in a class
discussion or simply discuss the questions as a class.
1. Do you think it is better to focus on assessing and developing employees’ weaknesses or to focus
on their strengths? Why?
Students mostly will answer that focusing on strengths is better. The idea that workers should “fix”
their weaknesses is common, but it can be problematic because attempts to fix weaknesses take time,
attention, and energy away from maximizing naturally powerful talents.
2. Why would strengths-based development increase employee engagement?
Answers will vary, but there should be a reference to the statement in the fact that employees enjoy
using their talents and doing something well instead of struggling against their weaknesses to produce
mediocre work.
3. If you were a manager, how might you interact with employees differently if you were using
strengths-based development rather than deficit-based development?
Answers will vary widely, but the strengths-based approach will contain positive actions while the
deficit-based approach focuses on fixing weaknesses.
Video Exercises
Videos and questions can be found in the eBook and MindTap video folder.
Barcelona Restaurant Group
Summary: Barcelona Restaurant Group is always trying to attract and retain only those employees who
reinforce its service-oriented culture and provide top-quality customer service. The manager being
interviewed in the video is constantly recruiting and hiring new employees and letting low performers and
poor fits go. He also tries to provide job candidates with a realistic description of the company’s
expectations to ensure that they know what they would be getting into if they took a job with the
company.
Task: As a class, watch “Barcelona” (6:04) and then individually consider the following questions. After
students have come up with their own ideas, form groups of four to five people to discuss their insights.
Be sure to have each group nominate someone to serve as a spokesperson to share their ideas with the
class.
1. How does the Barcelona Restaurant Group focus on fit? What types of fit does Barcelona try to
optimize when hiring?
Barcelona focuses on fit by attempting to hire employees who already possess the right
qualities rather than attempting to train those qualities into their existing employees.
Barcelona seeks employees who are happy and exude a positive attitude to customers.
Prospective employees who have these qualities exhibit person-organization fit: the fit
between an employee and the philosophies of the organization. At the same time, person-job
fit—the fit between an employee and his or her position within the organization—is also
crucial, as Barcelona managers aren’t shy about firing underperforming employees.
2. How does sending managerial candidates on a $100 “Shop” serve as an RJP? Explain why you
think this would or would not be effective in helping job candidates assess their fit with the
Barcelona Restaurant Group.
The “Shop” is an assignment in which prospective employees must spend $100 at a

Barcelona restaurant or two and write an essay about the experience. The purpose of an RJP
is to present both positive and potentially negative information to job candidates in order to
provide accurate information, build trust, and (perhaps most crucially) reduce turnover from
employees who quit the job because it wasn’t what they expected. The “Shop” experience
demonstrates to the prospective employee the level of customer service that will be expected
of them should they accept a job with Barcelona. There can be no better way of conveying
the nature of a job than to allow the prospective employee to witness it first hand, so the
“Shop” appears to be an effective method.
3. Besides the “Shop,” how else does Barcelona try to maximize employee fit? What other
suggestions do you have for the company to improve new hires’ fit with the job and
organization?
After the “Shop,” Barcelona attempts to maximize employee fit by asking prospective
employees to pretend that they have been working for the restaurant for six months and take
a tour of duty as a floor manager. This exercise gives the employer a clear picture of who
they’re going to get if they close the deal on the hire.
The second part of this question is open-ended, so accept a diversity of answers from
students provided there is sufficient justification. In this author’s humble opinion, one way to
promote employee fit at Barcelona would be to have all prospective new hires watch this
video. Not many people would want to work for an employer who appears to be proud of
having 60 to 70 percent turnover in the elusive pursuit of ever-better employees, but the kind
of person who would relish the challenge would probably be a great fit for Barcelona.
Now What?
While waiting for a phone call with two subordinates, imagine that another subordinate walks into the
room and has a loud, frustrated outburst after being unable to find something. The other employees in the
room clearly feel uncomfortable as a result of this behavior. What do you say or do? Go to this chapter’s
“Now What?” video, watch the challenge video, and choose a response. Be sure to also view the
outcomes of the two responses you didn’t choose.
Discussion Questions
1. Which aspects of management and OB discussed in this chapter are illustrated in these videos?
Explain your answer.
Management concepts: The ability to understand what others think and feel, knowing how to
appropriately persuade and motivate them, and knowing how to resolve conflicts and forge
cooperation are important skills for successful managers.
Organizational behavior concepts: personality; emotional stability; individual differences; emotional

intelligence
 Personality/emotional stability: The Big Five is one of the more established personality
frameworks. One personality dimension is emotional stability, associated with not being anxious
and angry. Ken exemplifies the opposite trait, which is neuroticism. When Ken was transferred to
curb his disruptive behavior (incorrect response #2), there was nothing but complaints about
Ken’s emotional control, and the team’s performance dropped because of the distraction.
 Individual differences: Type A personalities like Ken are impatient and uptight. By understanding
Ken’s personality type, Alex could handle a potential source of work conflict (correct response).
As Alex explains to Ken, “I hope that you are open to letting me coach you or attending an
emotion management seminar to learn strategies for coping with your emotions more
constructively.” High Type As need greater stimulation and over schedule themselves. Ken says,
“I care about my work, and I just get frustrated because I care!”
 Emotional intelligence: EI includes self-awareness and self-management, managing one’s own

emotions and impulses. When Ken can’t find something, he walks into the back of the room and
has a mini tantrum. Ken has low level of EI. He is unaware that his outbursts are inappropriate in
the workplace, and he lacks self-control. Ken agreed to get coaching because he didn’t realize
how he was coming across. As Ken explained, “If I get frustrated I know I show it, but that’s only
natural.”
2. Which do you feel is more important at work, an employee’s behavior or performance? Why?
An employee’s behavior and performance are both important at work because behavior affects
performance. Negative emotions, such as anxiety or frustration, result in diminished learning and
performance. Ken’s lack of emotional control caused his team’s performance to drop. Allowing Ken’s
negative behavior to continue (incorrect response #1) led to negative responses in the other
employees. They felt upset and worried. As Mary explained, “I think I have to quit before he hurts
someone...”
Research has shown that conscientiousness is positively related to performance and that emotionally
stable, agreeable, and conscientious people set higher goals. Following his coaching sessions with
Alex, Ken started to get frustrated when Mary’s design was chosen but caught himself and got his
behavior under control. “I spent a lot of time on my design. Mary’s is also good... We’re a team and
this is what’s best for all of us!”
3. As a manager, what else might you do to effectively handle this situation?
The manager should continue to develop a strong organizational culture that is supportive of
employees. Strong organizational cultures decrease the influence of personality on employee
behaviors by creating clear guidelines for employee behavior. Evidence shows that components of EI
can be developed. As a manager, it is important to make every effort to develop EI in Ken and in the
other employees. Also, as part of the hiring process, the manager could ask job candidates to take the
MBTI, a personality inventory. In this way, the manager would help prospective employees
understand themselves and match their jobs to their personalities.

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Chapter Three

Real-World Challenge: Individual Differences That Make a Difference at

Basic categories of individual differences include personality, intelligence, learning styles,

B. The Concept of Fit

Because job performance is usually the most important determinant of an employee’s

Employees must be able and willing to adapt to a company by learning, negotiating,

Although individuals usually choose a vocation long before applying to an organization,

C. Realistic Job Previews

II. Personality and Individual Behavior

A. The “Big Five” Framework

Agreeableness refers to a person’s ability to get along with others.

Extraversion reflects a person’s comfort level with relationships.

Finally, openness reflects a person’s rigidity of beliefs and range of interests.

B. The Myers-Briggs Framework

III. Other Important Personality Traits

Another important personality characteristic is authoritarianism, the extent to which a person

Machiavellianism is another important personality trait. The term “Machiavellianism” is used

D. Tolerance for Risk and Ambiguity

Intolerance for ambiguity reflects a tendency to perceive or interpret vague, incomplete, or

E. Type A and B Traits

Workplace bullying is a repeated mistreatment of another employee through verbal abuse;

G. Role of the Situation

Strong organizational cultures might decrease the influence of personality on employee

Global Issues: How Others See Americans

A. General Mental Ability

It involves reasoning, remembering, understanding, and problem solving. It is associated with

1. Linguistic: words and language

The five dimensions comprising EI are:

1. Self-awareness: being aware of what you are feeling

There is also controversy associated with the concepts of EI.

However, a number of studies have supported the usefulness of EI.

2. How does FedEx develop its new leaders’ EI?

The most important sensory modalities are:

B. Learning Style Inventory

1. Convergers: depend primarily on active experimentation and abstract conceptualization to

C. Learning Style Orientations

They identified five key factors:

Summary and Application

Everyone is different. We each have different personalities, demographics, and intelligences. By

4. If your supervisor exhibited bullying behaviors, what would you do?

Understand Yourself Exercise—Work Locus of Control

Group Exercise—Strengths-Based Development

2. Why would strengths-based development increase employee engagement?

Barcelona Restaurant Group

The “Shop” is an assignment in which prospective employees must spend $100 at a

Organizational behavior concepts: personality; emotional stability; individual differences; emotional

 Emotional intelligence: EI includes self-awareness and self-management, managing one’s own

3. As a manager, what else might you do to effectively handle this situation?

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