Ray French

Charlotte Raynor
Gary Rees
Sally Rumbles
John Schermerhorn
James G. Hunt
Richard N. Osborn

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 Chapter 2

Perception, Personality and Values

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 Learning Objectives

1.Explain the importance of individual attributes

within the performance equation.
2.Comprehend the perceptual process and its
importance in determining workplace attitudes
and behaviour.
3.Discuss personality characteristics that
distinguish individuals.
4.Define and understand the nature of values and
attitudes and their importance within
organizational behaviour (OB).
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 Tributes to a Global Icon

• The aftermath of Nelson Mandela’s death

showed the importance of the sometimes
diverse perceptions of him (so perception as a
topic area)
• Personality is also a key element in ‘explaining’
Mandela
• Nelson Mandela was very much values-driven
– before an age of emptiness and narcissism?

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 Individual Behaviour Equation

Job performance = individual  work  organizational

attributes effort support
(capacity (willingness (opportunity
to perform) to perform) to perform)

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 Individual Behaviour Factors

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Source: Adapted from Melvin Bloomberg and Charles D. Pringle (1982) The Missing Opportunity in Organizational
www.wiley.com/college/french Research: Source implications for a theory of work performance. Academy of Management Review, 7, Figure 1, p565. 6
 Individual Behaviour Factors

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 The Perceptual Process
Factors:
• Perceiver
• experience
• needs
• values
• attitudes
• Setting
• physical
• social
• organizational
• Perceived
• Intensity
• Size
• Motion
• repetition
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 The Perceptual Process

Perception is how we…

Select Organize Interpret Retrieve

…information from the environment

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 Stages in the Perceptual Process

• Attention and selection

• Organization…possibly via schemas

• Interpretation

• Retrieval

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 The Importance of
Cultural Background
What meaning do you give to this image?

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 Errors in Perceiving Other People
and Situations
• Halo/rusty halo effect

• Selective perception

• Projection

• Contrast effect

• Self-fulfilling prophecies

• Fundamental attribution error

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 And Last But Not Least…
Stereotyping
• Perceptions about age and performance

• Perceptions about gender and performance

• Perceptions about ethnicity and performance

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 Competency Differences
Among Individuals
• Aptitude and ability

• Cognitive abilities

• Physical abilities

• Emotional competence

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 Personality Differences
Among Individuals
• Personality determinants

• Heredity

• Psychodynamic theory

• Nomothetic or idiographic?

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 Personality Traits
(A Nomothetic Preoccupation)
• Openness to experience

• Conscientiousness

• Extroversion/introversion

• Agreeableness

• Emotional stability
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 A Useful Alternative

The idiographic approach emphasis:

• Individual uniqueness

• Self-image

• Change and flux in personality and role

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 Individual Differences and
Workplace Diversity
• Diversity management

• Workplace benefits

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 Capitalising on Workplace Diversity

• Diversity management

• Workplace benefits

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 Capitalising on Workplace Diversity

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 Values

• Our broad preferences concerning courses of

action and/or outcomes

• Sources of values
Achievement
Helping and concern for others
Honesty
Fairness

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 Components of Attitudes

• Response readiness
Cognitive component
Affective component
Behavioural component

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 Incongruence

• Values congruence or incongruence

• Attitudes and consistent or inconsistent

behaviour

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 New Values
Global competencies
1. Cultural self-awareness
2. Willingness and ability to withstand culture shock
3. Cultural awareness and adaptability
4. Willingness and ability to lead multicultural teams
5. Ability to negotiate across cultures
6. Possess a global mind-set

Note that multicultural workforces exist in single

societies – we don’t have to travel abroad to
encounter them. So these values affect most of us

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 Summary
• The individual performance equation.
• The key importance of understanding
perception and the perceptual process.
• Competency characteristics of individuals.
• Personality characteristics of individuals.
• Capitalising on workplace diversity.
• Values and attitudes.

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