Chapter #4 - Personality, Cultural Values & Ability

Status Striving

Strong desire to obtain power & influence within a social structure as a means of expressing one's personality

True

T/F: These have a direct impact on job performance and org. commitment have a direct impact on job performance and organizational commitment

problem sensitivity - reasoning ability

- Ability to sense there's a problem right now/there is one in the near future - Eg: anaesthesiologists; need to make sure the drugs are working properly and there are no side effects by the patients

Ethnocentrism

- A propensity to view your own culture as "right" and other cultures as "wrong" - So, if you rub someone from a different culture the wrong way, and that person is ethnocentric, it could cause major problems

Positive Affectivity

- A tendency to experience pleasant moods such as enthusiasm and excitement - Extraverts tend to be high in this tendency, which explains why they are generally happier in their jobs and are generally happier overall

Stamina

- Ability of a person's lungs/circulatory system to work efficiency while they engage in prolonged physical activity - When ones' heart rate climbs and the depth/rate of breathe increases

Visualization - spatial ability

- Ability to imagine how separate things will look if they were put together in a particular way - Eg: visualizing the room with furniture in different places

Gross Body Equilibrium

- Ability to maintain balance of the body in an unstable environment/when a change of direction is needed - This one is more important than the coordination one

other awareness - emotional intelligence

- Ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others - If you are high in this regard, you can see when others are feeling a certain way and can also predict when these feelings will occur

Self Awareness - emotional intelligence

- Ability to recognize and understand your own emotions - Being nervous during the first few days of a new job is normal, but either not recognizing it or hiding it can signal to people that you lack intelligence and can actually harm you in the long run - Letting out emotions is natural

emotion regulation - emotional intelligence

- Ability to recover quickly from emotional experiences - This works for both positive and negative responses

use of emotions - emotional intelligence

- Ability to take emotional reactions and use them to improve their chances of being successful in whatever they are doing - Under a time crunch, do you use that to excite you and work harder? Or do you crumble under the stress and give up

inductive reasoning - reasoning ability

- Ability to take several specific pieces of info and reach a more general conclusion on how those are related - Eg: Homicide investigators; take tire tracks and blood spatter to see who did the crime and how it happened

oral comprehension

- Ability to understand spoken words + sentences - Oral Expression → Ability to communicate ideas by speaking

written comprehension

- Ability to understand written words + sentences - Written Expression → Ability to communicate ideas by writing

3 main types of abilities:

- Cognitive, emotional and physical - These show what people can do, personality/culture shows what people are like

Openness To Experience

- Curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, sophisticated - These traits are good in some jobs but not in others - Jobs with high levels of openness are ones that are fluid with rapid changes of demands - Study → these employees excel in learning/training environments b/c their curiosity leads them to learn new things - Also better in jobs requiring creativity - Smart + open people excel at the style of thinking needed to be creative - Openness means you are more adaptive to change and can easily ID when the old way of doing things is no longer working - Highly open ppl tend to move to artistic/scientific fields, when new creative ideas are critical - BMW loves innovation and is critical in their culture (eg: smart card to move from regular to rented car) - To be creative, "you can go into fighting mode or you can ask permission and get everyone to support you.If you do it without building ties, you will be blocked" - BMW workers are very devoted because there are no layoffs, and they need to go through extensive training in teams to gauge their personality - Eg: I enjoy hearing new ideas

Situational Strength

- Degree to which situations have clear expectations that make differences between workers less important - Personality is a much stronger driver in weak situations, where expectations and instructions are lacking - Eg: Behaviour in a lecture has strong expectations where intro/extroverts don't matter - But a party will clearly show who is introverted or extraverted

Trait Activation

- Degree to which situations provide cues that trigger the expression of a given personality trait - Eg: A cry for help triggers empathy from others

Conscientiousness

- Doing what is right/required - Dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, persevering - These traits are beneficial in pretty much every job - Has the biggest influence on job performance - This factor is so valuable because it directly relates to all employee goals - Prioritize Accomplishment Striving → Strong desire to accomplish task related goals as a means of expressing personality - Conscientious people have a strong desire to finish their tasks and work hard and long on assignments - Study → Conscientious salespeople set higher sales goals than other ppl and were more committed to meeting those goals - Also, organizational skills are super important during rookie years at work and it helps to grow ambition in their future years - Study → Childhood conscientiousness was strongly correlated with ratings of career success and taking steps to a healthy lifestyle 50 years later - It was also negatively correlated to mortality, injuries, disease, cancer, alcohol consumption, smoking, drug abuse, and risky behaviour - Eg: I pay attention to details

Agreeableness

- Enjoyable and easy to work with; getting along with others - Being kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, courteous, warm - Prioritize Communion Striving → Strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships, rather than getting ahead of others - This is not related to performance across all jobs because communion striving is only beneficial in some positions (not all) - Eg: Managers need to ensure the unit is working effectively, and sometimes this means disagreeing with people and being strict - But, it is very effective in service jobs (eg: customer service), any job with direct contact to customers - Study → agreeable employees have strong customer service skills - This is because they react to conflict well by walking away or waiting to see what happens (sometimes giving in to the person) - There is no criticism, threats or manipulation of the other person - Study → agreeable people were less likely to be at home as they enjoy public spaces - They were also less likely to use swear words - Eg: I make people feel at ease

General Cognitive Ability (g factor)

- General level of ability that plays a vital role in determine the more narrowly defined cognitive abilities one has - So, we are good/bad across all of them because of the overall g factor that influences it; our brain is just generally better/worse than others

Spatial Orientation - spatial ability

- Having a good understanding of where one is relative to their environment - Eg: tourist who doesn't need a map to get back to the hotel

ability

- Inbuilt capabilities of people for performing a particular range of related activities - Ability can change slowly over time with practice, but certain people have certain levels of ability which limits how much a person can improve, even with the best training - Ability shows what people can do

Short vs Long Term Orientation

- Is the culture past or present oriented? - Short Term Oriented → More past and present oriented (respect for tradition and fulfilling current obligations) - Eg: Canada, Russia, West Africa - Long Term Oriented → More future oriented (persistence, prudence etc.) - Eg: China, Japan, Netherlands

Conscientiousness correlation

- It has a moderate correlation with job performance (~0.3) - Largely to do with motivation and self confidence - Typical Performance → Performance in routine conditions that surround the daily job tasks - Conscientiousness is a key driver of typical performance - Higher levels of task performance, citizenship behaviour, job satisfaction - Lower levels of counterproductive behaviour - It has a moderate correlation with organizational commitment (~0.3) - Higher levels of affective and normative commitment - Lower levels of psychological, physical withdrawal behaviours, likelihood to leave the organization, stress - No effect on continuance commitment

Ability correlation

- It has a strong correlation with job performance (~0.5) *strongest correlation in the textbook* - Higher levels of task performance; stronger for jobs that are more complex than average - Note: people can do bad on cognitive tests/job performance for reasons other than their abilities - Lower levels/weaker for jobs that are less complex than average - No effect on citizenship and counterproductive behaviour - vIt has a weak correlation with organizational commitment (0.1) - Weak effect on affective, continuance and normative commitment - The desire to remain a member of a company is not really influenced much by cognitive ability

uncertainty avoidance

- Low → Culture tolerates uncertain/unclear situations and values unusual/creative ideas; value risk taking and are better in unstructured situations - Eg: Canada, netherlands, indonesia - High → Culture feels threatened by uncertain/unclear situations and relies on formal rules to create stability - Eg: japan, russia, france

general mental ability

- People who are high on one of these levels of ability tend to be high on multiple of these levels of ability too - We don't know why this is the case, but if you are high on one, you are high on others - Best guess is general cognitive ability

maximum performance

- Performance in brief, special circumstances that demand a person's best effort - A worker's ability is a key driver in max performance

Application of Personality & Cognitive Ability Tests:

- Personality is often evaluated through interviews - But, studies show that interviewers have trouble IDing conscientiousness and neuroticism, which is an issue because those correlate highly to job performance - So, now it is more common to see personality tests that can be examined by the company for the results of personality of the applicant

power distance

- Power distribution - Low → Power be distributed evenly where possible (egalitarian fashion) - Eg: Canada, netherlands, germany - High → Power be distributed unequally within organizations - Eg: Russia, china, indonesia

traits

- Recurring trends in people's responses to their environment - These are what make up one's personality

cultural values

- Shared beliefs about desirable end states/modes of conduct in a given culture that influence the expression of traits - These influence the development and demonstration of a person's personality traits - Eg: An easygoing person in canada may act differently than an easygoing person in france

culture

- Shared values, beliefs, motives, identities, and interpretations that result from common experiences of members from that society, and are shared across generations - In order to explain what we are like, we need to first explain where we came from - Culture basically provide societies with their own personalities - Ppl from idea are more conscientious than ppl from belgium - Pl from czech are more agreeable than ppl from hong kong - Ppl from brazil are more neurotic than ppl from china - Ppl from denmark are more open than ppl from argentina

deductive reasoning - reasoning ability

- The ability to use general rules to solve problems - Eg: Court Judges; use laws to solve court cases

personality

- The structures and propensities (likelihoods) inside a person that explain their characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behaviour - Personality shows what people are like and creates their social reputation - It is a collection of multiple traits - Note: Personality is a genetic factor

What Does It Mean For An Employee To Be "Able"?

- There are many different types of abilities that you don't even think about - Ability is highly correlated to job effectiveness, and info on abilities is also used in decision making

Project GLOBE (Global Leadership & Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness)

- This paints a better picture of culture values and is more recent than the previous study - Some of the groups were similar (Eg: 1) Power distance, 2) uncertainty avoidance) - Some were slightly altered: - Collectivism was changed into 3) institutional (everyone works together) vs 4) in-group (you only work together with your specific in/friend group) - Some were also completely new

Individualism/Collectivism

- Type of social framework - Individualism → Loosely knit, focused on yourself and immediate family - Eg: Canada, netherlands, france - Collectivism → Tightly knit, focused on the community and stay loyal to them - Eg: Indonesia, China, West africa

cognitive ability

- Verbal, quantitative, reasoning, spacial, perceptual - Ability to use your knowledge to make decisions and to solve problems - In order to go to most graduate schools, a cognitive ability is needed and is tested (eg: LSAT)

How Can We Describe What Employees Are Like?

- We can use personality traits and cultural values to describe people - Commonly, we use the Big Five factors of personality

Masculinity/Femininity

- Which gender does the culture stereotypically favour - Masuline → Culture values male traits more (assertiveness, acquiring money etc.) - Eg: Canada, Japan, Germany - Feminine → Culture values female traits more (caring for others/quality of life etc.) - Eg: Netherlands, russia, france

Collectivists

- high levels of task performance, citizenships behaviours - lower levels of counterproductive & withdrawal behaviours - More likely to feel affectively and normatively committed to their employers - Tend to prefer rewards that are allocated equally on a group wide basis vs rewards tied to individual achievement

Performance Orientation

Culture encourages+rewards members for excellence and performance improvements

Future Orientation

Culture engages in planning & investment in the future while delaying individual/collective gratification

Gender Egalitarianism

Culture promotes and practices gender equality

Assertiveness

Culture values assertiveness, confrontation and aggressiveness in social relationships

Strength

Degree to which the body is able to exert force 1. static strength 2. explosive strength 3. dynamic strength Eg: Firefights require all 3 of these types of strength

Neuroticism

- high tempered and difficult to work with - Nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous, unstable - 2nd most important in job performance - Very few jobs require neurotic traits - Instead, most jobs benefit employees who are the opposite (calm, steady, secure etc.) - Opposite of neuroticism is emotional stability - Negative Affectivity → tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness and annoyance - Neurotic people experience this tendency - This explains why these employees experience lower levels of job satisfaction than others - Study → This also relates to their daily lives, as this means they have less overall life satisfaction than others too - Neurotic people feel like they are stressed out more often than others, and they are less likely to believe they can cope with the stress - They are more likely to be type A's vs type B's - Related To Locus of Control → tendency to view the cause of events/personal outcomes as internally or externally controlled - Neurotic ppl = external control (things are driven by luck, chance or fate) - Others = internal control (own behaviour dictates events) - Study = internal control → higher levels of job satisfaction + performance, better mental and physical health, lower stress levels, more social support, higher overall salary Eg: I worry about things

Locus of Control

- tendency to view the cause of events/personal outcomes as internally or externally controlled - Neurotic ppl = external control (things are driven by luck, chance or fate) - Others = internal control (own behaviour dictates events)

Values of Employees: 5 Sections; Hofstede Study → cross cultural management foundation

1) Individualism/Collectivism 2) Power Distance 3) Uncertainty Avoidance 4) Masculinity/Femininity 5) Short vs Long Term Orientation

Big Five Taxonomy (Factors/Dimensions of Personality): CANOE acronym

1. Conscientiousness 2. Agreeableness 3. Neuroticism 4. Openness to experience 5. Extraversion

Sensory Ability

Abilities related to vision and hearing

Response Orientation

Ability to choose the right action quickly in response to several different signals Eg: Pilot

originality - reasoning ability

Ability to come up with clever and new ways to solve problems Eg: Creators of google

Number Facility

Ability to do basic math operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide)

Quantitative Ability - cognitive ability

Ability to do basic math operations, as well as selecting+applying formulas to solve math problems 1. number facility 2. number reasoning

Perceptual Speed - perceptual ability

Ability to examine and compare numbers, letters and objects quickly Eg: Proofreaders, good sorting skills, good categorizing skills etc.

Dynamic Strength

Ability to exert force for a long period of time without becoming overly tired

Explosive Strength

Ability to exert short bursts of energy to move themselves or an object

Fine Manipulative Abilities

Ability to keep arms and hands steady while using the hands to do precise work, generally on small/delicate objects Eg: Surgeon

Static Strength

Ability to lift, push and pull objects using extremities, including shoulders and back

Control Movement Abilities

Ability to make different precise adjustments using machinery to complete the work effectively Eg: Dentist

Psychomotor Ability

Ability to manipulate and control objects 1. Fine Manipulative Abilities 2. Control Movement Abilities 3. Response Orientation 4. Response Time

Perceptual Ability

Ability to perceive, understand and recall patterns of information 1. i) Speed & ii) Flexibility of Closure 2. perceptual speed

i) Speed & ii) Flexibility of Closure - perceptual ability

Ability to pick out a pattern quickly ii) in the presence of distracting information, or without all the information present

Response Time

Ability to respond/carry out an action quickly to a particular signal

reasoning ability

Ability to sense and solve problems using insight, rules and logic 1. Problem Sensitivity 2. Deductive Reasoning 3. Inductive Reasoning 4. originality

Gross Body Coordination

Ability to synchronize body movements together while completing a task in motion

verbal ability - cognitive ability

Ability to understand and express things through oral and written communication 1. oral comprehension 2. written comprehension - Usually, high oral comprehension = high written comprehension and vice versa, but some people with cognitive disabilities are only strong in one or the other - Verbal abilities are most important where communication of ideas and info to others is important - Eg: Executives making and implementing a strategic plan based on info/data

spatial ability

Ability to use visual and mental representation to understand what is around you 1. Spatial Orientation 2. Visualization

Extent Flexibility

Extreme ranges of motion in order to work in a cramped area/awkward position

Flexibility & Coordination

Flexibility → Ability to bend, stretch, twist or reach 1. extent flexibility 2. dynamic flexibility

project GLOBE, what was new

Gender Egalitarianism Assertiveness Future Orientation Performance Orientation Humane Orientation

skills

Learned behaviours in order to perform a particular range of related activities

coordination

Quality terms of synchronization of movement/balance 1. Gross Body Coordination 2. Gross Body Equilibrium

Dynamic Flexibility

Repeated and quick motions

emotional abilitities/intellgience

Set of abilities related to understanding and using emotions that affect social functioning 1. self awareness 2. other awareness 3. emotion regulation 4. use of emotions

Zero Acquaintance Situations

Situations in which 2 people have just met Extraversion is the easiest to judge in these situations

physical ability

Strength, stamina, flexibility/coordination, psychomotor, sensory

Accomplishment Striving

Strong desire to accomplish task related goals as a means of expressing personality

communion striving

Strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships, rather than getting ahead of others

True

T/F: - Abilities come from a combination of nature and nurture - This is not only true for physical, but also cognitive abilities as well - Eg: For hockey, many people take lessons but few have the mental capabilities to read and react to plays at an NHL level - You can train your brain all you want, but some people are on another level compared to others

True

T/F: - Canada and USA rank highly on extraversion and openness, but are near the middle in the other factors - Cultural values reflect the way things should be done in a certain society - If you act within those values, you fit in and if u go against them you stand out - Traits can describe personality, so too can values describe cultures - Study → employees working in different countries tend to value different things - They can be summarized into 5 groups

True

T/F: - Most cross cultural research focuses on individualism/collectivism because it is the most fundamental way to differentiate between cultures - It is important to understand these differences because it affects how people will act, react, be motivated, deal change etc. - Failing to understand these can compromise the effectiveness of multinational groups + organizations

True

T/F: Different abilities are needed for different types of jobs, so ability depends on what job you are talking about

True

T/F: The society we come from has a big impact on our personality One of the most important aspects of society is their culture

True

T/F: abilities: - environmental effects become less apparent later on in life - Eg: If kids were abused when they were younger, it could show in tests in childhood. But, it would be much harder to tell in adulthood, as the effects are now likely caused by other factors - Environmental effect on cognitive abilities: - Family issues - poor education (knowledge and thinking skills) - choice of occupation (complex work exercises our minds and lets us perform better on intelligence tests), - Biological factors (malnutrition, exposure to toxins, alcohol)

True

T/F: ability: - Inbuilt capabilities of people for performing a particular range of related activities - Ability can change slowly over time with practice, but certain people have certain levels of ability which limits how much a person can improve, even with the best training - Ability shows what people can do

How can we describe what employees are like?

We can do so by using the big 5 model, as well as the other 2 models to understand different cultures and forecast how they will react

Wonderlic Personnel Test

Widely used 12 minute test of 50 questions designed to test the general cognitive ability of a job applicant The averages score of individuals taking the test is in the second photo

auditory - sensory ability

a) Hearing Sensitivity → Capability to hear and discriminate sounds that vary in terms of loudness and pitch b) Auditory Attention → Ability to focus on one sound in the presence of many other sounds c) Speech Recognition → Ability to ID and understand the speech of another person

visual - sensory ability

a) Near & Far Vision → Ability to see things up close/at a distance b) Night Vision → Ability to see in low light environments c) Visual Colour Discrimination → Ability to perceive and differentiate colours d) Depth Perception → Ability to judge relative distances between objects

Humane Orientation

culture encourages+rewards members for being generous, caring, kind, fair and altruistic

Number Reasoning

selecting+applying appropriate formulas to solve math problems

Negative Affectivity

tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness and annoyance