MANA3335 MindTap Case Activity: Chapter 09: Basic Elements of Individual Behavior in Organizations

Trainers need to stay in excellent physical condition themselves and always show up on time for the classes and personal training sessions they are scheduled to lead. Which personality factor is most important to perform this task successfully?

*Conscientiousness {Focusing on goals over the long term and being dependable are easier tasks for people with high conscientiousness. These individuals will have an easier time meeting their own fitness objectives and showing up on time. People with low conscientiousness may struggle to fulfill their responsibilities to the gym}

Sometimes clients need to discuss issues they are upset about. A non-athlete may have self-esteem issues due to weight gain, or a professional athlete may be distraught over a potentially career-ending injury. Trainers need to be able to discuss these issues with calm optimism, no matter what kind of day they personally are having. Which personality factor is most important to perform this task successfully?

*Emotional stability {Being calm and self-confident in most circumstances is easier for an individual with high emotional stability. Someone with low emotional stability might succumb to emotional contagion from a depressed, angry, or ashamed client, becoming unable to be a positive presence in that client's life}

Trainers need to lead group fitness classes with confidence and energy. They should get extra energy from being around people. Which personality factor is most important to perform this task successfully?

*Extroversion {Being comfortable and confident in groups is easier with high extroversion. Someone who is not high on this personality factor would have to push themselves to lead a group fitness class with authority and enthusiasm}

When Mike Boyle talks about his clients, he classifies them into three groups: adults being trained individually, adults being trained in groups, and athletes. This is an example of:

*Stereotyping {By classifying adults based on their interactions with his training gym, Mike Boyle is using stereotyping. He is categorizing people on the basis of a single attribute. Selective perception would involve screening out specific information that caused Mike discomfort or contradicted his beliefs. Attributions are related to perceptions of the cause of behavior. Internal attributions would mean that Mike believes that his clients' behavior comes from something inside them — for example, an athletic client has a natural ability to lift weights. External attributions mean that Mike believes his clients' behavior has an external source — for example, a client can run fast because they have had good training}

Marco Sanchez says that he adapts his style to give clients what they need, whether it is making their day better or calming them down. Suppose that one of Marco's clients is having a bad day at the gym. Marco has to determine whether the client doesn't have the ability to do their exercises (an internal attribution) or whether the client needs additional training to learn how to do their exercises (an external attribution). To make this decision, Marco looks to see if the client has not been able to do the exercises at other times ( _______ ), he look to see if other people also have difficulty with the exercise ( ______ ), and he looks to see if the same client also has difficulty performing other exercises ( _______ ).

*consistency *consensus *distinctiveness {When Marco looks to see if his client has not been able to do the same exercise at different times, he is looking for consistency — checking the extent to which his client behaves the same way at different times. When he looks to see if other people also have difficulty performing the same exercise his client is performing, he is looking for consensus — the extent to which other people behave the same way in the same situation. And finally, when he checks to see if the client has difficulty performing other exercises, he is looking for distinctiveness — the extent to which a person behaves the same way in different situations. All of these attributions combine to help Marco form his overall attribution of the client's behavior having an internal or external cause}