OB: Ch.2: Individual Behavior, Personality, & Values

individualism

-a cross-cultural value -describing the degree to which people in a culture emphasize independence & personal uniqueness -personal identity

neuroticism

-a personality dimension -characterizes people w/ high levels of anxiety, hostility, depression, & self-consciousness

personal identity

-consists of characteristics that make us unique & distinct from people in the social groups to which we have a connection -refers to something about you as an individual w/out reference to a larger group

persistence

-continuing the effort for a certain amount of time

agreeableness

-courteous, good-natured, empathic, caring -friendly compliance

individual rights

-everyone has entitlements that let them act in a certain way -legal & human rights -issues: certain individual rights may conflict w/ others

values congruence

-extent that a person's values hierarchy is similar to the values hierarchy of the organization, a co-worker, or other comparison -organizations like some levels of values incongruence (diverse values means diverse perspectives)

MARS Model of Individual Behavior & Performance

-factors that influence voluntary individual behavior & performance Motivation Ability Role Perceptions Situational Factors

espoused-enacted values congruence

-how closely the values apparent in our actions (enacted values) are consistent with what we say we believe in (espoused values) -important for leaders because any obvious gap between espoused & enacted values undermines their perceived integrity

situational factors

-how well the situation supports their task goals -include conditions beyond the employee's immediate control that constrain or facilitate behavior & performance -some originate from external environment (economic conditions) -some controlled by organization (budget)

2 categories of self-concept

1. personal identity 2. social identity

3 ethical principles

1. utilitarianism 2. individual rights 3. distributive justice

self-efficacy

-a person's belief that he or she has the ability, motivation, correct role perceptions, & favorable situation to complete a task successfully -high self-efficacy- can do attitude -individual's perception regarding the MARS model in a specific situation -the higher the person's general self-efficacy, the higher their overall self-evaluation

locus of control

-a person's general belief about the amount of control he or she has over personal life events

ethical sensitivity

-a personal characteristic that enables people to recognize the presence & determine the relative importance of an ethical issue -ethically sensitive people are not necessarily more ethical. Rather, they can more accurately estimate the moral intensity of the issue.

extroversion

-a personality dimension -describing people who are outgoing, talkative, sociable, & assertive

intensity

-amount of effort allocated to the goal, how hard you push yourself

self-concept

-an individual's self-beliefs & self-evaluations -Who am I? How do I feel about myself? -varies in complexity, consistency, & clarity

self-verification

-people want to verify & maintain their existing self-concept -stabilizes our self-concept & provides an anchor to guide our thoughts/actions

values

-stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations -perceptions about what is good or bad, tell us what we ought to do

Five-Factor Model of Personality

-the 5 abstract dimensions representing most personality traits CANOE 1. conscientiousness 2. agreeableness 3. neuroticism 4. openness to experience 5. extroversion -not independent of each other

ethics

-the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong & outcomes are good or bad

cultural values

-the values shared across a society

social identity theory

-theory that explains self-concept -in terms of the person's unique characteristics (personal identity) & membership in various social groups (social identity) -a complex combination of many memberships in a hierarchy of importance

value system

-values arranged into a hierarchy of preferences -system is developed & reinforced thru socialization from parents, friends, experiences

personal values

-values exist only within individuals

enacted values

-values we actually rely on to guide our decisions & actions -values in use, apparent by watching people in action

What determines an individual's personality?

both nature & nurture

skill & will model

performance = ability x motivation -2 characteristics w/in the person that directly influence behavior & performance

uncertainty avoidance

-a cross-cultural value -degree to which people in a culture tolerate ambiguity (low uncertainty avoidance) or feel threatened by ambiguity & uncertainty (high uncertainty avoidance) -if high uncertainty avoidance, you value structured situations, direct commands

collectivism

-a cross-cultural value -describing the degree to which people in a culture emphasize duty to groups to which people belong, & to group harmony -Americans generally have low collectivism -social identity -individualism is not the opposite of collectivism, they are unrelated

power distance

-a cross-cultural value -extent that people in a culture accept unequal distribution of power in a society -if high power distance, you accept & value unequal power

achievement-nurturing orientation

-a cross-cultural value -the degree to which people in a culture emphasize competitive vs cooperative view of relations w/ other people -people w/ a high achievement orientation value assertiveness, competitiveness, & materialism

conscientiousness

-a personality dimension -describing people who are careful, dependable, & self-disciplined

internal locus of control

-feel they can influence their own destiny -have a more positive self-evaluation, more satisfied w/ jobs, cope better

self-esteem

-fundamental component of self-concept -represents a global self-evaluation (the extent to which people, like, respect, & are satisfied w/ themselves) -self-esteem regarding specific aspects of self (good driver, good parents), predicts specific thoughts & behaviors, whereas a person's overall self-esteem predicts only large bundles of thoughts & behaviors

Utilitarianism

-greatest good for the greatest # of people -AKA consequential principle-focuses on the consequences of our actions, not on how we we achieve those consequences -issues: impossible to evaluate benefits/costs of many decisions, most of us are uncomfortable doing unethical things to attain ethical results

shared values

-groups of people hold the same or similar values

external locus of control

-individuals who think that events in their life are due mainly to fate/luck or powerful others

openness to experience

-most complex dimension, least agreement on -extent to which people are sensitive, flexible, creative, curious

Schwartz's Values Circumplex

-most widely studied & generally accepted model today -1o braod domains of values, organized domains around 2 bipolar dimensions -openness to change, conservation, self-enhancement, self-transcendence

role perceptions

-need to be clear 1) understand duties 2) know priority of tasks & priority of quality vs quantity 3) know preferred behaviors to accomplish the assigned tasks

nature

-our genetic or hereditary origins (genes we inherit from parents)

self-enhancement

-people tend to rate themselves above average, can be good or bad

distributive justice

-people who are similar to each other should receive similar benefits & burdens -those who are dissimilar should receive different benefits & burdens in proportion to their dissimilarity -ex: 2 employees who contribute equally in work should get similar rewards, 2 who make lesser contributions should receive less -issue; hard to agree on who is similar & what facts are relevant

learned capabilities

-skills & knowledge that you have actually acquired

competencies

-skills, knowledge, aptitudes, & other personal characteristics that lead to superior performance -goal: match a person's competencies w/ what each job requires

Shalom Schwartz

-social psychologist -Schwartz's values circumplex

moral intensity

-the degree to which an issue demands the application of ethical principles -decisions w/ high moral intensity are more important, so decision maker needs to more carefully apply ethical principles to solve it

motivation

-the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity, & persistence of voluntary behavior -direction, intensity, persistence

ability

-the natural aptitudes & learned capabilities required to successfully complete a task

aptitudes

-the natural talents that help employees learn specific tasks more quickly & perform them better -ex: some people have natural finger dexterity

direction

-the path along which people engage their effort motivation is goal directed, not random

nurture

-the person's socialization, life experiences, & other forms of interaction w/ the environment

organizational values

-values shared by people throughout an organization

personality

-the relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, & behaviors that characterize a person, along w/ the psychological processes behind those characteristics -the bundle of characteristics that make us similar to or different from other people -people have traits that can be identified by the consistency or stability of their behavior across time & situations, ex: someone always avoids risks

espoused values

-values that we say we use, & often think we use -because values are socially desirable, so people create a positive public image by claiming to believe in values that others expect them to embrace -ex: corporate values (leaders may abide by them but we don't know if lower level employees share this commitment)