Chapter 3: Individual Characteristics
Learning Style Orientations 5 Key Factors
1. Discovery learning 2. Experiential learning 3. Observational learning 4. Structured learning 5. Group learning
The Myers-Briggs framework Differentiates across 4 general dimensions
1. Extroversion (E)/Introversion (I) 2. Sensing (S)/Intuition (N) 3. Thinking (T)/Feeling (F) 4. Judging (J)/Perceiving (P)
Judging (J)/Perceiving (P)
- Judging people are decisive and tend to plan. They focus on completing tasks, take action quickly, and want to know the essentials. 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.
Sensing (S)/Intuition (N)
- Sensing people are detail oriented. They want and trust facts. Desire to stay open to new information and options. - Intuitive people seek out patterns and relationships among the facts that they have learned. They trust their intuition and look for the "big picture."
Individual differences
Personal attributes that vary from one person to another - It is difficult to categorize individual differences as 'good' or 'bad. - the effect of individual differences on performance depends on the situation - EX: Scott, the COO for Barcelona Restaurant states: "You can't train people to be enthusiastic, nice, fun, great people. You have to hire that." This quote suggest that Scott believes in what concept when hiring people to work at the restaurant?
Locus of control
The extent to which one believes one's circumstances are a function of either one's own actions or of external factors beyond one's control
Self-efficacy vs Self-esteem
2 distinct terms - it's possible to generally like oneself (esteem) without necessarily believing oneself to be capable of a given task (efficacy)
Discovery learning
An inclination for exploration during learning - prefer subjective assessments, interactional activities, informational methods, and active-reflective activities. - EX: Tim prefers interactional activities and exercises during training.
Emotional intelligence (EI)
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
Learning Style Orientations
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 demonstrated that learning style orientations predict preferences for instructional methods beyond the Big Five personality traits
Type A and B Traits Figure
Few people have extreme Type A or Type B personality profiles. Instead, people tend toward one type or the other. This is reflected by the overlap between the profiles shown here.
Group learning
Preference to work with others while learning, active and interactional - related to preferences for action and interactional learning. - EX: Pat likes working with others rather than learning individually
Realistic job previews (RJPs)
Present both positive and potentially negative information to job candidates - EX: Jean-Baptiste would rather not have to stay late tonight to take inventory, but since he was told during his job interview that this would happen he isn't upset about it.
Conscientiousness
Refers to an individual being dependable and organized - Individuals who tend to focus on a few goals at a time and are careful and self-disciplined have a high degree - EX: Aidan is often late with projects and seems disorganized. He is likely low in this personality trait. - EX: It's well known around the office that if you want something from Harvey, you need to badger him about it in person at least twice before he'll get it done. Sending him an email is like shouting into a void from which responses never come. Harvey is most likely low on conscientiousness
Learning style
Refers to individual differences and preferences in how we process information while problem solving, learning, or engaging in similar activities
Tolerance for ambiguity
Reflects the tendency to view ambiguous situations as either threatening or desirable
Self-awareness
being aware of what you're feeling - Understanding what you are feeling
Nurture
concerns the extent to which personality attributes are shaped by our environment.
Kolb Learning Style Inventory
one of the more dominant approaches to categorizing cognitive styles. - According to David Kolb, the four basic learning modes are In addit
Self-motivation
persisting in the face of obstacles, setbacks, and failures. - Trying again if you fail
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
physical agility and balance; body control; hand-eye coordination - Related Careers: Athletes, firefighters, chefs, actors, gardeners - Preferred Learning Style: Touch and feel, physical experience
Internal Locus of Control
positively related to confidence in one's ability to successfully perform tasks - EX: Pete often volunteers for extra assignments and developmental opportunities to improve his chances of earning a promotion. On the other hand, Lucy believes that if she is meant to get promoted it will happen, and if not, she is just unlucky. Compared to Lucy, Pete is likely higher in this personality trait.
Despite being easy to use and one of the most valid selection methods for all jobs, mental ability tests produce______ ____that are three to five times larger than other methods, such as structured interviews, that are also valid predictors of job performance.
racial differences
Linguistic Intelligence
verbal and written language; explaining and interpreting ideas and information - Related Careers: Authors, speakers, lawyers, TV and radio hosts, translators - Preferred Learning Style: Verbal and written words and language
Accommodators
*Kolbs Learning Style* Learn by active experimentation and concrete experience and focus on risk taking, opportunity seeking, and action - these people tend to deal with people easily; suited to action-oriented jobs such as marketing and sales - EX: Arkady began working as a car salesman eight years ago. He had no prior work experience of any kind, yet he was incredibly good at convincing people to buy cars and now runs the entire dealership.
Two dimensions of Kolbs Learning Styles
1. active/passive 2. concrete/abstract
Experiential learning
A desire for hands-on approaches to instruction - positively related to a preference for action activities. - EX: Cathy prefers role plays and acting out scenarios when learning.
Self-efficacy
A person's confidence in his or her ability to organize and execute the courses of action necessary to accomplish a specific task
The Myers-Briggs framework
A personality framework based upon Carl Jung's work on psychological types and measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - Used to categorize personality
Observational learning
A preference for external stimuli such as demonstrations and diagrams - positively related to preference for informational methods and active-reflective methods. - PowerPoint Presentation - EX: Vlad prefers looking at diagrams and watching demonstrations when learning.
Structured learning
A preference for processing strategies such as taking notes, writing down task steps, subjective assessments - related to preferences for subjective assessments. - EX: Harry prefers taking notes and writing down instructions when learning.
"Big Five" personality traits
A set of five fundamental traits that are especially relevant to organizations 1. Agreeableness 2. Conscientiousness 3. Neuroticism 4. Extraversion 5. Openness
sensory modality
A system that interacts with the environment through one of the basic senses (smell, taste, touch, see, hear)
Neuroticism
Characterized by a person's tendency to experience unpleasant emotions such as anger, anxiety, depression, and feelings of vulnerability - NOT related to higher job performance - According to the Big Five framework, people lower in this personality trait might be better able to handle job stress. - EX: Eduardo tends to be insecure and often has mood swings at work that make his coworkers uncomfortable. Eduardo is likely to be high in this personality trait.
Assume you are the COO of Barcelona Restaurants and you realize that you have turned over probably 60% to 70% of management. Assume you believe that you have been hiring people with the correct technical skills to perform well but there have been other issues. For example, you believe that many of the managers have low confidence in their ability to be successful at whatever challenges or tasks they face so this creates a lot of stress and burn out. What might you do to help ameliorate this problem?
Hire people higher in general self-efficacy
Type A personality
Impatient, competitive, ambiguous, and uptight - more competitive - more devoted to work - stronger sense of time urgency
Information processing capacity
Involves the manner in which individuals process and organize information
Judging (J)/Perceiving (P) Example
John and Laurel run a business together. Whereas Laurel likes to plan and set deadlines, John prefers to be adaptive and spontaneous even if it means missing every deadline under the sun. According to the Myers-Briggs framework, John and Laurel's difficulty in working together most likely stems from the fact that: - Laurel is Judging (J) - John is Perceiving (P).
College admissions tests tend to focus on which types of intelligence?
Linguistic and logical-mathematical
Bullying personality
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. - EX: Sonja didn't give Paul all of the information he needed to complete his report, knowing that this would cause him to look bad at tomorrow's meeting. Sonja bullied Paul.
Thinking (T)/Feeling (F) Example
Scott and Katie are both teachers at an elementary school. When disciplining students, Scott focuses on making sure that his decisions are consistent over time and based on principles such as fairness. Katie, by contrast, bases her decisions on the people involved and the unique circumstances of each situation. According to the Myers-Briggs framework, - Scott is Thinking (T) - Katie is Feeling (F).
Seoni is a successful lawyer. As part of her job, she must read and write many pages of complex legal text. She must also analyze the large set of interrelated laws pertaining to her specialty and determine the most beneficial course of action for her clients. Which of Gardner's seven intelligence types is the LEAST likely to be important to her career? Linguistic Intrapersonal Spatial-visual Logical-mathematical
Spatial-visual
Agreeableness
The ability to get along with others - EX: Haley says that she's a monster before she's had her coffee, but even after she's had her coffee Haley is irritable and short-tempered. Haley most likely has low agreeableness
Authoritarianism
The belief that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social systems such as organizations - EX: Karen knows that her boss's request that she shred the pile of documents is unethical and possibly even illegal given the legal investigation but she shreds them anyway, because her boss requested it. This suggests that Karen is probably high in this personality trait. - EX: Enid is a good worker, but she often challenges her boss and questions her boss's directives. This reflects Enid's low authoritarianism
Openness
The capacity to entertain new ideas and to change as a result of new information - associated with being imaginative, cultured, curious, broad-minded, and artistically sensitive - EX: Ted is willing to listen to new ideas and to change his beliefs and attitudes in response to new information. Ted is likely high in this personality trait. - EX: Isis is an extremely unpleasant person to argue with because she'll never admit to being wrong no matter how wrong she is. This illustrates Isis's lack of openness
Person-job fit
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 - EX: Manuel is one of the top salespeople at Bloomingdale's menswear department. Although Manuel doesn't like the fact that some of the clothes in Bloomingdales come from overseas, he is good at his job, and is also very motivated by the opportunity to sell high quality merchandise. - EX: Aishwarya is a gifted teacher. She worked for eight years in an elementary school because she loves working with young children. After getting married, having a baby, and buying a house, Aishwarya decides she needs more money and switches to teaching high school, which pays better. In this example, Aishwarya's life events caused her to reevaluate her person-job fit with the elementary school.
Low Tolerance for ambiguity
When Scott first hired Maria he gave her a lot of autonomy in how she did her job. Maria was uncomfortable with the vagueness of his instructions, however, so Scott became more directive with her and gave her more clearly defined tasks. Maria is likely low in this personality trait.
Interpersonal Intelligence
ability to relate to others and perceive their feelings; interprets behaviors of others; relates to emotional intelligence - Related Careers: Psychologists, doctors, educators, salespeople, politicians - Preferred Learning Style: Human contact, teamwork - Emotional intelligence is most closely linked to which one of Gardner's multiple intelligences?
7 Universal Emotions
are expressed in the face in exactly the same way regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, age, gender, or religion. 1. joy 2. sadness 3. fear 4. surprise 5. anger 6. contempt 7. disgust
Spatial-Visual Intelligence
creation and interpretation of visual images; visual and special perception - Related Careers: Artists, engineers, photographers, inventors, beauty consultants - Preferred Learning Style: Pictures, shapes, visually
Social skills
effectively handling emotions of others - Helping someone else become less upset
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
logic and pattern detection; analytical; problem solving; excels at math - Related Careers: Engineers, directors, scientists, researchers, accountants, statisticians - Preferred Learning Style: Logic and numbers - EX: You were recently promoted to a management position at a large department store. One of your new responsibilities is recruiting and hiring people for various positions in the store. You decide to take a close look at some of the jobs that you will be hiring for in the next month to identify what types of people to recruit and hire. Because the Accountant position requires someone with strong quantitative skills, what type of intelligence will you be looking for to fill this position?
Intrapersonal Intelligence
self-awareness; understands oneself and one's relationship to others and to the world; relates to emotional intelligence - Related Careers: Related to success in almost all careers - Preferred Learning Style: Self-reflection, self-discovery * a personal competency in Goleman's view of emotional intelligence (EI) - most acutely related to success in almost all careers
Empathy
sensing how others are feeling - Interpreting others' feelings
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. - Scores on these tests can predict a person's ability to learn in training or on the job, be adaptable and solve problems, and tolerate routine, their predictive value may increase given the trend toward jobs requiring innovation, continual training, and nonroutine problem solving. - EX: Wonderlic Personnel Test, Raven's Progressive Matrices, the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence. - tests produce significant racial differences. - hiring determination can be legally problematic when using tests. - job applicants do not like tests.
External Locus of Control
related to passivity and learned helplessness - EX: Kurt can't hold down a job. According to Kurt, the reason he gets fired from any given job is always some combination of bad luck, an unfair boss, coworkers who are out to get him, unreasonable expectations, and so on
Kolb Learning Style Inventory: 4 Basic Learning Styles
1. Convergers 2. Divergers 3. Assimilators 4. Accommodators
Self-management
managing your own emotions and impulses - Controlling your impulses - Devanand is a difficult person to work with because he has almost no impulse control regarding his emotions. Whenever he has a negative feeling about something, he acts on an almost compulsive need to express it, even when he'd be wise to keep that feeling to himself. Devanand lacks: self management
Assimilators
*Kolbs Learning Style* Learn by abstract conceptualization and reflective observation - these people tend to be more concerned about abstract concepts and logical soundness than about people and practical values; suited to research and planning - EX: Shirley's learning preference is for a concise, logical approach. She is more attracted to logically sound theories than approaches based on practical value. What would Shirley's learning style be according to the Kolb Learning Style Inventory? - EX: Soren is a philosophy professor. His body of work consists of highly precise and highly abstract arguments that are unlikely to have any bearing on the lives of actual people.
Convergers
*Kolbs Learning Style* Learn by active experimentation and abstract conceptualization - People with this learning style are superior in technical tasks, inferior in interpersonal settings - EX: David is a brilliant computer programmer, but he's incredibly awkward when dealing with people. His managers know that the best way to foster David's success is to hand him challenging programming assignments and let him stay at his computer and away from other human beings as much as possible.
Divergers
*Kolbs Learning Style* Learn by 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. - EX: Marco, a marketing executive, has a tremendous imagination and is capable of endlessly generating ideas in a brainstorming session. People often come to him for help when they need a fresh approach to a challenging problem.
Types of Intelligence: Gardners Multiple Intelligence
1. Bodily-Kinesthetic 2. Interpersonal 3. Intrapersonal 4. Linguistic 5. Logical-Mathematical 6. Musical 7. Spatial-Visual
Tactile
*Sensory modalities approach* learning by touching - least common sensory modality among American students - EX: Robert can't stand reading textbooks or doing experiments. He learns best when someone explains the material to him. Robert's primary sensory modality is most likely
Kinesthetic
*Sensory modalities approach* learning by doing - EX: Dina Marie thought that she was terrible at science because nothing her teacher said in class or what she read in her textbook made any sense to her. However, once she attended the lab sessions and started doing the experiments for herself, everything fell into place in her mind.
Auditory
*Sensory modalities approach* learning by hearing - about 20-30 percent of American students
Visual
*Sensory modalities approach* learning by seeing - About 40% of American students - EX: Jürgen, a university student, can't pay attention to lectures and always falls asleep in class. He then learns all of the material on his own by reading the textbook after class and does well on tests.
Extroversion (E)/Introversion (I)
- Extroverts are energized by things and people. They are interactors and "on the fly" thinkers whose motto is "ready, fire, aim." - *Introverts find energy in ideas, concepts, and abstractions.* They can be social but also need quiet time to recharge their batteries.
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.
High Machiavellians Exhibit
-resistance to social influence -orientation to cognitions rather than emotions -bossiness - NOT Compassion
Effects of Locus of Control on Organizational Outcomes
1. Job satisfaction: Internals are generally more satisfied with their job, pay, supervisor, and coworkers. 2. Commitment: Internals are more committed and have lower absenteeism. 3. Job motivation: Internals have greater task motivation, job involvement, and self-confidence than do externals. 4. Job performance: Internals tend to have higher job performance than externals. 5. Career success: Internals tend to earn a higher salary than do externals. 6. Conflict and stress: Internals report lower role conflict, work-family conflict, burnout, and stress than do externals 7. Social integration: Internals tend to be more socially integrated at work and report more favorable relationships with their supervisors
Other Important Personality Traits
1. Locus of control 2. Self-efficacy 3. Self -esteem 4. Authoritarianism 5. Machiavellianism 6. Tolerance for risk (or risk propensity) 7. Tolerance for ambiguity 8. Type A personality 9. Type B personality 10. Bullying personality
The concept of fit -
1. Person-job fit 2. Person-group fit 3. Person-organization fit 4. Person-vocation fit
Goal of realistic job previews is not to deter candidates, but to:
1. Provide accurate information about job and organization 2. Build trust 3. Reduce turnover (especially from employees who quit because the job wasn't what they expected)
5 Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence
1. Self-awareness 2. Self-motivation 3. Self-management 4. Empathy 5. Social skills
Sensory modalities approach
1. Visual 2. Auditory 3. Tactile 4. Kinesthetic - 30-40 percent of American students are either tactile/kinesthetic, visual/tactile, or some combinations of the above major senses.
4 Basic Learning Modes of Kolbs Learning Style
1. active experimentation 2. reflective observation 3. concrete experience 4. abstract conceptualization.
3 Types of Individual Differences
1. physical 2. psychological 3. emotional
General mental ability
The capacity to rapidly and fluidly acquire, process, and apply information - EX: Gerard hires a new employee and quickly discovers that the employee has a hard time learning anything new, troubleshooting problems, and remembering information. Gerard concludes that the employee most clearly lacks general mental ability
Tolerance for risk (or risk propensity)
The degree to which a person is comfortable with risk and is willing to take chances and make risky decisions
Type B personality
More relaxed and easygoing, less overtly competitive than Type A; handles stress less frantically - Less competitive - Less devoted to work - Weaker sense of time urgency
Nature
Nature concerns the extent to which personality attributes are inherited from our parents.
Self -esteem
Our feelings of self-worth and our liking or disliking of ourselves
Tom really enjoys working for Mandy, his current supervisor. He feels fairly treated by her, and is willing to do almost anything she asks even if it isn't in his formal job description.
Person group fit is high
Thierry is reflecting on how he likes working in a collaborative, team-based culture but his current employer is very competitive and rewards only individual performance.
Person org fit is low
Person-group fit
The extent to which an individual fits with the work group's and supervisor's work styles, skills, and goals - EX: Amara is very happy with her work team. Everyone supports each other and is responsible about meeting both individual and team goals, making Rachel want to work hard to live up to their expectations of her.
Person-vocation fit
The fit between a person's interests, abilities, values, long-term goals, and personality and a profession - EX: Peter has always been a social person and enjoys working with people. He recently got an Associate's degree in computer programming and spends his work day alone in a small cubicle. Peter is regretting his decision to go into programming as a career because he has very little Person-vocation fit - Peter, a college student, is determined to become a doctor because he wants to help people and make a lot of money. However, he's a lousy student and is especially bad at science, two qualities which will make it difficult for him to get into — much less survive — medical school. Peter most likely has poor person-vocation fit.
Person-organization fit
The fit between an individual's values, beliefs, and personality and the values, norms, and culture of the organization - EX: 3M has a strong culture of innovation, which Pam really likes. Pam previously feels that she is happier in a less bureaucratic, more innovative environment like the one at 3M that supports autonomy and smart risk taking.
Extraversion
The quality of being comfortable with relationships - sociable, assertive, talkative, and energetic - EX: Betty is sociable, talkative, and one of the first employees to welcome a new hire and offer to show him or her around. Betty is likely high in this personality trait.
Personality
The relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another - A long-standing debate among psychologists—often expressed as "nature versus nurture"—concerns the extent to which personality attributes are inherited from our parents (the "nature" argument) or shaped by our environment (the "nurture" argument). In fact, both biological and environmental factors play important roles in determining our personalities.
Constraints/Limitations of Kolbs Learning Style
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 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.
Which of the following is NOT a true statement regarding realistic job previews? They may reduce turnover. They are relatively cheap to implement. They give applicants the opportunity to self-select out of the hiring process. They present the company in the best possible light.
They present the company in the best possible light.
Machiavellianism
Traits causing a person to behave in ways to gain power and control the behavior of others - Concept based on the Princess Bride - most closely associated with a tendency toward bullying others - EX: Jun is unwilling to sacrifice her friendships at work just to try to get a promotion. She is also uncomfortable manipulating others and is unwilling to lie to get ahead. Jun is likely low in this personality trait.
Musical intelligence
recognition of rhythm and tonal patterns; musical ability; high awareness and use of sound - Related Careers: Musicians, DJs, music teachers, acoustic engineers, music producers, composers - Preferred Learning Style: Music, Sounds, and rhythm
