1 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
The way individual differences affect behavior is an important topic in the discipline of
interactional psychology. It vies behavior as a function of two main variables: the person and the
environment: B=f(P,E).
Person
Skills ability; Personality
Perception; Attribution;
Attitudes; Values; Ethics
Environment
Organization
Work groups
Jobs, Personal Life
Behavior
Interactional psychology argues that in order to understand the person and his behavior we must be
able to assess the person itself and the situation in which his behavior is engaged.
There four fundamental propositions in this analysis:
1 Behavior is a result of interaction between the person and the situation
2The person is both affected by and at the same time affects the situation
3 People vary in their characteristics (cognitive, emotional, motivational)
4 The objective (outside) and the subjective (from the person’s viewpoint) should both be
considered when evaluating the situation
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2SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Two types of abilities are considered best predictors of performance and behavior:
 Cognitive abilities, or General Mental Ability (GMA)
 Emotional Intelligence (EI)
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3PERSONALITY
Personality makes an individual behave in a consistent way in different situations
Determinants of personality:
 Heredity
 Environment (bringing up, culture etc)
5-Trait Model
When analyzing behavior, various personality theories break down behavioral patterns in major
observable traits. One such widely used personality model is the 5-Trait model which associate
behavior with 5 basic traits:
1 Extraversion
assertive
sociable
communicative
Introversion
reserved
timid
quiet
2 Agreeable
warm
cooperative
Disagreeable
cold
antagonistic
3 Conscientiousness
organized
hardworking
dependable
Nonlazy
disorganized
unreliable
5 Openness
creative
curious
Resistance
narrow
practical
Another
approach to
4 Emotional stability Emotional instability
calm
anxious
self-confident
depressed
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understanding and explaining behavior is the integrative approach. It views personality as a
composite of individual psychological processes, particularly dispositions.
Disposition is the tendency of a person to respond in a particular way to a situation. Types of
dispositions include emotions, expectations, congitions. The integrative approach takes into account
dispositions and situational variables.
Personality Characteristics in Organizations
Many personality characteristics determine a person’s behavior in organizations. Among them, three
core personality characteristics include 1 core self-evaluations, 2 self-monitoring, and 2 positive–
negative affect.
1 core self-evaluation is a set of personality traits that define a person’s self-concept
Three such traits are locus of control, self-esteem, and self-efficacy
Locus types include: the internal (believe that control over a situation resides within a person);
and external locus of control (control is outside the person) .
 Internal: like to control work environment; want part in decision-making; do not like close
supervision
 External: like structured work environment; relctant to participate in decision-making

Self-efficacy reflects a person’s view of him/herself as being able to perform a certain task
 High self-efficacy types: confident, influence over others; attempt difficult tasks, value the
opportunity to participate
 Low self-efficacy types: timid, feel ineffective
Previous success and performance is a major determinant of self-efficacy
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Self-esteem: reflects a person’s general feeling of self-worth
 High: have positive feeling about themselves; believe strengths are more important than
weaknesses; perform better; seek out higher status jobs; may brag inappropriately when in difficult
situations; may be overconfident; may engage in conflict with others
 Los: strongly affected by the opinion of others; complement those who give them positive
feedback and cut down people who give them negative feedback

The self-esteem indicator can predict to a great extent behavior and performance in organizations
---What is the effect of success and failure on self-esteem?
---How does the opinion of others affect our self-esteem? What is better being liked ”for who you
are” or “for achievement”?
---What should managers do to encourage high self-esteem among employees?
Self Monitoring: the extent to which people base their responses and behavior on cues from
other people
 High self-monitors: pay attention to what is appropriate in specific situations; pay attention to
other people’s reactions and adjust their behavior accordingly; considered unpredictable, less
consistent; accomplish tasks by fulfilling the expectations of others; seek central positions in social

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networks; more likely to get promoted; point to others their skills and accomplishments; flexibility
may not be suited to every job; tendency to move may not fit every organization; because of their
ability to take cues from other, high-self monitors demonstrate higher levels of managerial selfawareness; as managers, they assess the workplace behavior accurately; as managers, they read and
assess accurately employee needs; adjust their interaction with employees depending on the
situations; respond more readily to work norms, organizational culture and supervisory feedback;
can participate in different work-teams; can assume flexible roles
 Low self-monitors: act from internal state rather than paying attention to the situation;
consistent across situations; considered more predictable, consistent; respond in a more reserved
way to organizational culture, norms and feedback; follows internal guidelines of behavior
---Would you define yourself as a high or low self monitor?
---Organize a pro and con chart for high and low self-monitors (from your perspective)
Positive-Negative Effect: trait that reflects focusing on the positive/negative aspects of
oneself
 Positive: focus on the positive aspects of themselves; more often in a positive mood; more
willing to help others; less absent from work; engage in organizational citizenship more often
 Negative: Report more work stress;

When discussing a situation within wich behavior is engages, we should also consider if this is a
strong situation or weak situation.
Strong situation is a situation that overrides the effects of individual personality traits and tend to
be interpreted in a similar way by different individuals; provides clear cues to appropriate behavior
and obvious rewards to certain types of behavior
Weak situation is a situation may be open to many different interpretations: provides few cues to
appropriate behavior and no obvious rewards for one type of behavior or another
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2 APPLICATIONS OF PERSONALITY THEORY. THE MAYER-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR
One personality and behavior model was developed
This personality and behavior model is used extensively in a research that studies and attempts to
understand behavior. It is based on 4 scale dichotomies :
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Extraversion
Outgoing
Publicly expressive
Interacting
Speaks, then thinks
Gregarious
Introversion
Quiet
Reserved
Concentrating
Thinks, then speaks
Reflective
Thinking
Analytical
Clarity
Head and reason
Justice
Rules
Feeling
Subjective
Harmony focused
Heart and feeling
Mercy
Sensing
Practical
Specific
Feet on ground
Details
Concrete
Intuition
General
Abstract
Head in clouds
Possibilities
Theoretical
Judging
Structures
Time oriented
Decisive
Makes lists/uses them
Organized
Perceiving
Flexible
Open minded
Exploring
Makes lists/loses them
Spontaneous
Extraversion/introversion:
Pro situations:
Con situations:
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Sensing/intuition:
Pro situations:
Con situations:
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Thinking/feeling:
Pro situations:
Con situations:
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Judging/Perceiving:
Pro situations:
Con situations:
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The Sixteen Types
ESTJ-type style
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ST-type
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NT-type
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IIFP-type style
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I-type
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F-type
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3SOCIAL PERCEPTION
Social perception is the process of interpreting the information about another person. Perception is
a key factor in management activities, particularly appraising and selection.
Question for discussion
Interview situation: what kind of information is included in perception
 From the interviewer’s point of view
 From the interviewee’s point of view
What affects the process of perception?
Target
-Appearance
-Verbal communication
-Nonverbal signs
-Intentions
Perceiver
-Familiarity
-Attitudes
- Mood
-Self-concept
-Cognitive structure
Barrier: Stereotyping
First-impression error
PERCEPTION
Barrier: Selective perception,
self-fulfilling prophesy
Characteristics of the situation
-Context of interaction
-Strength of situation cues
Perceiver
 Familiarity:
 Attitude
 Mood
 Self-concept (positive/negative)
 Cognitive patterns
Target
 Appearance (clothing, height etc)
 Verbal signs
 Non-verbal signs
 Inferred intentions
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Situation
 Strong situations
 Weak situations
 Discounting principle
Impression (Perception) Management
 Name-dropping
 Self-enhancing
 Other-enhancing
Barriers
Discussion Question:
 Selective perception
 Describe a situation in which
 Stereotypes: accurate and
impression management can be effective
inaccurate, validated and shared; contrast
 Describe a situation in which
of stereotypes
impression management can be ineffective
 Projection
 Self-fulfilling prophesy
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4ATTRIBUTION
Attribution is the psychological pattern that attributes (pinpoints) the causes to one’s own behavior
and that of others. Attribution theory is the theory how we pinpoint to the causes of behavior.
Attribution is concerned with our inference of explaining the types of behavior we observe, identify
the reasons for performance, good or poor.
Attribution patters:
 External
 Internal
Attribution is so important because the way we explain our behavior directly affects our
motivation. Attribution theory also explains how judgment on performance results in
different patters of evaluation, praise and reward.
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Internal attribution as a motivator
External attribution as a non-motivator
Attribution Biases (US strictly)
 The fundamental attribution error
 The Self-serving bias
Affect of culture on attribution
 Chinese and Indian perceptions
Discussion Question
 How does your culture affect your pattern of attribution at home/the workplace?
 What may be some negative consequences of a serious mis-attribution on the part of
management? From an ethical viewpoint, how do manager’s attribution errors affect employees’
performance and motivation?
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