HRM 601 Organizational
Behavior
Session 3
Individual Difference, Personality &
Attitudes
Individual Performance Factors
• Individual Abilities
• Effort
• Organizational Support
Personality
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A relatively stable
And unique
Pattern of behavior, thoughts & emotions
Shown by an individual
Erikson’s Psycho-Social Model
of Personality Development
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Infancy: Trust vs Mistrust
Toddler-hood: Autonomy vs Shame
Childhood: Competency vs Inferiority
Adolescence: Identity vs Role confusion
Early Adulthood: Intimacy vs isolation
Middle Adulthood: Generativity vs stagnation
Late Adulthood: Ego integrity vs despair
The Big Five Personality
Traits
• Conscientiousness
• Organized, selfdisciplined,
responsible
• Disorganized,
undisciplined,
irresponsible
Big Five Cont’d
• Extroversion introversion
• Sociable, talkative,
active
• Sober, quiet, reserved
Big Five Cont’d
• Agreeableness
• Good-natured, gentle,
cooperative, forgiving
• Cantankerous,
irritable,
uncooperative
Big Five Con’t
• Emotional stability
• Calm. enthusiastic,
secure
• Anxious, depressed,
angry, insecure
Big Five Con’t.
• Openness to
experience
• Imaginative, creative,
sensitive
• Insensitive, narrow,
unimaginative
Other Traits
• Locus of control
– Internal vs external
• Self-monitoring
– High self-monitors vs Low selfmonitors
Cognitive Ability
• General intelligence -- ability to think
analytically, reason, problem solve
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Verbal
Numerical
General knowledge
Reasoning ability
Spatial ability
Physical Ability
• Motor skills: manual dexterity, eyehand coordination, reaction time
• Fitness: strength, stamina
Measuring Personality & Ability
• Reliability: The extent to which test scores
are consistent from time to time
• Validity: Extent to which a test is actually
measuring what it claims to measure
Measuring Personality & Ability
• Projective tests: Test which use ambiguous
stimuli to measure personality.
• Objective tests: Inventories or
questionnaires used to measure personality.
These are scored by any objective key so
there is no room for interpretation to
answers
Attitude Defined
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Stable cluster of
Feelings
Beliefs
and Behavioral Intentions
Towards specific people, things, or events
Attitudinal Components
• Beliefs -- cool thoughts
• Feelings -- hot emotions
• Behavioral intentions -- tendency to respond
or behave consistent with attitude
Developing an Attitude
• Information
• Learning
• Modeling
Predicting Behavior
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Thought and feeling consistency
Subjective norms
Direct experience
Attitude accessibility
Job Satisfaction
• Feelings,
• Beliefs, and
• Evaluations of a person’s job
Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
• Motivators
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personal growth
recognition
responsibility
promotion opportunities
achievement
Two Factor Theory, Con’t.
• Hygiene
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supervision
pay
company policies
working conditions
co-workers
job security
Consequences of Job Satisfaction
• Withdrawal behavior
– Absenteeism
– Turnover
– Time theft
Influences of Job Satisfaction
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Quality supervision
Fair pay
Empowerment
Person-job fit
Organizational Commitment
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Extent to which an individual
Identifies with,
Is involved with,
Is unwilling to leave
The organization
Consequences of Organizational
Commitment
• Continuance
• Willingness to make shared sacrifices
• Organizational citizenship
Influences of Organizational
Commitment
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Social responsibility
Enriched jobs
Participatory management
Aligning workers’ interests with company
Demonstrating trust