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CHAPTER 2:
UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
A key contributor to developing effective interpersonal relationships in organizations is understanding individual differences, the variations in how people respond to the same situation based on personal characteristics.
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND LECTURE NOTES
I. PERSONALITY Individual differences in personality greatly influence interpersonal relationships. Personality refers to those persistent and enduring behavior patterns that tend to be expressed in a wide variety of situations.
A. Seven Major Personality Factors and Traits Many psychologists believe that the basic structure of human personality is represented by five broad factors, known as the Five Factor Model. Two more key personality factors, risk taking and thrill seeking, and self-monitoring of behavior, had received much attention and are also included here. All seven factors have a substantial impact on interpersonal relations and job performance. Recent evidence has emphasized the contributions of genes, and strips of DNA in particular, in forming personality. The gene biases the mind to reach to similar experiences in different ways. Despite the genetic influence, most people can improve their standing on key personality factors.
- Neuroticism refers to emotional instability and identifies people prone to psychological distress and coping with problems in unproductive ways.
- Extraversion reflects the quantity or intensity of social interactions, the need for social stimulation, self-confidence, and competition.
- Openness reflects the proactive seeking of experience for its own sake.
- Agreeableness reflects the quality of one s interpersonal orientation.
- Conscientiousness reflects organization, self-restraint, persistence, and motivation toward attaining goals.
- Self-monitoring of behavior refers to the process of observing and controlling how we are perceived by others.
- Risk taking and thrill seeking refers to the propensity to take risks and pursue thrills.
Depending on the job, any one of the preceding personality factors can be important for success. Conscientiousness relates to job performance for many different occupations. A recent meta-analysis concludes that high self-monitoring is associated with higher performance appraisals and more growth into management positions. The Five Factor Model (Big Five Factors) appears to apply to personality structures in different cultures.
B. Psychological Types and Cognitive Styles Personality also influences a person s cognitive style, or mental processes used to perceive and make judgments from information. The information presented here is the basis for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
- Gathering information. Sensation-type individuals prefer routine and order, and search for precise details when gathering information to solve a problem. Intuitive- type individuals prefers an overall perspective, and dislike routine. They would prefer to look for possibilities rather than work with facts.
- Evaluating information. Styles of information evaluation range from an emphasis on feeling to an emphasis on thinking. Feeling-type individuals have a need to conform and adapt to the wishes of others. Thinking-type individuals rely on reason and intellect to deal with problems, and downplay emotion.
C. The Four Cognitive Styles The two dimensions of information gathering and evaluation are combined to produce a four-way classification of cognitive (or problem-solving) styles: sensation/thinking, intuitive/thinking, sensation/feeling, and intuitive/feeling. Exhibit 2-2 illustrates how the four cognitive styles relate to occupational choice.
D. Guidelines for Dealing with Different Personality Types To match one s approach to dealing with a given personality type, a person must first arrive at an approximate diagnosis of the individual s personality. Fourteen suggestions are presented in the text, yet they must be regarded tentatively. Four of these suggestions are: (1) When relating to an extraverted individual, emphasize friendliness and warmth; (2) when relating to an introverted individual, move slowly, and tolerate silence; (3) when relating to a disagreeable person, be patient and tolerant; and (4) when relating to a conscientious person, grant freedom and do not nag.
II. MENTAL ABILITY Mental ability is one of the major sources of individual differences that affects job performance and behavior. Intelligence is the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge. Abstract problems can best be solved by intelligent workers. Understanding the intelligence of others can improve one s ability to relate to them.
A. Components of Traditional Intelligence Intelligence consists of a g (general) factor along with s (special) factors that contribute to problem-solving ability. The g factor helps explain why some people perform so well in so many different mental tasks. The following seven mental ability factors have been consistently identified:
- Verbal comprehension: understanding the meaning of words and information.
- Word fluency: the ability to use words quickly and easily.
- Numerical: the ability to handle numbers.
- Spatial: the ability to visualize forms and objects in three dimensions.
- Memory: having a good rote memory.
- Perceptual speed: the ability to perform tasks requiring visual perception.
B. Clarifying Your Values Value-clarification exercises ask you to compare the relative importance you attach to different objects and activities. Self-Assessment Quiz 2-3 provides insight into value clarification.
C. The Mesh Between Individual and Job Values When individual and job values are congruent, job performance is likely to be higher. When the demands made by the organization or a superior clash with the basic values of the individual, the person suffers from person-role conflict.
D. Guidelines for Using Values to Enhance Interpersonal Relations Values are an important driver of interpersonal effectiveness. One approach would be to establish the values a person will use in relationships with others on the job, and then use those values as a firm guideline in working with others. Also, express your concern to employers when you believe that your values are being compromised.
ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION AND REVIEW QUESTIONS
- Why is responding to individual differences considered to be the cornerstone of effective interpersonal relations?
Responding to individual differences is so important because the opposite is to relate to people mechanically and reflexively. When a person adapts to another person s uniqueness, good rapport is the likely result.
- How can knowledge of personality factors help a person form better interpersonal relationships on the job?
A knowledge of key personality factors can help people individualize their approach to other people. As a basic example, if a person appears to be introverted, the person sizing him or her up might use a laid-back approach.
- A coworker of yours who has a high standing on the personality factor openness has an upcoming birthday. What would be an appropriate gift for the group to buy this person?
Given that the coworker is intellectually oriented and likes new information, why not purchase a book, magazine subscription, or informative CD for him or her?
- Suppose a high self-monitoring person is attending a company-sponsored social event and that person dislikes such events. How is he or she likely to behave?
The high self-monitor will act like he or she is having a good time despite some inner discomfort with the situation. Self-monitoring people are tactful enough to put on a good show.
- Identify two business occupations for which a high propensity for risk taking and thrill
seeking would be an asset.
Business occupations where a high propensity for risk would be valuable include a broker for investments such as stock futures and commodity trading, a specialist in repossessing expensive goods, a commission-only sales person, and a venture capitalist.
- What kinds of problems would a sensation-type individual prefer to solve?
The sensation-type individual prefers to tackle problems involving routine and order, such as conducting an inventory audit or preparing uncomplicated tax returns.
- Which of the seven components of traditional intelligence represents your best mental aptitude? What is your evidence?
Reflecting on past experience helps answer this question. An easy source of information would be school grades. A person might also reflect about work experiences and everyday experiences. Someone might be good at understanding maps and following them, suggesting good spatial intelligence as his strongest aptitude.
- How could you use the concept of multiple intelligences to raise the self-esteem of people who did not consider themselves to be very smart?
People who do not consider themselves to be very smart typically use scholastic achievement and abstract problem solving as their frame of reference for judging intelligence. A person with such a self-evaluation might be reminded that he or she has great aptitude for dancing (or something else), this indicating high bodily/kinesthetic intelligence (or another of the multiple intelligences). Receiving recognition for genuine accomplishment tends to bolster self-esteem.
- Why is emotional intelligence so important for success in business?
People who are emotionally intelligent are likely to succeed in business because dealing effectively with people is required for business success. For example, being a successful manager requires the ability to understand the motives of others and influence them.
- How can you use information about a person s values to help you relate more effectively to him or her?
Knowledge of a person s values can enhance establishing rapport with the individual by making an appeal to those values. If you know, for example, that the person has strong professional values, you can emphasize career and work in casual conversations with him or her.
What Is Your Adversity Quotient?
Students are required to do a little Internet digging here to take a useful quiz. Overcoming adversity is such an essential life skill that it is worthy reflecting about.
Adapting to Different Mental Abilities
A potential contribution of this exercise is that it sensitizes students to the importance of reacting to one of the major dimensions of behavior mental ability. Many people have not stopped to think of the importance of dealing with people differently based on their mental abilities.
The Value Conflict Role-Play
A high level of diplomacy is required to deal with the person-role conflict of being asked to make unfavorable judgments about workers to justify laying them off. This role-play might demonstrate how difficult it is for some people to cling to their values when their job might be at stake.
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS
Multiple Choice
(b) 1. The term individual differences refers to the fact that a. members of the same group behave approximately the same. b. members of the same group often behave quite differently. c. many individuals have personality problems. d. many individuals have intellectual problems.
(c) 2. In its scientific meaning, personality refers basically to an individual s a. ability to influence others. b. attitudes and perceptions. c. enduring behavior patterns. d. social skills.
(b) 3. Genes influence personality primarily through a. determining the number of personality characteristics a person will have. b. biasing how different people react to similar experiences. c. allowing the traits in the Five Factor Model to develop. d. setting a limit to a person s mental ability.
(d) 4. Genes appear to have the biggest impact on personality traits related to a. extraversion and introversion. b. values and ethics. c. occupational choice. d. temperament such as impulsiveness and hostility.
(d) 5. Jill scores low on the personality trait of extraversion. She will most likely a. be careless about details. b. be agreeable and outgoing. c. have unpredictable mood swings. d. be quiet and reserved in most social settings.
(a) 6. Jason scores high on the personality trait, openness. He most likely is a. well developed intellectually. b. very conscientious. c. agreeable in many situations. d. emotionally stable.
(b) 7. Monica has a high standing on self-monitoring. It is likely that she will often a. tell other people what they want to hear. b. be particularly conscientious about details. c. be tactless about expressing her feelings. d. become quite temperamental.
(d) 8. Derek has a high standing on risk taking and thrill seeking. He is likely to a. enter more traditional occupations. b. be highly well organized.
(a) 16. The triarchic theory of intelligence explains that intelligence is exhibited a. in mental activities of various kinds. b. mostly in solving mechanical problems. c. only by people of average intelligence. d. only after accumulating experience.
(b) 17. According to the triarchic theory of intelligence, a person with good street smarts would be strong in the ____________ subtype of intelligence. a. analytical b. practical c. creative d. multiple
(b) 18. According to the triarchic theory of intelligence, a person with good analytical intelligence would be strong at a. adapting the environment to fit his or her needs. b. solving difficult problems. c. performing tasks requiring imagination. d. tasks requiring common sense and street smarts.
(c) 19. The theory of multiple intelligences contends that people possess a. various ways of multiplying their intelligences. b. two different types of intelligences, or faculties, in different degrees. c. eight different intelligences, or faculties, in different degrees. d. an almost unlimited number of intelligences.
(d) 20. An important part of emotional intelligence is a. adding figures under pressure. b. having an above-average IQ. c. keeping emotions out of problem solving. d. having empathy for others.
(a) 21. A person with a high degree of self-regulation can readily a. react with appropriate anger to situations. b. develop passion about the work he or she is performing. c. respond to the unspoken feelings of others. d. understand his or her own moods.
(b) 22. Resiliency, or the ability to bounce back from adversity, is part of which aspect of emotional intelligence? a. self-awareness b. motivation c. empathy d. social skill
(b) 23. Values are frequently learned through a. modeling. b. trial and error.
c. behavior shaping. d. acquiring reflexes.
(d) 24. Values formed early in life are directly related to a. extraversion versus introversion in adult life. b. abstract reasoning ability. c. the levels of people s intelligence. d. the quality of relationships formed by people.
(b) 25. Person-role conflict occurs when an individual a. enters into conflict with a coworker. b. is asked to perform a task that clashes with his or her values. c. is asked to perform a task outside his or her specialty area. d. is expected to perform two different activities at the same time.
True/False
(T) 1. Professional basketball players range in height from 5 3 to 7 6 thus illustrating the concept of individual differences.
(F) 2. The concept of personality is based on the fact that the behavior of people is unpredictable from one situation to another.
(T) 3. A person s character helps control personality traits, such as being able to control impulsiveness.
(F) 4. The environment in which a person is raised has an almost negligible influence on their personality.
(F) 5. The personality trait of openness relates primarily to how eagerly a person enters into relationships with other people.
(T) 6. A high self-monitoring person has a strong tendency to tell other people what they want to hear.
(T) 7. The willingness to take risks and purse thrills on the job is a personality trait that has grown in importance in the high technology era.
(F) 8. The five-factor structure of the American personality is found almost exclusively in the United States and Germany.
(T) 9. The personality trait most consistently related to job success is conscientiousness.
(F) 10. Research suggests that the combination of conscientiousness with low agreeableness has a strong relationship to job success.
(T) 11. Intuitive—type individuals typically gather information by gaining an overall perspective.
