UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUALS IN ORGANIZATIONS:The Psychological Contract – the overall set of expectations held by an individual with respect to what he or she will contribute to the organization and what the organization will provide in returnThe Person-Job Fit => extent to which the contributions made by the individual match the inducements offered by the organization;Reasons for poor person-job fitImperfect organizational selection proceduresChange in both people and organizations over timeNew technologies require new employee skillsUnique individuals and unique jobsIndividual Differences – Personal attributes that vary from one person to another (Physical, Psychological, or Emotional)PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR:Personality – the relatively stable set of psychological and behavioral attributes that distinguish one person from another;The “Big Five” Personality Traits – (OCEAN or CANOE)Agreeableness – a person’s ability to get along with othersConscientiousness – the number of goals on which a person focusesNegative Emotionality – the extent to which a person is calm, resilient, and secureExtraversion – a person’s comfort level with relationshipsOpenness – a person’s rigidity of beliefs and range of interestsVIDEO EXAMPLE => The Break-Up; which of these fives traits can we assess based on the clip from the movie: He only brought 3 lemons when she asked for 12, This is an example of conscientiousness because he said 3 was enough lemons for her when she needed 12; they were different in conscientiousness;THE MYERS-BRIGGS FRAMEWORK:The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – a popular questionnaire that some organizations use to assess personality typesIs a useful method for determining communication styles and interaction preferences;Personality TypesExtraversion (E) versus Introversion (I)Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N)Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F)Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P)OTHER PERSONALITY TRAITS AT WORK:Locus of Control – the extent to which people believe that their behavior has a real effect on what happens to them;Internal Locus of Control – individuals who believe they are in control of their lives; “I am in control of my own destiny”External Locus of Control – individuals believe that external forces dictate what happen to them;Self-Efficacy – a person’s belief about his/her capabilities to perform a task. High self-efficacy individuals believe they can perform well; while Low self-efficacy individuals doubt their ability to perform.Authoritarianism – the extent to which an individual believes that power and status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social organizationsMachiavellianism – behavior directed at gaining power and controlling the behavior of others;Self-Esteem – the extent to which a person believes she/he is a worthwhile individual;Risk Propensity – the degree to which an individual is willing to take chances and make risky decisions;EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:Emotional Intelligence, or EQ – the extent to which people are self-aware, can manage their emotions, can motivate themselves, express empathy for others, and possess social skillsSelf-Awareness is a person’s capacity for being aware of how they are feelingManaging emotions is a person’s capacity to ensure that feelings do not interfere with getting things accomplishedMotivating oneself is a person’s ability to remain optimistic in the face of failureEmpathy is a person’s ability to understand how others are feeling; putting yourself in someone else’s position;Social skill is a person’s ability to get along with others;ATTITUDES AND INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR:Attitudes – complexes of beliefs and feelings that people have about specific ideas, situations, or other peopleAttitudinal ComponentsAffective Component – feelings and emotions toward a situation (How we Feel); “I do not like this place”Cognitive Component – perceived knowledge (why we feel the way we feel); “this place is bad, worst store ever”Intentional Component – expected behavior in a given situation (what we intend to do about the situation); “we are not shopping there anymore”Cognitive Dissonance – the conflict individuals experience among their own attitudesThe affective and cognitive components of the individuals attitude are in conflict with intended behavior;WORK-RELATED ATTITUDES:Job Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction – an attitude that reflects the extent to which an individual is gratified or fulfilled by his/her work;Job Satisfaction and Work BehaviorsJob satisfaction is influenced by personal, group, and organizational factorsSatisfied employees are absent less often, make positive contributions, and stay with the organizationDissatisfied employees are absent more often, may experience stress which disrupts coworkers, and may be continually looking for another job;Organizational Commitment – an attitude that reflects an individual’s identification with an attachment to an organizationCommitment and Work BehaviorsEmployee commitment strengthens with an individuals age, years with the organization, sense of job security, and participation in decision-making.Committed employees have highly reliable habits, plan a longer tenure with the organization, and muster more effort in performance;AFFECT AND MOOD IN ORGANIZATIONS:Positive Affectivity – a tendency to be relatively upbeat and optimistic, have an overall sense of well-being, see things in a positive light, and seem to be in a good mood.Negative Affectivity – a tendency to be generally downbeat and pessimistic, tend to see things in a negative way, and seem to be in a bad mood;PERCEPTION AND INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR:Perception – the sets of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information;Selective Perception – the process of screening out information that we are uncomfortable with or that contradicts our beliefsIf selective perception causes someone to ignore important information it can become quite detrimental;Stereotyping – is the process of categorizing or labeling people on the basis of a single attribute (gender/race)May cost the organization valuable talent, violate federal anti-bias laws, and is likely unethical;PERCEPTION AND ATTRIBUTION:Attribution – a mechanism through which we observe behavior and attribute a cause to it;Ways in which Attributions are formedConsensus – the extent to which other people in the same situation