High machs exhibit an external locus of control

Health Paper (For Kim Woods Only)

 Smoking tobacco
 Alcohol abuse
 Drug abuse

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Foundations of Individual Behavior

CHAPTER

PART 4 Leading

8.1

Identify the focus

and goals of organizational behavior (OB).

Explain the role that

attitudes play in job

performance. 8.2

Describe perception

and the factors that influence it.

8.4

Discuss learning theories and their

relevance in shaping

behavior.

8.5

8.3

Describe different

personality theories.

8.6

Discuss contemporary

issues in OB.

p.214

p.220 p.233

p.216

p.226

p.229

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Like many revolts, it began with something simple.1 At Microsoft, it was the vanishing towels. For employees who biked to work through the often-drizzly weather in Seattle, the provided towels had become an entitlement. However, one day when employees came to work, the towels were gone . . . pulled without notice from the locker rooms in the com- pany’s underground garage. The company’s human resources manager thought removing the towels, which had been done as a cost-saving measure, “wouldn’t even be a blip.” But it was. Irate employees waged war on company message boards and blogs. One post fumed, “It is a dark and dreary day at One Microsoft Way. Do yourself a favor and stay away.” The intensity of the comments shocked senior executives. The towel fiasco, in conjunction with a languishing stock price and a little bit of “Google envy,” suggested a serious morale prob- lem and a need to bring in a new face to HR. Lisa Brummel (see photo below), a successful Microsoft product development manager with no HR experience, was tapped to become the new HR chief. Her mandate: Improve the mood around here. And Lisa, who had always been a strong people leader, stepped up to do just that.

In addition to reinstating the towels (a no-brainer), Lisa looked for other ways that the com- pany could reshape HR at Microsoft. And in doing so, she brought a unique and insightful understanding of human behavior. One thing she did was to introduce innovative office designs that allowed employees to reconfigure their workspaces for the task they were working on. The customized workspaces included options such as sliding doors, movable walls, and features that made the space seem more like an urban loft than an office. When beginning a workspace redesign, “employees are first divided into four worker types: providers (the godfathers of work groups), travelers (the types who work anywhere but work), concentrators (head-down, always- at-work types), and orchestrators (the company’s natural diplomats).” Based on their “type,” employees then pick the kind of workspace that works best for them. By allowing their creative, quirky, and talented people freedom to design their workspaces, the company was able to give them some control over their chaotic and often hectic environment.

With Lisa at the helm of HR, the company has made progress in its people policies. Yet, some- times a decision coming out of One Microsoft Way (company headquarters) still makes you scratch your head and wonder why. The most recent was when 25 recently laid-off employees were asked to return an overpayment of severance pay. The amount, a small sum, amounted to about $5,000 per employee. But by asking for this money back, this billion-dollar organization didn’t send a very good message, especially when trying to improve morale and keep employees excited and engaged with their work. Once again, Lisa stepped up. She made the calls to the employees involved and said that the company hadn’t handled the situation in a “thoughtful manner” and the money was theirs to keep. Like any successful manager, Lisa recognizes the importance of people skills.

Towels, Severance, and Morale...Oh My

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8.1

Identify the focus

and goals of organizational behavior (OB).

214

Lisa Brummel had a bit of a people challenge! Like her, most managers want employees with

the right attitudes and personality. They want people who show up and work hard, get along

with coworkers and customers, have good attitudes, and exhibit good work behaviors in other

ways. But as you’re probably already aware, people don’t always behave like that “ideal”

employee. They post critical comments in blogs. They complain over missing towels. People

differ in their behaviors and even the same person can behave one way one day and a com-

pletely different way another day. For instance, haven’t you seen family members, friends, or

coworkers behave in ways that prompted you to wonder: Why did they do that? In this chap-

ter, we look at four psychological aspects—attitudes, personality, perception, and learning—

and demonstrate how these things can help managers understand the behavior of those

people with whom they have to work. We conclude the chapter by looking at contemporary

behavioral issues facing managers.

What Are the Focus and Goals of Organizational Behavior? The material in this and the next four chapters draws heavily on the field of study that’s known as organizational behavior (OB). Although it’s con- cerned with the subject of behavior—that is, the actions of people— organizational behavior is the study of the actions of people at work.

One of the challenges in understanding organizational behavior is that it addresses issues that aren’t obvious. Like an iceberg, OB has a small

visible dimension and a much larger hidden portion. (See Exhibit 8-1.) What we see when we look at an organization is its visible aspects: strategies, goals, policies and procedures, structure, technology, formal authority relationships, and chain of com- mand. But under the surface are other elements that managers need to understand— elements that also influence how employees behave at work. As we’ll show, OB provides managers with considerable insights into these important, but hidden, aspects of the organization.

Visible Aspects Strategies Objectives

Policies and procedures Structure

Technology Formal authority

Chains of command

Hidden Aspects Attitudes

Perceptions Group norms

Informal interactions Interpersonal and

intergroup conflicts

Organization as IcebergEXHIBIT 8-1

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What Is the Focus of OB? Organizational behavior focuses on three major areas. First, OB looks at individual behavior. Based predominantly on contributions from psychologists, this area includes such topics as attitudes, personality, perception, learning, and motivation. Second, OB is concerned with group behavior, which includes norms, roles, team building, leadership, and conflict. Our knowledge about groups comes basically from the work of sociologists and social psychol- ogists. Finally, OB also looks at organizational aspects including structure, culture, and human resource policies and practices. We’ve addressed organizational aspects in previous chapters. In this chapter, we’ll look at individual behavior and in the following chapter, at group behavior.

What Are the Goals of Organizational Behavior? The goals of OB are to explain, predict, and influence behavior. Managers need to be able to explain why employees engage in some behaviors rather than others, predict how employ- ees will respond to various actions and decisions, and influence how employees behave.

What employee behaviors are we specifically concerned with explaining, predicting, and influencing? Six important ones have been identified: employee productivity, absen- teeism, turnover, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), job satisfaction, and workplace misbehavior. Employee productivity is a performance measure of both work efficiency and effectiveness. Managers want to know what factors will influence the efficiency and effec- tiveness of employees. Absenteeism is the failure to show up for work. It’s difficult for work to get done if employees don’t show up. Studies have shown that unscheduled absences cost companies around $660 per employee per year.2 Although absenteeism can’t be totally eliminated, excessive levels have a direct and immediate impact on the organization’s func- tioning. Turnover is the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organiza- tion. It can be a problem because of increased recruiting, selection, and training costs and work disruptions. Just like absenteeism, managers can never eliminate turnover, but it is something they want to minimize, especially among high-performing employees. Organizational citizenship behavior is discretionary behavior that’s not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but which promotes the effective functioning of the organization.3 Examples of good OCB include helping others on one’s work team, volunteering for extended job activities, avoiding unnec- essary conflicts, and making constructive statements about one’s work group and the organization. Organiza- tions need individuals who will do more than their usual job duties, and the evidence indicates that organizations that have such employees outperform those that don’t.4

However, there are drawbacks to OCB as employees may experience work overload, stress, and work/life conflicts.5

Job satisfaction refers to an employee’s general attitude toward his or her job. Although job satisfaction is an atti- tude rather than a behavior, it’s an outcome that concerns many managers because satisfied employees are more

organizational behavior The study of the actions of people at work.

behavior The actions of people.

employee productivity A performance measure of both work efficiency and effectiveness.

turnover Voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization.

absenteeism The failure to show up for work.

organizational citizenship behavior Discretionary behavior that’s not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but which promotes the effective functioning of the organization.

job satisfaction An employee’s general attitude toward his or her job.

Mitsue Endo’s job at Japan’s Keihin Express Railway is helping lost customers find their way and resolving ticket problems at a Tokyo station used by 250,000 riders each day. Before beginning work, she uses a “smile” machine, a laptop computer with a digital camera mounted on top that instantly gives her a smile score. Although the smile test is optional and smiling is not part of Endo’s formal job description, she uses it to improve her interactions with rushed and often agitated passengers. Endo believes that presenting a happy face is a constructive behavior that creates a more relaxed environment for customers and sheds a positive light on her company’s goal of improving customer service.

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Explain the role that

attitudes play in job

performance.

8.2

216 PA R T F O U R | L E A D I N G

likely to show up for work, have higher levels of performance, and stay with an organization. Workplace misbehavior is any intentional employee behavior that is potentially harmful to the organization or individuals within the organization. Workplace misbehavior shows up in organizations in four ways: deviance, aggression, antisocial behavior, and violence.6 Such behaviors can range from playing loud music just to irritate coworkers to verbal aggression to sabotaging work, all of which can create havoc in any organization. In the following pages, we’ll address how an understanding of four psychological factors—employee attitudes, per- sonality, perception, and learning—can help us predict and explain these employee behaviors.

What Role Do Attitudes Play in Job Performance? Attitudes are evaluative statements, either favorable or unfavorable, con- cerning objects, people, or events. They reflect how an individual feels about something. When a person says, “I like my job,” he or she is express-

ing an attitude about work.

What Are the Three Components of an Attitude? To better understand attitude, we need to look at its three components: cognition, affect, and behavior.7 The cognitive component of an attitude is made up of the beliefs, opinions, knowledge, and information held by a person. For example, shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Congress spent weeks debating whether airport baggage screeners should be federal employees. Some claimed the current private airport screeners were adequately doing their jobs, even though evidence presented during the debate showed that knives, pepper spray, and a loaded gun were missed by air- port screeners.8 The belief held by some congressional leaders that private screeners were effective is an example of cognition. The affective component is the emotional or feeling part of an attitude. This component would be reflected in the statement, “I don’t like Erica because she smokes.” Cognition and affect can lead to behavioral outcomes. The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. So, to continue our example, I might choose to avoid Erica because of my feel- ings about her. Looking at attitudes as being made up of three components—cognition, affect, and behavior—helps to illustrate the complexity of attitudes. For the sake of clarity, keep in mind that the term usually refers only to the affective component.

What Attitudes Might Employees Hold? Naturally, managers are not interested in every attitude an employee might hold. Rather, they’re specifically interested in job-related attitudes, and the three most important and most studied are job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment.9 Job satisfac- tion is an employee’s general attitude toward his or her job. When people speak of employee attitudes, more often than not they mean job satisfaction. Job involvement is the degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her job performance important for self-worth. Finally, organizational commitment represents an employee’s orientation toward the organization in terms of his or her loyalty to, identification with, and involvement in the organization.

A new concept associated with job attitudes that’s generating widespread interest is employee engagement, which is when employees are connected to, satisfied with, and enthusiastic about their jobs.10 Highly engaged employees are passionate about and deeply connected to their work. Disengaged employees have essentially “checked out” and don’t care. They show up for work, but have no energy or passion for it. Exhibit 8-2 lists the key engagement factors found in a global study of over 12,000 employees.

There are benefits to having highly engaged employees. First, highly engaged employ- ees are two-and-a-half times more likely to be top performers than their less-engaged

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Globally, respect ranks as the no. 1 factor contributing to employee engagement.

GLOBAL CHINA FRANCE GERMANY INDIA JAPAN U.K. U.S.

Respect 125 121 133 129 104 90 144 122

Type of Work 112 75 138 113 116 107 122 112

Work/Life Balance 112 98 133 106 97 119 119 111

Provide Good Service to Customers 108 108 110 108 103 79 122 107

Base Pay 108 113 110 105 103 140 117 114

People You Work With 107 96 105 131 98 107 120 104

Benefits 94 127 81 110 94 75 76 112

Long-Term Career Potential 92 91 89 77 108 94 88 92

Learning and Development 91 83 67 80 98 86 85 82

Flexible Working 87 85 77 92 80 88 83 88

Promotion Opportunities 85 92 79 83 113 92 68 80

Variable Pay/Bonus 80 111 77 65 86 123 56 75

EXHIBIT 8-2 Key Employee Engagement Factors

coworkers. In addition, companies with highly engaged employees have higher retention rates, which help keep recruiting and training costs low. And both of these outcomes— higher performance and lower costs—contribute to superior financial performance.11

Do an Individual’s Attitude and Behavior Need to Be Consistent? Did you ever notice how people change what they say so that it doesn’t contradict what they do? Perhaps a friend of yours had consistently argued that American-manufactured cars were poorly built and that he’d never own anything but a foreign import. Then his parents gave him a late model American-made car, and suddenly they weren’t so bad. Or, when going through sorority rush, a new freshman believes that sororities are good and that pledging a sorority is important. If she’s not accepted by a sorority, however, she may say, “I recognized that sorority life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, anyway.”

Research generally concludes that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior.12 Individuals try to reconcile differing attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so that they appear rational and consistent. They do so by altering either the attitudes or the behavior or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy.

cognitive component The part of an attitude made up of the beliefs, opinions, knowledge, and information held by a person.

attitudes Evaluative statements, either favorable or unfavorable, concerning objects, people, or events.

workplace misbehavior Any intentional employee behavior that is potentially harmful to the organization or individuals within the organization.

employee engagement When employees are connected to, satisfied with, and enthusiastic about their jobs.

organizational commitment An employee’s orientation toward the organization in terms of his or her loyalty to, identification with, and involvement in the organization.

job involvement The degree to which an employee identifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her job performance important for self-worth.

behavioral component The part of an attitude that refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.

affective component The part of an attitude that’s the emotional or feeling part.

Note: Scores near 100 are middle importance, scores below 100 are less important, scores above 100 are more important. Source: Mercer; IndustryWeek, April 2008, p. 24.

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Cognitive dissonance refers to an inconsistency between attitudes and behaviors. For example, most people may believe that they are safe drivers, yet many may create potentially unsafe road conditions by driving and texting at the same time. To reduce the dissonance, these drivers may either stop their habit of driving and texting, or they may rationalize that driving and texting doesn’t really pose any threat to others’ safety, that they are in control of the situation, or that everyone else is doing the same thing.

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What Is Cognitive Dissonance Theory? Can we assume from this consistency principle that an individual’s behavior can always be predicted if we know his or her attitude on a subject? The answer isn’t a simple “yes” or “no.” Why? Cognitive dissonance theory.

Cognitive dissonance theory, proposed by Leon Festinger in the 1950s, sought to explain the relationship between attitudes and behavior.13 Cognitive dissonance is any incompati- bility or inconsistency between attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. The theory argued that inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will try to reduce the dis- comfort and thus, the dissonance.

Of course, no one can avoid dissonance. You know you should floss your teeth every day, but you don’t do it. There’s an inconsistency between attitude and behavior. How do peo- ple cope with cognitive dissonance? The theory proposed that how hard we’ll try to reduce dissonance is determined by three things: (1) the importance of the factors creating the dis- sonance, (2) the degree of influence the individual believes he or she has over those factors, and (3) the rewards that may be involved in dissonance.

If the factors creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct the inconsistency will be low. However, if those factors are important, individuals may change their behavior, conclude that the dissonant behavior isn’t so important, change their attitude, or identify compatible factors that outweigh the dissonant ones.

How much influence individuals believe they have over the factors also affects their reaction to the dissonance. If they perceive the dissonance is something about which they have no choice, they won’t be receptive to attitude change or feel a need to do so. If, for example, the dissonance-producing behavior was required as a result of a man- ager’s order, the pressure to reduce dissonance would be less than if the behavior had been performed voluntarily. Although dissonance exists, it can be rationalized and jus- tif ied by the need to follow the manager’s orders—that is, the person had no choice or control.

Finally, rewards also influence the degree to which individuals are motivated to reduce dissonance. Coupling high dissonance with high rewards tends to reduce the discomfort by motivating the individual to believe that there is consistency.

Let’s look at an example. If the factors creating dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct any imbalance would be low. However, say that a corporate man- ager, Tracey Ford, believes strongly that no company should lay off employees. Unfortu- nately, Tracey is placed in the position of having to make decisions that would trade off her company’s strategic direction against her convictions on layoffs. She knows that, because of restructuring in the company, some jobs may no longer be needed, and the lay- offs are in the best economic interest of her firm. What will she do? Undoubtedly, Tracey

is experiencing a high degree of cognitive dissonance. Because of the importance of the issues in this exam- ple, we cannot expect her to ignore the inconsistency. To deal with her dilemma, she can follow several steps. She can change her behavior (lay off employees). Or she can reduce dissonance by concluding that the dis- sonant behavior is not so important after all (“I’ve got to make a living, and in my role as a decision maker, I often have to place the good of my company above that of individual organizational members”). A third alter- native would be for Tracey to change her attitude (“There is nothing wrong in laying off employees”). Still another choice would be to seek out more conso- nant elements to outweigh the dissonant ones (“The long-term benefits to the surviving employees from our restructuring more than offset the costs associated with the retrenchment effort”).

The degree of influence that individuals such as Tracey Ford believe they have over the elements also will

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have an impact on how they react to the dissonance. If they perceive the dissonance to be uncontrollable—something about which they have no choice—they are less likely to feel a need for an attitude change. If, for example, the dissonance-producing behavior were required by the boss’s directive, the pressure to reduce dissonance would be less than if the behavior were performed voluntarily. Dissonance would exist, but it could be rationalized and justified. This is why it’s so critical in today’s organizations for leaders to establish the ethical culture. Without their influence and support, reducing dissonance toward ethical behaviors is lessened.14 Rewards also influence the degree to which individuals are motivated to reduce dissonance. High dissonance, when accompanied by high rewards, tends to reduce the tension inherent in the dissonance. The reward reduces dissonance by adding to the con- sistency side of the individual’s balance sheet.

These moderating factors suggest that although individuals experience dissonance, they will not necessarily move directly toward consistency, that is, toward reducing the disso- nance. If the issues underlying the dissonance are of minimal importance, if an individual perceives that the dissonance is externally imposed and is substantially uncontrollable, or if rewards are significant enough to offset the dissonance, the individual will not be under great tension to reduce the dissonance.16

How Can an Understanding of Attitudes Help Managers Be More Effective? Managers should be interested in their employees’ attitudes because they influence behavior. Satisfied and committed employees, for instance, have lower rates of turnover and absenteeism. If managers want to keep resignations and absences down—especially among their more productive employees—they’ll want to do things that generate posi- tive job attitudes.

Whether satisf ied workers are productive workers is a debate that’s been going on for almost 80 years. After the Hawthorne Studies, managers believed that happy work- ers were productive workers. Since it’s not been easy to determine whether job satisfac- tion “caused” job productivity or vice versa, some management researchers felt that belief was generally wrong. However, we can say with some certainty that the correla- tion between satisfaction and productivity is fairly strong.17 Satisf ied employees do per- form better on the job. So managers should focus on those factors that have been shown to be conducive to high levels of employee job satisfaction: making work challenging and interesting, providing equitable rewards, and creating supportive working condi- tions and supportive colleagues.18 These factors are likely to help employees be more productive.

Managers should also survey employees about their attitudes. As one study put it, “A sound measurement of overall job attitude is one of the most useful pieces of informa- tion an organization can have about its employees.”19

Finally, managers should know that employees will try to reduce dissonance. If employees are required to do things that appear inconsistent to them or that are at odds with their attitudes, managers should remember that pressure to reduce the dissonance is not as strong when the employee perceives that the dissonance is externally imposed and uncontrollable. It’s also decreased if rewards are significant enough to offset the dis- sonance. So the manager might point to external forces such as competitors, customers, or other factors when explaining the need to perform some work that the individual may have some dissonance about. Or the manager can provide rewards that an individual desires.

percent of companies con- duct employee surveys.

percent of companies that do conduct employee sur- veys fail to implement any

changes the survey suggests might be necessary.

percent of baby boomers report little or no interac- tion with their Gen Y work

colleagues.

percent of managers and employees say they have decreased their work efforts

in response to rudeness at work.

percent have decreased their time at work in response to rudeness at work.

percent of workers polled say they’re satisfied with their job and the work

they do.

percent of Fortune 100 companies use the MBTI®

instrument in hiring and promoting.

cognitive dissonance Any incompatibility or inconsistency between attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.

44 46

51

48

47 90

89 percent of employees say they feel disconnected from their employers.40

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8.3

Describe different

personality theories.

220 PA R T F O U R | L E A D I N G

What Do Managers Need to Know About Personality? “Let’s face it, dating is a drag. There was a time when we thought the com- puter was going to make it all better . . . But most of us learned the hard way that finding someone who shares our love of film noir and obscure garage bands does not a perfect match make.”20 Using in-depth personality

assessment and profiling, Chemistry.com is trying to do something about making the whole dating process better. Personality. We all have one. Some of us are quiet and passive; others are loud

and aggressive. When we describe people using terms such as quiet, passive, loud, aggres- sive, ambitious, extroverted, loyal, tense, or sociable, we’re describing their personalities. An individual’s personality is a unique combination of emotional, thought, and behavioral pat- terns that affect how a person reacts to situations and interacts with others. Personality is most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits. We’re interested in looking at personality because just like attitudes, it too affects how and why people behave the way they do.

Can Personality Predict Behavior? Literally dozens of traits are attributed to an individual’s behavior. So too are personality types as they show how people interact with one another and how they solve problems. Through the years, researchers attempted to focus specifically on which personality types and personality traits would identify information about the individual. Two of these efforts have been widely recognized—the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and the Big Five model of personality.

WHAT IS THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR? One of the more widely used methods of identifying personalities is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®). The MBTI® assess- ment uses four dichotomies of personality to identify 16 different personality types based on the responses to an approximately 100-item questionnaire. More than 2 million individ- uals take the MBTI® assessment each year in the United States alone. It’s used in such companies as Apple, Honda, AT&T, Exxon, 3M, as well as many hospitals, educational institutions, and the U.S. Armed Forces.

The 16 personality types are based on the four dichotomies shown in Exhibit 8-3. That is, the MBTI® assessment dichotomies include Extraversion versus Introversion (EI), Sens- ing versus Intuition (SN), Thinking versus Feeling (TF), and Judging versus Perceiving (JP). The EI scale describes an individual’s orientation toward the external world of the environ- ment (E) or the inner world of ideas and experiences (I). The Sensing–Intuition scale indi- cates an individual’s preference for gathering data while focusing on a standard routine based on factual data (S) to focusing on the big picture and making connections among the facts (N). Thinking–Feeling reflects one’s preference for making decisions in a logical and analytical manner (T) or on the basis of values and beliefs and the effects the decision will have on others (F). The Judging–Perceiving scale reflects an attitude toward how one deals with the external world—either in a planned and orderly way (J) or preferring to remain flexible and spontaneous (P).21

How could the MBTI® assessment help managers? Proponents of the instrument believe that it’s important to know these personality types because they influence the way people interact and solve problems.22 For example, if your boss is an Intuition type and you’re a Sensing type, you’ll deal with information in different ways. An Intuition preference indi- cates your boss is one who prefers gut reactions, whereas you, as a Sensing type, prefer to deal with the facts. To work well with your boss, you have to present more than just facts about a situation—you’ll also have to discuss your gut feeling about the situation. The MBTI® assessment has also been found to be useful in focusing on growth orientations for entrepreneurial types as well as profiles supporting emotional intelligence (something we’ll look at shortly).23

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SENSING TYPES S

THINKING T FEELING F

INTUITIVE TYPES N

FEELING F THINKING T

IN T

R O

V E

R T

S I

J U

D G

IN G

J

P E

R C

E IV

IN G

P

E X

T R

O V

E R

T S

E

P E

R C

E IV

IN G

P

J U

D G

IN G

J

ISTJ Quiet, serious, dependable, practical, matter-of-fact. Value traditions and loyalty.

ISFJ Quiet, friendly, responsible, thorough, considerate. Strive to create order and harmony.

INFJ Seek meaning and connection in ideas. Committed to firm values. Organized and decisive in implementing vision.

INTJ Have original minds and great drive for their ideas. Skeptical and independent. Have high standards of competence for self and others.

ISTP Tolerant and flexible. Interested in cause and effect. Value efficiency.

ISFP Quiet, friendly, sensitive. Like own space. Dislike disagreements and conflicts.

INFP Idealistic, loyal to their values. Seek to understand people and help them fulfill their potential.

INTP Seek logical explanations. Theoretical and abstract over social interactions. Skeptical, sometimes critical. Analytical.

ESTP Flexible and tolerant. Focus on here and now. Enjoy material comforts. Learn best by doing.

ESFP Outgoing, friendly. Enjoy working with others. Spontaneous. Learn best by trying a new skill with other people.

ENFP Enthusiastic, imaginative. Want a lot of affirmation. Rely on verbal fluency and ability to improvise.

ENTP Quick, ingenious, stimulating. Adept at generating conceptual possibilities and analyzing them strategically. Bored by routine.

ESTJ Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact, decisive. Focus on getting efficient results. Forceful in implementing plans.

ESFJ Warmhearted, cooperative. Want to be appreciated for who they are and for what they contribute.

ENFJ Warm, responsive, responsible. Attuned to needs of others. Sociable, facilitate others, provide inspirational leadership.

ENTJ Frank, decisive, assume leadership. Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Forceful in presenting ideas.

EXHIBIT 8-3 Examples of MBTI® Types

Source: Further information is available at www.cpp.com where you will find the full range of Introduction to Type® titles along with other products that allow you to expand your knowledge and applications of your MBTI® type. Modified and reproduced by special permission of the Publisher, CPP, Inc., Mountain View, CA 94043, from Introduction to Type®, Sixth Edition by Isabel Briggs Myers. Copyright 1998 by Peter B. Myers and Katharine D. Myers. All rights reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited without the Publisher’s written consent.

WHAT IS THE BIG FIVE MODEL OF PERSONALITY? Another way of viewing personality is through a five-factor model of personality—more typically called the Big Five model.24

The Big Five factors are:

1. Extraversion A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is sociable, talkative, and assertive.

2. Agreeableness A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is good-natured, cooperative, and trusting.

3. Conscientiousness A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement oriented.

4. Emotional stability A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is calm, enthusiastic, and secure (positive) or tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).

5. Openness to experience A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone is imaginative, artistically sensitive, and intellectual.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®) A personality assessment that uses four dichotomies of personality to identify different personality types.

personality A unique combination of emotional, thought, and behavioral patterns that affect how a person reacts to situations and interacts with others.

Big Five model A personality trait model that examines five traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.IS

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Fundamentals of Management: Essential Concepts and Applications, Seventh Edition, by Stephen P. Robbins, David A. DeCenzo, and Mary Coulter. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.

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The Big Five model provides more than just a personality framework. Research has shown that important relationships exist between these personality dimensions and job performance.25

For example, one study reviewed five categories of occupations: professionals (e.g., engineers, architects, attorneys), police, managers, sales, and semiskilled and skilled employees.26 Job per- formance was defined in terms of employee performance ratings, training competency, and personnel data such as salary level. The results of the study showed that conscientiousness predicted job performance for all five occupational groups.27 Predictions for the other person- ality dimensions depended on the situation and the occupational group. For example, extra- version predicted performance in managerial and sales positions, in which high social interaction is necessary.28 Openness to experience was found to be important in predicting training competency. Ironically, emotional security was not positively related to job perform- ance. Although it would seem logical that calm and secure workers would be better perform- ers, that wasn’t the case. Perhaps it’s a function of the likelihood that emotionally stable workers often keep their jobs and emotionally unstable people may not. Given that all those participat- ing in the study were employed, the variance on that dimension was probably small.

WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE? People who understand their own emotions and are good at reading others’ emotions may be more effective in their jobs. That, in essence, is the theme of the underlying research on emotional intelligence.29

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an assortment of noncognitive skills, capabilities, and competencies that influences a person’s ability to cope with environmental demands and pressures.30 It’s composed of five dimensions:

� Self-awareness. Being aware of what you’re feeling. � Self-management. The ability to manage your own emotions and impulses. � Self-motivation. The ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures. � Empathy. The ability to sense how others are feeling. � Social skills. The ability to handle the emotions of others.