Managing Individual Differences & Behavior Supervising People as People
First law of human behavior: • “People are different. What one person considers a golden opportunity another considers a threat.”
Perception • Process of interpreting and understanding one’s environment • Individuals organize and interpret information from their environments using perceptual filters • personality, psychology, experience, preferences, beliefs-based differences • Objective vs. perceived realities
Perception • People perceive the world uniquely • Differences in perceptions can cause problems • Communication • Conflict • Motivation • Judgment • Decision Making
Object Perception
Social Perception How we gather information about the social world--about peoples’ behavior, moods, motives, and traits Similar to object perception, but • People are more dynamic than objects • We’re trying to figure out intentions, motives, and causes of behavior
Causal Attribution Why did they do that? • internal causes • traits • skills • abilities • external causes • situational constraints
Errors/Biasesin Social Perception • Fundamental Attribution Error • The tendency to attribute others' bad performance to internal causes & • Attribute their good performance to external causes • Self-serving bias • attribute successes to ourselves - internal • attribute failures to the environment – external
Distortions in Perception • Review PA • Halo, contrast, Primacy/recency etc. • Selective perception • filter out information that is discomforting, that seems irrelevant, or that contradicts one’s beliefs or expectations • Closure • tendency to fill in the gaps when information is missing • Assume what we don’t know is consistent with what we do know
Distortions in Perception • Stereotyping • tendency to attribute to an individual the characteristics one believes are typical of the group to which that individual belongs • Sex-role, age, race/ethnicity
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy • Self-Fulfilling prophecy • the phenomenon in which people’s expectations of themselves or others lead them to behave in ways that make those expectations come true • Also called the Pygmalion effect
Perception Implications • Increase the accuracy of your own perceptions. • Conscious information processing • Ask yourself about the bias • Reality testing—Check your assumptions • Ask questions (and let them answer) • Look for information that disconfirms your beliefs • 360 feedback • Know your people
Perception Implications • Leaders must be attuned to: • The perceived realities and attributions of their team • The fact that perceived and objective realities may not mesh • The idea that people respond to the perceived reality • Managers must eliminate differences between employees’ perceived and objective reality. • Have high (yet realistic) expectations
Personality Relatively stable, unique set of traits and attributes that that give a person his/her identity and determine his/her preferences and behavior. Why consider personality?
THE “BIG FIVE” (CANOE):Conscientiousness • The degree to which a person is dependable, responsible, thorough, perseverant • Most consistent personality predictor of performance • Also predicts lack of problem behavior
THE “BIG FIVE”: Agreeableness • The extent to which a person is polite, good natured, flexible, cooperative, trusting. • May predict job performance in jobs…
THE “BIG FIVE”:Neuroticism (Emotional Stability) • The degree to which a person is anxious, depressed, moody, emotionally unstable, temperamental. • May predict job performance in what type of jobs?
THE “BIG FIVE”: Openness • The degree to which a person is imaginative, curious, flexible, open to change. • May predict job performance where?
THE “BIG FIVE”: Extraversion • The degree to which a person is sociable, talkative, assertive, active, ambitious. • May predict job performance in what type of jobs?
SELF-ESTEEM • How perceive themselves overall: abilities, competencies, and effectiveness • High self esteem is related to higher performance, commitment, loyalty, and longevity. • What can managers do to foster high self esteem?
SELF-EFFICACY • Belief in one’s ability to do a task • Learned helplessness
FOSTERING SELF-ESTEEM & Self EFFICACY
LOCUS OF CONTROL • How much people believe they control their fate through their own efforts. • Internal • External • Why is locus of control important? • Response to supervision and structure? • Satisfaction? • Performance? • Incentive Systems? • How might a manager influence employees’ locus of control?
LOCUS OF CONTROL
Emotional Intelligence • Ability to detect, express, and manage emotion in oneself and others. Other (Social Competence) Self (Personal Competence) Recognition of emotions Regulation of emotions
Emotional Intelligence • Some suggest that EI is the best predictor of work success • It’s “learnable” • It’s related to communication, motivation (self and others), effective leadership (Hendrie Weisinger, “Emotional Intelligence at Work” (Jossey-Bass, 1998).
