Organizational Psychology Self-awareness: Personality and attitude

1. OrganizationalPsychologySelf-awareness: Personality and attitude Interactive lecture ii Jolanta Babiak Winter semester 2019/2020

2. Assigned reading • Robins, S. Judge T.A. (2013). Organizational Behavior, New Jersey, Pearson Education, Inc. – chapter 5 • Whetten, D. A., Cameron K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills. New Jersey: Person education, Inc. – chapter 1

3. Self-awareness • Management skills originate from self-management (self-reverence, self-control, self-knowledge, self-insight, self-understanding) • Self-management starts with self-awareness which lies at the heart of an ability to master oneself (but it is not sufficient) • Setting priorities and goals, managing time and managing stress are build upon self-awareness

4. Knowledge about the self • The knowledge we possess about ourselves (self-concept) is central to developing and improving management skills, however… • Seeking kowledge about the self may motivate improvement or inhibit it! • The sensitive line concept

5. Important areas of self-awareness • Understanding individual differences: managing diversity • The ability to manage oneself and others: emotional intelligence • Gathering and processing of information: cognitive style • Core self-evaluation • Orientation towards change • Personal values

6. Purpose of understanding individual differences • Workforce is becoming more diverse (gender, age, culture, ethnicity) • Self-awareness helps to understand your own uniqueness – assumptions, trigger points, sensitive line, strengths and weaknesses • Manager’s effectiveness is related to her ability to recognize, appreciate and utilize key differences among others • Being aware of different perspectives, needs, tendencies of other people is a key part of personal maturity and emotional intelligence

7. Understanding individual differencesDon’t we have a tendency to interact with individuals who are like we are? pros cons Reduces creativity Reduces complex problem solving capacity Reduces the possibility to challenge authority figure Makes it more difficult to recognize changes in the environment Reduces the potential for novel ways to respond to diversity • Similarity makes it easier to interact with others – especially in the work place

8. Interpersonal competencesemotional intelligence • Ability to recognize and control own emotions • Ability to diagnose and recognize others’ feelings • Ability to understand differences among emotions • Ability to respond appropriately to emotional cues

9. These noncognitive skills and abilities are among the most important factors in explaining why some people succeed as leaders and others don’t Emotional intelligence Emotional competence Noncognitive capabilities and skills that affect human functioning • Ability to diagnose, understand and manage emotional cues

10. Why is emotional intelligence so important? • Evidence suggest that emotional competency level has dropped over time (IQ on the other hand increased almost 25 points over last 100 yrs) • Emotional intelligence has strong predictive power regarding success in management • IQ accounts for 10% of variance in job performance and in life success • IQ + EI almost 40%

11. Gathering and processing of information: Cognitive style • We attend to information and act upon it at a time to certain degree • We all develop strategies for suppressing some kind of information and paying attention to other kinds – to our benefit • These strategies become habitual and ingrained and they result in a particular cognitive style

12. Cognitive styles Particular tendency to perceive, interpret, and respond to information in a certain way • The manner in which we collect information • The way in which we evaluate and act upon it • Cognitive styles are moldable: developable and changeable with conscious effort

13. Knowing style Attributes Potential flaws Slow to make decisions Less creative resistant to innovation Preference for one view instead of multiple • emphasis on facts, details and data; • seek clear solutions, • Seek rationality and validity of data • Show preference for a legitimate data • Careful, accurate, and precise in evaluating information

14. Planning style Attributes Potential flaws Resistant to change Don’t handle ambiguity well Intolerant of chaos Can’t handle illogical issues and unpredictability • Emphasis on structure, preparation, and planning • Seek information with clear outlines and well-developed systems • Systematic methodology for responding to information • Conform to procedures and maintain routine • Prefer organization and logic

15. Creating style Attributes Potential flaws Resistant to structure Inclination to break rules May make many mistakes Tend to ignore data and facts Tend to be disorganized • Emphasis on experimentation, non-rational thinking, and creativity • Seek novelty and handle ambiguity well • Spontaneous and quick to respond to information • Like action and restructuring of situations • Good brainstormers

16. Consequences of our cognitive styles • People use their preferred cognitive style no matter what type of problem they face (e.g. brainstorming vs. installing new decision-aiding computer system) • Cognitive style does not indicate intelligence or capability • Knowing the style is advantageous in many ways • CS can be modified as person engages in different activities, interacts with different people or manages in different environments

17. Personality: Core self-evaluation • differences among people are manifested in certain kinds of behaviors, attitudes, emotional reactions, and thought patterns • these unique patterns are persons personality usually referred to as “trait”, to the extent that it is relatively enduring and stable • sizeable portion of our behavioral makeup is learned and can be changed, that is we have some control over it and it may be altered with conscious effort

18. Personality – research • Three attributes of personality have gotten extremely high interest from scientists: self-esteem, locus of control, and neuroticism • Five aspects of personality are referred to as most important individual’s characteristics: Extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness

19. Dominating personality model: The Big Five Dimensions • Conscientiousness– degree to which a person is dependable, responsible, organized, and forward looking • Extraversion/Introversion– degree to which a person is sociable, talkative, assertive, active, and ambitious • Openness to experience – degree to which a person is imaginative, broad minded, curious, and seeks new experiences • Emotional stability (Neuroticism) – degree to which a person is anxious, depressed, angry, and insecure • Agreeableness– degree to which a person is courteous, likable, good-natured, and flexible

20. The five-factor model

21. Questions to think about? • Which of the personality characteristics are most desirable in leaders/managers? • Which of the personality characteristics are most desirable in followers/coworkers? • Is there such phenomenon as an ideal personality profile of a manager? • Can such personality characteristics as narcissism, Machiavellianism, autocratic and dogmatic behaviors be ever useful in an organizational context? • What does it take to become a charismatic leader?

22. Core self-evaluation • Differences in scores on the five personality aspects can be explained by a more foundational personality factor: the fundamental evaluation each person has developed about him/herself - core self-evaluation • Core evaluations influence people’s appraisals about themselves, the world, and others but they operate subconsciously – for the most part people are not aware of their own core self-evaluations

23. Components of core self-evaluation • core self-evaluation sometimes referred to as positive self-regard; • comprised of four components: • self-esteem, • generalized self-efficacy, • neuroticism, • locus of control • In combination these 4 factors create a single, powerful latent attribute that lies at the foundation of personality manifestations

24. Effects of core self-evaluation • Each factor has a slightly different meaning but the shared meaning among them, core self-evaluation, assess the extent to which one possesses positive self-regard, feels valuable, capable, stable and in control • High CSE tend to be more satisfied with their job, perform more successfully on the job, have higher level of task motivation, persistence, productivity in the task, goal setting and commitment, and energized work behavior • Core self-evaluation is a strong predictor of personality differences, job satisfaction, job performance, and life happiness

25. Orientation towards change: prerequisite for successful coping with change • Ability to process information is to some extent constrained by the fundamental attitude towards change • Why is it important…? Change • Stability is interpreted as stagantion • If the organization is not in the stage of transformation/revolution it is considered poorly managed • Managers can no longer afford the luxury of managing in the stable, constant environemnt • Rapid-fire decision making, without the benfit of adequate information and careful analysis is becoming the norm

26. Orientation towards change: two key attitudes associated with success in management roles Tolerance of ambiguity Locus of control Refers to the attitude people develop regarding the extent to which they are in control of their own destinies Internal locus of control: interpreting the reinforcements as being contingent upon one’s own action External locus of control: interpreting the reinforcements as being the product of outside forces • Difficulty coping with ambiguous situations, with unpredictable, complex circumstances, inadequate and unclear information (stimulus-rich and information-overloaded environments) • High ambiguity tolerance correlates + with cognitive complexity: more adaptive than opposite characteristics • One can learn to be more tolerant of ambiguity

27. Orientation towards change, cont. Tolerance of ambiguity Locus of control ILC managers: less alienated from work environment, more satisfied with work, experience less job strain, position mobility, tend to acquire leadership position in groups Firms led by internals engage in innovation, more risky projects, longer planning horizons, more leadership in the marketplace L of C can shift over time as a function of position held and experiences • High ambiguity tolerant individuals are better transmitters of information, more sensitive to internal characteristics of others, more adaptive and flexible under overloaded situations • HA mangers are more entrepreneurial, are able to screen less information in a complex environment and cope more effectively with major organizational change • Might have difficulty focusing on single important element of information

28. Personal values • A person’s principles of standards of behavior • Among the most stable and enduring characteristics of an individual • Foundation for • attitudes • personal preferences • crucial decision • life directions • personal tastes • define our morality • define our conception of good and not-good

29. Personal values, cont. • Often people are unaware of which values they hold are more important and which are less important • People seldom seek to clarify their values • The values we hold are affected by a number of factors, e.g. nationality, religion or lack thereof, organization we work for, personal experiences, stage of values development (values maturity)

30. Personal values • Total number of values is small and people posses the same values but in different degrees (Rokeach 1973) • Instrumental – means oriented (prescribe desirable standards and methods for attaining an end) • Terminal – ends oriented (prescribe desirable end or goal for an individual)

31. Personal values – research data. • Most desired values in employees: • Responsible • Honest • Capable • Imaginative • Logical • Obedient, clean, polite

32. Personal values – research data. • Managers gave significantly higher score to values relating to economic (comfortable life) and political values (social recognition) • Sense of accomplishment • Self-respect • Comfortable life and independence

33. Personal values – research data. • Most important values for business school students and professors: • Ambition • Capability • Responsibility • Freedom • Less concerned with helping others, cultural values, and social injustice

34. Values and decision making • Awareness of one’s own values maturity (moral development) has practical implications for ethical decision making • For managers a corporate environment often means the pressure to compromise personal standards to meet company’s goals • Most ethical trade-offs are conflicts between economic end and social performance • In order to manage effectively one has to have clear sense of own values and developed moral maturity

35. Self-awareness: sum-up • Managerial skill development in any area will only occur if individuals have solid foundation of self-awareness • paradox in human behavior: we can know others only by knowing ourselves, but we can know ourselves only by knowing others • Our ability to successfully interact and manage others comes from relating what we see in them to our own experience • Self recognition leads to recognition and understanding of others: the basis for effective managing other human beings

36. Bibliography • Bass, B.M., Bass, R. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership. Theory, research and managerial applications. New York: The Free Press. • Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational behavior. New Jersey: Person education, Inc. • Whetten, D. A., Cameron K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills. New Jersey: Person education, Inc.