Ch. 4 - Personality, Cultural Values, and Abilities

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

The structures and propensities inside a person that explain their characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour

Question 2

The Big Five Taxonomy

Answer 2

Five broad dimensions used to summarize our personalities:
-Conscientiousness
-Agreeableness
-Neuroticism
-Openness
-Extraversion

Question 3

Conscientiousness

Answer 3

A strong desire to accomplish task-related goals well and thoroughly

Question 4

What is the biggest influence on job performance out of the Big Five? The second biggest?

Answer 4

Biggest Influence: Conscientiousness
Second Biggest Influence: Neuroticism

Question 5

Agreeableness

Answer 5

One’s ability to put others’ needs before their own. Individuals with high agreeableness are said to be communion striving

Question 6

Which dimension of the Big Five is the most beneficial for service jobs?

Answer 6

Agreeableness

Question 7

Neuroticism

Answer 7

Tendency to experience negative emotions. Affects how people deal with stress. Most jobs benefit from employees who are calm, stable, and secure (opposite of neuroticism)

Question 8

Which dimension of the Big Five is toughest to gauge in a short period of time?

Answer 8

Neuroticism

Question 9

Differential Exposure

Answer 9

Being more likely to appraise day-to-day situations as stressful

Question 10

Differential Reactivity

Answer 10

Being less likely to believe that one can cope with the stressors experienced on a daily basis

Question 11

Internal Locus of Control

Answer 11

Present in people that attribute the causes of events to themselves. These people look within themselves for change.

Question 12

Neurotic people hold an _________ locus of control

Answer 12

External (they often attribute events to the external environment)

Question 13

External Locus of Control

Answer 13

Present in people that attribute the causes of events to the external environment. These people look at the external environment for change.

Question 14

“Why is this happening to me?”
Which locus of control does this characterize?

Answer 14

External

Question 15

Is it good to have a completely internal locus of control?

Answer 15

No. It is best to be have a locus of control between internal and external. Too much internal locus of control can lead to self-depreciation.

Question 16

Openness to Experience

Answer 16

Willingness to try new things. Most people are not fully open or fully closed.

Question 17

Is being more open to new experiences always a good thing?

Answer 17

Usually, but not always. Consider a pilot. They need to fly a plane by the book to ensure their passengers are safe.

Question 18

What is the relationship between Consciousness and Job Performance?

Answer 18

Moderate positive correlation

Question 19

What is the relationship between Consciousness and Organizational Commitment?

Answer 19

Moderate positive correlation

Question 20

Culture

Answer 20

Shared values, beliefs, motives, identities, and interpretations that result from common experiences of members of a society

Question 21

Cultural Values

Answer 21

Shared beliefs about a desirable end states or modes of conduct in a given culture

Question 22

Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Values

Answer 22

Framework used to understand differences in culture across countries. The dimensions include:
-Individualism/Collectivism
-Power Distance
-Uncertainty Avoidance
-Masculinity/Femininity
-Short-Term Oriented/Long-Term Oriented

Question 23

Ability

Answer 23

Relative stable capabilities people have to perform a particular range of different but related activities (not teachable or trainable)

Question 24

Cognitive Ability

Answer 24

Capabilities related to the acquisition and application of knowledge in problem solving:
-Verbal
-Quantitative
-Reasoning
-Spatial
-Perceptual

Question 25

Does cognitive ability improve as you age?

Answer 25

No. In fact, cognitive ability often declines as you age.

Question 26

How is cognitive ability measured?

Answer 26

Using the Personnel Assessment Form (PAF). Provides scores in 2 subtests measuring verbal and quantitative ability. An overall measure of cognitive ability can be acquired by combined to derive an overall measure of general cognitive intelligence.

Question 27

Emotional Intelligence (EI/EQ)

Answer 27

Capabilities related to the management and use of emotions when interacting with others

Question 28

What are the 4 branches of emotional intelligence?

Answer 28

-Self Awareness
-Other Awareness
-Emotion Regulation
-Use of emotions

Question 29

Self Awareness

Answer 29

An individual’s ability to understand the types of emotions they are experiencing, the willingness to acknowledge them, and the capability to express them accurately.

Question 30

Other Awareness

Answer 30

An individual’s ability to recognize and understand other peoples’ emotions

Question 31

Emotion Regulation

Answer 31

The ability to quickly recover from emotional experiences and control one’s feelings.

Question 32

Use of emotions

Answer 32

An individual’s ability to harness emotions and use them to improve their chances of being successful in a given area

Question 33

What is the relationship between Cognitive Ability and Job Performance?

Answer 33

Strong positive correlation

Question 34

What is the relationship between Cognitive Ability and Job Performance?

Answer 34

No correlation

Question 35

What are the strengths of collectivist organizations?

Answer 35

-Higher levels of task performance and citizenship behaviour in team settings
-Lower levels of counterproductive behaviour and withdrawal behaviour
-Greater commitment to employers
-Preference for group rewards

Question 36

Individualism-Collectivism

Answer 36

The degree to which a culture has a loosely knit social framework or a tight social framework

Question 37

Power Distance

Answer 37

The degree to which a culture prefers equal power distribution or an unequal power distribution

Question 38

Uncertainty Avoidance

Answer 38

The degree to which a culture tolerates ambiguous situations or feels threatened by them

Question 39

Masculinity-Femininity

Answer 39

The degree to which a culture values stereotypically male traits (eg. assertiveness) or stereotypically feminine traits (eg. caring for others)

Question 40

Short-Term Oriented/Long-Term Oriented

Answer 40

The degree to which a culture stresses values that are past and present oriented (i.e. next 4 years) or future oriented

Question 41

What is the main purpose of Project GLOBE?

Answer 41

To examine the impact of culture on the effectiveness of various leader attributes, behaviours, and practices.

Question 42

Ethnocentrism

Answer 42

A propensity to view one’s own cultural values as “right” and other cultural values as “wrong”