EXAM 3 Flashcards
Personality
The stable psychological traits and behavioral attributes that give a person his/her identity.
Affects how a person perceives and acts within an organization.
Proactive Personality
Someone more apt to take initiative and influence the environment
Good at identifying and acting on opportunities
Rules of using psychological tests for hiring:
Rely on professionals to do the tests.
Don’t base hirings exclusively on these tests.
Avoid gender, racial, and ethnic biases in tests.
Integrity tests are good.
Graphology tests are bad (looking at penmanship)
5 important personality traits that influence workplace behavior
Locus of control
Self-efficacy
Self-esteem
Emotional stability
Emotional Intelligence
Locus of control
How much you believe that you are in control of your own fate.
Internal locus of control (high degree of control) - more motivated, have less anxiety, earn more, need high initiative jobs, and reject managerial control
external locus of control (low degree of control) - need a lot of structure and merit/sales based pay
Self-efficacy
A person’s belief in his/her ability to do a task
Low self-efficacy is linked to “learned helplessness” - the debilitating lack of faith in one’s ability to control their environment
How managers can build self-efficacy:
- Give autonomous jobs, not boring ones
- Goals should be challenging
- Provide guidance, mentors, etc.
Self-esteem
The extent to which people like or dislike themselves.
High self-esteem people: focus on their strengths, are positive, take risks, and take failure well (can be egotistical and violent)
Low self-esteem people: focus on their weaknesses, are negative, are dependent on others
Emotional stability
The ability to feel secure and confident when working under pressure
Low emotional stability: experience negative emotions under stress
High emotional stability: perform well under stress
Emotional intelligence
The ability to cope, empathize with others, and be self-motivated
High emotional intelligence = psychological well-being, better academic achievement, positivity, and good relationships
Includes:
Self-awareness (reading your own emotions and your effect on others)
Self-management (controlling your emotions and acting with integrity)
Social awareness (understanding others and showing them you care)
Relationship management (ability to build bonds)
Organizational behavior
Interdisciplinary field dedicated to the better understanding and management of people at work
Can be used to understand and predict employee behavior
Values
Abstract ideals that guides one’s thinking and behavior across all situations
Solidifies during early teens, but a life-altering event can change them
People are willing to work hard and make sacrifices for their values
Common workplace values:
- recognition
- compensation
- status
- work-life balace
Attitude
A learned predisposition toward a specific person or object
Can change significantly over time
3 components of attitudes
- Affective component: the feelings or emotions one has about a situation
- Cognitive component: the beliefs and knowledge one has about a situation
- Behavioral component: how one intends/expects to behave in a situation
(see example on page 4)
Cognitive dissonance
The psychological discomfort a person experiences as a result of behavior incompatible with his/her cognitive attitude.
People will try to reduce the tension of the inconsistency.
How people handle it depends on 3 factors
- Importance: the more important the issue causing the dissonance, the more likely they will try to reduce it
- Control: the more control a person has over the factors creating the dissonance, the more they will try to reduce it
- Rewards: the more invested someone is in a cognitive attitude, the less likely that they will adopt a new cognitive attitude
To reduce cognitive dissonance, you must change your attitude, reduce your perception of the importance of the behavior, or emphasize consonant elements that outweigh the dissonant ones
Common distortions in perceptions:
Stereotyping
The Halo Effect
The Recency Effect
Causal Attribution
Stereotyping
The tendency to attribute to an individual the characteristics one believes are typical of the group to which that individual belongs
Sex-role stereotype: beliefs that men and women are better suited for different roles (usually effects promotions)
Age stereotype: beliefs that older workers are less involved, committed, motivated, productive and satisfied with their work (research contradicts this)
-Some people also believe there’s a higher rate of absenteeism in older people
Race/ethnicity stereotypes: beliefs that individuals of certain races or ethnicities are less suited to perform a job (minorities currently occupy a very low percentage of managerial jobs)
Halo effect
When someone created their impression of someone based on a single trait
EX) attractive people are usually treated better and paid better
Recency effect
The tendency to remember recent information more readily than earlier information
This strongly effects performance reviews, when managers often think only about an employee’s most recent performance
Causal attribution
The activity of inferring causes for observed behaviors
EX) When a manager yells at an employee for being “lazy” when in reality they are just poorly trained
Types of attribution
-Fundamental attribution bias: when people attribute another person’s behavior to his/her personal characteristics rather than to situational factors
-Self-serving bias: when people tend to take more personal responsibility for success rather than for failure (ex: a student who says they did well on an exam for studying, but did poor on exam because the teacher was bad)
Self-fulfilling prophesy (pygmalion effect)
When people’s expectations of themselves or others lead them to behave in ways that make those expectations come true.
EX) managers who expect their employees to perform well will have high performing employees
Work-related attitudes:
these affect employee behavior
Employee engagement - an individual’s satisfaction, involvement, and enthusiasm for work (linked with job security, physical safety, and a culture of trust)
Job satisfaction - the extent to which you feel positive or negative about aspects of your job (driven by feelings about pay, supervision, promotion, and coworkers)
Organizational commitment - the extent to which an employee identifies with an organization and is committed to its goals (strong relationship between this and job satisfaction and job performance)
Work-related behaviors:
Performance and productivity - methods for evaluating this will vary based on the type of job
Absenteeism and turnover - both are related to job dissatisfaction
Ways to reduce turnover:
- Hire employees who fit company values
- Onboarding: programs that familiarize employees with corporate culture, policies, procedures, and polititcs
- Increase employee engagement
- Use realistic job previews when hiring
- Offer benefits that employees need and value
Organizational citizenship - not directly part of employees’ job descriptions, but those that exceed work-role requirements
Counterproductive work behaviors -behaviors that harm employees and the organization as a whole (includes absenteeism, drug and alcohol abuse, and tardiness)
Myths about diversity in the workplace
- Illegal immigrants affect the US economy
- White men don’t have an advantage
- Young workers earn more than they used to
Diversity
Represents all the ways people are unlike and alike (embraces both differences AND similarities)
- age
- gender
- race
- religion
- ethnicity
- sexual orientation
- capabilities
- socioeconomic background
Barriers to diversity
Stereotypes and prejudices
Fear of reverse discrimination
Resistance to diversity program priorities
Unsupportive social atmosphere
Lack of support for family demands
Lack of support for career-building steps (some managers won’t give minorities tasks and responsibilities that lead to advancement)