Individual Differences at Work Flashcards
What are some key observations of individual differences?
People do differ in various ways, and those differences do have an impact on their effectiveness and behaviour.
The extent to which individual differences are important depends on the context within which they are expressed: the jobs that people do determine whether individual differences are helpful or a hindrance.
The extent to which individual differences are helpful or a hindrance is not static and, in fact, characteristics that may be helpful at one point of time may be unimportant at others, or even detrimental to performance.
What are implicit theories?
Ordinary or layperson intuitions about individual differences.
Are used to make sense of the world.
We use implicit theories to understand our own & other people’s behaviours and to predict what people will do in certain situations or how they will react to other people/events
We observe our own behaviour, compare it to the behaviour of others and use the information to decide what kind of person we are and what we think and feel about others.
What are explicit theories?
Scientific theories developed by psychologists to systematically study and explain individual differences.
The study of individual differences also known as and what are its focuses?
Differential psychology
Focus: Explains differences between individuals based on psychological determinants.
Consistency and Prediction: Studies consistencies in behaviour and how different patterns predict work outcomes.
What are some relevance in the South African Context with regards to individual differences?
Cultural Diversity: South Africa’s multicultural society means that various cultural backgrounds influence individual differences.
Understanding these cultural influences is vital for managing diverse workforces and fostering inclusive workplaces.
Socio-Economic Factors: Historical inequalities impact educational and job opportunities, influencing the development of individual differences.
Addressing these disparities is essential for equitable recruitment, selection, and career development processes.
Organisational Applications: Implementing personality and cognitive ability assessments in a fair and culturally sensitive way.
Tailoring motivational strategies to suit diverse workforces and varying socio-economic backgrounds.
What are some practical applications to enhance individual differences?
Recruitment and Selection: Using personality and cognitive assessments to match candidates to suitable roles.
Training and Development: Designing programs that cater to individual learning styles and cognitive abilities.
Performance Management: Recognising how individual differences affect performance and tailoring feedback and development plans accordingly.
Team Dynamics: Understanding personality traits to build cohesive and effective teams.
Leadership: Adapting leadership styles to suit team members’ diverse personalities and cognitive abilities.
Why is it important to understand individual differences?
Understanding individual differences is crucial for effectively managing and developing people at work. Organisations can create better strategies for recruitment, training, performance management, and leadership. In the South African context, recognising and addressing the impact of cultural and socio-economic factors on individual differences is essential for fostering inclusive and equitable workplaces.
What is personality?
The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s unique character.
Personality traits influence job performance, teamwork, leadership, and job satisfaction.
What features do good personality theories have?
Description: Simplify the complexities of behaviour.
Explanation: Help understand why behaviour occurs in particular situations.
Empirical Validity: Generate testable hypotheses.
Testable Concepts: Operationalize concepts for measurement and testing.
Comprehensiveness: Explain both normal and abnormal behaviour.
Parsimony: Avoid unnecessary complexity.
Heuristic Value: Stimulate research and scientific development.
Applied Value: Practical usefulness in various contexts, including work psychology.
What is the personality trait theory?
Trait theory suggests that individual differences in behaviour, thought, and emotions can be described by stable personality traits.
Traits are internal dispositions that remain generally stable over time and consistent across different situations. Examples of traits include friendliness, talkativeness, organisation, and calmness.
Personality trait theory taps into our intuitions about personality characteristics, that people are orderly and predictable.
Walter Mischel argued that behaviour varies significantly according to context, challenging the idea of consistent traits. This led to the situationist perspective, emphasising the role of situational factors in behaviour.
Traits can therefore be seen as coherent responses to particular situational cues.
What is the Social Learning Theory (or social cognition)?
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory emphasises reciprocal determinism between environment, person, and behaviour.
This means that these three factors are constantly affecting one another. When a person encounters a particular situation, they perceive that situation in a way unique to them, decide how to respond, and behave accordingly. The results of their behaviour are appraised, and in turn, this appraisal affects how future situations are perceived and dealt with.
Key concepts include observational learning and self-efficacy. Observational learning involves learning behaviours by observing role models , underlining the importance of leader behaviour in changing and influencing employee behaviour. While self-efficacy refers to the belief in one’s ability to achieve goals, also important for people at work, especially in relation to goal-setting or objective-setting. People feel more committed to their goals if they believe that they can achieve them.
What is the lexical hypothesis?
States that the most important personality characteristics will have been encoded in natural language as society has evolved (Allport and Odbert)
The extensive list was unwieldy and difficult to use comprehensively.
What is factor analysis?
Used by Cattell, factor analysis is a statistical technique that aims to reduce complexity in datasets and models by identifying underlying factors or dimensions that explain the relationships between the variables. This is a useful way to study personality traits because there are obvious relationships between certain personality traits. Relaxed and calm intuitively go together, as do talkative, gregarious and outgoing, likewise warm and friendly.
What are the five dimensions of personality (five-factor model)/Big Five)?
Extraversion: Outgoing vs. reserved.
Agreeableness: Warm and trusting vs. cold and unfriendly.
Conscientiousness: Organised and dependable vs. impulsive and disorganised.
Emotional Stability (Neuroticism): Calm and stable vs. neurotic and anxious.
Openness to Experience: Imaginative and open to new experiences vs. conventional and resistant to change.
Why is the Big Five model important?
The Big Five model offers a robust framework for understanding and measuring these traits, though alternative models and facets also contribute to a nuanced understanding.
What is the implication of the five-factor model of personality in understanding individual differences?
The implication of the model is that individual differences in personality traits can be described and understood effectively by determining how people differ on these five personality dimensions
What are the two dimensions that the Big Five could be grouped into ?
Higher-Order Factors
Factor alpha which comprises Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability.
Includes traits related to stability and social harmony. Associated with maintaining social order, impulse control, and cooperation.
Factor beta which comprises Extraversion and Openness/Intellect.
Involves traits focused on personal development and exploration. Associated with creativity, personal growth, and the pursuit of new experiences.
Why is the factor beta and factor alpha important?
They offer a broader understanding of personality by grouping traits that share common themes. It simplifies the complexity of personality, making it easier to study and understand patterns in behavior.
How are personality traits commonly measured?
Personality traits are typically assessed using self-report tools, like questionnaires or personality inventories. These tools present a series of statements or items, and individuals are asked to rate how much they agree or disagree with each one. Their responses help identify specific personality traits based on their self-perception.
How are scales used to measure personality traits?
Personality inventories measure traits using scales, which are groups of items (statements) related to specific traits. Since personality traits are bipolar, scales include items that reflect both ends of a trait. These items help derive scores for each trait. The variety of traits and models measured by different scales has led to the development of numerous personality inventories for commercial and research purposes.
How does Funder’s research support the effectiveness of self-report methods in personality assessment?
Measuring personality traits relies on people’s judgments of their own and others’ behaviors. Research by Funder suggests that people are surprisingly good at assessing personality traits. People often have similar views or judgments about the personality traits of others and people’s self-perceptions are a good indicator of how they are seen by others. This supports the effectiveness of self-report methods in personality assessment.
How does personality traits impact job behavior and performance with regards to the Big Five?
Extraversion:
Leadership and Sales: Positively associated with performance in roles requiring social interaction.
Conscientiousness:
Overall Job Performance: Strong predictor of reliability, organisation, and effective performance.
Emotional Stability (Neuroticism) :
Stress and Burnout: Negatively correlated with job-related stress and emotional exhaustion.
Agreeableness:
Teamwork and Customer Service: Essential for roles requiring cooperation and customer interaction.
Openness to Experience:
Creativity and Adaptability: Important in roles that require innovation and flexibility.
Job Demands:
High-Stress Jobs: May increase traits like conscientiousness and emotional stability.
Job Roles:
Leadership: Can enhance extraversion and openness due to increased social and cognitive demands.
What are the associations between the Big Five personality traits and organisational behaviour?
Traits related to affective styles (Extraversion and Neuroticism) along with Conscientiousness are associated with job satisfaction. Personality traits seem to affect how a person appraises aspects of their job and organization.
Personality also relates to a person’s commitment to their organization, with higher levels of Extraversion being most consistently associated with higher levels of organizational commitment.
Occupational interests are also associated with personality traits, with good evidence that traits from the Big Five model overlap with interests and preferences for particular kinds of work and working environments. Of particular note is Openness/Intellect, which is related to preferences for artistic or investigative occupations
Team processes and teamworking are related to the traits of the team members. In the case of Extraversion, having members high and low on the dimension may allow leaders and followers to emerge, and in the case of Emotional Stability, people low on the dimension may bring a sense of urgency to the team in respect of goal attainment.
Personality is related to leadership behaviour. The Big Five have been found to be associated with leader emergence (Extraversion and Conscientiousness positively associated) and leadership effectiveness (Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability and Openness all positively associated).
Openness/Intellect is associated with innovative behaviour, especially for longer-tenured employees.
What are the two main issues identified by Woods regarding the study of Big Five personality traits in relation to work outcomes?
Traits are often seen as static predictors or viewed as fixed characteristics that predict job performance or other work-related results without accounting for changes in the traits over time and the reciprocal influence of work on personality is often overlooked.
What is the Trait Activation Theory (TAT) and what can it be used for?
TAT posits that personality traits are activated by specific work demands, influencing behaviour and performance. As work demands change over time, the influence of personality traits on performance also changes
The changing influences of personality on work outcomes over the course of people’s careers can be examined through Trait Activation Theory
