Week 8: Individual Attributes and their Effects on Job Performance Flashcards
Individual Performance Equation
Job performance = individual attributes x work effort x organisational support
- individual attributes relate to the capacity to perform
- work effort relates to a willingness to perform
- organisational support relates to the opportunity to perform
Individual attributes that create individual differences
Individual attributes that relate to individual performance:
- Demography (the composition of a particular human population)
- Competency
- Personality
Motivation to work
Situational constraints
Motivation to work: refers to the forces within an individual that account for the level, direction and persistence of effort expended at work
Situational constraints: organisational inadequacies, which do not allow workers to perform adequately
Demographic Differences Among Individuals
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Competence differences:
- Aptitude and ability
- Cognitive abilities
- Physical abilities
- Emotional competence
- Aptitude: is the capacity to learn something
- Ability: is the capacity to perform the various tasks needed for a given job
- Cognitive abilities: refer to our mental capacity to process information and solve problems
- Physical abilities: refer to our natural and developed motor capacities for speed, strength, flexibility and so on, as well as our use of the five senses
Emotional competence
- Emotional intelligence
- Emotion management
Emotional intelligence: is a form of social intelligence that allows us to monitor and shape our emotions and those of others
Emotion management: is exercising emotional self-control and self-regulation influenced by the context in which individuals find themselves
Four essential emotional intelligence competencies to be developed for leadership success:
- Self-awareness
- Social awareness
- Self-management
- Relationship management
Type A orientation are characterised by impatience, desire for achievement and perfectionism. Type B orientation are characterised as more easygoing and less competitive in relation to daily events.
Personality Differences among Individuals
Personality
Personality: is the overall profile or combination of traits that characterise the unique nature of a person
- Heredity and environment (cultural, social and situational factors) combine to influence an individual’s personality
The big five model (Canoe)
Other important personality traits
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Personality traits – The big five model (CANOE)
- Conscientiousness
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
- Openness to experience
- Extraversion
Emotional stability is one area that does not necessarily predict job performance
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Other important personality traits:
- Locus of control (internal vs. external)
- Authoritarianism/Dogmatism
- Machiavellianism
Locus of Control
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Locus of control: is the internal-external orientation- that is, the extent to which people feel able to affect their lives
- Internals: are persons with an internal locus of control, who believe they control their own fate or destiny
- Externals: persons with an external locus of control, who believe what happens to them is beyond their control
Authoritarianism:
Dogmatism:
Machiavellians:
Authoritarianism: is a personality trait that focuses on the rigidity of a person’s beliefs
Dogmatism: is a personality trait that regards legitimate authority as absolute
Machiavellians: are people who view and manipulate others purely for personal gain
Individuals and Workplace Diversity
Extending the Performance Equation
Add values, attitudes and perception to individual attributes
Values
Value congruence
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Values
- ‘What is right, what is wrong, what ought to be’
- Understanding workplace values:
- Achievement
- Helping and concern for others
- Honesty
- Fairness
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Value Congruence
- Value congruence occurs when individuals express positive feelings on encountering others who express values similar to their own.
- Greater follower satisfaction with leader when congruence in terms of achievement, helping, honesty, and fairness values
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Meglino framework four especially important values:
- Achievement
- Helping and concern for others
- Honesty
- Fairness
- Generational Differences in Values (see pic)
Attitudes
Three basic components
Attitudes: a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to some person, thing or event in your environment.
- Three basic components:
- Cognitive component
- Affective component
- Behavioural component
- Cognitive components: of an attitude are the beliefs, opinions, knowledge or information a person possesses
- Beliefs: represent ideas about someone or something and the conclusions people draw about them
- Affective components: of an attitude are the specific feelings regarding the personal impact of the antecedents
- Behavioural components: of an attitude are the intentions to behave in a certain way based on a person’s specific feelings or attitudes
- Beliefs and values create -> attitudes that predispose -> behaviour*
- Attitudes do not always predict behaviour*
Cognitive Dissonance:
Cognitive Dissonance: Perceived inconsistency between a person’s expressed attitudes and actual behaviour
- Can result in a state of anxiety
- Individuals will seek to remedy inconsistencies by either:
- Changing the underlying attitude
- Changing the future behaviour
- Rationalising the inconsistency
Important Work-related Attitudes
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Job satisfaction: The degree to which an individual feels positively or negatively about his/her job
- An evaluation/appraisal
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Organisational commitment: The degree to which an individual identifies with and feels part of the organisation
- Affective vs. continuance commitment
- Job involvement: Willingness to work hard and apply effort beyond normal job expectations
Job Satisfaction and Job Performance
- Job satisfaction:
- Influences absence and turnover behaviours
- Link to organisational commitment less clear
- Job satisfaction and performance hypotheses
- Satisfaction causes performance?
- Performance causes satisfaction?
- Rewards cause both performance and satisfaction? (most compelling argument)
Performance
Performance: is a summary measure of the quantity and quality of task contributions made by an individual or group to the work unit and organisation
Perception and the Perceptual Process
- Perception: is the process through which people receive, organise and interpret information from their environment
- Factors in the Perceptual Process:
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Perceiver
- Needs, motives, past experiences, values, attitudes and personality may all influence the perceptual process
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Setting
- Physical, social or organisational context can influence the perceptual process
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Perceived Target
- Perceived characteristics such as contrast, intensity, size, motion, repetition or novelty can influence the perceptual process
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Perceiver
Stereotyping:
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Stereotyping Occurs when information is organised and sorted into different categories or ‘stereotypes’
- Influenced by ‘schemas’, cognitive frameworks developed through experience
- Obscure individual differences and can prevent accurate assessment of people’s needs, preferences and abilities
- Demographic variables are a common basis for stereotyping
- Age and performance
- Gender and performance
- Ethnicity and performance
