CH-4-5 Emotions and Moods – Essentials of Organizational Behavior : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 4 to 5 Chapter 4 Emotions and Moods Chapter Overview This chapter examines the effect of moods and emotions on the workplace. Humans are emotional creatures, and to ignore this fact during work hours is inappropriate in the study of organizational behavior. This chapter examines the causes of, and influences on, emotion. Emotional intelligence is explored, as are the various ways emotions play out in the work environment. Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter, the student should be able to: 1. Differentiate between emotions and moods. 2. Discuss whether emotions are rational and what functions they serve. 3. Describe the validity of potential sources of emotions and moods. 4. Show the impact emotional labor has on employees. 5. Describe affective events theory and its applications. 6. Contrast the evidence for and against the existence of emotional intelligence. 7. Identify strategies for emotion regulation and their likely effects. 8. Apply concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues. Suggested Lecture Outline I. INTRODUCTION A. Emotions do have an effect on behavior. Nevertheless, until recently OB has not given much research attention to the subject. 1. Wide-standing belief that emotions of any kind were thought to be disruptive in the work environment. B. Certainly some emotions, particularly when exhibited at the wrong time, can hinder employee performance. 1. This doesn’t change the fact that employees bring their emotional sides with them to work every day and that no study of OB would be comprehensive without considering the role of emotions in workplace behavior. II. WHAT ARE EMOTIONS AND MOODS? A. Emotional Terminology: 1. Three closely related terms must be defined before we can explore the subject. a. Affect: the generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people experience. It's an umbrella concept that encompasses both emotions and moods. b. Emotion: the intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. 1) Emotions are more fleeting than moods. 2) Emotions tend to be clearly revealed through facial expressions and are often action-oriented. 3) Emotions are reactions to a person (seeing a friend at work may make you feel glad) or an event (dealing with a rude client may make you feel angry). 4) You show your emotions when you’re “happy about something, angry at someone, afraid of something.” c. Moods: the feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and often lack a contextual stimulus. 1) Longer lasting than emotions, moods are not usually directed at a person or event. 2) Moods are more cognitive, meaning they cause us to think or brood about a subject for a while. 3) Moods aren’t usually directed at a person or an event. d. Emotions can turn into moods when you lose focus on the event or object that started the feeling. 1) And, by the same token, good or bad moods can make you more emotional in response to an event. 2) So when a colleague criticizes how you spoke to a client, you might show emotion (anger) toward a specific object (your colleague). a) But as the specific emotion dissipates, you might just feel generally dispirited. b) You can’t attribute this feeling to any single event; you’re just not your normal self. c) You might then overreact to other events. 3) This affect state describes a mood. Exhibit 4-1 shows the relationships among affect, emotions, and mood. 2. Exhibit 4-1 shows important relationships. a. First, it shows that affect is a broad term that encompasses emotions and moods. b. Second, it shows differences between emotions and moods. 1) Some of these differences—that emotions are more likely to be caused by a specific event, and emotions are more fleeting than moods—we just discussed. 2) Other differences are more subtle. a) For example, unlike moods, emotions like anger and disgust tend to be more clearly revealed by facial expressions. b) Also, some researchers speculate that emotions may be more action oriented—they may lead us to some immediate action—while moods may be more cognitive, meaning they may cause us to think or brood for a while.c. Finally, the exhibit shows that emotions and moods are closely connected and can influence each other. 1) Getting your dream job may generate the emotion of joy, which can put you in a good mood for several days. 2) Similarly, if you’re in a good or bad mood, it might make you experience a more intense positive or negative emotion than otherwise. 3) In a bad mood, you might blow up in response to a co-worker’s comment that would normally have generated only a mild reaction. 3. Affect, emotions, and moods are separable in theory; in practice the distinction isn’t always crystal clear. a. In some areas, researchers have studied mostly moods, in other areas mainly emotions. b. So, when we review the OB topics on emotions and moods, you may see more information on emotions in one area and on moods in another. B. The Basic Emotions. 1. There are dozens of emotions. a. Include anger, contempt, enthusiasm, envy, fear, frustration, disappointment, embarrassment, disgust, happiness, hate, hope, jealousy, joy, love, pride, surprise, and sadness. b. Numerous researchers have tried to limit them to a fundamental set.1) But some argue that it makes no sense to think in terms of “basic” emotions because even emotions we rarely experience, such as shock, can have a powerful effect on us. 2. It’s unlikely psychologists or philosophers will ever completely agree on a set of basic emotions, or even on whether there is such a thing. 3. Many researchers have agreed on six essentially universal emotions. a. They include anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise.Some even plot them along a continuum: happiness—surprise—fear—sadness—anger—disgust. 1) The closer two emotions are to each other on this continuum, the more likely people will confuse them. 2) We sometimes mistake happiness for surprise, but rarely do we confuse happiness and disgust. C. The Basic Moods: Positive and Negative Affect. 1. One way to classify emotions is whether they are positive or negative. a. Positive Emotions. Express a favorable evaluation or feeling, such as joy and gratitude. 1) Positive Affect. The mood dimension consisting of positive emotions such as excitement, self-assurance, and cheerfulness at the high end with boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end. b. Negative Emotions. Express the opposite, such as anger or guilt. 1) Negative Affect. The mood dimension consisting of nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end with relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end. c. Positivity Offset. At zero input, when no stimulus is provided, most people experience a mildly positive mood. In fact, positive moods tend to be more common than negative ones. 1) The degree to which people experience positive and negative emotions can vary across cultures. D. The Function of Emotions and Moods. 1. Do Emotions Make Us Irrational? How often have you heard someone say “Oh, you’re just being emotional”? You might have been offended. a. These observations suggest rationality and emotion are in conflict, and that if you exhibit emotion you are likely to act irrationally. b. One team of authors argues that displaying emotions such as sadness to the point of crying is so toxic to a career that we should leave the room rather than allow others to witness it. c. These perspectives suggest the demonstration or even experience of emotions can make us seem weak, brittle, or irrational. d. However, research is increasingly showing that emotions are actually critical to rational thinking. There has been evidence of such a link for a long time. 2. We must have the ability to experience emotions to be rational. a. Our emotions provide important information about how we understand the world around us. b. The key to good decision making is to employ both thinking and feeling in our decisions. c. Do Emotions Make Us Ethical? People who are behaving ethically are at least partially making decisions based upon their emotions and feelings. E. Sources of Emotions and Moods. 1. Personality. Moods and emotions have a trait component: most people have built-in tendencies to experience certain moods and emotions more frequently than others do. a. People also experience the same emotions with different intensities. b. People also differ in affect intensity, or how strongly they experience their emotions. c. Affectively intense people experience both positive and negative emotions more deeply: when they’re sad, they’re really sad, and when they’re happy, they’re really happy. 2. Day of the Week and Time of the Day. Mood and emotion can be affected by the timing of the stimulus. a. Time. (See Exhibit 4-2) While we commonly think of “morning” or “evening” people, the majority of the population tends to exhibit a similar pattern: moods start out low in the morning, peak during the day, and then decline in the evening. 1) No matter what time a person goes to bed or gets up in the morning, the peak of a positive mood effect typically occurs midway between waking and sleeping times. 2) Negative affect, however, shows little fluctuation throughout the day. b. Day. People tend to be in their worst moods (highest negative affect and lowest positive affect) early in the week and in their best moods later in the week. 1) This trend appears to be true in several other cultures as well (see Exhibit 4-3). 3. Weather. When do you think you would be in a better mood—when it’s 70 degrees and sunny or on a gloomy, cold, rainy day? a. Many people believe their mood is tied to the weather. However, a fairly large and detailed body of evidence conducted by multiple researchers suggests weather has little effect on mood.b. Illusory correlation explains why people tend to think nice weather improves their mood. It occurs when people associate two events that in reality have no connection. 4. Stress. As you might imagine, stressful daily events at work (a nasty e-mail, an impending deadline, the loss of a big sale, a reprimand from the boss) negatively affect moods. a. The effects of stress also build over time. As the authors of one study note, “a constant diet of even low-level stressful events has the potential to cause workers to experience gradually increasing levels of strain over time.” b. Mounting levels of stress can worsen our moods, and we experience more negative emotions. c. Although sometimes we thrive on stress, most of us, like this blogger, find stress takes a toll on our mood. Jobs require emotional labor, an employee’s expression of organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions at work. 1. The concept of emotional labor emerged from studies of service jobs. 2. But emotional labor is relevant to almost every job. 3. The true challenge arises when employees have to project one emotion while feeling another. B. This disparity is emotional dissonance, and it can take a heavy toll. 1. Bottled-up feelings of frustration, anger, and resentment can eventually lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout. It’s from the increasing importance of emotional labor as a key component of effective job performance that we have come to understand the relevance of emotion within the field of OB. C. It can help you, on the job especially, if you separate emotions into felt or displayed emotions. 1. Felt emotions are an individual’s actual emotions. 2. In contrast, displayed emotions are those that the organization requires workers to show and considers appropriate in a given job. a. They’re not innate; they’re learned. b. Effective managers have learned to be serious when giving an employee a negative performance evaluation and to hide their anger when they’ve been passed over for promotion. 1) A salesperson who hasn’t learned to smile and appear friendly, despite his or her true feelings at the moment, typically won’t last long in the job. 2) How we experience an emotion isn’t always the same as how we show it.3. Displaying fake emotions requires us to suppress real ones. a. Surface acting is hiding inner feelings and forgoing emotional expressions in response to display rules. 1) A worker who smiles at a customer even when he doesn’t feel like it is surface acting. 2) Surface acting deals with displayed emotions, and deep acting deals with felt emotions. 3) Research shows surface acting is more stressful to employees because it entails feigning their true emotions. b. Deep acting is trying to modify our true inner feelings based on display rules. 1) A health care provider trying to genuinely feel more empathy for her patients is deep acting. 2) Displaying emotions we don’t really feel is exhausting, so it is important to give employees who engage in surface displays a chance to relax and recharge. IV. AFFECTIVE EVENTS THEORY A. We’ve seen that emotions and moods are important parts of our personal lives and our work lives. But how do they influence our job performance and satisfaction? B. A model called affective events theory (AET) demonstrates that employees react emotionally to things that happen to them at work, and this reaction influences their job performance and satisfaction (see Exhibit 4-4). 1. The theory begins by recognizing that emotions are a response to an event in the work environment. 2. Work events trigger positive or negative emotional reactions, to which employees’ personalities and moods predispose them to respond with greater or lesser intensity. 3. AET provides us with valuable insights into the role emotions play in primary organizational outcomes of job satisfaction and job performance. Employees and managers therefore shouldn’t ignore emotions or the events that cause them. V. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE A. Introduction 1. People who know their own emotions and are good at reading others' emotions may be more effective in their jobs. The concept of EI is controversial in OB. 2. Emotional Intelligence (EI): a person’s ability to (1) perceive emotions in the self and others, (2) understand the meaning of these emotions, and (3) regulate one’s emotions accordingly in a cascading model (Exhibit 4-5). Self-aware people tend to be good at reading emotion cues. High EI is moderately associated with high job performance. B. The Case for EI. Supporters of the concept of EI present the following arguments. 1. Intuitive Appeal. It seems apparent that it would be a positive thing to have street smarts and social intelligence. The ability to detect emotions in others, controlling your own emotions, and handling social interactions well seems obvious as a way to business success. 2. EI Predicts Criteria That Matter. Research evidence is increasing that high EI is positively correlated to job performance. 3. EI Is Biologically Based. When people are physically unable to process emotions they score significantly lower on EI tests, which suggests that EI is neurologically based and is unrelated to standard measures of intelligence. C. The Case against EI. Detractors of EI present these arguments. 1. EI Researchers Do Not Agree on Definitions. The research definition of EI is too broad and varied to be helpful. 2. EI Can't Be Measured. As a form of intelligence, EI should be able to be measured on tests. But most EI testing instruments are self-reporting surveys in which there are no verifiable answers. 3. EI Is Nothing but Personality with a Different Label. Some argue that because EI is so closely related to intelligence and personality, once these factors are controlled for, EI has nothing unique to offer. EI does appear to be highly correlated with measures of personality, especially emotional stability.D. Emotion Regulation: identifying and modifying the emotions you feel. 1. Emotions can be changed using strategies like suppressing negative thoughts, distraction, or engaging in relation techniques. 2. However, the effort to change emotions can be exhausting, and could actually result in a stronger emotion. VI. OB APPLICATIONS OF EMOTIONS AND MOODS A. Introduction. It is important for managers to understand emotions and moods so they can improve their ability to explain and predict a number of OB applications. B. Selection. Employers should consider EI as a factor in the hiring process, especially in jobs that demand a high degree of social interaction. C. Decision Making. OB researchers are increasingly finding that moods and emotions have important effects on decision making. 1. People in good moods or experiencing positive emotions are more likely to use heuristics, or rules of thumb, to help them make good decisions quickly. 2. Despite some evidence to the contrary, people experiencing bad moods or negative emotions are more likely to take a significant amount of time to make a decision and may not come up with a better solution than would people in good moods. D. Creativity. People in good moods tend to be more creative than people in bad moods.1. They produce more ideas and more options, and others think their ideas are original.It seems people experiencing positive moods or emotions are more flexible and open in their thinking, which may explain why they’re more creative. 2. Supervisors should actively try to keep employees happy because doing so creates more good moods (employees like their leaders to encourage them and provide positive feedback on a job well done), which in turn leads people to be more creative.3. Some researchers, however, do not believe a positive mood makes people more creative. a. They argue that when people are in positive moods, they may relax (“If I’m in a good mood, things must be going okay, and I must not need to think of new ideas”) and not engage in the critical thinking necessary for some forms of creativity. b. The answer may lie in thinking of moods somewhat differently. 1) Rather than looking at positive or negative affect, it’s possible to conceptualize moods as active feelings like anger, fear, or elation, and contrast these with deactivating moods like sorrow, depression, or serenity. 2) All the activating moods, whether positive or negative, seem to lead to more creativity, whereas deactivating moods lead to less. E. Motivation. Several studies have highlighted the importance of moods and emotions on motivation. 1. One study set two groups of people to solving word puzzles. a. The first group saw a funny video clip, intended to put the subjects in a good mood first. b. The other group was not shown the clip and started working on the puzzles right away. c. The positive-mood group reported higher expectations of being able to solve the puzzles, worked harder at them, and solved more puzzles as a result. 2. The second study found that giving people performance feedback—whether real or fake—influenced their mood, which then influenced their motivation. a. So a cycle can exist in which positive moods cause people to be more creative, which leads to positive feedback from those observing their work. b. This positive feedback further reinforces their positive mood, which may make them perform even better, and so on. 3. Another study looked at the moods of insurance sales agents in Taiwan.a. Agents in a good mood were more helpful toward their co-workers and also felt better about themselves. b. These factors in turn led to superior performance in the form of higher sales and better supervisor reports of performance. Effective leaders rely on emotional appeals to help convey their messages.a. In fact, the expression of emotions in speeches is often the critical element that makes us accept or reject a leader’s message. b. Politicians, as a case in point, have learned to show enthusiasm when talking about their chances of winning an election, even when polls suggest otherwise. 2. Corporate executives know emotional content is critical if employees are to buy into their vision of the company’s future and accept change. a. When higher-ups offer new visions, especially with vague or distant goals, it is often difficult for employees to accept the changes they’ll bring. b. By arousing emotions and linking them to an appealing vision, leaders increase the likelihood that managers and employees alike will accept change. c. Leaders who focus on inspirational goals also generate greater optimism and enthusiasm in employees, leading to more positive social interactions with co-workers and customers. G. Negotiation. 1. Negotiation is an emotional process; however, we often say a skilled negotiator has a “poker face.” a. Anger should be used selectively in negotiation: angry negotiators who have less information or less power than their opponents have significantly worse outcomes. b. It appears that a powerful, better-informed individual will be less willing to share information or meet an angry opponent halfway. 2. Displaying a negative emotion (such as anger) can be effective, but feeling bad about your performance appears to impair future negotiations. Individuals who do poorly in a negotiation experience negative emotions, develop negative perceptions of their counterpart, and are less willing to share information or be cooperative in future negotiations. 3. Interestingly, then, while moods and emotions have benefits at work, in negotiation—unless we’re putting up a false front like feigning anger—emotions may impair negotiator performance. H. Customer Service. 1. A worker’s emotional state influences customer service, which influences levels of repeat business and of customer satisfaction.2. Providing quality customer service makes demands on employees because it often puts them in a state of emotional dissonance. 3. Over time, this state can lead to job burnout, declines in job performance, and lower job satisfaction.4. Employees’ emotions can transfer to the customer. 5. Studies indicate a matching effect between employee and customer emotions called emotional contagion—the “catching” of emotions from others. a. Emotional contagion is important because customers who catch the positive moods or emotions of employees shop longer. b. When an employee feels unfairly treated by a customer, for example, it’s harder for him to display the positive emotions his organization expects of him. I. Job Attitudes. Ever hear the advice “Never take your work home with you,” meaning you should forget about work once you go home? 1. Several studies have shown people who had a good day at work tend to be in a better mood at home that evening, and vice versa.2. People who have a stressful day at work also have trouble relaxing after they get off work.3. As most married readers might suspect, if one member of the couple was in a negative mood during the workday, that mood spilled over to the spouse at night.4. In other words, if you’ve had a bad day at work, your spouse is likely to have an unpleasant evening. Even though people do emotionally take their work home with them, however, by the next day the effect is usually gone. J. Deviant Workplace Behaviors. 1. Anyone who has spent much time in an organization realizes people often behave in ways that violate established norms and threaten the organization, its members, or both. a. As we saw in Chapter 1, these actions are called workplace deviant behaviors. 1) Many can be traced to negative emotions. 2) For instance, envy is an emotion that occurs when you resent someone for having something you don’t have but strongly desire—such as a better work assignment, larger office, or higher salary.It can lead to malicious deviant behaviors. 3) An envious employee could backstab another employee, negatively distort others’ successes, and positively distort his own accomplishments.4) Angry people look for other people to blame for their bad mood, interpret other people’s behavior as hostile, and have trouble considering others’ point of view. b. Evidence suggests people who feel negative emotions, particularly anger or hostility, are more likely than others to engage in deviant behavior at work.1) Once aggression starts, it’s likely that other people will become angry and aggressive, so the stage is set for a serious escalation of negative behavior. K. Safety and Injury at Work. a. Individuals in negative moods tend to be more anxious, which can make them less able to cope effectively with hazards. b. A person who is always scared will be more pessimistic about the effectiveness of safety precautions because she feels she’ll just get hurt anyway, or she might panic or freeze up when confronted with a threatening situation. c. Negative moods also make people more distractible, and distractions can obviously lead to careless behaviors. VII. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS A. Emotions and moods are relevant for virtually every OB topic. 1. Recognize that emotions are a natural part of the workplace and good management does not mean creating an emotion-free environment. 2. To foster creative decision making, creativity, and motivation in employees, model positive emotions and moods as much as is authentically possible. 3. In the service sector, encourage positive displays of emotion, which make customers feel more positive and thus improve customer service interactions and negotiations. 4. Managers who understand the role of emotions and moods will significantly improve their ability to explain and predict their coworkers’ and employees’ behavior. B. Summary 1. Differentiated between emotions and moods. 2. Discussed whether emotions are rational and what functions they serve. 3. Described the validity of potential sources of emotions and moods. 4. Showed the impact emotional labor has on employees. 5. Described affective events theory and its applications. 6. Contrasted the evidence for and against the existence of emotional intelligence. 7. Identified strategies for emotion regulation and their likely effects. 8. Applied concepts about emotions and moods to specific OB issues. Discussion Questions 1. Describe the three major emotional terms. How are they related and how do they differ? Answer: (1) Affect: the generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people experience. It's an umbrella concept that encompasses both emotions and moods. (2) Emotion: the intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. Emotions are more fleeting than moods. Emotions tend to be clearly revealed through facial expressions and are often action-oriented. (3) Moods: the feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and often lack a contextual stimulus. Longer lasting than emotions, moods are not usually directed at a person or event. Moods are more hidden and cognitive, meaning they cause us to think or brood about a subject for a while. Moods and emotions are related to each other, and exhibit a mutual influence. An emotion, once it dissipates, can turn into a mood. Moods can affect the intensity of an emotional experience; that is, the degree to which an emotion is expressed in a given situation. In reality, the distinction between moods and emotions is often difficult to make. 2. List the basic emotions along a continuum. What are the difficulties of using this continuum? Answer: The continuum is happiness—surprise—fear—sadness—anger—disgust. Emotions that are close to each other on the continuum are difficult to distinguish, culture influences interpretation, and some universal emotions (such as surprise) do not neatly fit into the positive and negative continuum. 3. Of the eight sources of emotions and moods identified in your text, which do you feel is the most critical and why? Answer: Answers will vary, but one of the following sources must be identified: day/time, weather, stress, social activities, sleep, exercise, age, or gender. Among the eight sources of emotions and moods, **social interactions** are often considered the most critical. This is because our emotions and moods are significantly influenced by our relationships with others, including support, conflict, and social feedback. Positive or negative interactions can profoundly affect our emotional state, impacting overall well-being and behavior. 4. What are the sources of stress and emotional labor for employees? Answer: Emotional dissonance: a situation in which employees have to project an emotion, while simultaneously feeling another. This dissonance between felt and displayed emotions can take a heavy toll on employees, resulting in emotional exhaustion and burnout. Surface acting (the hiding of one's inner feelings and foregoing emotional expressions based on display rules) especially tends to be very stressful for employees. 5. How valid do you consider the concept of emotional intelligence to be? Rationalize your answer. Answer: Answers will vary, but should align with the major arguments presented in the textbook. The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) is widely regarded as valid and useful. It emphasizes the ability to recognize, understand, and manage one's own emotions and those of others, which is crucial for effective communication, leadership, and interpersonal relationships. Research supports its role in improving personal and professional outcomes, suggesting that EI contributes significantly to overall success and well-being. 6. Consider the impact of emotions on customer service. What is the effect of emotions and moods on customer satisfaction, and how does the concept of emotional contagion enter into this? Answer: A worker's emotional state influences customer service, which influences levels of repeat business and customer satisfaction. Service situations may put employees in the state of emotional dissonance, which can prove stressful, leading to burnout and higher turnover. Additionally, the employee’s emotions may be transferred to the customer through “emotional contagion.” This may be a positive thing, as when customer service contact personnel are expressing positive moods, which are reflected in their customers. When personnel are exhibiting negative emotions, the opposite is true. So employee bad moods cause customer bad moods, which cause a lack of repeat business due to lowered customer satisfaction. 7. Are emotions universal? Why or why not? Give examples in your answer. Answer: While emotions themselves may be universal, the expression and interpretation of them are culturally bound. Managers must be aware of local cultural norms of expression and interpretation in order to avoid sending the wrong signals to locals or misinterpreting their responses. Emotions are largely universal in terms of basic expressions and physiological responses, such as happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. These core emotions are recognized across different cultures, suggesting a biological basis. However, the expression, interpretation, and regulation of emotions can vary widely due to cultural norms and social contexts. For example, while smiling is universally associated with happiness, some cultures may have specific norms about displaying emotions publicly. Exercises 1. Self-analysis. Using the three components of Emotional Intelligence, rate yourself on your ability to successfully interact with others. Choose your weakest area and provide three suggestions for improving that dimension of EI. 2. Web Crawling. Using your favorite search engine, search on the term "emotions in the workplace" and find five webpages related to this chapter. Read the webpages and write up a two-page analysis of what you learned regarding the proper expression of emotions and moods in the workplace. Ensure you note if the webpages were in conflict with the guidance given in the textbook or agreed with it. Exceptional students will seek out cultural differences as well. 3. Teamwork. As a small group, search for articles and webpages on workplace violence and emotion (try a search term of “going postal workplace”). Discuss the commonalities of the cases and examples. Try to determine what sorts of behaviors and emotions were evidenced before the deviant behavior, without falling into the perceptual distortion of hindsight. Be prepared to present your findings in the class. 4. Analyzing Your Organization (Cumulative Project). What is the prevalent mood of your workplace? Spend a week carefully observing three employees at your place of work. Attempt to assess their moods and the impact these moods have on behavior throughout the day. How well did their initial mood predict their behaviors later in the day? What could you have done, if you were the manager, to change these moods and behaviors in a positive way? Suggested Assignment EI Debate. For this activity, divide the class into two equal groups: one of which will be for the concept of Emotional Intelligence, while the other group will be against it. Select two students who will be the spokesperson for each half. Either select three students to act as a panel of judges or bring in three outside individuals to act as neutral judges. The instructor will act as the debate moderator. The purpose of this debate is to explore the ramifications of mood and emotion in the workplace as expressed in the concept of emotional intelligence. Setup. a. Each half of the class has 30 minutes to prepare their initial points regarding their position. The instructor may choose to give the pro and con positions to either half of the class or the instructor may let the class decide which position each half takes. b. The proposition before the floor is "Should Emotional Intelligence, as a concept, be removed from the study of organizational behavior?" c. The spokespeople should be prepared to present their five-minute arguments regarding their position on the proposition. d. The moderator should explain the rules in front of the class to the judges: the judges are to make their final decision based solely on the arguments presented during the session and the strength of those arguments. e. The moderator will keep time during each presentation and will stop the spokesperson when time is up. Pro position should start first. Each side will be allowed to give their arguments without interruption. Notes and written suggestions may be passed from the group to the spokesperson. f. For the rebuttal, there are a number of options: i. Allow a second person from each side to rebut the arguments first given by the other side. Length of rebuttal should be two minutes. ii. Keep the same spokespersons and still limit the rebuttal to two minutes, or iii. Open the rebuttal to the two large groups: to do this effectively, allow five questions per side. Moderator selects questions by recognizing one of the members of a large group. A volunteer from the opposing group is allowed to answer the question. The volunteer may be aided verbally or with notes by his or her group. Allow the con party to ask the first question, and then the pro party to ask their first question after they've responded. Rotate the questions, side by side, until all 10 have been answered. g. At the conclusion of the rebuttal, have the judges award the debate to the appropriate side. Have the judges explain why that side won the debate by recapping the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments on both sides. Chapter 5 Personality and Values Chapter Overview Personality and values are major shapers of behavior. In order for managers to predict behavior, they must know the personalities of those who work for them. The chapter starts out with a review of the research on personality and its relationship to behavior and ends by describing how values shape many of our work-related behaviors. Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter, the student should be able to: 1. Describe personality, the way it is measured, and the factors that shape it. 2. Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality framework and the Big Five model, and describe their strengths and weaknesses. 3. Identify the three traits of the Dark Triad, and describe the contrasting ideas of the approach-avoidance framework. 4. Discuss how the concepts of core self-evaluation (CSE), self-monitoring, and proactive personality contribute to the understanding of personality. 5. Describe how the situation affects whether personality predicts behavior. 6. Contrast terminal and instrumental values. 7. Describe the differences between person-job fit and person-organization fit. 8. Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture. Suggested Lecture Outline I. PERSONALITY A. What Is Personality? 1. Personality. When psychologists talk of personality, they mean a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. 2. Defining Personality: The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to, and interacts with, others – described in terms of measurable traits. a. Gordon Allport, nearly 70 years ago, said personality is “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.”3. Measuring Personality. The ability to measure personality traits to help managers select appropriate employees and better match workers to jobs. a. The most common means of measuring personality is through self-report surveys: 1) Individuals evaluate themselves on a series of factors. 2) Potentially inaccurate due to falsehoods, impression management, or the momentary emotional state of the candidate. 4. Personality Determinants. Personality appears to be development of both hereditary and environmental factors. Of the two, heredity seems to have the most impact. a. Heredity. 1) These are factors determined at conception such as physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms. 2) The heredity approach argues that personality is determined at the chromosome level. b. Twin studies. 1) Studies of identical twins that were separated at birth indicate that a significant part the variation turned out to be associated with genetic factors. 2) Genetics appears to be more influential on personality development than parental environment. c. Aging and personality. 1) As people grow older, their personalities do change. 2) However, this change is more in terms of level of ability than it is in changes in the actual ranking of the behavioral traits themselves—which are very stable over time. d. Personality traits. 1) Traits are characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior that are exhibited in a large number of situations. 2) Two of the dominant frameworks for describing relevant personality traits are the MBTI and the Big Five Model. B. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). 1. This the most widely used instrument in the world. Respondents are asked a series of situational questions and their answers are categorized on four scales to determine personality type. a. Four Classification Scales: 1) Extraverted versus Introverted (E or I). People scoring higher on the extraverted side of the scale are more outgoing, social, and assertive while those on the introvert side are quiet and shy. 2) Sensing versus Intuitive (S or N). Sensing individuals are practical, enjoy order, and are detail oriented. Intuitive people are more “big picture” oriented and rely on “gut” feelings. 3) Thinking versus Feeling (T or F). This scale is important in decision making: thinkers use reason and logic while feelers use emotions and their own personal values to make decisions. 4) Judging versus Perceiving (J or P). Judgers are control-oriented and enjoy structure and order. Perceivers are more flexible and spontaneous. b. Sixteen Personality Types 1) These classifications together describe 16 personality types, with every person identified with one of the items in each of the four pairs. Let’s explore several examples. a) Introverted/Intuitive/Thinking/Judging people (INTJs) are visionaries. (1) They usually have original minds and great drive for their own ideas and purposes. (2) They are skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and often stubborn. b) ESTJs are organizers. (1) They are realistic, logical, analytical, and decisive and have a natural head for business or mechanics. (2) They like to organize and run activities. c) The ENTP type is a conceptualizer, (1) They are innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. (2) This person tends to be resourceful in solving challenging problems but may neglect routine assignments. 2. The MBTI is widely used by organizations, including Apple Computer, AT&T, Citigroup, GE, 3M Co., many hospitals and educational institutions, and even the U.S. Armed Forces. a. In spite of its popularity, evidence is mixed about the MBTI’s validity as a measure of personality—with most of the evidence suggesting it isn’t. 1) As the authors of the most-cited review put it, “the preponderance of evidence shows that individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have higher job performance in most if not all occupations.”2) In addition, employees who score higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge; probably because highly conscientious people learn more (a review of 138 studies revealed conscientiousness was rather strongly related to GPA).3) Higher levels of job knowledge then contribute to higher levels of job performance. b. Conscientiousness is as important for managers as for front-line employees. 1) A study of the personality scores of 313 CEO candidates in private equity companies (of whom 225 were hired, and their company’s performance later correlated with their personality scores) found conscientiousness—in the form of persistence, attention to detail, and setting of high standards—was more important than other traits. 2) The results might surprise you, but they attest to the importance of conscientiousness to organizational success. 3) Although conscientiousness is the Big Five trait most consistently related to job performance, the other traits are related to aspects of performance in some situations. c. All five traits also have other implications for OB. 1) People who score high on emotional stability are happier than those who score low. a) Of the Big Five traits, emotional stability is most strongly related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels. b) This is probably true because high scorers are more likely to be positive and optimistic in their thinking and experience fewer negative emotions. 2) People low on emotional stability are hyper-vigilant (looking for problems or impending signs of danger) and are especially vulnerable to the physical and psychological effects of stress. 3) Extraverts tend to be happier in their jobs and in their lives as a whole. a) They experience more positive emotions than do introverts, and they more freely express these feelings. b) They also tend to perform better in jobs that require significant interpersonal interaction, perhaps because they have more social skills—they usually have more friends and spend more time in social situations than introverts. c) Finally, extraversion is a relatively strong predictor of leadership emergence in groups; extraverts are more socially dominant, “take charge” sorts of people, and they are generally more assertive than introverts. d) One downside of extraversion is that extraverts are more impulsive than introverts; they are more likely to be absent from work and engage in risky behavior such as unprotected sex, drinking, and other impulsive or sensation-seeking acts. 4) Individuals who score high on openness to experience are more creative in science and art than those who score low. 5) Because creativity is important to leadership, open people are more likely to be effective leaders. a) They also are more comfortable with ambiguity and change than those who score lower on this trait. b) As a result, open people cope better with organizational change and are more adaptable in changing contexts. Recent evidence also suggests, however, that they are especially susceptible to workplace accidents.6) You might expect agreeable people to be happier than disagreeable people. a) And they are, but only slightly. b) When people choose romantic partners, friends, or organizational team members, agreeable individuals are usually their first choice. c) Agreeable individuals are better liked than disagreeable people, which explains why they tend to do better in interpersonally oriented jobs such as customer service. d) They also are more compliant and rule abiding and less likely to get into accidents as a result. e) Agreeable children do better in school and as adults are less likely to get involved in drugs or excessive drinking. f) They are also less likely to engage in organizational deviance. One downside of agreeableness is that it is associated with lower levels of career success (especially earnings). g) Agreeable individuals may be poorer negotiators; they are so concerned with pleasing others that they often don’t negotiate as much for themselves as they might.7) Interestingly, conscientious people live longer because they take better care of themselves (they eat better and exercise more) and engage in fewer risky behaviors like smoking, drinking and drugs, and risky sexual or driving behavior. a) Still, probably because they’re so organized and structured, conscientious people don’t adapt as well to changing contexts. b) They are generally performance oriented and have more trouble learning complex skills early in the training process because their focus is on performing well rather than on learning. c) Finally, they are often less creative than less conscientious people, especially artistically. D. Other Personality Frameworks. Research indicates the Big Five traits have the most verifiable linkages to important organizational outcomes, but neither are they the only traits a person exhibits nor are they the only ones with organizational behavior implications. Let’s discuss some other traits, known collectively as the Dark Triad, and the Approach-Avoidance framework, which describes personality traits in terms of motivation. 1. The Dark Triad a. Researchers have found three socially undesirable traits are relevant to organizational behavior: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Researchers have labeled these traits the Dark Triad. b. Machiavellianism 1) (often abbreviated Mach) Named after Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use power. 2) An individual high in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes ends can justify means. “If it works, use it” is consistent with a high-Mach perspective. 3) A considerable amount of research has related high- and low-Mach personalities to behavioral outcomes. 4) High Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and persuade others more than do low Machs. 5) Yet high-Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors. High Machs flourish: a) when they interact face to face with others rather than indirectly; b) when the situation has a minimal number of rules and regulations, allowing latitude for improvisation; and c) when emotional involvement with details irrelevant to winning distracts low Machs. 6) Thus, whether high Machs make good employees depends on the type of job. 7) In jobs that require bargaining skills (such as labor negotiation) or that offer substantial rewards for winning (such as commissioned sales), high Machs will be productive. 8) But if ends can’t justify the means, there are absolute standards of behavior, or the three situational factors we noted are not in evidence, our ability to predict a high Mach’s performance will be severely curtailed. c. Narcissism. 1) The term is from the Greek myth of Narcissus, a man so vain and proud he fell in love with his own image. 2) In psychology, narcissism describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance, requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant. 3) Narcissism can have pretty toxic consequences. a) A study found that although narcissists thought they were better leaders than their colleagues, their supervisors actually rated them as worse. b) For example, an Oracle executive described that company’s CEO Larry Ellison as follows: “The difference between God and Larry is that God does not believe he is Larry.” 4) Because narcissists often want to gain the admiration of others and receive affirmation of their superiority, they tend to “talk down” to those who threaten them, treating others as if they were inferior. 5) Narcissists also tend to be selfish and exploitive and believe others exist for their benefit. 6) Their bosses rate them as less effective at their jobs than others, particularly when it comes to helping other people. d. Psychopathy 1) In the IB context, psychopathy is defined as a lack of concern for others, and a lack of guilt or remorse when their actions cause harm. a) Measures of psychopathy attempt to assess the person’s motivation to comply with social norms; willingness to use deceit to obtain desired ends and the effectiveness of those efforts; impulsivity; and disregard, that is, lack of empathic concern for others. 2) The literature is not consistent about whether psychopathy or other aberrant personality traits are important to work behavior. 3) Given the newness of research on the Dark Triad, using psychopathology scores for employment decisions may carry more risks for now than rewards. Organizations wishing to assess psychopathy or other traits need to exercise caution. a) The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against individuals with “a physical or mental impairment.” b) This does not mean organizations must hire every mentally ill person who applies, or that they cannot consider mental illness in hiring decisions. However, if they do, the ADA places specific guidelines on when it is a permissible factor. 2. Approach-Avoidance. a. The approach-avoidance framework has cast personality traits as motivations. Approach and avoidance motivation represent the degree to which we react to stimuli whereby approach motivation is our attraction to positive stimuli, and avoidance motivation is our aversion to negative stimuli. b. The approach-avoidance framework organizes traits and may help explain how they predict work behavior. c. While the approach-avoidance framework has provided some important insights into behavior in organizations, there are several unresolved issues. 1) First, is the framework simply a way of categorizing positive and negative traits, such as conscientiousness and neuroticism? 2) Second, what traits fit into the framework? Nearly all the traits in the text do, yet these traits are quite different. E. Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB. 1. Core Self-Evaluation. This is a measure of the degree to which a person likes or dislikes him- (or her-) self. a. Positive core self-evaluators like themselves and see themselves as being effective, capable, and in charge of their environment. They tend to perform better because they set ambitious goals and persist at achieving them. b. Negative evaluators tend to dislike themselves, question their capabilities, and view themselves as powerless over their environment. 2. Self-Monitoring. Describes the ability of people to adjust their behaviors to fit external, situational factors. a. High self-monitors are very adaptable and sensitive to external cues. People with low self-monitoring tend to have high behavioral consistency while high self-monitors can appear chameleon-like to their co-workers. b. High self-monitors tend to get better performance ratings, take leadership positions, are more mobile, and take up central positions in their organizations, even though they have less commitment to their organization. 3. Proactive Personality. a. Individuals with this type of personality tend to identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs. b. People with this personality attribute are highly prized by organizations for obvious reasons. c. They are often leaders or change agents and will challenge the status quo. d. Proactive people tend to have successful careers but may not be a good match for organizations who do not value change. F. Personality and Situations. 1. Interestingly, we are learning that the effect of particular traits in organizational behavior depends on the situation. Two theoretical frameworks, situation strength and trait activation, help explain how this works. 2. Situation Strength Theory. a. Situation strength theory proposes that the way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation. By situation strength, we mean the degree to which norms, cues, or standards dictate appropriate behavior. 1) Strong situations pressure us to exhibit the right behavior, clearly show us what that behavior is, and discourage the wrong behavior. 2) In weak situation, “anything goes,” and thus we are freer to express our personality in our behaviors. 3) Thus, research suggests that personality traits better predict behavior in weak situations than in strong ones. b. Researchers have analyzed situation strength in organizations in terms of four elements. 1) Clarity: the degree to which cues about work duties and responsibilities are available and clear. 2) Consistency: the extent to which cues regarding work duties and responsibilities are compatible with one another. 3) Constraints: the extent to which individuals’ freedom to decide or act is limited by forces outside their control. 4) Consequences: the degree to which decisions or actions have important implications for the organization or its members, clients, supplies, and so on. c. Some researchers have speculated that organizations are, by definition, strong situations because they impose rules, norms, and standards that govern behavior. These constraints are usually appropriate. d. But that does not mean that it is always desirable for organizations to create strong situations for their employees. 1) Jobs with myriad rules and tightly controlled processes can be dull or demotivating. 2) People do differ, so what works well for one person might work poorly for another. 3) Strong situations suppress the creativity, the initiative, and discretion prized by some cultures. 4) Work is increasingly complex and interrelated globally. Creating strong rules to govern complex, interrelated, and culturally diverse systems might be not only difficult but unwise. 3. Trait Activation Theory (TAT). a. TAT predicts that some situations, events, or interventions “activate” a trait more than others. 1) Research shows that in a supportive environment, everyone behaves prosocially, but in an environment that is not so nice, whether an individual has the personality to behave prosocially makes a major difference. b. Together, situation strength and trait activation theories show that the debate over nature versus nurture might best be framed as nature and nurture. Not only does each affect behavior, but they interact with one another. 1) Personality affects work behavior and the situation affects work behavior, but when the situation is right, the power of personality to predict behavior is even higher. II. VALUES A. Values represent basic convictions that “a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.” 1. They contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individual’s ideas as to what is right, good, or desirable. 2. Values have both content and intensity attributes. a. The content attribute says a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is important. b. The intensity attribute specifies how important it is. c. When we rank an individual’s values in terms of their intensity, we obtain that person’s value system. 3. All of us have a hierarchy of values that forms our value system. a. We find it in the relative importance we assign to values such as freedom, pleasure, self-respect, honesty, obedience, and equality. 4. Values tend to be relatively stable and enduring. a. A significant portion of the values we hold is established in our early years—by parents, teachers, friends, and others. b. As children, we are told certain behaviors or outcomes are always desirable or always undesirable, with few gray areas. c. You were never taught to be just a little bit honest or a little bit responsible, for example. d. It is this absolute, or “black-or-white,” learning of values that ensures their stability and endurance. 5. If we question our values, of course, they may change, but more often it reinforces them. 6. There is also evidence linking personality to values, implying our values may be partly determined by our genetically transmitted traits. B. The Importance and Organization of Values. 1. Values lay the foundation for understanding people's attitudes, motivation, and behavior. 2. They influence our perceptions. 3. Values can cloud objectivity and rationality. C. Terminal versus Instrumental Values. 1. Values can be classified by instruments such as the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS). 2. This instrument consists of two sets of values. a. The sets are terminal and instrumental values. 1) Terminal Values. Focuses on desirable end-states; goals a person would like to achieve. 2) Instrumental Values. Lists preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving terminal values. III. LINKING AN INDIVIDUAL’S PERSONALITY AND VALUES TO THE WORKPLACE Managers have become concerned with matching both the personality and the values of an employee with those of the organization. The hope is to identify workers who are both flexible and committed to the organization. A. Person-Job Fit 1. Holland’s Personality-Job Fit Theory. a. Holland identified six personality types and proposed that job satisfaction and propensity to leave depend on how well the job and personalities are matched (congruency). b. Social individuals belong in jobs requiring social skills and so on. c. Vocational Preference Inventory Questionnaire. 1) This was the tool Holland used to identify congruent occupations. 2) The six personality types (or fields in Holland’s terminology) are laid out on a hexagon. 3) Fields that lie adjacent to each other are similar; those diagonally opposite are highly dissimilar. 4) Appropriate jobs for that personality (that is, those jobs that are congruent to the field) are listed either within the field’s segment of the hexagon or in a separate document. d. Holland's theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover is lowest when personality and occupation are in agreement. B. Person-Organization Fit. 1. The understanding that a person must be a good match to the organization itself has become increasingly important to managers. 2. This concept argues that employees are more likely to leave an organization when their personalities do not match the organizational culture rather than when their skills or personalities are a good match with a particular job. 3. The alignment of an employee’s personality and values with an organization’s culture is positively related to increased job satisfaction, lower turnover, and higher organizational commitment. 4. By testing and selecting based on this concept, managers can increase organizational outcomes. a. Are person-job fit and person-organization fit more applicable in some countries than others? Apparently yes. 1) Research indicated that person-job fit was a strong predictor of lower turnover in the United States, but a combination of person-organization fit and other factors strongly predicted lower turnover in India. 2) These findings may be generalizable for individualistic countries like the United States, and collectivistic countries like India, but more research is needed to understand the exact relationship. IV. INTERNATIONAL VALUES A. Because values differ across cultures, an understanding of the differences would be helpful in explaining and predicting behavior of employees from different countries. Two frameworks to assess culture are Hofstede’s Framework and the Globe Framework. 1. Hofstede’s Framework. See Exhibit 5-5. Examines five value dimensions of national culture. While there are many criticisms of this framework, it is one of the most widely read and accepted in OB. a. Power Distance. The degree to which people accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. 1) High power distance means that great inequities in power and wealth are tolerated. 2) Low power distance cultures stress equality and upward opportunities. b. Individualism/Collectivism. The amount of emphasis placed on the individual as opposed to the group. 1) Individualism is when people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups and believe in individual rights above all else. 2) Collectivism emphasizes a tight social framework in which people expect group members to look after and protect them. c. Masculinity/Femininity. The value a culture places on traditional gender roles. 1) Masculine societies have men dominating society, separate roles for men and women, and expressly value achievement, power, and control. 2) Feminine cultures value equality among the sexes. d. Uncertainty Avoidance. The degree to which people in a culture prefer structured over unstructured situations. 1) High uncertainty avoidance cultures are anxious over ambiguity and uncertainty: they emphasize law and controls. 2) Low cultures accept a greater variety of opinion and higher levels of risk while relying less on rules: they more readily accept change. e. Long-Term/Short-Term Orientation. Degree of long-term devotion to traditional values. 1) Long-term cultures are future-oriented and value tradition, thrift, and persistence. 2) Short-term cultures are immediate and accept change more readily. 2. There are both regional and national differences in culture as measured by this framework. 3. Hofstede’s framework is not without its critics, but it is still highly influential. a. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) Framework. 1) A relatively recent and on-going program of research, this framework uses nine dimensions of national culture. 2) Some dimensions – such as power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, gender differentiation, and future orientation can be seen as an extension of Hofstede’s framework. 3) The main difference is that the GLOBE framework added dimensions such as humane orientation (the degree individuals are rewarded for fair, generous, and altruistic behaviors) and performance orientation (the degree to which group members are rewarded for performance improvement and excellence.) b. Which framework is better? That is hard to say, and each has its supporters. V. SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS A. Personality. Managers need to evaluate the job, the work group, and the organization in order to determine what the optimum Big Five personality type would be for a new employee. The MBTI could be helpful in training and development. B. Values. Values strongly influence attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions, so knowing a person’s values may help improve prediction of behavior. C. Additionally, matching an individual’s values to organizational culture can result in positive organizational outcomes. 1. Consider screening job candidates for high conscientiousness – as well as the other Big Five traits, depending on the criteria your organization finds most important. Other traits, such as core self-evaluation or narcissism, may be relevant in certain situations. 2. Although the MBTI has faults, you can use it in training and development to help employees better understand themselves, help team members better understand each other, and open up communication in work groups and possibly reduce conflicts. 3. You need to evaluate your employees’ jobs, their work groups, and your organization to determine the optimal personality fit. 4. Take into account employees’ situational factors when evaluating their observable personality traits, and lower the situation strength to better ascertain personality characteristics. 5. The findings from Hofstede’s work and the GLOBE program underscore the need for managers to understand the cultural values of their employees. The more you take into consideration people’s different cultures, the better you will be able to determine their work behavior and create a positive organizational climate that performs well. VI. KEEP IN MIND A. Personality 1. The sum total of ways in which individual reacts to, and interacts with, others 2. Easily measure B. Big Five Personality Traits 1. Related to many OB criteria 2. May be very useful in predicting behavior C. Values 1. Vary between and within cultures VII. SUMMARY Discussion Questions 1. Describe the two most common methods of assessing a personality. Which is likely to be the most accurate? Why? Answer: Most common are the self-report surveys, where individuals evaluate themselves on a series of factors to determine the personality. A second type is observer-ratings surveys. In these surveys, a neutral party assesses the individual’s personality. These observer-ratings surveys tend to be more accurate as they do not lend themselves to falsehoods, impression management activities, or changes due to the emotional state of the observed individual. 2. Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework. Based on the framework, what would you think was your personality type? Why? Answer: The MBTI is made up of four classification scales that are combined into sixteen personality types denoted by the initials of the dominant side of each scale (with N for intuitive). The scales are: 1) Extraverted/Introverted. People scoring higher on the extraverted side of the scale are more outgoing, social, and assertive while those on the introvert side are quiet and shy. 2) Sensing/Intuitive. Sensing individuals are practical, enjoy order, and are detail oriented. Intuitive people are more “big picture” oriented and rely on “gut” feelings. 3) Thinking/Feeling. This scale is important in decision making: thinkers use reason and logic while feelers use emotions and their own personal values to make decisions. 4) Judging/Perceiving. Judgers are control oriented and enjoy structure and order. Perceivers are more flexible and spontaneous. Personality answers will vary. Extra credit should be given if students search the web and use a free MBTI program to identify their type. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) framework categorizes personality into 16 types based on four dichotomies: 1. Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I): Focus of attention 2. Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N): Information processing 3. Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F): Decision-making 4. Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P): Approach to the external world Based on this framework, my personality type would likely be INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging). This is because I prioritize deep thinking, enjoy analyzing complex ideas, and prefer structured approaches to problem-solving, reflecting traits associated with INTJs. 3. Identify and describe the five traits of the Big Five personality model. Answer: 1) Extraversion: deals with the comfort level with relationships. Like the MBTI, this is contrasted with introversion. 2) Agreeableness: measures deference. 3) Conscientiousness: measures reliability. 4) Emotional Stability (or Neuroticism – its opposite): measures ability to handle stress. 5) Openness to Experience: measures the range of interests and fascination with novelty, a proxy for creativity. 4. What are two attributes of values? Why are values important in OB? Answer: The two attributes of values are content (how important the mode of conduct or end-state of existence is to the individual) and intensity (how important this value is in relation to other values). Values lay the foundation for understanding people's attitudes, motivation, and behavior. They influence our perceptions. Values can cloud objectivity and rationality. It is important to know values so that managers can better predict behavior. 5. Describe the relationship between terminal and instrumental values. Answer: These are the two sets of values in the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS). Terminal values are desirable end-states while instrumental values are the preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving those end-states. 6. Compare and contrast Hofstede’s and GLOBE’s national culture frameworks. Answer: Hofstede’s framework is older and the established standard in the area; GLOBE is a more recent invention. Hofstede has five dimensions while GLOBE has nine, which include Hofstede’s five. The dimensions are: Hofstede and GLOBE common dimensions: 1) Future Orientation. The extent to which future-oriented behaviors are encouraged and rewarded. (Equivalent to Hofstede’s long-term/short-term orientation.) 2) Gender Differentiation. The extent to which society maximizes gender differences. (Equivalent to Hofstede’s masculine/feminine.) 3) Uncertainty Avoidance. Reliance on social norms and procedures to remove uncertainty. 4) Power Distance. The degree to which unequal power is acceptable. 5) Individualism/Collectivism. The degree to which individuals are encouraged to be integrated into groups. GLOBE dimensions not found in Hofstede: 1) Assertiveness. The extent to which people are encouraged to be tough, confrontational, assertive, and competitive. 2) In-Group Collectivism. Extent to which people take pride in membership in small groups (family, friends, and work organizations). 3) Performance Orientation. The degree to which group members are rewarded for performance improvement and excellence. 4) Humane Orientation. The degree individuals are rewarded for fair, generous, and altruistic behaviors. Exercises 1. Self-analysis/Web Crawling. Using your favorite search engine, search on the term “Free MBTI” and take one of the “light” versions of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Then search for “Free Big Five” and do the same for the Big Five model. Write a short paper providing your thoughts on the results of these two personality tests. 2. Teamwork. As individuals, search for “Free Holland Career Model Assessment” on the web and take one of the assessments. Get the list of jobs you are most likely to enjoy doing and those you are least likely to enjoy. Bring your results into the team. As a team, find out which team members are currently in jobs (or if they are not working now, were in jobs) that Holland’s assessment indicates they should enjoy and which are in jobs that the assessment says they would not enjoy. Determine: a. How accurately does the assessment match your own experiences? b. How well do your degree fields match the suggested careers? c. What is the group’s opinion of the personality field in which each person was placed? How accurately does it describe each of you? Compile your results and share them with the class. 3. Analyzing your Organization (Cumulative Project). Select a free web-based version of the MBTI, Big Five, or Holland assessment tool. Take the assessment and ask five of your co-workers and your supervisor to also take the assessment. Have them share the results with you. Based on these results, consider the following questions: a. How good a “match” are you with your co-workers and supervisor in terms of personality? b. Does your supervisor have a personality that is a good fit for the leadership position in your particular organization? c. What sort of personality should be hired in your organization if a vacancy occurs in your workgroup? Present your findings as your instructor directs, either as: a. A short paper, b. A five-minute oral presentation to the class, or c. A combination of the two. Suggested Assignment Divide the class into groups of three to five students. Ask them to go to http://www.buzzle.com/articles/personality-types-a-b-c.html and read about this resource’s definition of four different personality types. Ask the student groups to discuss the four types as they relate to people who work at your university. Have them create a table that shows the following: University Employees Person’s Position Person’s Approx. Age Person’s Tenure at work Person’s Socio-Economic background Person’s Personality Type Please do not place people’s names in the chart. But, attempt to estimate responses to each of the categories for specific people the students know. Once this is completed for 15 to 20 people the group knows who work at the university, have the groups assess the entries for any patterns. Does Personality Type relate to characteristics identified such as age, socio-economic background, or length of time a person has worked at the university? Does the distribution of Personality Types offer suggestions as to how people in different units should be managed? Does management of employees mean understanding their individual types and adjusting management techniques appropriately? Instructor Manual for Essentials of Organizational Behavior Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge 9789332587984, 9780133920819, 9780133973013, 9781292090078, 9781292090184, 9780134523859, 9780132968508