CH-9-10 Personality and Cultural Values – Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 9 to 10 Instructor’s Manual: Ch. 9: Personality & Cultural Values CHAPTER OVERVIEW This chapter introduces students to the concept of the “Big Five” dimensions of personality – conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion. The evidence linking these traits to performance and commitment is explored. The chapter also describes cultural values, such as individualism-collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance, which combine to give nations a sort of cultural personality. LEARNING GOALS After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions: 9.1 What is personality? What are cultural values? 9.2 What are the “Big Five? 9.3 Is personality driven by nature or by nurture? 9.4 What taxonomies can used to describe personality, other than the Big Five? 9.5 What taxonomies can be used to describe cultural values? 9.6 How does personality affect job performance and organizational commitment? 9.7 Are personality tests a useful tool for organizational hiring? CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Personality and Cultural Values Try This! Open the class by asking students to describe someone (for example, their first college roommate). Ask them to give you adjectives that describe the person while you write the adjectives on the board. As adjectives are listed, try to put them into five separate columns representing the conscientiousness-agreeableness-neuroticismextraversion-openness (CANOE) dimensions of the Big Five. If a trait represents a low levels of a given dimension (e.g., “lazy” for conscientiousness) put it in parentheses. Decline to include any adjectives that actually get at ability rather than personality (e.g., “smart”). You may need to prod students a bit to come up with openness adjectives. This process should eventually result in a table like Table 9-1. Once the discussion slows down, see if students recognize the categories you’ve created on the board, thereby illustrating how good of a job the Big Five does at describing what people are like. A. Personality 1. The structures and propensities inside a person that explain his or her characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior 2. Captures what people are like, as opposed to ability, which captures what people can do B. Traits 1. Recurring regularities or trends in people’s responses to their environment 2. A function of genes and environment C. Cultural Values 1. Shared beliefs about desirable end states or modes of conduct in a given culture 2. Influence the expression of traits II. How Can We Describe What Employees are Like? A. Big Five Taxonomy 1. All traits can be classified into five broad factors that summarize personality. These factors include: a. Conscientiousness b. Agreeableness c. Neuroticism d. Openness to Experience e. Extraversion OB Assessments: Big Five. This brief survey provides students with an idea of where they stand on each of the “Big Five” measures of personality. As you get to each of the Big Five during lecture, use a show of hands to see how many students fell above or below the average level (note, you may want to skip this step for neuroticism). You will typically find that most students are high on conscientiousness. This makes sense given that the students (a) made it into their current program of study, (b) successfully passed multiple semesters in their program of study, and (c) showed up for class on this particular day. Students may find it interesting to compare their results on this test with their results on the complete version of the same test (300 item), which can be accessed without charge at http://www.personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP/ipipneo300.htm. The longer version gives students feedback on specific facets of each of the Big Five, facets that are not discussed within the chapter. For example, the longer version gives students feedback on six facets of Extraversion: friendliness, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity level, excitement seeking, cheerfulness. Please see the Instructor PowerPoints for a Bonus Assessment on Power Distance. Please see the Connect assignments for this chapter for assessments on Collectivism and Locus of Control. Please email me at [email protected] if you have any questions about using these assessments in your teaching. 2. Nature vs. Nurture Debate a. Asks is personality a function of our genes or is it something that we develop as a function of our experiences and surroundings? b. Twin studies i. Extraversion scores are significantly correlated across pairs of identical twins. 49% of variation in extraversion is accounted for by genetic differences. ii. Similar research shows 45% for openness, 41% for neuroticism, 38% for conscientiousness, and 35% for agreeableness c. Longitudinal studies i. If personality has a large genetic component, it shouldn’t change over time ii. Extraversion remains stable over lifespan, as does openness to experience (after a sharp increase from teenage years to college age). These two traits are most dependent on one’s genes. iii. People get more conscientious, more agreeable, and less neurotic from their teenage years to their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, but changes are very gradual 3. Conscientiousness a. Conscientious individuals are dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, and persevering b. Conscientiousness has the biggest influence on job performance of any of the Big Five i. Conscientious individuals prioritize accomplishment striving, which reflects a strong desire to accomplish task-related goals as a means of expressing one’s personality a. One study shows that conscientious salespeople set higher sales goals for themselves. b. Another study shows salespeople’s organizational skills were valuable during their first year of employment, with their ambitious nature becoming more critical as they gained tenure and experience. c. Third research study shows that childhood conscientiousness ratings are correlated with career success five decades later. d. Conscientiousness also shown to be negatively related to mortality, including death from injuries, death from cardiovascular disease, and death from cancer, probably because conscientiousness was negatively related to alcohol consumption and smoking during adulthood. OB on Screen: White House Down. The clip referenced in the book begins around the 15:19 mark of the film, continuing until about the 19:37 mark. The clip depicts Agent Carol Finnerty interviewing John Cale for a job with the secret service. The interview references a number of data points that suggest Cale to be unconscientious, including bad grades, a bad credit score, and the failure to finish things. Ask the students whether those kinds of data points are valid—whether they are job-relevant enough to be “used against” Cale during the interview. If they were Agent Finnerty, would they hire Cale? Few jobs require the intense conscientiousness of the secret service, but many students will find themselves in Agent Finnerty’s role at some point: interviewing a candidate and guessing at their conscientiousness. What data points might the students look for? Try This! Use the White House Down clip for a different chapter. The clip provides a good forum for discussing trust issues from Chapter 9 on Trust, Justice, and Ethics. There are few jobs where trust matters more than in the secret service, where the President accepts vulnerability to his protectors in every public appearance. The clip also provides a forum for discussing decision making methods in Chapter 8 on Learning and Decision Making. Is Agent Finnerty making a programmed or nonprogrammed decision? Does she appear to be following the rational decision-making model? Bonus OB on Screen (from 3rd ed): The Adjustment Bureau. The clip referenced in the book begins around the 14:17 mark of the film, continuing until about the 28:34 mark. The clip depicts David Norris as he accidentally encounters the agents of the Adjustment Bureau, who are attempting to adjust his path through life (by making him late to his office as they alter a key investment decision by his boss). Focus discussion on what the students would do if they found themselves in David’s place. Would they go along with the agent’s orders, or would they take their lives into their own hands? Do students really feel that there is some sense of “fate” that influences what happens in their lives? How many of the students agree with the external option in the top row of Table 9-2, and how many agree with the internal option? What are the benefits associated with an external locus of control, and what are the benefits associated with an internal one? Please email Jason Colquitt ([email protected]) if you have any questions about using OB on Screen in your teaching. Bonus OB on Screen (from 1st and 2nd ed): The Break-Up. The clip referenced in the book begins around the 6:17 mark of the film, continuing until about the 12:36 mark. The clip depicts Gary and Brooke at work in their respective jobs. Once Gary joins Brooke at home to prepare for a dinner party, the contrasts in their personalities become more obvious. Brooke is very conscientious whereas Gary is not. Gary failed to do what Brooke asked when he was on his way home, and now chooses to lounge around instead of help Brooke get ready for the party. Class discussion could focus on whether conscientiousness is more important in a significant other or in a coworker. What can be done when two people have to work or live together but have different conscientiousness levels? Discussion could also focus on positive aspects of Gary’s personality. For example, Gary seems particularly extraverted, which helps in jobs with direct customer contact. 4. Agreeableness a. Agreeable individuals are warm, kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, and courteous b. Agreeable individuals prioritize communion striving, which reflects a strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships as a means of expressing one’s personality c. Communion striving is beneficial for some jobs, but detrimental to others i. Agreeable individuals tend to have strong customer service skills, because they tend to react to conflict by walking away, adopting a “wait and see” attitude, or giving in to the other person d. A “lived day” study shows that agreeable individuals tend to spend more time in public places, are less likely to use swear words and more likely to use words that convey personal rapport during conversations 5. Extraversion a. Extraverted individuals are talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, and dominant (in contrast to introverts, who are quiet, shy, and reserved) b. Of the Big Five, extraversion is the easiest to judge in zero acquaintance situations—situations in which two people " have only just met c. Extraverted people prioritize status striving, which reflects a strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social " structure as a means of expressing one’s personality d. Extraverts are more likely to emerge as leaders in social and " task-related groups e. Extraverts are rated as more effective in leadership roles by their followers f. Extraverts are more satisfied with their jobs – they tend to by high in positive affectivity—a dispositional tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and elation i. Genetics account for about 30% of the variation in job satisfaction, primarily due to extraversion and neuroticism g. Extraversion is also associated with positive life events such as getting a raise at work and getting married or engaged. However, extraverts have less frequent interactions with their families. OB at the Bookstore: Quiet. The author describes the sometimes challenging plight of introverts living in a society that embraces the Extrovert Ideal. Ask students whether they self-identify as introverts or extraverts (something which may or may not be altered by the OB Assessment in this chapter). Then ask them to name aspects of working life that seem to be geared toward extraverts (e.g., the set up of work spaces, reliance on presentations). Have the introverts developed strategies for managing those demands? Are there any areas where introverts seem to have an advantage? 6. Neuroticism a. Neurotic individuals are nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, and jealous b. Neuroticism is negatively related to job performance for most jobs c. Neuroticism is synonymous with negative affectivity—a dispositional tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness, and annoyance i. Negative affectivity explains why neurotic individuals have lower job satisfaction than less neurotic people d. Neuroticism is also responsible for the Type A Behavior Pattern. It is associated with a differential exposure to stressors (where individuals perceive more stressors in daily life) and with a differential reactivity to stressors (where individuals are less able to successfully cope with stressors. e. Neuroticism is also strongly related to an external locus of control, where individuals attribute the causes of events to the external environment, rather than themselves. 7. Openness to Experience a. Open individuals are curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, and sophisticated b. Openness is not significantly related to job performance across jobs, but becomes more important in jobs that are fluid and dynamic, or that require high levels of creative performance i. Together with cognitive ability, openness helps individuals excel at creative though, which has a significant influence on creative performance Try This! Put the contents of Figure 9-5 on a series of slides and ask the students who have not already read the chapter to try to figure out the answers to the tests of creative thinking (note that the answers are in the Takeaways section of the chapter). Have students raise their hands or tap the desk when they think they know the answers. Did the individuals who excelled at this test also score high on openness in the OB Assessments? You might also explore the two URL’s in the table note to look for some other creativity puzzles that you could introduce during class. B. Other Taxonomies of Personality 1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator a. Evaluates people on the basis of four types of preferences: i. Extraversion (being energized by people and social interactions) versus Introversion (being energized by private time and reflection) ii. Sensing (preferring clear and concrete facts and data) versus Intuition (preferring hunches and speculations based on theory and imagination) iii. Thinking (approaching decisions with logic and critical analysis) versus Feeling (approaching decisions with an emphasis on others’ needs and feelings) iv. Judging (approaching tasks by planning and setting goals) versus Perceiving (preferring to have flexibility and spontaneity when performing tasks) 2. Interests a. Holland’s RIASEC Model i. People are characterized by six different personality types a. Realistic: Enjoy practical, hands-on, real-word tasks. Tend to be frank, practical, determined, and rugged. b. Investigative: Enjoy abstract, analytical, theoryoriented tasks. Tend to be analytical, intellectual, reserved, and scholarly. c. Artistic: Enjoy entertaining and fascinating others using imagination. Tend to be original, independent, impulsive, and creative. d. Social: Enjoy helping, serving, or assisting others. Tend to be helpful, inspiring, informative, and empathic. e. Enterprising: Enjoy persuading, leading, or outperforming others. Tend to be energetic, sociable, ambitious, and risk-taking. f. Conventional: Enjoy organizing, counting, or regulating people or things. Tend to be careful, conservative, self-controlled, and structured. C. Cultural Values 1. Culture is the shared values, beliefs, motives, identities, and interpretations that result from common experiences of members of a society and are transmitted across generations. Most cross-cultural research focuses on shared cultural values, which come to reflect the way things should be done in a given society. 2. Hofstede’s taxonomy of cultural values a. Individualism-Collectivism b. Power Distance c. Uncertainty Avoidance d. Masculinity-Femininity e. Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation i. U.S. citizens tend to be high on individualism, low on power distance, low on uncertainty avoidance, high on masculinity, and high on short-term orientation Asset Gallery (International Management & OB/Group Exercises: Hofstede’s Model of National Culture. This group exercise asks one U.S. student and three students from different cultures to fill out a short, four-question assessment of Hofstede’s values. The exercise also provides rankings of fifty different countries on those same values. The exercise asks the four student volunteers to compare their power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance to their relevant country norms. Discussion should focus on whether the students should be expected to closely adhere to their national profile, or whether it makes sense for them to be different than those profiles. 3. Project GLOBE’s taxonomy of cultural values a. Includes many of the same dimensions as Hofstede’s work, including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and collectivism. Also includes the following dimensions: b. Gender egalitarianism c. Assertiveness d. Future Orientation e. Performance Orientation f. Humane Orientation i. U.S. citizens are described as Anglo in the GLOBE formulation, and should tend to score near the middle on most of the dimensions 4. The bulk of the cross-cultural research in OB has focused on collectivism, showing that highly collective individuals tend to exhibit better task performance and more citizenship behavior when working in team settings, relative to individualists. They also tend to feel higher levels of affective and normative commitment than individualists. 5. Differences in cultural values create differences in reaction to change, conflict management styles, negotiation approaches, and reward preferences Asset Gallery (International Management & OB/Hot Seat: Cultural Differences: Let’s Break a Deal. This Hot Seat feature shows a U.S. manager struggling to seal a negotiation with a manager from Japan. The conversation reveals differences in communication styles and differences in the importance of rapport and familiarity. a. Differences in cultural values can be problematic if employees are high in ethnocentricism (viewing one’s culture as right and other cultures as wrong) OB Internationally. This box explains a multicultural personality tool that can be used to determine how likely people are to be successful in expatriate assignments. Ask students to raise their hands if they believe they would score highly on the five dimensions described in the box. Are those students drawn to international study or assignments, or have they spent a significant amount of time traveling internationally? Then ask students to volunteer if they believe they are low on most of the dimensions described in the box. If those students have been abroad, did they find the experience to be stressful or uncomfortable? You might also explore whether the students presumed standing on the five dimensions is predicted by their openness score for the OB Assessments box. D. Summary: How Can We Describe What Employees Are Like? (Figure 9-7) III. How Important Are Personality and Cultural Values? A. Conscientiousness is linked to performance across wide spectrum of jobs 1. Conscientiousness drives “typical performance” or day to day performance, while ability drives “maximum performance” or the person’s best efforts 2. Conscientious employees are more likely to engage in citizenship behaviors 3. Conscientious employees are less likely to engage in counterproductive behaviors 4. Conscientious employees are more committed to the organization B. The concept of situational strength says that personality variables tend to be more significant drivers of behavior in weak situations than in strong situations C. The concept of trait activation says that situations can provide clues that trigger the expression of a given trait IV. Application: Personality Tests A. Many organizations today are using paper and pencil personality tests to determine whether or not to hire employees 1. Integrity tests focus on a predisposition to engage in theft and counterproductive behaviors a. Clear purpose tests ask straightforward questions about attitudes toward dishonesty, etc. b. Veiled purpose tests assess more general personality characteristics that might be associated with dishonesty c. Integrity tests have a moderately strong, negative correlation with counterproductive behaviors such as theft, and are more strongly related to job performance than conscientiousness scores d. Because everyone fakes their scores to some degree (answers questions in a socially acceptable way) correlations between integrity tests and outcomes like theft or other counterproductive behaviors are relatively unaffected Try This! Ask students if any of them had filled out a personality test to apply for a job. Then ask them to recount how they approached the test. Did they understand on some level what the “right” answers were? If so, did they give the exact best “right answer” on each and every question? For example, if a 5 was always the best answer, did they give nothing but 5’s on the test? Chances are students will report that they worried about answering the best way every time, so their answers wound up having a grain of truth, even if the exaggerated them in a socially desirable fashion. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 9.1 Assume that you applied for a job and were asked to take a personality test, like the one offered by Kronos. How would you react? Would you view the organization with which you were applying in a more or less favorable light? Why? Answer: Answers to this question will vary. Some will view the organization positively, viewing any form of data collection as in the organization’s best interests. Others will maintain that there is no way personality tests could work, despite what the chapter says. Still others will agree they may work, but be uncomfortable with the practice on some level, perhaps on privacy grounds. If I were asked to take a personality test like the one offered by Kronos, I would view it as a standard part of the hiring process. I would perceive the organization as being thorough and committed to finding the right fit for both the role and the company culture. However, if the test seemed too invasive or irrelevant, my view of the organization might become less favorable, as it could indicate a lack of trust in the applicant’s qualifications. 9.2 Research on genetic influences on personality suggests that more than half of the variation in personality is due to nurture—to life experiences. What life experiences could make someone more conscientious? More agreeable? More neurotic? More extraverted? More open to new experiences? Answer: All of these traits could become more pronounced if exhibition of the trait was rewarded. For example, a powerful reward for all young children is getting the attention of their parents. If the parents pay attention to the child when he or she completes a work project, the child is likely to grow up to be conscientious. If the parents pay attention to the child when the child complies with their wishes, the child is likely to become agreeable. And if the parents pay attention to the child for acting nervous or anxious, the child is likely to become neurotic. 9.3 Consider the personality dimensions included in the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory and the RIASEC model. If you had to “slot” those dimensions into the Big Five, would you be able to? Which dimensions don’t seem to fit? Answer: While some dimensions are comparable (for example, extraversion on the Big Five and extraversion/introversion on the Myers-Briggs), for the most part, the tests categorize personality in different ways. The Myers-Briggs focuses on how people process information – thinking/feeling, for example is not comparable to anything in the Big Five. The Holland RIASEC model is designed to identify career interests – again, artistic people may have a variety of personality profiles on the Big Five. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the RIASEC model have some overlap with the Big Five personality traits, but not all dimensions align perfectly: • MBTI: • Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I) aligns with Big Five Extraversion. • Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N) can loosely align with Openness. • Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F) aligns somewhat with Agreeableness. • Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) does not fit neatly into the Big Five but could relate to Conscientiousness. • RIASEC: • Realistic, Investigative, and Artistic may align with Openness and Conscientiousness. • Social aligns with Agreeableness. • Enterprising may connect to Extraversion and Conscientiousness. • Conventional fits with Conscientiousness. Dimensions like MBTI’s Judging/Perceiving and RIASEC’s Conventional may not fit perfectly within the Big Five framework. 9.4 Consider the profile of the United States on Hofstede’s cultural values, as shown in Table 9-3 . Do you personally feel like you fit the United States profile, or do your values differ in some respects? If you served as an expatriate, meaning you were working in another country, which cultural value differences would be most difficult for you to deal with? Answer: This answer will differ from student to student. Many cultural values vary as much within cultures as they do between cultures, so it is entirely possible that a U.S. citizen could have a profile opposite to the U.S. as far as Table 9-3 goes. Considering Hofstede's cultural values, the United States typically scores high on individualism, low on power distance, and values uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and short-term orientation. Personally, if I align with these values, I might find myself comfortable with the emphasis on individual achievement and equality. However, if my values differ, for example, if I value collectivism more, I might feel out of sync with the typical U.S. profile. If I served as an expatriate, the most challenging cultural value differences to deal with would likely be in societies with high power distance and strong collectivism. Adjusting to a culture where hierarchical structures are rigid or where group harmony is prioritized over individual goals could be difficult, especially if I am used to more egalitarian and individualistic environments. 9.5 If you owned your own business and had a problem with employee theft, would you use an integrity test? Why or why not? Answer: Again, this answer may vary. What most students could agree on, however, is to begin gathering integrity test data for several months, without using the scores to hire. Then, once enough data has been gathered and enough time has passed, scores could be accessed to see if they would have been predictive of incidents of counterproductive behavior. If I owned a business and faced issues with employee theft, I would consider using an integrity test as part of the hiring process. Integrity tests can help screen candidates who may be more prone to dishonest behavior, potentially reducing the risk of theft. However, I would use it cautiously and in combination with other measures, such as creating a strong ethical culture and implementing security protocols, to ensure that it is not the sole factor in decision-making. The test should be fair, non-intrusive, and designed to respect employee privacy. "CASE: TEACH FORAMERICA Questions: 9.1 Which Big Five dimensions does Teach for America’s screening system seem to prioritize? Are there other dimensions that would seem relevant to the performance or commitment of teachers? Answer: Traits like achievement, personal responsibility, organizational skills, and motivational skills are aspects of conscientiousness, which certainly seems relevant in the difficult teaching environments that characterize Teach for America. Given that difficulty, and the nature of the job, it seems likely that low neuroticism, high extraversion, and high openness to experience would be other relevant dimensions. 9.2 Moving beyond the Big Five, are there other personality traits or cultural values that would be helpful in a Teach for America position, or a broader career in education? Answer: In terms of Holland’s RIASEC model, students that fit the investigative and social types would clearly be drawn to education careers. That path may also have elements of artistic and enterprising interests. 9.3 Consider the book that was recently written on how to excel at Teach for America’s selection process. If you were a hiring manager at Teach for America and a recruit noted that she’d utilized that book, would you view that as a plus or a minus? Could the availability of such books make Teach for America’s hiring process less effective? Answer: Preparing for Teach for America’s screening process would just be another indicator of a conscientious applicant. In a sense, it’s no different than doing everything possible to prepare for a job interview. The existence of such books would only hinder the effectiveness of Teach for America’s screening process if every applicant used them, which would never happen. BONUS CASE: KRONOS (from 2nd ed) Have you ever heard of a company called Kronos? No? Well, surely you’ve heard of the following companies: Best Buy, Blockbuster, Target, Toys “R” Us, Marriott, Bennigan’s, Universal Studios, Sports Authority, CVS Pharmacy, and The Fresh Market. All of those companies have one thing in common: They use the personality tests offered by Kronos, a workforce management software and services provider headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Applicants who apply for hourly positions at those companies are asked to fill out a personality test at a computer kiosk as part of their application. During the test, they indicate their degree of agreement with statements like: • You do things carefully so you don’t make mistakes. • You can easily cheer up and forget a problem. • You don’t act polite when you don’t want to. • You’d rather blend into the crowd than stand out. The test includes 50 such statements, designed to assess personality traits relevant to job performance. Ten minutes after the applicant completes the test at the kiosk, the hiring manager receives an e-mailed or faxed report from Kronos. That report identifies the applicant with a “green light,” “yellow light,” or “red light.” Green lights earn an automatic follow-up interview, yellow lights require some managerial discretion about granting that follow-up, and red lights get politely excused from the hiring process. Kronos’ report even includes some recommended interview questions that managers can use to delve more deeply into any potential question marks. Kronos’ test was originally designed by another company you’ve probably never heard of: Unicru, based in Beaverton, Oregon. Kronos acquired Unicru in 2006, giving it the biggest piece of the burgeoning personality testing industry. To give you some idea of the size of that industry, a recent survey of Fortune 1000 firms suggests that around one-third of the firms rely on or plan to implement personality testing. Such tests are controversial, of course, especially for applicants (and hiring managers) who are used to the traditional half-hour employment interview. To find out how controversial, type “Unicru personality test” into Google (we got over 15,000 hits, which no doubt include a fair number of postings from applicants rejected at the companies that use it). For its part, Kronos encourages organizations to save the data from its personality test for several years. That way, organizations can make up their own minds about whether the scores seem to relate to performance and commitment on the job. Before acquiring Unicru, Kronos had specialized in other segments of the human resources technology field, such as time-and-attendance applications and payroll systems. Its other products are relatively uncontroversial, but the Unicru acquisition has thrust Kronos into a vigorous debate about ethics in hiring for the first time. Unicru executives point to the high costs of new-hire turnover as an important reason for using personality tests. Indeed, Unicru’s CEO, Chris Marsh, even cites a value of testing for the applicant, noting that matching personality traits to job requirements is “not good just for the company, that’s good for the employee.” The company acknowledges, however, that the test does result in some “false positives”—applicants who would have turned out to be good employees but got flagged on the test anyway. Of course, “false positives” occur with any hiring method. Traditional employment interviews, often executed by untrained employees with little thought given to the questions, may overlook effective employees because of interviewer bias, applicant nervousness, or random events that alter the complexion of the interview. Ironically, the economic downturn may wind up boosting Kronos’ business. As unemployment rises, the number of applications for open positions goes up, as does the time needed to process all those applications. At the same time, the number of employees available to handle staffing duties is also lower, as organizations downsize to grow as lean as possible. Kronos’ personality tests may therefore be seen as a more efficient, not just a more valid, screening option. Mike Roemer, chief operations officer of Blockbuster, points out the efficiency gains that personality testing can offer, noting, “We’ve taken a two-week hiring process and brought it down to 72 hours. Given that we hire, on average, one employee per store per month—and we have about 4300 company owned stores in the United States—this is a huge improvement.” Dennis Hannah, a Blockbuster store manager, also considers the recommended interview questions another benefit of the Kronos system, noting, “Having a guide for the interview phase takes away one-third of the time that I have to spend preparing for an interview. Frauenheim, E. “The (Would-Be) King of HR Software.” Workforce Management, August 14, 2006. pp. 34–39; Frauenheim, E. “Unicru Beefs Up Data in Latest Screening Tool.” Workforce Management, March 13, 2006, pp. 9–10; Overholt, A. “True or False: You’re Hiring the Right People.” Fast Company, January, 2002, p. 110; and Dixon, P. “Employment Application Kiosks and Sites. Excerpted from the 2003 Job Search Privacy Study: Job Searching in the Networked Environment: Consumer Privacy Benchmarks.” World Privacy Forum, November 11, 2003, http://www.worldprivacyforum.org (February 24, 2006). Gellar, A. “Hiring by Computer.” http://jobboomcc.canoe.ca/News/ 2004/06/09/1225576-sun.html (February 24, 2006). Piotrowski, C., and T. Armstrong. “Current Recruitment and Selection Practices: A National Survey of Fortune 1000 Firms.” North American Journal of Psychology 8 (2006), pp. 489–96. Rafter, M.V. “Assessment Providers Scoring Well.” Workforce Management, January 19, 2009, pp. 24–25. Questions 9.1 Assume you ran a Blockbuster store and you didn’t use the Kronos personality test. What kinds of interview questions would you ask potential hires? Answer: Most customer service jobs demand high levels of both conscientiousness and agreeableness. Thus, interview questions that focus on those traits would make sense. Such questions could focus on past behaviors or could pose hypothetical scenarios (e.g., How would you react if you saw a customer acting rudely toward one of your coworkers). Interview questions could also focus on past experience in customer service jobs, especially experiences " dealing with difficult customers. If I ran a Blockbuster store without using the Kronos personality test, I would ask interview questions focused on customer service, teamwork, and reliability. For example: • "Can you describe a time when you handled a difficult customer? • "How do you manage your time when balancing multiple tasks? • "Tell me about a situation where you worked effectively as part of a team. • "How do you ensure accuracy when dealing with cash or inventory? • "What motivates you to stay committed to a job over time? These questions would help assess the candidate's ability to perform in a retail environment and align with the company's service-focused values. 9.2 If you did have access to their Big Five scores, what particular profile would you look for when deciding who to hire at Blockbuster? Would MBTI or RIASEC data seem valuable to you? Answer: Aside from conscientiousness and agreeableness, Blockbuster might look for high levels of extraversion and low levels of neuroticism, in order to identify employees who will project positive emotions in front of customers. High levels of openness might also be valuable, given that curious, creative, and sophisticated employees might be drawn to a wider variety of movies, thereby having more knowledge to share with customers. The MBTI seems less relevant to the kind of profile one would want in a Blockbuster employee. As for RIASEC, employees who are high in artistic or social interests would seem to be effective in such jobs. 9.3 Now assume you were granted access to the Kronos personality test, but you were skeptical of its usefulness. What could you do to “test drive” the system to examine its effectiveness in your own store? Answer: As noted in the last Discussion Question, the best thing to do would be to gather integrity test data for several months, without using the scores to hire. Then, once enough data had been gathered and enough time had passed, scores could be accessed to see if they would have been predictive of incidents of theft or other such behaviors. To "test drive" the Kronos personality test and assess its effectiveness in my store, I would take the following steps: 1. Pilot Program: Implement the test on a small scale, using it for a limited number of new hires while continuing to use traditional hiring methods for others. This allows for a direct comparison between the two approaches. 2. Track Performance: Monitor the job performance, attendance, and turnover rates of employees hired using the Kronos test versus those hired without it. This data will help assess if the test leads to better hires. 3. Employee Feedback: Collect feedback from managers and new hires about the hiring process and job fit to see if the test aligns with real-world outcomes. 4. Longitudinal Study: Conduct a follow-up over several months to track any long-term differences in job performance and satisfaction between the two groups. 5. Adjust and Analyze: Use the data gathered to determine if the Kronos test is beneficial, and adjust the hiring process accordingly. If the test shows promise, it could be integrated more broadly; if not, it might be reconsidered. INTERNET CASE: HOW TO HIRE FORCREATIVITY by Inc. staff http://www.inc.com/magazine/20101001/guidebook-how-to-hire-focreativity.html Questions: 9.1 Does it seem to be harder to hire for creativity than to hire for good task performance? Why or why not? Answer: Most students will agree that it seems harder, given that creativity is not merely a function of effort and dilligence. There is a more mysterious and idiosyncratic element to being creative, and creativity depends more on environmental factors. Yes, it tends to be harder to hire for creativity than for good task performance. Task performance can often be measured through specific skills, experience, and qualifications, which are easier to assess during the hiring process. Creativity, however, is more abstract and subjective, making it challenging to evaluate through traditional interviews or tests. Additionally, creativity often involves a mix of divergent thinking, problem-solving, and innovation, which may not be fully captured by standard hiring criteria. 9.2 Can interview questions be used to assess creativity? What about other personality traits? Answer: Questions that are targeted specifically on situations that have demanded creativity can be effective, especially if asked by a trained interviewer and asked of all applicants. As with other traits, however, assessments and inventories are often more effective. Yes, interview questions can be designed to assess creativity by asking candidates to describe past experiences involving problem-solving, innovation, or unique approaches to challenges. For example, "Can you provide an example of a time when you developed a novel solution to a difficult problem? For other personality traits, interview questions can also be tailored. Questions can assess traits like reliability, teamwork, or adaptability. For instance, questions about handling stress or working under pressure can reveal traits related to emotional stability and resilience. However, assessing certain traits like honesty or attention to detail might require more specialized tools or assessments beyond traditional interview questions. EXERCISE: GUESSING PERSONALITY PROFILES Instructions: Have the students write their Big Five scores on a piece of paper in the format described. Impress upon students to use very plain paper so that the type of paper is not a giveaway (you may even want to bring plain copy paper). Also impress upon them to disguise their handwriting, making it as gender neutral as possible. Questions: Most groups should be able to correctly identify 2-3 group members, though early bad guesses will impact that batting average significantly. Accuracy should be higher for groups that are more familiar, or when the exercise is completed later in the term rather than earlier. Extraversion is the natural trait to rely on first, as its most visible in typical interactions. Given the school setting, students may use conscientiousness next, especially if they’ve had enough time to observe study habits, classroom habits, and grades on class assignments or exams. Other traits, such as openness, neuroticism, or agreeableness, may only be diagnostic with extremely high or low scores. OMITTED TOPICS The field of organizational behavior is extremely broad and different textbooks focus on different aspects of the field. A brief outline of topics that are not covered in this text, but which the professor might want to include in his or her lecture, is included below. In cases where these topics are covered in other chapters in the book, we note those chapters. In cases where they are omitted entirely, we provide some references for further reading. • Self-Esteem – The degree to which individuals believe that they are worthwhile as people. Self-esteem tends to have a strong negative correlation with neuroticism, as highly neurotic people tend to also have lower levels of self-esteem. For more on this, see: Rosenberg, M., C. Schooler, C. Schoenback, F. Rosenberg. “Global self-esteem and specific self-esteem: Different concepts, different outcomes.” American Sociological Review 60 (1995), pp. 141-156. • Self-Monitoring – A personality trait reflecting the tendency to change one’s behavior to suit the needs of a given situation. High self-monitors are more likely to engage in impression management than low self-monitors. For more on this, see: Snyder, M. Public appearance/private realities: The psychology of self-monitoring. San Francisco, CA: Freeman, 1987. • Emotional Intelligence – Some scholars suggest that the skills grouped under the emotional intelligence umbrella (self awareness, other awareness, emotion regulation, and use of emotion) actually represent a combination of Big Five dimensions, such as high conscientiousness, low neuroticism, and high agreeableness. Emotional intelligence is included in our discussion of ability in Chapter 10. • Machiavellianism – A personality trait reflecting the tendency to manipulate others in order to fulfill one’s own self-interests. Individuals high on this trait act in accordance with the philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli, who laid out a strategy for seizing power in his book The Prince. For more on this, see: Christie, R.; F.L. Gies. Studies in Machiavellianism. New York: Academic Press, 1970. • Type A Behavior Pattern – Individuals who are “Type A” tend to have competitive, hard-driving, and irritable personalities, as opposed to individuals who are “Type B.” The Type A Behavior Pattern primarily represents a combination of high conscientiousness and high neuroticism and is discussed in the context of coping with stress in Chapter 5. Instructor’s Manual: Ch. 10: Ability CHAPTER OVERVIEW This chapter discusses the nature of cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities. The chapter also highlights how these abilities are measured and how information on these abilities is used in organizations. LEARNING GOALS After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions: 10.1 What is ability? 10.2 What are the various types of cognitive ability? 10.3 What are the various types of emotional ability? 10.4 What are the various types of physical ability? 10.5 How does cognitive ability affect job performance and organizational commitment? 10.6 What steps can organizations take to hire people with high levels of cognitive ability? CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Ability A. Ability refers to the relatively stable capabilities people have to perform a particular range of different but related activities B. Abilities are a function of both genetics and the environment, including family environment, quantity of schooling, choice of occupations, and biological hazards in the environment, such as malnutrition 1. Impact of family environment on cognitive abilities decreases with age II. What Does It Mean For An Employee To Be Able? A. Cognitive Ability OB at the Bookstore: Positive Intelligence. The author of this book argues that we tend to rely on a portion of our brain that is focused on survival. It’s focused on detecting trouble and avoiding danger/harm, and so reliance on it results in being judgmental, a stickler for details, overly rational, trying to please others, and achievement focused. He argues that instead we should be using the portion of our brain that allows us to manage our emotions, feel empathy, and see the big picture. By using this portion of our brain we can view events as opportunities and challenges. He argues that we should seek to increase our PQ (positive intelligence quotient), which essentially is the percentage of time where we are using this portion of our brain. One topic for class discussion might focus on the need for balance in which part of the brain we use. Another topic for discussion could focus on the author’s recommendations for ways of exercising the PQ brain. The recommendations seem similar to meditation—focusing on stimuli using a full array of our senses. Some students in class may have experience they may share with others. Finally, you can discuss how PQ might fits in with the other types of ability and intelligence discussed in the book. 1. Capabilities related to the acquisition and application of knowledge in problem solving. Facets of cognitive ability include: (Table 10-1) a. Verbal ability i. oral comprehension, written comprehension, oral expression, and written expression b. Quantitative ability i. number facility, mathematical reasoning c. Reasoning i. problem sensitivity, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, originality d. Spatial ability i. spatial organization, visualization e. Perceptual ability i. speed and flexibility of closure, perceptual speed Try This! Put sample questions from the Wonderlic (see Figure 10-5) on five different slides. Ask students to raise their hands when they know the answer, then ask them to identify what facet of cognitive ability is being assessed. For example, #9 is verbal, #3 is quantitative, #7 is reasoning, #8 is spatial, and #1 is perceptual (along with a bit of numerical). Also impress upon them the speed requirement of the Wonderlic. It’s just just about getting the questions right, they need to get the questions right very quickly. 2. General Mental Ability (also called the g factor or g) a. a measure of global cognitive ability – the generalized level of mental ability that determines all other levels of mental ability B. Emotional Ability 1. The human ability that affects social functioning, emotional intelligence consists of four different, but related, abilities: Asset Gallery (Communication/Hot Seat): Listening Skills: Yeah, Whatever. This Hot Seat feature shows a manager dealing with an employee who has drawn complaints from the clients that he manages. The conversation reveals an employee who lacks emotional intelligence in a number of ways. Have the students focus on the social skills that the employee lacks, then identify emotional intelligence facets that are relevant. For example, he seems to lack other awareness (in that he doesn’t sense the gravity of the boss’s tone) and emotion regulation (in that he’s unable to refocus on the matter at hand when it becomes clear that his current mood is inappropriate). a. Self Awareness – the ability to understand the types of emotions one is experiencing, the willingness to acknowledge them, and the capability to express them naturally. b. Other Awareness – the ability to recognize and understand the emotions that other people are feeling c. Emotion Regulation – the ability to recover quickly from emotional experiences d. Use of Emotions – the degree to which people can harness emotions and employ them to improve their chances of being successful in whatever they are seeking to do Try This! Ask students to share stories about coworkers, friends, or family members with exceptionally poor (or good) skills in each of the four areas (without naming names, of course). Do most of the stories cluster in one or two facets, or do students have salient anecdotes across all four areas? Then ask the students what could be done to improve the person’s skills in that particular facet. What kinds of activities or initiatives might be helpful? 2. Applying Emotional Intelligence a. In studies done by the U.S. Air Force and the IDS Life Insurance company, high levels of emotional intelligence were associated with improved performance on both recruiting and sales goals OB Internationally. Discusses the relationship between emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence, a type of intelligence that enables people to be effective in contexts in which they interact with people from different cultures. The concept has much in common with the multicultural personality described in the OB Internationally box in Chapter 9. Students who have spent a great deal of time traveling internationally, or who have lived internationally, should tend to be higher in the facets of cultural intelligence. 3. Assessing Emotional Intelligence OB Assessments: Emotional Intelligence. This test is a self report, behavior-based, emotional intelligence test. Use a show of hands to see how many students fell above and below the average level, and see if students will volunteer any extremely high or low scores. If students also want to take the “SAT-style” emotional intelligence test with right and wrong answers, they can take the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence test by going to www.msceit.com and paying a nominal fee to take the test and get a 12 page report on their level of emotional intelligence. Examples of items in this test are shown in Figure 10-2. C. Physical Abilities (Table 10-2) 1. Physical abilities involve the body, more specifically: a. Strength – the degree to which the body is capable of exerting force. Strength includes: i. Static strength ii. Explosive strength iii. Dynamic strength b. Stamina – the ability of a person’s lungs and circulatory system to work efficiently while he or she is engaging in prolonged physical activity c. Flexibility and Coordination – the ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach, and to synchronize movement. Includes: i. Extent flexibility ii. Dynamic flexibility iii. Gross body coordination iv. Gross body equilibrium d. Psychomotor Abilities – the capacity to manipulate and control objects. Includes: i. Fine manipulative abilities ii. Control movement abilities iii. Response orientation iv. Response time e. Sensory Abilities – the capabilities associated with vision and hearing. Includes: i. Near and far vision ii. Night vision iii. Visual color discrimination iv. Depth perception v. Hearing sensitivity vi. Auditory attention vii. Speech recognition Try This! If you have any college athletes in your class (either current or past), ask them to describe the sport they engage in. Then ask the class to describe the specific physical abilities that are demanded in that sport. Do some physical abilities seem to be relevant in virtually every sport? If so, which ones? And which physical abilities seem to be more sport-specific? D. Summary: What Does It Mean For An Employee To Be Able? (Figure 10-3) Asset Gallery (International Management & OB/OB Video DVD): Cirque du Soleil. This McGraw-Hill video focuses on Cirque du Soleil, the international circus show without animals. Focus discussion first on the abilities that performers will need. Physical abilities will be most obvious, but some cognitive and emotional abilities will be relevant as well. Then focus discussion on the abilities that would be required of Cirque du Soleil’s managerial employees. Cognitive abilities will be relevant, as in any job, but a certain level of cultural intelligence would also be key, to ensure that the performance appeals to that local audience. III. How Important Is Ability? A. General cognitive ability has a strong, positive effect on task performance 1. People who have higher general cognitive ability tend to be better at learning and decision making B. General cognitive ability has no effect on affective commitment, continuance commitment, or normative commitment C. Caveats 1. Cognitive ability is not related to citizenship or counterproductive behavior 2. The correlation between cognitive ability and job performance is higher for jobs that are more complex than average and lower for jobs that are less complex than average 3. People can do poorly on cognitive ability tests for reasons other than a lack of cognitive ability OB on Screen: Admission. The clip referenced in the book begins around the 1:09:30 mark of the film, continuing until about the 1:19:37 mark. The clip depicts a meeting where the Princeton admissions committee is reviewing applications. The clip provides an example of the information that college admissions committee members consider in their decision making process. The qualifications of most of the applicants are all very good in terms of SAT scores, GPA, and experiences. However, most applicants are denied admission. The clip shows that each committee member seems to “spin” the accomplishments of their favorite applicants to obtain favorable votes in the meeting. Portia tries to do so with Jeremiah’s case, but is unsuccessful. Despite his drive and intellect, the committee feels that he’s too risky and not “Princeton material”. The discussion could begin by asking students about their impression of the meeting. Some students will likely object to the fact that the decisions are not purely objective, and that committee member preferences carry so much weight. The discussion could then turn to the question of the information the committee members should consider. Ask the students what the information indicates about the applicant that is important for student success, and whether the information is truly objective. You can then ask students about the advantages and disadvantages of using SAT scores in this regard. Students should come to the conclusion that these scores, while not perfect (because smart people sometimes don’t do well on these types of tests), are the only pieces of information that are directly comparable from one student to the next. Even GPA is going to be a function of experiences and opportunities that might have nothing to do with intellect or potential. Try This! Use the Admission clip for a different chapter. The committee’s deliberations provide a good example of a number of issues in Chapter 12 on Team Processes and Communication. The deliberations include the presence of conflict and communication issues. That Jeremiah did not get admitted also points to the absence of groupthink. Bonus OB on Screen (from 3rd ed): Sherlock Holmes. The clip referenced in the book begins around the 11:34 mark of the film, continuing until about the 15:43 mark. The clip illustrates the cognitive and emotional abilities of Detective Sherlock Holmes as he interacts with Dr. Watson and his date for the evening, Mary Morstan. Ms. Morstan asks Holmes, whom she is meeting for the first time, to use his reasoning abilities to tell her something about herself. Holmes starts off well enough, deducing several things about Mary. But he goes too far. He begins to reveal things about Mary of a more personal nature, and despite the discomfort that’s clear in Mary and Watson’s expressions, Holmes continues until Mary tosses a drink in his face and leaves the restaurant. One topic for class discussion is how Holmes stacks-up in terms of his abilities. The students should be able to quickly come to the conclusion that Holmes has strong cognitive ability—in particular, reasoning ability—but is weak in emotional ability—in particular, other awareness. Another topic for class discussion is how amenable these two types of abilities are to improvement as a function of training. Students will likely come to the conclusion that emotional abilities are easier to train. To help students understand why this might be true, ask them to describe training that might be used for both cognitive and emotional ability. After they think about it a bit, they’ll realize that emotional abilities are narrower in scope, and accordingly, it’s easier to develop training that can be transferred more directly to the “real world”. Please email Jason Colquitt ([email protected]) if you have any questions about using OB on Screen in your teaching. Bonus OB on Screen (from 2nd ed): 21. The clip referenced begins around the 18:50 mark of the film, continuing until about the 28:35 mark. The clip depicts how Ben Campbell, an MIT student, gets involved with a team of blackjack players who win by counting cards. The scene shows that Ben possesses a number of abilities that would help the black team become more effective, and the team’s coach (an MIT professor) tries to recruit him. At first Ben is hesitant about joining the team, but eventually he caves in. One topic for class discussion would be to identify the abilities that Ben possesses that would make him an excellent card counter. Students will most likely focus on his quantitative abilities, however, the scene also hints at his emotional and verbal abilities as well. Another related topic for class discussion is what problems a card player might have if he or she lacked one of these abilities. Bonus OB on Screen (from 1st ed): Gattaca. The clip referenced begins around the 2:10 mark of the film, continuing until about the 14:25 mark. The clip depicts the steps that Vincent Freeman takes to avoid leaving DNA evidence that would reveal his true identity to his employer—The Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. Later, it is revealed why these steps were necessary. In contrast to the norms in the not-so-distant future, Vincent was conceived “naturally” rather than being genetically engineered, and as a consequence, he has the type of cognitive and physical ability deficiencies that prevent people from being accepted to astronaut training at Gattaca. To get around this rule, Vincent assumed the identify of an accident victim with superior genetics. One topic for class discussion is whether or not the use of genetic information would work--would screening for genetics related to cognitive and physical abilities result in employees who are more effective in their jobs? What other issues would still need to be considered? IV. Application: The Wonderlic Personnel Test A. The Wonderlic Personnel Test is a 12-minute test of cognitive ability that is widely used by organizations, including the NFL. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 10.1 What roles do learning, education, and other experiences play in determining a person’s abilities? For which type of ability— cognitive, emotional, or physical—do these factors play the largest role? Answer: Learning and education play a large role in determining a person’s cognitive ability. They provide the environmental backdrop that interacts with a person’s genetic factors to create overall intelligence or g. It is important to note, however, that learning and education can also improve a person’s emotional and physical abilities, as long as the education is based on acquiring the specific behaviors needed to improve the relevant skill. 10.2 Think of a job that requires very high levels of certain cognitive abilities. Can you think of a way to redesign that job so that people who lack those abilities could still perform the jobs effectively? Now respond to the same question with regard to emotional and physical abilities. Answer: Consider, for example, the job of claims representative for an insurance company. Traditionally, claims reps have very high cognitive ability, as they have to be able to understand policies, make considered judgments about what is and is not covered under the policy, and propose settlements which will benefit both the customer and the insurance company. Many insurance companies today use sophisticated computer systems to provide “just in time” information to claims representatives, who no longer have to hold all of the information in their heads. This decreases the need for cognitive ability, while still helping claims reps get their jobs done efficiently. Physical abilities could use machinery in a similar fashion – for example, someone with low physical skills could operate a robot to do the work. Emotional abilities are not nearly as easy to substitute. 10.3 Consider your responses to the previous questions. Are cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities different in the degree to which jobs can be redesigned to accommodate people who lack relevant abilities? What are the implications of this difference, if there is one? Answer: Yes, see above. The primary implication is that companies should pay as much attention to the emotional abilities of their recruits as they do to the cognitive and physical abilities of their recruits. Yes, cognitive abilities are generally harder to accommodate through job redesign compared to emotional and physical abilities. This difference implies that roles requiring high cognitive demands may offer fewer opportunities for accommodation, potentially limiting access for individuals with cognitive limitations. 10.4 Think of experiences you’ve had with people who demonstrated unusually high or low levels of emotional intelligence. Then consider how you would rate them in terms of their cognitive abilities. Do you think that emotional intelligence “bleeds over” to affect people’s perceptions of cognitive ability? Answer: Not necessarily. Some people, who have very high levels of cognitive intelligence, have much lower levels of emotional intelligence. It may be that a person who has a low level of emotional intelligence is seen as someone who is not cognitively intelligence, but the two are not necessarily related. Yes, emotional intelligence can influence perceptions of cognitive ability. People with high emotional intelligence may be perceived as more cognitively capable because they handle social situations effectively, while those with low emotional intelligence might be viewed as less competent, even if their cognitive abilities are strong. 10.5 What combination of abilities is appropriate for the job of your dreams? Do you possess those abilities? If you fall short on any of these abilities, what could you do to improve? Answer: Every student will have a different answer to this question, but encourage them to think about the cognitive, emotional, AND physical abilities needed to do the job of their dreams. The appropriate combination of abilities for my dream job includes strong cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, and effective communication abilities. While I possess many of these abilities, I could improve by seeking targeted training, practicing emotional regulation, and continuously learning to stay updated in my field. CASE: IDEO Questions: 10.1 Describe how the cognitive and emotional abilities mentioned in this case are associated with different aspects of job performance? Answer: The cognitive abilities mentioned in the case seem to be associated with a variety of task performance activities. These activities focus on the core aspects of design. Emotional abilities are linked to task performance, but they also appear to be important in the more interpersonal or social aspects of the job as well. So emotional abilities may be important to task performance as well as citizenship behavior. 10.2 Consider the abilities required by IDEO and explain why you would, or would not, fit the job well. Answer: Students should provide an overall assessment of how well they fit. Their explanations should mention the specific cognitive (verbal ability, quantitative ability, reasoning ability, spatial ability, perceptual ability) and emotional abilities (self-awareness, other awareness, emotional regulation, use of emotions) that are important to IDEO, and provide examples that convey where they likely stand. IDEO requires a combination of creativity, collaboration, problem-solving skills, and adaptability. If I have a strong creative mindset, enjoy teamwork, and excel at innovative thinking, I would likely fit the job well. However, if I struggle with rapid adaptation to change or prefer solitary work, IDEO's dynamic and collaborative environment might be challenging. 10.3 Consider the formal definition of ability, and discuss whether the informal practices and traditions of IDEO really enhance emotional ability. What additional practices could IDEO use to enhance the emotional ability of its employees? Answer: The definition of ability in the book refers to relatively stable capabilities that individuals have to perform a range of related activities. The practices described in the case might encourage behaviors that reflect emotional intelligence, but it is not clear that they result in a change in employees’ capabilities that are stable. In other words, if the practices change, it’s not clear that the employees will continue to engage in the emotional intelligence-like behaviors. If the company wishes to enhance the overall level of emotional intelligence in its employees, then perhaps they could focus their staffing system on this capability (using tests or interviews to hire applicants who score high on emotional intelligence). BONUS CASE (from 2nd ed): MICROSOFT How long has it been since you last used a Microsoft product? Even if you’re a hardcore Apple fan who doesn’t use Windows, chances are that you’ve recently used programs in Microsoft’s Office suite—Word to write a report, Excel to track numbers, or PowerPoint to prepare a presentation. In fact, Microsoft Office has a 95 percent market share, and 400 million copies of it are in use today. Microsoft sells many other products and services as well, making it the number one company in the computer software industry, with revenues of more than $50 billion annually. The computer software industry is extremely competitive, and each year, rival firms offer excellent alternatives to products provided by Microsoft, many of which cost less or are even free. So how has Microsoft continued to grow and thrive for more than 30 years in this tough competitive environment? According to CEO Steve Ballmer, the most important thing Microsoft does is hire great people. Although programming skills may be a necessary prerequisite for employment at Microsoft, clearly they’re not enough to get you hired. Because technology is constantly changing, Microsoft can’t hire on the basis of industry experience or what people have done in the past; instead, it relies on what employees are capable of doing in the future. Developing software requires new ideas and innovative solutions, so Microsoft only hires people whom it believes are exceptionally intelligent—the top 10 percent of the top 10 percent. Each year, Microsoft receives about 144,000 job applications for roughly 4,500 jobs, so it can be quite selective in hiring people. You may be wondering exactly how Microsoft determines which people, from this huge pool of applicants, possess the desired qualities. Applicants who are lucky enough to make it through the screening process are invited to Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, where they face a day of intense interviews. However, in contrast to traditional interviews that focus on the past accomplishments of the applicant—“Tell me about a time when you had to solve a really difficult problem”—interviews at Microsoft consist of puzzles, riddles, and impossible questions. Why ask applicants interview questions such as, “How would you move Mount Fuji?” “How do they make M&M’s?” and “If you could remove any of the 50 U.S. states, which would it be?” What’s the logic behind these questions? Microsoft believes that the mental abilities involved in trying to solve such problems are the same ones required to develop and market computer software. Given Microsoft’s success, it’s not surprising that this approach to hiring has caught on with other companies in the high-tech industry that need worldclass problem solvers. Although you might not look forward to the prospect of having to solve puzzles and answer impossible questions during an already stressful job interview, it’s certainly something you might want to prepare for in the future. Consider the case of Carl Tashian, whose first face-to-face interview at Microsoft started off with the following question: “You have b boxes and n dollars. If I want any amount of money, from zero to n dollars, you must be able to hand me zero to b boxes so that I get exactly what I request.” The interviewer then asked Tashian how he would distribute the money and what restrictions he would place on b and n. After Tashian provided what he thought was a good answer, the interviewer asked for a mathematical proof and additional clarifications to the answer. Apparently, Tashian didn’t do so well during this initial interview, because he got the “dead man walking” treatment in the remaining interviews scheduled for the day. Interviewers at Microsoft share their notes immediately following an interview, and if an applicant gets a thumbs down, the rest of the interviewers on the schedule go easy on the applicant, because they know he or she won’t be hired. Microsoft realizes that its interview practices likely result in missing out on some well-qualified candidates. After all, perhaps there was something about the particular question asked of Tashian that he misunderstood, and if given another puzzle, he could have solved it with ease. Or maybe Tashian possesses extraordinary abilities in an area that this type of question didn’t measure. However, Microsoft believes that it’s much worse to mistakenly hire someone who shouldn’t have been (a false positive) than to mistakenly pass over someone who should’ve been selected (a false negative). This philosophy is based on the idea that it’s often difficult to get rid of someone after they’re hired, and the company can’t thrive if too many of its employees can’t solve problems under stressful circumstances. Of course, there are a few issues that Microsoft may have to contend with as knowledge of its hiring practices becomes more widespread. As one example, applicants could learn to prepare themselves to deal with the types of puzzles that Microsoft interviewers throw at them. The challenge for Microsoft then would be to determine whether solving a puzzle is a function of the applicant’s problem-solving ability or simply good puzzle-taking preparation. Another issue is that other high--technology companies seek the same types of employees as Microsoft does, and a company that figures out a way to reduce the number of false negatives in the hiring process could gain an advantage in attracting individuals with the desired abilities. Sources: Businessweek.com. “More to Life than the Office,” July 3, 2008, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_27/b3991412.htm (May 12, 2009). CNNMoney.com. “Fortune 500”, http://money.cnn.com/ magazines/fortune/fortune500/2008/full_list/ (May 12, 2009). Greene, J. “Troubling Exits at Microsoft.” BusinessWeek, September 26, 2005, pp.99–108. Kopytoff, V. “How Google Woos the Best and Brightest.” San Francisco Chronicle, December 18, 2005, p. A1, Lexis-Nexis Academic database (May 12, 2006). Poundstone, W. How Would You Move Mount Fuji? Microsoft’s Cult of the Puzzle, New York: Little Brown and Company, 2003. Questions: 10.1 Which specific abilities are measured by the specific question that Microsoft asked of Tashian? Answer: From the information provided in the case, the interview question appears to tap quantitative ability in the form of number facility, and more important, mathematical reasoning. 10.2 Are there other abilities that may be unintentionally measured by Microsoft’s interviewing process? If so, explain the relevance of these other abilities to developing computer software. Answer: Effectiveness in the face-to-face interviews described in the case likely measure both verbal and emotional abilities. If a job candidate can’t express thoughts or doesn’t listen or gets visibly frustrated with the questions being asked by the interviewer, chances are that the interview won’t go well. Verbal and emotional abilities may be relevant to employees charged with developing software. These abilities may help employees communicate and collaborate more effectively in project teams. 10.3 How can Microsoft modify its hiring processes to reduce the number of “false negatives” without increasing the number of “false positives”? Answer: One approach might involve ending the policy of not hiring a person after a single bad interview with a single interviewer. A candidate might not do well in a single interview for reasons that have nothing to do with the candidate’s ability to do the job. For example, it’s possible that an interviewer and candidate just didn’t click interpersonally. INTERNET CASE: WANT AN MBA FROM YALE: YOU’RE GOING TO NEED EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE By Francesca Di Meglio http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-15/want-an-mba-from-yale-youre-going-to-need-emotional-intelligence" Questions: 10.1 On what grounds do you believe Yale justifies their use of emotional intelligence scores as part of the admission process for their MBA program? Answer: Yale likely believes that the ability to understand and manage emotions is important to success in both academic and work contexts. Therefore, if Yale wants to admit the best and brightest students—students with the most potential—it needs to take emotional as well as cognitive abilities into account. Given that Yale is a very prestigious university, it likely receives applicants from very capable people from a cognitive ability standpoint. The use of an emotional ability test helps the admission people figure out which of these highly intelligent people to admit. 10.2 In what ways might Yale’s use of emotional intelligence in their admissions process tie into MBA coursework intended to help students develop emotional intelligence? Answer: On the surface, the use of emotional intelligence in admissions seems to compliment the coursework on emotional intelligence. Students who possess emotional intelligence could be taught how to put these capabilities into practice. Of course, there may be some redundancy as well. That is, if the admissions process is successful, new MBA students will possess high levels of emotional intelligence. This means there may be little opportunity for growth in emotional intelligence capabilities. It would seem, therefore, that the coursework would have greatest usefulness in circumstances where students lack emotional intelligence. EXERCISE: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Instructions: The purpose of this exercise is to get students in touch with their emotions – in other words, to help them take the first step towards recognizing their own emotions. The exercise is self-explanatory, but students may feel uncomfortable about discussing their emotions with others in the class. Stress the fact that the classroom is a safe learning environment, and that sharing emotions is the first step in learning to deal both with one’s own emotions, and the emotions of others. OMITTED TOPICS The field of organizational behavior is extremely broad and different textbooks focus on different aspects of the field. A brief outline of topics that are not covered in this text, but which the professor might want to include in his or her lecture, is included below. In cases where these topics are covered in other chapters in the book, we note those chapters. In cases where they are omitted entirely, we provide some references for further reading. • IQ – The intelligence quotient, or IQ, is likely to be familiar to anyone reading this book. However, many people do not realize that IQ testing is rooted in research that was intended to diagnose learning disabilities. For more information see: Binet, A. “New Methods for the Diagnosis of the Intellectual Level of Subnormals,” first published in L'Année Psychologique, 12(1905), pp. 191-244. English translation by Kite, E. S. “The development of intelligence in children.” Vineland, NJ: Publications of the Training School at Vineland (1916). • Practical Intelligence – Scholars have is argued that intelligence should also include the ability to adapt to one’s environment and select a new one in order to achieve personal goals. For more information on this “common sense” type of intelligence, which is most commonly called “practical intelligence”, see: Sternberg, R. J., R. K. Wagner, W. M. Williams, and J. A. Horvath. “Testing Common Sense.” American Psychologist, 50(1995), pp. 912-927. Sternberg, R. J.,G. B. Forsythe, J. Hedlund, J. A. Horvath, R. K. Wagner, W. M. Williams, S. Snook, and E. L Grigorenko, Practical Intelligence in Everyday Life. New York: Cambridge University Press. (2000). • Group Differences – One of the most debated issues in cognitive ability relates to the meaning of group differences in test scores. Popular interest in the issue increased in 1994 after Herrnstein and Murray published their book, The Bell Curve. For more information regarding different perspectives on the issue, see: Herrnstein, R. J and C. Murray. The Bell Curve, New York: Free Press. (1994) Rushton, J. P., and A. R. Jensen. “Thirty years of research on race differences in cognitive ability.” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 11(2005). pp. 235-294. Dickens, William T. (2005) “Genetic Differences and School Readiness,” The Future of Children, 15 (1, 2005). pp.55-69. Turkheimer, Eric, Andreana Haley, Mary Waldron, Brian D’Onofrio, and Irving I. Gottesman, “Socioeconomic Status Modifies Heritability of IQ in Young Children,” Psychological Science, 14 (November 6, 2003). pp. 623-628. • Influence of the Environment – Scholars have been interested in the degree to which cognitive abilities change over time as a function of experience and education. For more information see: Asbury, K., T. D. Wachs and R. Plomin. “Environmental Moderators of Genetic Influence on Verbal and Nonverbal Abilities in Early Childhood,” Intelligence, 33 (November December, 6, 2005) pp. 643-661. Cecci, S. J. “How Much Does Schooling Influence General Intelligence and its Cognitive Components? A Reassessment of the Evidence,” Developmental Psychology, 27 (1991), pp. 703-722. Dickens, W. T and J. R. Flynn. “Heritability Estimates Versus Large Environmental Effects: The IQ Paradox Resolved,” Psychological Review, 108 (2, 2001) pp. 346-369. Flynn, J. R. “Massive Gains in 14 Nations: What IQ Tests Really Measure,” Psychological Bulletin, 101(1987). pp. 171-191. • Fairness and Bias –For a discussion regarding issues of bias and fairness in applications of cognitive ability tests in employment contexts see: Hartigan, J. A., and A. K. Wigdor. Fairness in Employment Testing: Validity Generalization, Minority Issues, and the General Aptitude Test Battery. Washington D.C: National Academy Press (1989). Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures, 4th Edition. Bowling Green: OH. Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2003). • Individual Differences in Personality – Emotional abilities may, to some extent, involve enduring dispositions that reflect certain personality characteristics. For more information regarding these characteristics, see Chapter 9 of this text. Instructor Manual for Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace Jason Colquitt, Jeffery LePine, Michael Wesson 9780077862565, 9781260261554