Personality

·      The relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment 

·      Uses of personality tests for the selection of personnel became widespread after WW2, it became popular in business organizations as an approach to organizational behaviour

·      Mixed and inconsistent findings failed to support the usefulness of personality as a predictory of OB and job performance 

·      Shift away from dispositional to situational

·      According to the situational approach, characteristics of the organizational setting, such as reward and punishment, influence people’s feelings, attitudes, and behaviour

·      Ie, job satisfaction andother work related attitudes are largely determined by situational factors such as the characteristics of work tasks

-Five-factor model of personality (FFM):

EEEAC

·      1)extraversion

o   outgoing vs shy

·      2)emotional stability

o   degree to which a person has appropriate emotional control, stable and confident vs. depressed or anxious

·      3)agreeableness

o   tolerant, cooperative vs. cold, rude

·      4)conscientiousness

o   dependable and responsible vs. careless and impulsive

·      5)openness to experience

o   curious and original vs dull and unimaginative 

·      A set of beliefs about whether one’s behaviour is controlled mainly by internal or external forces

·      An individuals beliefs about the “location” of the factors that control their behaviour

o   High internals (opportunity to control their own behaviour resides within themselves)

o   High externals ( believe external forces determine their behaviour) 

·      the extent to which people observe and regulate how they appear and behave in social settings and relationships

o   low self-monitors- speak whatever, heart on sleeve

o   high self-monitors- socially appropriate behaviour, censored 

·      the degree to which a person has a positive self-evaluation

o   Behavioural Plasticity theory:

§  People with low self-esteem tend to be more susceptible to external and social influences than those who have high self-esteem 

o   propensity to view the world, including oneself and other people in a positive light

o   propensity to view the world, including oneself and other people in a negative light

o   affectivity are emotional dispositions that predict people’s general emotional tendencies 

o   a stable personal disposition that reflects a tendency to take personal initiative across a range of activities and situations and to effect positive change in one’s environment 

o   taking initiative to improve current circumstances or creating new ones

o   challenging the status quo, people who have proactive personalities are relatively unconstrained by situational forces and act to change and influence their surroundings

o   a general trait that refers to an individuals belief in his ability to perform successfully in a variety of challenging situations

o   motivational trait rather than an affective trait because it reflects an individual’s belief that he can succeed at a variety of tasks rather than how an individual feels about himself

§  high GSE= many successes in your life time, low=failures

·      core self-evaluations:

o   a broad personality concept that consists of more specific traits that reflect the evaluations people hold about themselves and their self-worth

§  4 traits that make up a person’s core self-evaluation

ú  self-esteem

ú  GSE

ú  Locus of control

ú  Neuroticism (emotional stability) 

o   A relatively permanent change in behaviour potential that occurs due to practice or experience

 Job-specific skills, knowledge and technical competence

Problem solving, critical thinking, learning about alternative work processes, and risk taking

 Interactive skills such as communicating, teamwork, and conflict resolution

 Learning social norms of organizations and understanding company goals, business operations, and company expectations and priorities 

o   Learning by which the subject learns to operate on the environment to achieve certain consequences

  Ie rats learning to pull lever for food

o   The process by which stimuli strengthen behaviours

o   Positive or negative 

  Application or addition of a stimulus that increases or maintains the probability of some behaviour

 Ie, food pellets were positive reinforces because they were introduced after the lever was pulled

  The removal of a stimulus that in turn increases or maintains the probability of some behaviour

  Also occurs when a response prevents some event or stimulus from occurring

  Negative reinforcers increase the probability of behaviour

  Ie, smoking example, can avoid the $600 fee only by participating in the program, therefore benefit surcharge acts as a negative reinforcer (participating in the program removes the surcharge, or negative reinforcer)

·      providing quantitative or qualitative information on past performance for the purpose of changing or maintaining performance in specific ways

·      informal acknowledgement, attention, praise, approval or genuine appreciation for work well done from one individual or group to another 

-continuous, immediate reinforcement facilitates fast learning

-delayed, partial reinforcement facilitates persistent learning

-see chart pg 54

learned behaviour

extintion

o   The gradual dissipation of behaviour following the termination of reinforcement

o   Ie, worker who makes jokes example 

learned behaviour 

punishment

o   The application of an averse stimulus following some behaviour designed to decrease the probability of that behaviour 

-unlike operant learning theory, social cognitive theory emphasizes the role of cognitive processes in regulating people’s behaviour

-human behaviour can best be explained through a system of triadic reciprocal causation, in which personal factors and environmental factors work together and interact to influence people’s behaviour and vice versa

-involves three components:

three components of social cognitive theory

1)observational learning

o   the process of observing and imitating the behaviour of others

o   self reinforcement happens here

three components of social cognitive theory

2)self-efficacy

o   beliefs people have about their ability to successfully perform a specific task

three components of social cognitive theory

self regulation 

o   the use of learning principles to regulate one’s own behaviour

o   discrepancy reduction

o   discrepancy production 

·      Organizational behaviour modification (OB Mod)

o   The systematic use of learning principles to influence organizational behaviour 

·      Employee recognition programs:

o   Formal organizational programs that publicly recognize and reward employees for specific behaviours

o   Must specify:

  How a person will be recognized

 The type of behaviour being encouraged

 The manner of the public acknowledgement

  A token or icon of the event for the recipient 

·      Training Programs:

o   Planned organizational activities that are designed to facilitate knowledge and skill acquisition to change behaviour and improve performance 

  BMT (Behaviour modeling training)

 One of the most widely used and effective methods of training, involving five steps based on the observational learning component of social cognitive theory

Career development:

o   An ongoing process in which individuals progress through a series of stages that consist of a unique set of issues, themes, and tasks