Organizational behavior lecture notes, unit 4 OB

Lecture notes, Unit OB Explain Explain Discuss, ask students to explain theirs Opposites Quick class exercise by group, which are you? Opposites Quick class exercise by group, which are you? The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator is a 100-question personality test that asks people to select how they usually feel or act in particular situations On the basis of their answers, they are classified as extroverted or introverted (E or I), sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling (T or F), and perceiving or judging (P or J) Since results provide insights into what individuals enjoy doing, using this test in employee selection can minimize personality-job conflicts The five-factor model of personality—the Big Five—offers a comprehensive, unifying framework for identifying personality dimensions The dimension of extraversion captures one’s comfort level with relationships Extroverts tend to maintain a large number of relationships Introverts tend to be reserved and have fewer relationships The dimension of agreeableness refers to a person’s propensity to defer to others People high in this dimension value harmony more than having their own way People low in this dimension focus on their own needs more than on the needs of others The dimension of conscientiousness refers to the number of goals on which a person focuses Those high in this dimension pursue fewer goals and tend to be responsible, persistent, and achievement-oriented Those low in this dimension tend to be more easily distracted, less focused, and more hedonistic Emotional stability refers a person’s ability to withstand stress People high on this dimension tend to be calm, enthusiastic, and secure Those low in this dimension tend to be anxious, nervous, and insecure Openness to experience refers to one’s range of interests Those high in this dimension are fascinated by imaginative, creative, and intellectual activities Those low in this dimension tend to be more conventional and prefer the familiar Discuss risk taking and Type A personality Discuss VN national culture Holland’s personality job-fit model is based on the notion of fit between an individual’s personality and his or her occupational environment Holland identified six personality types: realistic, investigative, social, conventional, enterprising, and artistic Each of the six personality types has a congruent occupational environment, as shown in the table above Holland developed a Vocational Preference Inventory questionnaire that contains 160 occupational titles Respondents indicate which of those occupations they like or dislike, and their answers are used to form personality profiles The figure above shows that the closer two fields or orientations are in the hexagon, the more compatible they are Adjacent categories are quite similar, whereas those diagonally opposed are highly dissimilar The bottom line, according to Holland, is that satisfaction is highest and turnover is lowest when personality and occupation are in agreement For instance, a realistic person in a realistic job is in a more congruent situation than a realistic person in an investigative job A realistic person in a social job is the most incongruent situation possible Before we proceed with our analysis, we need to clarify three terms that are closely related Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people can experience This term encompasses both emotions and moods Emotions are intense feelings directed at someone or something Moods are feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus Every employee expends physical and mental labor in the workplace Most jobs also require emotional labor which occurs when an employee expresses organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions Emotions can be separated into those that are felt versus those that are displayed Felt emotions are an individual’s actual emotions In contrast, displayed emotions are those that are organizationally required and considered appropriate in a given job They are not innate; rather, they are learned Research has identified six universal emotions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise These emotions can be conceptualized as existing along a continuum The closer any two emotions are on this continuum, the more people are likely to confuse them For example, happiness and surprise are often mistaken, but happiness and disgust are rarely confused People give different responses to identical emotion-provoking stimuli In some cases, this can be attributed to the individual’s personality At other times, it is a result of job requirements Cultural norms in the United States dictate that employees working in service organizations should smile and act friendly when interacting with customers In some cultures, smiling is seen as a sign of inexperience or flirtatiousness So cultural factors will influence what is or is not emotionally appropriate What is acceptable in one culture may seem unusual or dysfunctional in another And cultures influence how emotions are interpreted As a result, there is high agreement on what emotions mean within cultures but not between them Who is more emotional, men or women? What type of occupation you think emotionless people fit into? Japan is a good example The first way in which emotions affect OB pertains to ability and selection People who are in touch with their own emotions and can read the emotions of others may be more effective in their jobs That, in essence, is the theme underlying recent research on emotional intelligence: an assortment of non-cognitive skills, capabilities, and competencies that influence a person’s ability to cope with environmental demands and pressures Leadership is a fundamental quality sought by organizations Effective leaders rely on the expression of feelings to help convey their messages They link emotions to an appealing vision in order to increase the chances of managers and employees accepting change Traditional approaches to the study of decision making in organizations have emphasized rationality Yet it is naïve to assume that decisions are not influenced by one’s feelings Few issues are more intertwined with emotions than the topic of interpersonal conflict If a manager wants to resolve conflicts, he or she must identify the emotional elements in the conflict and get the parties to work through their emotions The dominant approaches to the study of motivation propose that individuals are motivated to the extent that their behavior is expected to lead to desired outcomes and that they essentially trade effort for pay, security, and promotions The perceptions and calculations of people, however, are filled with emotional content that influences how much effort they exert Negative emotions can lead to deviant behavior in the workplace Employee deviance involves actions that violate established norms and threaten the organization, its members, or both ... instance, a realistic person in a realistic job is in a more congruent situation than a realistic person in an investigative job A realistic person in a social job is the most incongruent situation possible... employee expends physical and mental labor in the workplace Most jobs also require emotional labor which occurs when an employee expresses organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions... actual emotions In contrast, displayed emotions are those that are organizationally required and considered appropriate in a given job They are not innate; rather, they are learned Research has identified