foundation for individual behaviour

Part Two The Individual

FOUNDATIONSOF INDIVIDUALBEHAVIORCHAPTER OUTLINEBiographical CharacteristicsAbilityPersonalityLearning

After studying this chapter, you should be able to

o Define the key biographical characteristicsf) Identify two types of ability~ Explain the factors that determine an individual's personality

a Describe the impact of job typology on the personality - jobperformance relationship

1:1 Summarize how learning theories provide insights intochanging behavior

~ Distinguish between the four schedules of reinforcement

fl Clarify the role of punishment in learning

friends and colleagues describe the personalityof Chrysler Corporation's president, Robert A. Lutz, they useterms such as flamboyant, assertive, and daring. 1 Lutz pro-vides an excellent illustration of how an individual's personal-ity shapes his or her behavior.

Robert Lutz was born in Zurich in 1932. He moved toNew York City as a child, when his father, a banker,was transferred. He became a U.S. citizen at age 11.Because he moved around so much, he didn't finishhigh school until he was 22. But he wasn't lettinggrass grow under his feet. During his teenage yearshe learned to speak French, German, and Italian, aswell as English.

Fascinated from an early age with motorcycles,cars, and planes-anything, in fact, that went fast-he joined the Marine Corps with the intention of be-coming a fighter pilot. He flew jets for five years, thenflew with the U.S. Marine Corps reserves while pursu-ing his higher education. By age 30, he had a BS andan MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.

In 1963, Lutz went to work for General Motors asa product planner. In his eight years with GM, heeventually moved up to become head of sales andmarketing for GM's Opel unit in Germany. Then he

spent three years in Munich as BMW's executive vice presi-dent of sales and marketing. From there, he went to Ford'sEuropean operations, where he quickly moved up the ranksto eventually head up Ford of Europe. At the age of 50, hereturned to the United States as executive vice president ofFord's international operations. In 1986, at the age of 54, hewas picked by Chrysler to become its President and ChiefOperating Officer.

Lutz personifies Chrysler's image as Detroit's most ag-gressive auto maker. His flamboyant and strong personalityprobably cost him the chairmanship because of clashes withhis previous boss. But his blunt opinions and bold approachto management make him a standout, and he is widely givencredit for Chrysler's current success. He revamped Chrysler'sengineering ranks into flexible, cross-functional teams andchampioned daring styling to match the sporty performanceof models such as the Dodge Intrepid sedan and Ram

pickup. His success in reorganizing thecompany's product development groups al-lows the company to develop cars fasterand cheaper than its competition and hasunleashed staffers' creativity, leading tobetter-looking, better-performing vehicles.

Neither age nor responsibilities havelessened Lutz's love for speed. In addition

biographical characteristicsPersonal characteristics - such as age,gender, and marital status -that areobiective and easily obtained frompersonnel records.

to owning a fleet of fast cars and motorcy-cles, he pilots his own helicopter and jetaircraft. His latest toy is a Czech-madeL-39C Albatros jet fighter. On weekends,he and his wife can be found streakingacross the Michigan sky at nearly 600miles per hour. +

Robert Lutz's assertiveness and risk-seeking personality characteristicswere in place long before he joined Chrysler Corp. But they play an im-portant role in shaping his actions. Of course, Robert Lutz isn't unique.All our behavior is somewhat shaped by our personalities and experiences. Inthis chapter, we will look at four individual-level variables-biographicalcharacteristics, ability, personality, and learning-and consider their effect onemployee performance and satisfaction.

Biographical CharacteristicsAs discussed in the previous chapter, this text is essentially concerned withfinding and analyzing the variables that have an impact on employee produc-tivity, absence, turnover, and satisfaction. The list of those variables-asshown in Exhibit 1-8 on page 28-is long and contains some complicatedconcepts. Many of the concepts-motivation, say, or power and politics or or-ganizational culture-are hard to assess. It might be valuable, then, to beginby looking at factors that are easily definable and readily available; data thatcan be obtained, for the most part, simply from information available in anemployee's personnel file. What factors would these be? Obvious characteris-tics would be an employee's age, gender, marital status, and length of servicewith an organization. Fortunately, there is a sizable amount of research thathas specifically analyzed many of these biographical characteristics.

AgeThe relationship between age and job performance is likely to be an issue ofincreasing importance during the next decade. Why? There are at least threereasons. First, there is a widespread belief that job performance declines withincreasing age. Regardless of whether it's true or not, a lot of people believe itand act on it. Second is the reality that the workforce is aging. For instance,workers 55 and older are the fastest-growing sector of the labor force; between1990 and 2005, their ranks are expected to jump 43.7 percent.f The third rea-son is recent U.S. legislation that, for all intents and purposes, outlaws manda-tory retirement. Most U.S. workers today no longer have to retire at the ageof 70.

What is the perception of older workers? Evidence indicates that em-ployers hold mixed feelings." They see a number of positive qualities thatolder workers bring to their jobs: specifically, experience, judgment, a strongwork ethic, and commitment to quality. But older workers are also perceivedas lacking flexibility and as being resistant to new technology. And in a timewhen organizations strongly seek individuals who are adaptable and open tochange, the negatives associated with age clearly hinder the initial hiring of

CHAPTER 2 FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR. 43

McDonald's views older workersas willing to take on newresponsibilities, patient, disciplined,and good role models for youngeremployees. Through its McMasters

- program, it recruits, trains, anddevelops people over 55. Studiesindicate that, in general, olderworkers are more stable and(contrary to popular belief) no lessproductive than their younger co-workers.

older workers and increase the likelihood that they will be let go duringdownsizing. Now let's take a look at the evidence. What effect does age actu-allyhave on turnover, absenteeism, productivity, and satisfaction?

The older you get, the less likely you are to quit your job. That conclu-sion is based on studies of the age-turnover relationship." Of course, it shouldnot be too surprising. Asworkers get older, they have fewer alternative job op-portunities. In addition, older workers are less likely to resign than areyounger workers because their long tenure tends to provide them with higherwage rates, longer paid vacations, and more-attractive pension benefits.

It's tempting to assume that age is also inversely related to absenteeism.After all, if older workers are less likely to quit, won't they also demonstratehigher stability by coming to work more regularly? Not necessarily! Most stud-ies do show an inverse relationship, but close examination finds that the age-absence relationship is partially a function of whether the absence is avoid-able or unavoldable.> In general, older employees have lower rates ofavoidable absence than do younger employees. However, they have higherrates of unavoidable absence, probably due to the poorer health associatedwith aging and the longer recovery period that older workers need when in-jured.

How does age affect productivity? There is a widespread belief thatproductivity declines with age. It is often assumed that an individual'sskills-particularly speed, agility, strength, and coordination-decay overtime and that prolonged job boredom and lack of intellectual stimulation allcontribute to reduced productivity. The evidence, however, contradicts thatbelief and those assumptions. For instance, during a three-year period, a largehardware chain staffed one of its stores solely with employees over SO andcompared its results with those of five stores with younger employees. Thestore staffed by the over-SO employees was significantly more productive(measured in terms of sales generated against labor costs) than two of theother stores and held its own with the other three." One comprehensive re-view of the research found that age and job performance were unrelated.'Moreover, that finding seems to be true for almost all types of jobs, profes-sional and nonprofessional. The natural conclusion is that the demands of

44 PAR T TWO THE I N D I V I D U A L

most jobs, even those with heavy manual labor requirements, are not extremeenough for any declines in physical skills due to age to have an impact onproductivity; or, if there is some decay due to age, it is offset by gains due toexperience.

Our final concern is the relationship between age and job satisfaction.On this issue, the evidence is mixed. Most studies indicate a positive associa-tion between age and satisfaction, at least up to age 60.8 Other studies, how-ever, have found a V-shaped relationship." Several explanations could clear upthese results, the most plausible being that these studies are intermixing pro-fessional and nonprofessional employees. When the two types are separated,satisfaction tends to continually increase among professionals as they age,whereas it falls among nonprofessionals during middle age and then risesagain in the later years.

Few issues initiate more debates, misconceptions, and unsupported opinionsthan whether women perform as well on jobs as men do. Inthis section, we review the research on that issue.

The evidence suggests that the best place to begin is withthe recognition that there are few, if any, important differencesbetween men and women that will affect their job performance.There are, for instance, no consistent male-female differencesin problem-solving ability, analytical skills, competitive drive,motivation, sociability, or learning ability.?? Psychological stud-ies have found that women are more willing to conform to au-thority and that men are more aggressive and more likely than

women to have expectations of success, but those differences are minor.Given the significant changes that have taken place in the last 25 years interms of increasing female participation rates in the workforce and rethinkingwhat constitutes male and female roles, you should operate on the assump-tion that there is no significant difference in job productivity between menand women. Similarly, there is no evidence indicating that an employee's gen-der affects job satisfaction."! .

One issue that does seem to differ between genders, especially where theemployee has preschool children, is preference for work schedules.F Workingmothers are more likely to prefer part-time work, flexible work schedules, andtelecommuting in order to accommodate their family responsibilities.

But what about absence and turnover rates? Are women less stable em-ployees than men? First, on the question of turnover, the evidence is mixed."Some studies have found that women have higher turnover rates; others havefound no difference. There doesn't appear to be enough information fromwhich to draw meaningful conclusions. The research on absence, however, isa different story. The evidence consistently indicates that women have higherrates of absenteeism than men do.!" The most logical explanation for thisfinding is that the research was conducted in North America, and NorthAmerican culture has historically placed home and family responsibilities onthe woman. When a child is ill or someone needs to stay home to wait for theplumber, it has been the woman who has traditionally taken time off fromwork. However, this research is undoubtedly time-bound. IS The historical roleof the woman in caring for children and as secondary breadwinner has defi-

Gender

There are few, if any,important differencesbetween men and womenthat will affect their jobperformance.


nitely changed since the 1970s, and a large proportion of men nowadays areas interested in day care and the problems associated with child care in gen-eral as are women.

Marital Status

There are not enough studies to draw any conclusions about the effect of mar-ital status on productivity. But research consistently indicates that marriedemployees have fewer absences, undergo less turnover, and are more satisfiedwith their jobs than are their unmarried coworkers. 16

Marriage imposes increased responsibilities that may make a steady jobmore valuable and important. But the question of causation is not clear. Itmay very well be that conscientious and satisfied employees are more likely tobe married. Another offshoot of this issue is that research has not pursuedother statuses besides single or married. Does being divorced or widowed havean impact on an employee's performance and satisfaction? What about cou-ples who live together without being married? These are questions in need ofinvestigation.

Tenure

The last biographical characteristic we'll look at is tenure. With the exceptionof the issue of male-female differences, probably no issue is more subject tomisconceptions and speculations than the impact of seniority on job perfor-mance.

Extensive reviews of the seniority-productivity relationship have beenconducted." If we define seniority as time on a particular job, we can say thatthe most recent evidence demonstrates a positive relationship between senior-ity and job productivity. So tenure, expressed as work experience, appears tobe a good predictor of employee productivity.

The research relating tenure to absence is quite straightforward. Studiesconsistently demonstrate seniority to be negatively related to absenteeism. ISIn fact, in terms of both frequency of absence and total days lost at work,tenure is the single most important explanatory variable."

Tenure is also a potent variable in explaining turnover. "Tenure has con-sistently been found to be negatively related to turnover and has been sug-gested as one of the single best predictors of turnover.v'" Moreover, consistentwith research that suggests that past behavior is the best predictor of futurebehavior." evidence indicates that tenure on an employee's previous job is apowerful predictor of that employee's future turnover.F

The evidence indicates that tenure and satisfaction are positivelyrelated.P In fact, when age and tenure are treated separately, tenure appears tobe a more consistent and stable predictor of job satisfaction than is chrono-logical age.

AbilityContrary to what we were taught in grade school, we weren'tall created equal. Most of us are to the left of the median onsome normally distributed ability curve. Regardless of how mo-tivated you are, it is unlikely that you can act as well as MerylStreep, run as fast as Michael Johnson, write horror stories as

Contrary to what we weretaught in grade school, weweren't all created equal.

46 PAR T TWO THE I N D I V I D U A l

abilityAnindividual'scapacitytoperformthevarioustasksinajob.

intellectual abilityThatrequiredtodomentalactivities.

well as Stephen King, or sing as well as Whitney Houston. Of course, just be-cause we aren't all equal in abilities does not imply that some individuals areinherently inferior to others. What we are acknowledging is that everyone hasstrengths and weaknesses in terms of ability that make him or her relativelysuperior or inferior to others in performing certain tasks or activities.F" Frommanagement's standpoint, the issue is not whether people differ in terms oftheir abilities. They do! The issue is knowing how people differ in abilities andusing that knowledge to increase the likelihood that an employee will performhis or her job well.

What does ability mean? Aswe will use the term, ability refers to an in-dividual's capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. It is a current assess-ment of what one can do. An individual's overall abilities are essentially madeup of two sets of factors: intellectual and physical abilities.

Intellectual AbilitiesIntellectual abilities are those needed to perform mental activities. Intelli-gence quotient (IQ) tests, for example, are designed to ascertain one's generalintellectual abilities. So, too, are popular college admission tests such as theSATand ACT and graduate admission tests in business (GMAT), law (LSAT),and medicine (MCAT). The seven most frequently cited dimensions makingup intellectual abilities are number aptitude, verbal comprehension, percep-tual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial visualization, andmemory.P Exhibit 2-1 describes those dimensions.

Number aptitude

Verbalcomprehension

Perceptual speed

Inductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning

Spatial visualization

Memory

Job Example

Ability to do speedy andaccurate arithmetic

Ability to understand whatis read or heard and therelationship of words toeach other

Ability to identify visualsimilarities and differencesquickly and accurately

Ability to identify a logicalsequence in a problem andthen solve the problem

Ability to use logic andassess the implicotionsof an argument

Ability to imagine howan object would look if itsposition in space werechanged

Ability to retain and recallpast experiences

Accountant: Computing thesales tax on a set of items

Plant manager: Followingcorporate policies

Fire investigator: Identifyingclues to support a charge ofarson

Market researcher: Forecastingdemand for a product in thenext time period

Supervisor: Choosing betweentwo different suggestionsofferedby employees

Interior decorator: Redecoratingan office

Salesperson: Rememberingthe names of customers

CHAPTER 2. FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR. 47

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The Bell Curve Evidence

Itwas undoubtedly themost controversial so-cial science book pub-lished during the first half ofthe 1990s. The Bell Curve (TheFreePress, 1994) by RichardHerrnstein and Charles Mur-ray presents evidence thatIQ, not education or oppor-tunity, is the key factor deter-mining where a person endsup on the American socialscale. What stirred up mostreviewers, scientists, politi-cians, and journalists was theauthors' claim that economicinequalities between racialgroups are related to differ-ences in average IQ levels be-tween races. But we are inter-ested only in that segment oftheir work that is related tothe issue of IQ and job per-formance.

Herrnstein and Murray be-gan by making six statementsthat they categorized as "be-yond significant technicaldispute": (1) There is such athing as a general factor ofcognitive ability on whichhuman beings differ; (2) allstandardized tests of acade-

08 in the News

mic aptitude or achievementmeasure this general factor tosome degree, but IQ tests ex-pressly designed for that pur-pose measure it most accu-rately; (3) IQ scores closelymatch whatever it is thatpeople mean when they usethe word intelligent or smartin ordinary language; (4) IQscores are stable, althoughnot perfectly so, over muchof a person's life; (5) properlyadministered IQ tests are notdemonstrably biased againstsocial, economic, ethnic, orracial groups; and (6) a sub-stantial portion of cognitiveability (no less than 40 per-cent and no more than 80percent) is inherited throughgenes. Using these six pointsas a foundation, the authorsthen argued forcefully thatIQ is a powerful predictor ofjob performance. Or to usetheir terms, IIA smarter em-ployee is, on average, a moreproficient employee."

According to Herrnsteinand Murray, all jobs requirecognitive ability. This fact isrelatively self-evident in pro-

Take It to the Net

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fessional occupations such asaccounting or engineering.But it's also true for semi-skilled blue-collar jobs andholds, although weakly, evenamong people in unskilledmanual jobs. For instance,they point out that there arebetter and worse busboys inrestaurants. The really goodones use intelligence to solvejob-related problems and tocome up with solutions. Butas jobs become more com-plex, IQ becomes more im-portant in determining per-formance. This advantageholds over time. "The cost ofhiring less intelligent workersmay last as long as they stayon the job."

The views expressed byHerrnstein and Murray, bythe way, aren't radical. At thepeak of the controversy sur-rounding the publication ofThe Bell Curve, 52 of the mostrespected experts in intelli-gence research reaffirmedHerrnstein and Murray's con-clusions in a Wall StreetJour-nal editorial (December 13,1994, p. A18).


physical abilityThat required to do tasks demandingstamina, dexterity, strength, and similarcharacteristics.

Jobs differ in the demands they place on incumbents to use their intel-lectual abilities. Generally speaking, the more information-processing de-mands that exist in a job, the more general intelligence and verbal abilitieswill be necessary to perform the job successfully." Of course, a high IQ is nota prerequisite for all jobs. In fact, for many jobs-in which employee behav-ior is highly routine and there are little or no opportunities to exercise discre-tion-a high IQ may be unrelated to performance. On the other hand, a care-ful review of the evidence demonstrates that tests that assess verbal,numerical, spatial, and perceptual abilities are valid predictors of job profi-ciency at all levels of jobs." Therefore, tests that measure specific dimensionsof intelligence have been found to be strong predictors of future job perfor-mance.

The major dilemma faced by employers who use mental ability tests forselection, promotion, training, and similar personnel decisions is that theymay have a negative impact on racial and ethnic groups." The evidence indi-cates that some minority groups score, on the average, as much as one stan-dard deviation lower than whites on verbal, numerical, and spatial abilitytests.

Physical AbilitiesTo the same degree that intellectual abilities playa larger role in complex jobswith demanding information-processing requirements, specific physicalabilities gain importance for successfully doing less-skilled and more-stan-dardized jobs. For example, jobs in which success demands stamina, manualdexterity, leg strength, or similar talents require management to identify anemployee's physical capabilities.

Research on the requirements needed in hundreds of jobs has identifiednine basic abilities involved in the performance of physical tasks.i" These aredescribed in Exhibit 2-2. Individuals differ in the extent to which they haveeach of these abilities. Not surprisingly, there is also little relationship betweenthem: A high score on one is no assurance of a high score on others. High em-ployee performance is likely to be achieved when management has ascer-tained the extent to which a job requires each of the nine abilities and thenensures that employees in that job have those abilities.

The Ability-JOb FitOur concern is with explaining and predicting the behavior of people at work.In this section, we have demonstrated that jobs make differing demands onpeople and that people differ in the abilities they possess. Employee perfor-mance, therefore, is enhanced when there is a high ability-job fit.

The specific intellectual or physical abilities required for adequate jobperformance depend on the ability requirements of the job. So,for example, airline pilots need strong spatial-visualization abil-ities; beach lifeguards need both strong spatial-visualizationabilities and body coordination; senior executives need verbalabilities; high-rise construction workers need balance; and jour-nalists with weak reasoning abilities would likely have diffi-culty meeting minimum job-performance standards. Directing

Employee performance isenhanced when there is ahigh ability-job fit.


2. Trunk strength

3. Static strength

4. Explosive strength

Flexibility Factors5. Extent flexibility

6. Dynamic flexibility

Other Factors7. Body coordination

8. Balance

9. Stamina

Ability to exert muscular force repeatedly or continuouslyover time

Ability to exert muscular strength using the trunk(particularly abdominal) muscles

Ability to exert force against .external objects

Ability to expend a maximum of energy in one or aseries of explosive acts

Ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far aspossible

Ability to make rapid, repeated flexing movements

Ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of differentparts of the body

Ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling offbalance

Ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolongedeffort over time

Source: Reprinted with permission of HRMagazine published by the Society for Human Resource Manage-ment, Alexandria, VA.

attention at only the employee's abilities or only the ability requirements ofthe job ignores the fact that employee performance depends on the interac-tion of the two.

What predictions can we make when the fit is poor? As alluded to previ-ously, if employees lack the required abilities, they are likely to fail. If you arehired as a word processor and you cannot meet the job's basic keyboard typ-ing requirements, your performance is going to be poor irrespective of yourpositive attitude or your high level of motivation. When the ability-job fit isout of sync because the employee has abilities that far exceed the require-ments of the job, our predictions would be very different. Job performance islikely to be adequate, but there will be organizational inefficiencies and possi-ble declines in employee satisfaction. Given that pay tends to reflect the high-est skill level that employees possess, if an employee's abilities far exceedthose necessary to do the job, management will be paying more than it needsto. Abilities significantly above those required can also reduce the employee'sjob satisfaction when the employee's desire to use his or her abilities is partic-ularly strong and is frustrated by the limitations of the job.

PersonalityWhy are some people quiet and passive, while others are loud and aggressive?Are certain personality types better adapted for certain job types? What do weknow from theories of personality that can help us explain and predict the


personalityThe sum total of ways in which onindividual reacts and interacts withothers.

Body coordination, balance, stamina,and strength and flexibility factorsare physical abilities required for jabperformance at Black DiamondEquipment in Salt lake City. Therock-climbing equipment companyensures a high ability-job fit byhiring customers - sportsenthusiasts who use its products andhave a passion for climbing.

behavior of people like Robert Lutz at Chrysler, whom we described at theopening of this chapter? In this section, we will attempt to answer such ques-tions.

What Is Personality?When we talk of personality, we don't mean that a person has charm, a posi-tive attitude toward life, a smiling face, or is a finalist for "Happiest andFriendliest" in this year's Miss America contest. When psychologists talk ofpersonality, they mean a dynamic concept describing the growth and develop-ment of a person's whole psychological system. Rather than looking at partsof the person, personality looks at some aggregate whole that is greater thanthe sum of the parts.

The most frequently used definition of personality was produced by Gor-don Allport more than sixty years ago. He said personality is "the dynamic or-ganization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that deter-mine his unique adjustments to his envtronment.r '? For our purposes, youshould think of personality as the sum total of ways in which an individualreacts to and interacts with others. It is most often described in terms of mea-surable traits that a person exhibits.

Personality DeterminantsAn early argument in personality research was whether an individual's person-ality was the result of heredity or of environment. Was the personality prede-termined at birth, or was it the result of the individual's interaction with hisor her environment? Clearly, there is no simple black-and-white answer. Per-sonality appears to be a result of both influences. In addition, today we recog-

CHAPTER 2' FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR. 51

From Concepts to SI


Researchers have studied more than 100 sets of identical twins who wereseparated at birth and raised separately.P If heredity played little or no part indetermining personality, you would expect to find few similarities betweenthe separated twins. But the researchers found a lot in common. For almostevery behavioral trait, a significant part of the variation between the twinsturned out to be associated with genetic factors. For instance, one set of twinswho had been separated for 39 years and raised 45 miles apart were found todrive the same model and color car, chain-smoked the same brand of ciga-rette, owned dogs with the same name, and regularly vacationed within threeblocks of each other in a beach community 1,500 miles away. Researchershave found that genetics accounts for about fifty percent of the personalitydifferences and more than 30 percent of the variation in occupational andleisure interests.

Further support for the importance of heredity can be found in studiesof individual job satisfaction. Research has uncovered an interesting phenom-enon: Individual job satisfaction is remarkably stable over time. Even whenemployers or occupations change, job satisfaction remains relatively stableduring one's lifetime." This result is consistent with what you would expect ifsatisfaction is determined by something inherent in the person rather than byexternal environmental factors.

If personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity, theywould be fixed at birth and no amount of experience could alter them. Ifyou were relaxed and easygoing as a child, for example, that would be the re-sult of your genes, and it would not be possible for you to change those char-acteristics. But personality characteristics are not completely dictated byheredity.

ENVIRONMENT Among the factors that exert pressures on our personalityformation are the culture in which we are raised, our early conditioning, thenorms among our family, friends, and social groups, and other influences thatwe experience. The environment we are exposed to plays a substantial role inshaping our personalities.

For example, culture establishes the norms, attitudes, and values that arepassed along from one generation to the next and create consistencies overtime. An ideology that is intensely fostered in one culture may have onlymoderate influence in another. For instance, North Americans have had thethemes of industriousness, success, competition, independence, and theProtestant work ethic constantly instilled in them through books, the schoolsystem, family, and friends. North Americans, as a result, tend to be ambitiousand aggressive relative to individuals raised in cultures that have emphasizedgetting along with others, cooperation, and the priority of family over workand career.

Careful consideration of the arguments favoring either heredity or envi-ronment as the primary determinant of personality forces the conclusion thatboth are important. Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an indi-vidual's full potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to thedemands and requirements of the environment.

SITUATION A third factor, the situation, influences the effects of heredityand environment on personality. An individual's personality, although gener-


ally stable and consistent, does change in different situations. The differ-ent demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one's per-sonality. We should not, therefore, look at personality patterns in isola-tion."

It seems only logical to suppose that situations will influence an individ-ual's personality, but a neat classification scheme that would tell us the impactof various types of situations has so far eluded us. IIApparently we are not yetclose to developing a system for clarifying situations so that they might besystematically studied.":" However, we do know that certain situations aremore relevant than others in influencing personality.

What is of interest taxonomically is that situations seem to differ sub-stantially in the constraints they impose on behavior. Some situations-e.g.,church, an employment interview-constrain many behaviors; other situa-tions-e.g., a picnic in a public park-constrain relatively few."

Furthermore, although certain generalizations can be made about per-sonality, there are significant individual differences. Aswe shall see, the studyof individual differences has come to receive greater emphasis in personalityresearch, which originally sought out more general, universal patterns.

Personality Traits

The early work in the structure of personality revolved around attempts toidentify and label enduring characteristics that describe an individual's behav-ior. Popular characteristics include shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious,loyal, and timid. Those characteristics, when they are exhibited in a largenumber of situations, are called personality rratts." The more consistentthe characteristic and the more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, themore important that trait is in describing the individual.

The cultural environment in whichpeople are raised plays a major rolein shaping personality. In India,children learn from an early age thevalues of hard work, frugality, andfamily closeness. This photo of theHarilela family illustrates theimportance that Indians place onclose family ties. Six Harilelabrothers own real estate and hotelsthroughout Asia. Not only do thebrothers work together, but their sixfamilies and that of a married sisteralso live together in a Hong Kongmansion.

personality traitsEnduring characteristics that describe onindividual's behavior.


Exhibit 2-3Source: PEANUTS reprinted by permission of United Features Syndicate, Inc.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI)A personality test that taps fourcharacteristics and classifies people intoone of 16 personality types.

EARLY SEARCH FOR PRIMARY TRAITS Efforts to isolate traits have beenhindered because there are so many of them. In one study, 17,953 individualtraits were Identified." It is virtually impossible to predict behavior when sucha large number of traits must be taken into account. As a result, attentionhas been directed toward reducing these thousands to a more manageablenumber.

One researcher isolated 171 traits but concluded that they were superfi-cial and lacking in descriptive power,"? What he sought was a reduced set oftraits that would identify underlying patterns. The result was the identifica-tion of sixteen personality factors, which he called the source, or primary, traits.They are shown in Exhibit 2-4. These sixteen traits have been found to be gen-erally steady and constant sources of behavior, allowing prediction of an indi-vidual's behavior in specific situations by weighing the characteristics for theirsituational relevance.

THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR One of the most widely used person-ality frameworks is called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).41 It isessentially a IOO-question personality test that asks people how they usuallyfeel or act in particular situations.

On the basis of the answers individuals give to the test, they are classi-fied as extroverted or introverted (E or I), sensing or intuitive (S or N), think-ing or feeling (T or F), and perceiving or judging (P or J). These classificationsare then combined into sixteen personality types. (These types are differentfrom the sixteen primary traits in Exhibit 2-4.) To illustrate, let's take severalexamples. INTJs are visionaries. They usually have original minds and greatdrive for their own ideas and purposes. They are characterized as skeptical,critical, independent, determined, and often stubborn. ESTJsare organizers.They are realistic, logical, analytical, decisive and have a natural head for busi-ness or mechanics. They like to organize and run activities. The ENTPtype is aconceptualizer. He or she is innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attractedto entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be resourceful in solving chal-lenging problems but may neglect routine assignments. A recent book thatprofiled thirteen contemporary businesspeople who created supersuccessfulfirms including Apple Computer, Federal Express, Honda Motors, Microsoft,Price Club, and Sony found that all thirteen are intuitive thinkers (NTs).42Thisresult is particularly interesting because intuitive thinkers represent onlyabout five percent of the population.

More than 2 million people a year take the MBTI in the United Statesalone. Organizations using the MBTI include Apple Computer, AT&T,Citi-


1. Reserved vs. Outgoing2. Less intelligent vs. More intelligent3. Affected by feelings vs. Emotionally stable4. Submissive vs. Dominant5. Serious vs. Happy-go-lucky6. Expedient vs. Conscientious7. Timid vs. Venturesome8. Toug h-m inded vs. Sensitive9. Trusting vs. Suspicious10. Practical vs. Imaginative1l. Forthright vs. Shrewd12. Self-assured vs. Apprehensive13. Conservative vs. Experi menti ng14. Group-dependent vs. Self-sufficient15. Uncontrolled vs. Controlled16. Relaxed vs. Tense

corp, Exxon, GE, 3M Co., plus many hospitals, educational institutions, andeven the U.S.Armed Forces.

Ironically, there is no hard evidence that the MBTI is a valid measure ofpersonality. But lack of evidence doesn't seem to deter its use in a wide rangeof organizations.

THE BIG FIVE MODEL The MBTImay lack for valid supporting evidence,but that can't be said for the five-factor model of personality-more typicallycalled the "Big Five."43In recent years, an impressive body of research sup-ports the notion that five basic personality dimensions -underlie all others. TheBigFive factors are:

Extraversion. This dimension captures one's comfort level with rela-tionships. Extraverts (high in extraversion) tend to be friendly andoutgoing and to spend much of their time maintaining and enjoyinga large number of relationships. Introverts tend to be reserved and tohave fewer relationships, and they are more comfortable with solitudethan most people are.

Agreeableness. This dimension refers to an individual's propensityto defer to others. High agreeable people value harmony more thanthey value having their say or their way. They are cooperative andtrusting of others. People who score low on agreeableness focus moreon their own needs than on the needs of others.

Conscientiousness. This dimension refers to the number of goals onwhich a person focuses. A high conscientious person pursues fewergoals, in a purposeful way, and tends to be responsible, persistent, de-pendable, and achievement-oriented. Those who score low on this di-mension tend to be more easily distracted, pursuing many goals, andmore hedonistic.

Emotional stability. This dimension taps a person's ability to with-stand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be char-acterized as calm, enthusiastic, and secure. Those with high negativescores tend to be nervous, depressed, and insecure.

extraversionA personality dimension describingsomeone who is sociable, talkative, andassertive.

agreeablenessA personality dimension that describessomeone who is good-notured,cooperative, and trusting.

conscientiousnessA personality dimension that describessomeone who is responsible, dependable,persistent, and achievement oriented.emotional stabilityA personality dimension thatcharacterizes someone as calm,enthusiastic, secure (positive) versustense, nervous, depressed, and insecure(negative).


openness to experienceA personality dimension thatcharacterizes someone in terms ofimaginativeness, artistic sensitivity, andintellectualism.

internalsIndividuals who believe that they controlwhat happens to them.

externalsIndividuals who believe that whathappens to them is controlled by outsideforces such as luck or chance.

locus of controlThe degree to which people believe theyare masters of their own fate.

Openness to experience. The final dimension addresses one's rangeof interests. Extremely open people are fascinated by novelty and in-novation. They tend to be imaginative, artistically sensitive, and intel-lectual. Those at the other end of the openness category appear moreconventional and find comfort in the familiar.

In addition to providing a unifying personality framework, research onthe Big Five also has found important relationships between these personalitydimensions and job performance." A broad spectrum of occupations werelooked at: professionals (including engineers, architects, accountants, attor-neys), police, managers, salespeople, and semiskilled and skilled employees.Job performance was defined in terms of performance ratings, training profi-ciency (performance during training programs), and personnel data such assalary level. The results showed that conscientiousness predicted job perfor-mance for all occupational groups. "The preponderance of evidence showsthat individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan,organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to havehigher job performance in most if not all occupations.v" For the other per-sonality dimensions, predictability depended upon both the performance cri-terion and the occupational group. For instance, extraversion predicted per-formance in managerial and sales positions. This finding makes sense sincethose occupations involve high social interaction. Similarly, openness to expe-rience was found to be important in predicting training proficiency, which,too, seems logical. What wasn't so clear was why positive emotional stabilitywasn't related to job performance. Intuitively, it would seem that people whoare calm and secure would do better on almost all jobs than people who areanxious and insecure. The researchers suggested that the answer might be thatonly people who score fairly high on emotional stability retain their jobs. Sothe range among those people studied, all of whom were employed, wouldtend to be quite small.

Major Personality Attributes Influencing OBIn this section, we want to more carefully evaluate specific personality attrib-utes that have been found to be powerful predictors of behavior in organiza-tions. The first is related to where one perceives the locus of control in one'slife. The others are Machiavellianism, self-esteem, self-monitoring, propensityfor risk taking, and Type A personality. In this section, we shall briefly intro-duce these attributes and summarize what we know about their ability to ex-plain and predict employee behavior.

LOCUS OF CONTROL Some people believe that they are masters of theirown fate. Other people see themselves as pawns of fate, believing that whathappens to them in their lives is due to luck or chance. The first type, thosewho believe that they control their destinies, have been labeled internals,whereas the latter, who see their lives as being controlled by outside forces,have been called externals." A person's perception of the source of his orher fate is termed locus of control.

A large amount of research comparing internals with externals has con-sistently shown that individuals who rate high in externality are less satisfiedwith their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from thework setting, and are less involved on their jobs than are internals."


INCREASE YOUR SELF-AWARENESS: ASSESS YOUR Locus OF CONTROL

B

Instructions: Read the following statements and indicate whether you agree more with choice A orchoice B.

Source: Adapted from J.B. Rotter, "External Control and Internal Control," Psychology Today, June 1971, p. 42. Copyright 1971by the American Psychological Association. Adapted with permission.

Scoring Key: Give yourself 1 point for each of the following selections: 1B, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9B, and lOA. Scorescan be interpreted as follows:

8- 10 = High internal locus of control6-7 = Moderate internal locus of control

5 = Mixed3 -4 = Moderate exterpal locus of control1-2 = High external locus of control

A

1. Making a lot of money is largely a matter ofgetting the right breaks.

2. I have noticed that there is a direct connectionbetween how hard I study and the grades I get.

3. The number of divorces indicates that more andmore people are not trying to make theirmarriages work.

4. It is silly to think that one can really change an-other person's basic attitudes.

5. Getting promoted is really a matter of being alittle luckier than the next person.

6. If one knows how to deal with people, they arereally quite easily led.

7. The grades I make are the result of my own ef-forts; luck has little or nothing to do with it.

8. People like me can change the course of worldaffairs if we make ourselves heard.

9. A great deal that happens to me is probably amatter of chance.

10. Getting along with people is a skill that must bepracticed.

1. Promotions are earned through hardwork and persistence.

2. Many times, the reactions of teachersseem haphazard to me.

3. Marriage is largely a gamble.

4. When I am right I can convince others.

5. In our society, a person's future earningpower is dependent upon his or herability.

6. I have little influence over the way otherpeople behave.

7. Sometimes I feel that I have little to dowith the grades I get.

8. It is only wishful thinking to believe thatone can readily influence whathappens in our society.

9. I am the master of my fate.

10. It is almost impossible to figure out howto please some people.

Why are externals more dissatisfied? The answer is probably becausethey perceive themselves as having little control over those organizationaloutcomes that are important to them. Internals, facing the same situation, at-tribute organizational outcomes to their own actions. If the situation is unat-tractive, they believe that they have no one else to blame but themselves.Also,the dissatisfied internal is more likely to quit a dissatisfying job.

The impact of locus of control on absence is an interesting one. Internalsbelieve that health is substantially under their own control through proper


MachiavellianismDegree to which an individual ispragmatic, maintains emotional distance,and believes that ends can justify means.

self-esteemIndividuals' degree of liking or dislikingof themselves.

habits, so they take more responsibility for their health and have better healthhabits. Consequently, their incidences of sickness and, hence, of absenteeism,are lower."

We shouldn't expect any clear relationship between locus of control andturnover, because there are opposing forces at work. "On the one hand, inter-nals tend to take action and thus might be expected to quit jobs more readily.On the other hand, they tend to be more successful on the job and more satis-fied, factors associated with less individual turnover,":"

The overall evidence indicates that internals generally perform better ontheir jobs, but that conclusion should be moderated to reflect differences injobs. Internals search more actively for information before making a decision,are more motivated to achieve, and make a greater attempt to control theirenvironment. Externals, however, are more compliant and willing to followdirections. Therefore, internals do well on sophisticated tasks-which includemost managerial and professional jobs-that require complex informationprocessing and learning. In addition, internals are more suited to jobs that re-quire initiative and independence of action. In contrast, externals should dowell on jobs that are well structured and routine and in which success de-pends heavily on complying with the direction of others.

MACHIAVELLIANISM The personality characteristic of Machiavellian-ism (Mach) is named after Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenthcentury on how to gain and use power. An individual high in Machiavellian-ism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends canjustify means. "If it works, use it" is consistent with a high-Mach perspective.

A considerable amount of research has been directed toward relatinghigh- and low-Mach personalities to certain behavioral outcomes. so HighMachs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and persuade othersmore than do low Machs." Yet these high Mach outcomes are moderated bysituational factors. It has been found that high Machs flourish (1) when theyinteract face to face with others rather than indirectly; (2) when the situationhas a minimum number of rules and regulations, thus allowing latitude forimprovisation; and (3) when emotional involvement with details irrelevant towinning distracts low Machs.V

Should we conclude that high Machs make good employees? That an-swer depends on the type of job and whether you consider ethical implica-tions in evaluating performance. In jobs that require bargaining skills (such aslabor negotiation) or that offer substantial rewards for winning (as in commis-sioned sales), high Machs will be productive. But if ends can't justify themeans, if there are absolute standards of behavior, or if the three situationalfactors noted in the preceding paragraph are not in evidence, our ability topredict a high Mach's performance will be severely curtailed.

SELF-ESTEEM People differ in the degree to which they like or dislikethemselves. This trait is called self-esteem. 53 The research on self-esteem (SE)offers some interesting insights into organizational behavior. For example,self-esteem is directly related to expectations for success. High SEsbelieve thatthey possess the ability they need in order to succeed at work.

Individuals with high self-esteem will take more risks in job selectionand are more likely to choose unconventional jobs than people with low self-esteem.


INCREASEYOUR SELF-AwARENESS: How MACHIAVELLIAN ARE YOU?

Instructions: For each statement, circle the number that most closely resembles your attitude.

Disagree Agree

Statement A Lot A Little Neutral A Little A Lot

1. The best way to handle people is to tell them what (ithey want to hear. \2 4 52. When you ask someone to do something for you,

it is best to give the real reason for wanting it ratherthan giving reasons that might carry more weight. 2 3 5

3. Anyone who completely trusts anyone else is asking


INCREASE YOUR SELF-AwARENESS: How's YOUR SELF-EsTEEM?

Source: Developed by A.H. Eagly and adapted from J.R. Robinson and P.R.Shaver, Measures of Social Psychological Attitudes(Ann Arbor, MI: Institute of Social Research, 1973), pp. 79-80. With permission.

Scoring Key: Add up your score from the left column for the following ten items: 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, and 18. Forthe other ten items, reverse your scoring (i.e., a 5 becomes a 1; a 4 becomes a 2). The higher your score, the higher yourself-esteem.

Instructions: Answer each of the following questions honestly. Next to each question write a 1, 2, 3, 4, or5 depending on which answer best describes you.

1 = Very often

2 = Fairly often

3 = Sometimes

4 = Once in a great while

5 = Practically never

1. How often do you have the feeling that there is nothing that you can do well?

2. When you talk in front of a class or group of people your own age, how often do you feelworried or afraid?

3. How often do you feel that you have handled yourself well at a social gathering?

4. How often do you have the feeling that you can do everything well?

5. How often are you comfortable when starting a conversation with people you don't know?

6. How often do you feel self-conscious?

7. How often do you feel that you are a successful person?

8. How often are you troubled with shyness?

9. How often do you feel inferior to most people you know?

___ 10. How often do you feel that you are a worthless individual?

___ 11. How often do you feel confident that your success in your future job or career is assured?

___ 12. How often do you feel sure of yourself when among strangers?

___ 13. How often do you feel confident that some day people will look up to you and respect you?

___ 14. In general, how often do you feel confident about your abilities?

___ 15. How often do you worry about how well you get along with other people?

___ 16. How often do you feel that you dislike yourself?

___ 17. How often do you feel so discouraged with yourself that you wonder whether anythingis worthwhile?

___ 18. How often do you worry about whether other people like to be with you?

___ 19. When you talk in front of a class or a group of people of your own age, how often are youpleased with your performance?

___ 20. How often do you feel sure of yourself when you speak in a class discussion?

Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability inadjusting their behavior to external situational factors. They are highly sensi-tive to external cues and can behave differently in different situations. Highself-monitors are capable of presenting striking contradictions between theirpublic persona and their private self. Low self-monitors can't disguise them-


INCREASEYOUR SELF-AwARENESS: ARE You A HIGH SELF-MoNITOR?

Source: R.D. Lennox and R.N. Wolfe, "Revision of the Self-Monitoring Scale," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, June1984, p. 1361. Copyright 1984 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted by permission.

Instructions: Indicate the degree to which you think the following statements are true or false by circlingthe appropriate number. For example, if a statement is always true, circle the 5 next to that statement.

5 = Certainly, always true4 = Generally true3 = Somewhat true, but with exceptions2 = Somewhat false, but with exceptions1 = Generally falseo = Certainly, always false

1. In social situations, I have the ability to alter my behavior if I feel thatsomething else is called for. 5 4 3 2 0

2. I am often able to read people's true emotions correctly through their eyes. 5 4 3 2 0

3. I have the ability to control the way I come across to people, dependingon the impression I wish to give them. 5 4 3 2 0

4. In conversations, I am sensitive to even the slightest change in the facialexpression of the person I'm conversing with. 5 4 3 2 0

5. My powers of intuition are quite good when it comes to understandingothers' emotions and motives. 5 4 3 2 0

6. I can usually tell when others consider a joke in bad taste, even thoughthey may laugh convincingly. 5 4 3 2 0

7. When I feel that the image I am portraying isn't working, I can readilychange it to something that does. 5 4 3 2 0

8. I can usually tell when I've said something inappropriate by reading thelistener's eyes. 5 4 3 2 0

9. I have trouble changing my behavior to suit different people and differentsituations. 5 4 3 2 0

10. I have found that I can adjust my behavior to meet the requirements of anysituation I find myself in. 5 4 3 2 0

11. If someone is lying to me, I usually know it at once from that person'smanner of expression. 5 4 3 2 0

12. Even when it might be to my advantage, I have difficulty putting up agood front. 5 4 3 2 0

13. Once I know what the situation calls for, it's easy for me to regulate myactions accordingly. 5 4 3 2 0

Scoring Key: To obtain your score, add up the numbers circled, except reverse scores for questions 9 and 12. On those, a cir-cled 5 becomes a 0, 4 becomes 1, and so forth. High self-monitors are defined as those with scores of 53 or higher.

selves in that way. They tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes inevery situation; hence, there is high behavioral consistency between who theyare and what they do.

The research on self-monitoring is in its infancy, so predictions must beguarded. However, preliminary evidence suggests that high self-monitors tend


to pay closer attention to the behavior of others and are more capable of con-forming than are low self-monttors.P In addition, high self-monitoring man-agers tend to be more mobile in their careers and receive more promotions(both internal and cross-organizationalj.s" We might also hypothesize thathigh self-monitors will be more successful in managerial positions in whichindividuals are required to play multiple, and even contradicting, roles. Thehigh self-monitor is capable of putting on different "faces" for different audi-ences.

RISK TAKING People differ in their willingness to take chances. Thispropensity to assume or avoid risk has been shown to have an impact on howlong it takes managers to make a decision and how much information they re-quire before making their choice. For instance, seventy-nine managers workedon simulated personnel exercises that required them to make hiringdecisionsY High risk-taking managers made more rapid decisions and usedless information in making their choices than, did the low risk-taking man-agers. Interestingly, the decision accuracy was the same for both groups.

While it is generally correct to conclude that managers in organizationsare risk-aversive." there are still individual differences on this dtrnension.>? As

INCREASE YOUR SELF-AwARENESS: ARE You A RISK TAKER?

Instructions: For each of the following situations, you will be asked to indicate the minimum odds of suc-cess you would demand before recommending that one alternative be chosen over another. Try to placeyourself in the position of the adviser to the central person in each of the situations.

1. Mr. B, a 45-year-old accountant, has recently been informed by his physician that he has developed a se-vere heart ailment. The disease would be sufficiently serious to force Mr. B to change many of his strongestlife habits-reducing his work load, drastically changing his diet, giving up favorite leisure-time pursuits. Thephysician suggests that a delicate medical operation could be attempted that, if successful, would completelyrelieve the heart condition. But its successcould not be assured, and, in fact, the operation might prove fatal.

Imagine that you are advising Mr. B. Listed below are several probabilities or odds that the operation willprove successful. Check the lowest probability that you would consider acceptable for the operation to beperformed.

___ Place a check here if you think that Mr. B should not have the operation no matter what theprobabilities.

___ The chances are 9 in 10 that the operation will be a success.___ The chances are 7 in 10 that the operation will be a success.___ The chances are 5 in 10 that the operation will be a success.___ The chances are 3 in 10 that the operation will be a success.___ The chances are 1 in 10 that the operation will be a success.2. Mr. D is the captain of College X's football team. College X is playing its traditional rival, College Y, inthe final game of the season. The game is in its final seconds, and Mr. D's team, College X, is behind in thescore. College X has time to run one more play. Mr. D, the captain, must decide whether it would be best tosettle for a tie score with a play that would be almost certain to work or, on the other hand, should he try amore complicated and risky play that would bring victory if it succeeded but defeat if it failed.

Imagine that you are advising Mr. D. Listed below are several probabilities or odds that the risky play willwork. Check the lowest probability that you would consider acceptable for the risky play to be attempted.

(continued)

CHAPTER 2' FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR. 63

Source: Adapted fram N. Kogan and M.A. Wallach, 'Risk Taking: A Study in Cognition and Personality (New York: Holt, Rinehart& Winston, 1964), pp. 256-61.

___ Place a check here if you think that Mr. D should not attempt the risky play no matter what theprobabilities.

___ The chances are 9 in 10 that the risky play will work.





3. Ms. K is a successful businesswoman who has participated in a number of civic activities of considerablevalue to the community. Ms. K has been approached by the leaders of her political party as a possible con-gressional candidate in the next election. Ms. K's party is a minority party in the district, though the partyhas won occasional elections in the past. Ms. K would like to hold political office, but to do so would involvea serious financial sacrifice, since the party has insufficient campaign funds. She would also have to endurethe attacks of her political opponents in a hot campaign.

Imagine that you are advising Ms. K. Listed below are several probabilities or odds of Ms. K's winningthe election in her district. Check the lowest probability that you would consider acceptable to make it worth-while for Ms. K to run for political office.

___ Place a check here if you think that Ms. K should not run for political office no matter what the prob-abilities.

The chances are 9 in 10 that Ms. K will win the election.---___ The chances are 7 in 10 that Ms. K will win the election.

The chances are 5 in 10 that Ms. K will win the election.---___ The chances are 3 in 10 that Ms. K will win the election.

___ The chances are 1 in 10 that Ms. K will win the election.

4. Ms. L, a 30-year-old research physicist, has been given a five-year appointment by a major universitylaboratory. As she contemplates the next five years, she realizes that she might work on a difficult, long-termproblem that, if a solution could be found, would resolve basic scientific issues in the field and bring highscientific honors. If no solution were found, however, Ms. Lwould have little to show for her five years in thelaboratory and it would be hard for her to get a good job afterward. On the other hand, she could, as mostof her professional associates are doing, work on a series of short-term problems for which solutions wouldbe easier to find but that are of lesser scientific importance.

Imagine that you are advising Ms. L. Listed below are several probabilities or odds that a solution will befound to the difficult, long-term problem that Ms. L has in mind. Check the lowest probability that you wouldconsider acceptable to make it worthwhile for Ms. L to work on the more difficult long-term problem.

___ The chances are 1 in 10 that Ms. Lwill solve the long-term problem.





___ Place a check here if you think Ms. L should not choose the long-term, difficult problem, no matterwhat the probabilities.

Scoring Key: These situations were based on a longer questionnaire. Your results are an indication of your general orientation to-ward risk rather than a precise measure. To calculate your risk-taking score, add up the chances you were willing to take and di-vide by four. For any of the situations in which you would not take the risk regardless of the probabilities, give yourself a 10. Thelower your number, the more risk-taking you are.


Type A personolityAggressive involvement in a chronic,incessant struggle to achieve more andmore in less and less time and, ifnecessary, against the opposing effortsof other things or other people.

a result, it makes sense to recognize these differences and even to consideraligning risk-taking propensity with specific job demands. For instance, a highrisk-taking propensity may lead to more effective performance for a stocktrader in a brokerage firm because that type of job demands rapid decisionmaking. On the other hand, a willingness to take risks might prove a majorobstacle to an accountant who performs auditing activities. The latter jobmight be better filled by someone with a low risk-taking propensity.

TYPE A PERSONALITY Do you know any people who are excessively com-petitive and always seem to be experiencing a chronic sense of time urgency?If you do, it's a good bet that those people have a Type A personality. A personwith a Type A personality is I( aggressively involved in a chronic, incessantstruggle to achieve more and more in less and less time, and, if required to doso, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons.r"? In theNorth American culture, such characteristics tend to be highly prized and pos-itively associated with ambition and the successful acquisition of materialgoods.

TYPE A's

1. are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;2. feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place;3. strive to think or do two or more things at once;4. cannot cope with leisure time;5. are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how

many or how much of everything they acquire.

INCREASE YOUR SELF-AwARENESS: ARE You A TYPE A?

Personality TypeA+AA-B+B

Instructions: Circle the number on the scale below that best characterizes your behavior for each trait.

1. Casual about appointments 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Never late2. Not competitive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Very competitive3. Never feel rushed 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Always feel rushed4. Take things one at a time 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Try to do many things at once5. Slow doing things 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Fast (eating, walking, etc.)6. Express feelings 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Sit on" feelings7. Many interests 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Few interests outside work

Source: Adopted FromR.W. Bortner, "Short Rating Scale as a Potential Measure of Pattern A Behavior," Journal of Chronic Dis-eases, June 1969, pp. 87-91. With permission.

Scoring Key: Total your score on the seven questions. Now multiple the total by 3. A total of 120 or more indicates that you area hard-core Type A. Scores below 90 indicate that you are a hard-core Type B. The Following gives you more specifics:

Points120 or more106-119100-10590-99Lessthan 90


In contrast to the Type A personality is the Type B, who is exactly oppo-site. Type B's are "rarely harried by the desire to obtain a wildly increasingnumber of things or participate in an endless growing series of events in anever-decreasing amount of time."?'

TYPE 8's

1. never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying im-patience;

2. feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accom-plishments unless such exposure is demanded by the situation;

3. play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their superiority atany cost;

4. can relax without guilt.

Type A's operate under moderate to high levels of stress. They subjectthemselves to more or less continuous time pressure, creating for themselves' alife of deadlines. These characteristics result in some rather specific behavioraloutcomes. For example, Type A's are fast workers, because they emphasizequantity over quality. In managerial positions, Type A's demonstrate theircompetitiveness by working long hours and, not infrequently, making poordecisions because they make them too fast. Type A's are also rarely creative.Because of their concern with quantity and speed, they rely on past experi-ences when faced with problems. They will not allocate the time that is neces-sary to develop unique solutions to new problems. They rarely vary in theirresponses to specific challenges in their milieu; hence, their behavior is easierto predict than that of Type B's.

Are Type A's or Type B's more successful in organizations? Despite theTypeA'shard work, the Type B's are the ones who appear to make it to the top.Great salespersons are usuallyType A's; senior executives are usually' Type B's.Why? The answer lies in the tendency of Type A's to trade off quality of effortfor quantity. Promotions in corporate and professional organizations "usuallygo to those who are wise rather than to those who are merely hasty, to thosewho are tactful rather than to those who are hostile, and to those who are cre-ative rather than to those who are merely agile in competitive strife."62

Personality and National CultureThere are certainly no common personality types for a given country. You can,for instance, find high and low risk-takers in almost any culture. Yet a coun-try's culture should influence the dominant personality characteristics of itspopulation. Let's build this case by looking at two personality attributes-lo-cus of control and the Type Apersonality.

There is evidence that cultures differ in terms of people's relationship totheir envtronment.P In some cultures, such as those in North America, peoplebelieve that they can dominate their environment. People in other societies,such as Middle Eastern countries, believe that life is essentially preordained.Notice the close parallel to internal and external locus of control. We shouldexpect a larger proportion of internals in the American and Canadian work-force than in the Saudi Arabian or Iranian workforce.

The prevalence of Type A personalities will be somewhat influenced bythe culture in which a person grows up. There are Type A's in every country,but there will be more in capitalistic countries, where achievement and


material success are highly valued. For instance, it is estimated that about 50percent of the North American population is Type A.64 This percentageshouldn't be too surprising. The United States and Canada both have a highemphasis on time management and efficiency. Both have cultures that stressaccomplishments and acquisition of money and material goods. In culturessuch as Sweden arid France, where materialism is less revered, we would pre-dict a smaller proportion of Type A personalities.

Matching Personalities and JobsIn the discussion of personality attributes, our conclusions were often quali-fied to recognize that the requirements of the job moderated the relationshipbetween possession of the personality characteristic and job performance. Thisconcern with matching the job requirements with personality characteristicsis best articulated in John Holland's personality-job fit theory.6S The the-ory is based on the notion of fit between an individual's personality character-istics and his or her occupational environment. Holland presents six personal-ity types and proposes that satisfaction and the propensity to leave a jobdepend on the degree to which individuals successfully match their personali-ties to an occupational environment.

personality - job fit theoryIdentifies six personality types andproposes that the fit between personalitytype and occupational environmentdetermines satisfaction and turnover.

Personality Characteristics Congruent Occupations

Realistic: Prefers physicalactivities that requireskill, strength, andcoordination

Investigative: Prefersactivities that involvethinking, organizing,and understanding

Social: Prefers activitiesthat involve helpingand developing others

Conventional: Prefersrule-regulated, orderly,and unambiguousactivities

Enterprising: Prefersverbal activities wherethere are opportunitiesto influence others andattain power

Artistic: Prefersambiguous andunsystematic activitiesthat allow creativeexpression

Shy, genuine, persistent,stable, conforming,practical

Analytical, original, curious,independent

Sociable, friendly,cooperative, understanding

Conforming, efficient,practical, unimaginative,inflexible

Self-confident, ambitious,energetic, domineering

Imaginative, disorderly,idealistic, emotional,impractical

Mechanic, drill pressoperator, assembly lineworker, farmer

Biologist, economist,mathematician, newsreporter

Social worker, teacher,counselor, clinicalpsychologist

Accountant, corporatemanager, bank teller,file clerk

Lawyer, real estateagent, public relationsspecialist, small businessmanager

Painter, musician, writer,interior decorator


Exhibit 2-6Relationships among OccupationalPersonality Types

Source: Reprinted by specialpermission of the publisher,Psychological Assessment Resources,Inc., from Making VocationalChoices, Copyright 1973, 1985,1992 by Psychological AssessmentResources, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Each one of the six personality types has a congruent occupational envi-ronment. Exhibit 2-5 describes the six types and their personality characteris-tics and gives examples of congruent occupations.

Holland has developed a Vocational Preference Inventory questionnairethat contains 160 occupational titles. Respondents indicate which of these oc-cupations they like or dislike, and their answers are used to form personalityprofiles. Using this procedure, research strongly supports the hexagonal dia-gram in Exhibit 2_6.66 This figure shows that the closer two fields or orienta-tions are in the hexagon, the more compatible they are. Adjacent categoriesare quite similar, whereas those diagonally opposite are highly dissimilar.

What does all this mean? The theory argues that satisfaction is highestand turnover lowest when personality and occupation are in agreement. So-cial individuals should be in social jobs, conventional people in conventional

Southwest Airlines uses thepersonality-job fit theory in hiringemployees. It hires social personalitytypes- fun-loving, friendly peoplewho enjoy helping and entertainingcustomers - as flight aHendants.Antics like a flight aHendant poppingout of a luggage bin delightcustomers and increase employeejob satisfaction, which helps makeSouthwest the most consistentlyprofitable U.S. airline.


learningAny relatively permanent change inbehavior that occurs as a result ofexperience.

jobs, and so forth. A realistic person in a realistic job is in a more congruentsituation than is a realistic person in an investigative job. A realistic person ina social job is in the most incongruent situation possible. The key points ofthis model are that (1) there do appear to be intrinsic differences in personal-ity among individuals, (2) there are different types of jobs, and (3) people injob environments congruent with their personality types should be more sat-isfied and less likely to voluntarily resign than should people in incongruentjobs.

LEARNINGThe last topic we will introduce in this chapter is learning. It is included forthe obvious reason that almost all complex behavior is learned. If we want toexplain and predict behavior, we need to understand how people learn.

A Definition of LearningWhat is learning? A psychologist's definition is considerably broader thanthe layperson's view that "it's what we did when we went to school." In actu-ality, each of us is continuously going "to school." Learning occurs all of thetime. A generally accepted definition of learning is, therefore, any relatively per-manent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience. Ironically, we cansay that changes in behavior indicate that learning has taken place and thatlearning is a change in behavior.

Obviously, the foregoing definition suggests that we shall never seesomeone "learning." We can see changes taking place but not the learning it-self. The concept is theoretical and, hence, not directly observable:

You have seen people in the process of learning, you have seen peoplewho behave in a particular way as a result of learning and some of you(in fact, I guess the majority of you) have "learned" at some time in yourlife. In other words, we infer that learning has taken place if an individ-ual behaves, reacts, responds as a result of experience in a manner differ-ent from the way he formerly behaved.V

Our definition has several components that deserve clarification. First,learning involves change. Change may be good or bad from an organizationalpoint of view. People can learn unfavorable behaviors-to hold prejudices orto restrict their output, for example-as well as favorable behaviors. Second,

the change must be relatively permanent. Temporary changesmay be only reflexive and fail to represent any learning. There-fore, the requirement that learning must be relatively perma-nent rules out behavioral changes caused by fatigue or tempo-rary adaptations. Third, our definition is concerned withbehavior. Learning takes place when there is a change in ac-tions. A change in an individual's thought processes or atti-

tudes, if accompanied by no change in behavior, would not be learning. Fi-nally, some form of experience is necessary for learning. Experience may beacquired directly through observation or practice, or it may be acquired indi-rectly, as through reading. The crucial test still remains: Does this experienceresult in a relatively permanent change in behavior? If the answer is Yes, wecan say that learning has taken place.

Learninginvolves change.


Theoriesof learningHowdo we learn? Three theories have been offered to explain the process bywhich we acquire patterns of behavior. These are classical conditioning, oper-ant conditioning, and social learning.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Classical conditioning grew out of experi-ments to teach dogs to salivate in response to the ringing of a bell, conductedat the turn of the century by a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov.s" A simplesurgicalprocedure allowed Pavlov to measure accurately the amount of salivasecretedby a dog. When Pavlov presented the dog with a piece of meat, thedog exhibited a noticeable increase in salivation. When Pavlov withheld thepresentation of meat and merely rang a bell, the dog did not salivate. ThenPavlovproceeded to link the meat and the ringing of the bell. After repeatedlyhearing the bell before getting the food, the dog began to salivate as soon asthe bell rang. After a while, the dog would salivate merely at the sound of thebell, even if no food was offered. In effect, the dog had learned to respond-that is, to salivate-to the bell. Let's review this experiment to introduce thekeyconcepts in classical conditioning.

The meat was an unconditioned stimulus; it invariably caused the dog toreact in a specific way. The reaction that took place whenever the uncondi-tioned stimulus occurred was called the unconditioned response (or the notice-able increase in salivation, in this case). The bell was an artificial stimulus, orwhat we call the conditioned stimulus. Although it was originally neutral, afterthe bell was paired with the meat (an uncondition~d stimulus), it eventually

THE FAR SIDE By GARY LARSON1 ;,arWcms, IfICIDrstfOlwted by UniYtrsal Press SyndICate

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Unbeknownst to most students of psychology,Pavlov's first experiment was to ring a bell and

cause his dog to attack Freud's cat.

classical conditioningA type of conditioning in which onindividual responds to some stimulus thatwould not ordinarily produce such aresponse.

Exhibit 2-7Source: THE FAR SIDE copyright 1990& 1991 FARWORKS, INC./Dist. byUNIVERSAL PRESSSYNDICATE.Reprinted with permission. All rightsreserved.

70. PAR T TWO THE I N D I V I D U A L

operant conditioningA type of conditioning in which desiredvoluntory behovior leods to 0 reword orprevents 0 punishment.

produced a response when presented alone. The last key concept is the condi-tioned response. This describes the behavior of the dog; it salivated in reactionto the bell alone.

Using these concepts, we can summarize classical conditioning. Essen-tially, learning a conditioned response involves building up an association be-tween a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. When thestimuli, one compelling and the other one neutral, are paired, the neutral onebecomes a conditioned stimulus and, hence, takes on the properties of the un-conditioned stimulus.

Classical conditioning can be used to explain why Christmas carols oftenbring back pleasant memories of childhood; the songs are associated with thefestive Christmas spirit and evoke fond memories and feelings of euphoria. Inan organizational setting, we can also see classical conditioning operating. Forexample, at one manufacturing plant, every time the top executives from thehead office were scheduled to make a visit, the plant management wouldclean up the administrative offices and wash the windows. This went on foryears. Eventually, employees would turn on their best behavior and look primand proper whenever the windows were cleaned-even in those occasionalinstances when the cleaning was not paired with the visit from the top brass.People had learned to associate the cleaning of the windows with a visit fromthe head office.

Classical conditioning is passive. Something happens and we react in aspecific way. It is elicited in response to a specific, identifiable event. As such,it can explain simple reflexive behaviors. But most behavior-particularly thecomplex behavior of individuals in organizations-is emitted rather thanelicited. It is voluntary rather than reflexive. For example, employees chooseto arrive at work on time, ask their boss for help with problems, or "goof off"when no one is watching. The learning of those behaviors is better under-stood by looking at operant conditioning.

OPERANT CONDITIONING Operant conditioning argues that behavioris a function of its consequences. People learn to behave to get somethingthey want or to avoid something they don't want. Operant behavior meansvoluntary or learned behavior in contrast to reflexive or unlearned behavior.The tendency to repeat such behavior is influenced by the reinforcement orlack of reinforcement brought about by the consequences of the behavior. Re-inforcement, therefore, strengthens a behavior and increases the likelihoodthat it will be repeated.

What Pavlov 'did for classical conditioning, the Harvard psychologistB.P. Skinner did for operant conditioning.v? Building on earlier work in thefield, Skinner's research extensively expanded our knowledge of operant con-

ditioning. Even his staunchest critics, who represent a sizablegroup, admit that his operant concepts work.

Behavior is assumed to be determined from without-that is, learned-rather than from within-reflexive or un-learned. Skinner argued that creating pleasing consequences tofollow specific forms of behavior would increase the frequencyof that behavior. People will most likely engage in desired be-haviors if they are positively reinforced for doing so. Rewardsare most effective if they immediately follow the desired re-

sponse. In addition, behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is less likelyto be repeated.

Reinforcementstrengthens a behavior andincreases the likelihood that itwill be repeated.


You see illustrations of operant conditioning everywhere. For example,any situation in which it is either explicitly stated or implicitly suggested thatreinforcements are contingent on some action on your part involves the useof operant learning. Your instructor says that if you want a high grade in thecourseyou must supply correct answers on the test. A commissioned salesper-sonwanting to earn a sizable income finds that doing so is contingent on gen-erating high sales in her territory. Of course, the linkage can also work toteach the individual to engage in behaviors that work against the best inter-estsof the organization. Assume that your boss tells you that if you will workovertime during the next three-week busy season, you will be compensatedfor it at the next performance appraisal. However, when performance ap-praisal time comes, you find that you are given no positive reinforcement foryour overtime work. The next time your boss asks you to work overtime, whatwillyou do? You'll probably decline! Your behavior can be explained by oper-ant conditioning: If a behavior fails to be positively reinforced, the probabilitythat the behavior will be repeated declines.

SOCIAL LEARNING Individuals can also learn by observing what happensto other people and just by being told about something, as well as by directexperiences. So, for example, much of what we have learned comes fromwatching models-parents, teachers, peers, motion picture and television per-formers,bosses, and so forth. This view that we can learn through both obser-vation and direct experience has been called social-learning tbeory.??

Although social-learning theory is an extension of operant condition-ing-that is, it assumes that behavior is a function of consequences-it alsoacknowledges the existence of observational learning and the importance ofperception in learning. People respond to how they perceive and define conse-quences not to the objective consequences themselves.

The influence of models is central to the social-learning viewpoint. Fourprocesses have been found to determine the influence that a model will haveon an individual. As we will show later in this chapter, the inclusion of thefollowing processes when management sets up employee training programswill significantly improve the likelihood that the programs will be successful:

1. Attentional processes. People learn from a model only when they rec-ognize and pay attention to its critical features. We tend to be mostinfluenced by models that are attractive, repeatedly available, impor-tant to us, or similar to us in our estimation.

2. Retention processes. A model's influence will depend on how well theindividual remembers the model's action after the model is no longerreadily available.

3. Motor reproduction processes. After a person has seen a new behavior byobserving the model, the watching must be converted to doing. Thisprocess then demonstrates that the individual can perform the mod-eled activities.

4. Reinforcement processes. Individuals will be motivated to exhibit themodeled behavior if positive incentives or rewards are provided. Be-haviors that are positively reinforced will be given more attention,learned better, and performed more often.

Shaping: A Managerial ToolBecause learning takes place on the job as well as prior to it, manag

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