Organization Behavior

Chapter( 1,5)
1.Define organizational behavior. Explain how and why it determines the effectiveness of an Organization.
(Chapter-1) (Stepen-Book+Chatgpt)
Answer

Organizational behavior(ob) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure
have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an
organization’s effectiveness.

Organizational behavior is a key factor in determining how effectively an organization operates. By understanding
and applying OB principles, organizations can enhance communication, leadership, motivation, and overall
employee engagement, leading to improved performance and success.(optional)

How OB Determines Effectiveness:

Improves Communication: OB helps people share information clearly, reducing confusion and mistakes.
Increased Motivation: It helps companies understand what makes employees happy and productive.
Stronger Leadership: OB teaches leaders how to guide their teams effectively.
Encourages New Ideas: It creates an environment where people feel comfortable being creative and trying new
things.
Improved Teamwork: OB helps teams work well together, avoiding conflicts and improving cooperation.
Positive Work Culture: It builds a work environment where people feel valued and connected to the company’s goals.
Smarter Decisions: OB helps employees and leaders make better choices by understanding how to avoid common
mistakes.
Smooth Changes: It helps companies handle changes without causing too much stress for employees.
Why OB Determines Effectiveness:

Alignment with Organizational Goals: OB ensures that employees' behaviors align with the organization's goals,
leading to more efficient operations and the achievement of objectives.

Reduction of Workplace Conflicts: By understanding the sources of conflict and the best ways to manage them, OB
helps reduce disruptions, creating a more stable and productive work environment.

Retention of Talent: Organizations that apply OB principles often have higher employee satisfaction and lower
turnover rates. Retaining talented employees is critical for maintaining organizational effectiveness.

Adaptation to External Changes: OB helps organizations to be agile and responsive to external changes, such as
market shifts or technological advancements, which are crucial for long-term effectiveness.

2.How the changes in an organization's external environment continually create challenges for organizational
behavior? (chapter-1) (Chatgpt) (Recommendation: See Q-5)

Answer:

OB is a developing field of study. External environment pose many challenges for OB, and organizations must
respond effectively to those challenges if they are to survive and prosper. Changes in the environment
constantly challenge organizations and their owners’, managers’, and employees’ abilities to adapt and change work
behaviors and procedures to increase the effectiveness with which they operate.
Organization's external environment and how it create challenges for OB:

1. Technological Advancements

• Challenge: Rapid technological changes can lead to disruptions in workflows and require employees to
constantly update their skills.
• OB Impact: Employees may experience stress, resistance to change, or fear of job displacement.
Managers need to focus on change management, continuous learning, and supporting employees through
transitions.

2. Globalization

• Challenge: Globalization increases competition and requires organizations to operate across different
cultures and geographies.
• OB Impact: This creates challenges in managing a diverse workforce, understanding different cultural
norms, and addressing language barriers. Leaders need to foster cultural competence, inclusive
communication, and global teamwork.

3. Economic Fluctuations

• Challenge: Economic downturns or booms can lead to job insecurity, changes in consumer demand, and
resource constraints.
• OB Impact: During downturns, employees may face layoffs or reduced benefits, leading to lower morale
and productivity. Managers must focus on maintaining motivation, clear communication, and fairness
during tough times.

4. Regulatory and Legal Changes

• Challenge: New laws and regulations can impose additional compliance requirements and operational
changes.
• OB Impact: This can lead to increased workload, ethical dilemmas, and potential conflicts between
organizational goals and legal obligations. Organizations must train employees on compliance and
promote ethical behavior.

5. Societal and Cultural Shifts

• Challenge: Changes in societal values, such as increased focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), or
environmental sustainability, can shift organizational priorities.
• OB Impact: Organizations may need to rethink their culture, policies, and practices to align with these
values. This can create challenges in changing long-established norms and behaviors.

6. Competitive Pressures

• Challenge: Increased competition can force organizations to innovate, cut costs, or improve efficiency.
• OB Impact: Employees may feel pressure to perform at higher levels, which can lead to stress, burnout,
and conflicts within teams. Leaders must balance performance expectations with employee well-being.

7. Demographic Changes

• Challenge: Shifts in workforce demographics, such as an aging population or increasing diversity, can
impact recruitment, retention, and workplace dynamics.
 • OB Impact: Organizations need to address the needs of a multigenerational workforce and foster an
inclusive environment. This includes adapting management styles, offering flexible work arrangements,
and promoting diversity initiatives.

8. Environmental Changes

• Challenge: Environmental concerns and sustainability initiatives are becoming more important for
organizations.
• OB Impact: Organizations may need to adopt greener practices, which can require changes in employee
behavior and organizational culture. This can also impact how organizations engage with external
stakeholders and communities.

9. Political and Social Instability

• Challenge: Political changes, conflicts, or social unrest can create uncertainty and affect business
operations.
• OB Impact: Employees may experience anxiety or distraction due to external events, affecting their
productivity. Organizations need to provide support and maintain open communication to navigate these
challenges.

10. Changing Customer Expectations

• Challenge: As customer preferences evolve, organizations need to adapt their products, services, and
business models.
• OB Impact: This requires employees to be more innovative, customer-focused, and adaptable. Leaders
need to foster a culture of continuous improvement and agility.

Addressing Challenges in OB:

• Adaptability and Resilience: Organizations must cultivate a culture that embraces change and
encourages adaptability. This includes providing training, fostering open communication, and supporting
employee well-being.
• Continuous Learning: Promoting a learning culture helps employees stay current with industry trends and
new technologies.
• Strong Leadership: Effective leadership is crucial in navigating external challenges. Leaders need to be
empathetic, transparent, and capable of guiding their teams through uncertainty.

3.What are the purposes of studying organizational behavior? (chapter-1)

Answer

The purposes of studying organizational behavior include: (According to Jennefer Book)

1. Understanding Organizational Dynamics: Understanding the behavior of individuals and groups within
organizations is essential for improving organizational effectiveness.
2. Predicting and Influencing Behavior: By studying organizational behavior, managers can better predict how
employees will respond to various managerial actions and can influence behaviors to align with organizational
goals.
3. Enhancing Individual and Organizational Performance: There is a great importance of OB in improving both
individual job performance and overall organizational performance. This includes understanding motivation,
leadership, communication, and organizational culture.
4. Promoting Employee Well-being: Studying OB helps organizations create work environments that promote
employee satisfaction, reduce stress, and increase overall well-being.
5. Facilitating Organizational Change: OB provides the tools to manage and implement change effectively,
which is crucial in today’s rapidly evolving business environment.
6. Improving Decision-Making: OB helps in enhancing decision-making processes by understanding the
cognitive and social factors that influence decisions in organizations.

The purposes of studying organizational behavior include: (According to Stephen)

1. Predicting behavior: Understanding how people are likely to behave in a given situation.
2. Explaining behavior: Exploring why individuals or groups behave in certain ways within the organizational
context.
3. Managing behavior: Applying knowledge of OB to influence, control, or manage behavior in a way that
achieves organizational goals.

4.Do you think the knowledge of organizational behavior is necessary to be a manager? Justify your
statement with examples. (chapter-1)

Answer:

See Q-3

5.List and explain challenges of organizational behavior today. (chapter-1) (Stephen book)

Answer:

Challenge-1: Responding to Economic Pressures:

Economic environment create pressures on the Organizational behavior. Economic downturns or booms affect
organizational behavior, it may cause

1. Budgets Reducing.
2. Stop hiring new employees and cut off old employees.
3. Decrease in overall performance.
Organizations must manage layoffs, wage freezes, or cutbacks during downturns, while balancing expansion and
hiring during booms without losing efficiency.

Challenge-2: Responding to Globalization:

Organizations are no longer constrained by national borders. The world has become a global village. In the process,
the manager’s job has changed. Additional tasks are:

1. Increased Foreign Assignments

2. Working with People from Different Cultures
3. Overseeing Movement of Jobs to Countries with Low-Cost Labor
Organizations need to manage cross-cultural teams, understand global markets, and adjust to international
regulatory standards while maintaining consistent organizational behavior.

Challenge-3: Managing Workforce Diversity:

Workforce diversity acknowledges a workforce of women and men; many racial and ethnic groups; individuals with
a variety of physical or psychological abilities; and people who differ in age and sexual orientation. Managing this
diversity is a global concern.

Challenge-4: Improving Customer Service:

As the workforce becomes more diverse in terms of race, gender, age, and cultural background, organizations must
address different needs and perspectives. Creating an inclusive environment that values diversity, preventing
discrimination, and ensuring equal opportunities for all employees.

Challenge-5: Improving People Skills:

With technological advancements and more complex work environments, the demand for soft skills like
communication, teamwork, and leadership is increasing. Organizations must invest in continuous training and
development to enhance employee skills in these areas.

Challenge-6: Stimulating Innovation and Change:

Today’s successful organizations must foster innovation and master the art of change, or they’ll become candidates
for extinction. Victory will go to the organizations that maintain their flexibility, continually improve their quality, and
beat their competition to the marketplace with a constant stream of innovative products and services.

Challenge-7: Coping with “Temporariness”:

Globalization, expanded capacity, and advances in technology have required organizations to be fast and flexible if
they are to survive. The result is that most managers and employees today work in a climate best characterized as
“temporary.” Workers must continually update their knowledge and skills to perform new job requirements.

Challenge-8: Working in Networked Organizations:

Networked organizations allow people to communicate and work together even though they may be thousands of
miles apart. Independent contractors can telecommute via computer to workplaces around the globe and change
employers as the demand for their services changes. Managing remote teams, ensuring effective communication,
and maintaining a cohesive organizational culture despite physical distances is a great challenge.

Challenge-9: Helping Employees Balance Work–Life Conflicts:

As work demands increase and blur with personal life, especially with remote work becoming more common,
employees face difficulties in maintaining work-life balance. Organizations need to implement policies and
practices that promote flexibility, such as remote work options, flexible hours, and mental health support.

Challenge-10: Creating a Positive Work Environment:

Although competitive pressures on most organizations are stronger than ever, some organizations are trying to
realize a competitive advantage by fostering a positive work environment. A real growth area in OB research is
positive organizational scholarship (also called positive organizational behavior), which studies how organizations
develop human strengths, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential. Researchers in this area say too much
of OB research and management practice has been targeted toward identifying what’s wrong with organizations and
their employees.
Challenge-11: Improving Ethical Behavior:

Impact: External pressures like regulatory changes, public scrutiny, and corporate social responsibility
expectations push organizations to maintain high ethical standards.
Challenge: Establishing and enforcing ethical guidelines, promoting transparency, and ensuring that all employees
adhere to ethical practices.

6. Briefly explain different levels of organizational behavior? (chapter-1) (Stephen book)

Answer:

Organizational behavior (OB) is examined at three interrelated levels: Individual, Group, and Organizational. Each
level provides insights into different aspects of behavior within an organization.

1. Individual Level: This level focuses on understanding individual behavior, including personality, attitudes,
perception, motivation, and decision-making processes. It explores how individuals' characteristics influence
their work performance and satisfaction. At the individual level, processes include emotions and moods,
motivation, perception, and decision making. In Individual-level outcomes are attitudes and satisfaction, task
performance, citizenship behavior, and withdrawal behavior.
2. Group Level: At the group level, the focus is on understanding group dynamics, communication, leadership,
power, and conflict. This level examines how individuals interact within teams and how these interactions
affect overall group performance and cohesion. At the group level, they include communication, leadership,
power and politics, and conflict and negotiation. Outcome of the level, cohesion and functioning are the
dependent variables.
3. Organizational Level: This level looks at the organization as a whole, analyzing organizational culture,
structure, change, and policies. It considers how the organization’s design and culture influence behavior and
how external factors impact the organization. At the organizational level, processes include human resource
management and change practices. Finally, at the organizational level we look at overall profitability and
survival.
7. Identify and explain the ten roles that manager’s play as they manage the behavior of people inside and
outside the organization. (chapter-1)

Answer:

A set of behaviors or tasks a person is expected to perform because of the position he or she holds in a group or
organization.

8.Why and how the study of organizational behaviour improves a person’s ability to understand and
respond to the events that take place in a work setting.-1(chat gpt)

Answer: The study of organizational behavior (OB) enhances a person’s ability to understand and respond
to workplace events by providing insights into human behavior, group dynamics, and organizational
processes. Here’s why and how this happens:

Why Studying Organizational Behavior is Important:

1.Improved Interpersonal Skills : OB focuses on communication, teamwork, and conflict

resolution. Understanding these concepts enables individuals to collaborate more effectively with others
in the workplace.
2. Better Decision-Making: OB teaches individuals about decision-making processes, both at the
personal and organizational levels. This understanding helps in making informed and rational decisions
in a work setting.

3. Understanding Motivation: OB studies the factors that motivate employees. With this knowledge, a
person can foster motivation within themselves and their colleagues, increasing overall productivity.

4. Adaptability to Change: Organizations often undergo changes, such as restructuring or

technological advancements. OB helps individuals comprehend the dynamics of change management,
preparing them to adapt and lead during transitions.

5.Conflict Resolution:By understanding the root causes of conflicts, OB provides the tools and techniques
to resolve issues in a constructive manner, improving workplace harmony.

How Organizational Behavior Improves Understanding and Response:

1. Insight into Individual Behavior: OB provides frameworks (like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs or
Herzberg’s two-factor theory) that help explain why people behave in certain ways. This helps individuals
predict and respond to the behavior of coworkers.

2. Group Dynamics: By studying how groups form, develop, and interact, OB helps individuals
understand the role of teams, leadership, and peer influence. This enables one to navigate group
situations more effectively, such as in team projects or meetings.

3. Organizational Structure and Culture: OB explores how organizations are structured and how
culture impacts work. Understanding organizational culture helps individuals align their behavior with the
expectations of the workplace, leading to better integration and performance.

4. Leadership and Influence: OB provides models of leadership that help individuals understand
different leadership styles. This knowledge enables someone to develop their own leadership skills or
work effectively under various leadership styles.

5. Emotional Intelligence : OB emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence, which involves

recognizing one’s own emotions and those of others. This skill enhances the ability to manage
relationships and respond empathetically to workplace events.

By applying these OB principles, individuals are better equipped to handle challenges, improve
workplace relationships, and contribute positively to organizational success.

9.Describe the four major challenges resulting from a changing environment that confront people who work
in companies and organizations today.-1( Jenifer+chat gpt)

Answer :Here’s how each of these challenges results from a changing environment in today’s workplaces:

Changing Social and Cultural Environment

- **Result:**Organizations must navigate a more diverse and evolving workplace culture. This involves
addressing inclusivity, adapting to new social values, and accommodating different perspectives, which
can impact company policies and team dynamics.
**Evolving Global Environment**

- **Result:** Companies face the need to compete on a global scale and manage international risks.
This includes adapting to global economic changes, trade regulations, and geopolitical events, which can
affect business strategies and operations.

**Advancing Information Technology**

- **Result:** Businesses must keep pace with rapid technological advancements. This requires
investing in new technology, ensuring cybersecurity, and training employees to use the latest tools
effectively, which can be both a financial and logistical challenge.

**Shifting Work and Employment Relationships**

- **Result:** The rise of remote work and the gig economy requires organizations to rethink traditional
employment models. This includes managing remote teams, integrating freelance workers, and adjusting
to flexible work arrangements, which can impact productivity and team cohesion.

10. Explain the word 'Personality'. Discuss the various factors which affect the personality development of
an individual?-5(chat gpt+ Stephen)

Answer:

Personality is the way a person reacts to and interacts with others, based on their unique traits and how
they adjust to their environment. It involves both mental and physical aspects that shape their behavior.

Various factors which affect the personality development of an individual are as follows:

**Extraversion**: This measures how outgoing or reserved you are. Extraverts are social and energetic,
while introverts prefer quiet and solitude.

**Agreeableness**: This shows how cooperative and trusting you are. Agreeable people are friendly and
helpful, whereas those low in agreeableness may be more critical and competitive.

**Conscientiousness**: This reflects how reliable and organized you are. Conscientious people are
disciplined and thorough, while those with low conscientiousness might be more disorganized and easily
distracted.

**Emotional Stability**: This measures how well you handle stress. People with high emotional stability
are calm and confident, while those with low stability may feel anxious or insecure.

- **Openness to Experience**: This indicates how much you enjoy new experiences and ideas. Open
people are imaginative and curious, while those who are less open prefer routine and the familiar.

11. Identify and describe the Big-Five personality dimensions.-5(Stephen)

Answer : The Big-Five personality dimensions are as follows:

• Extraversion. The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with Relationships. Extraverts
tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.
● Agreeableness. The agreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s Propensity to defer to
others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, Warm, and trusting. People who score low on
agreeableness are cold, Disagreeable, and antagonistic.

● Conscientiousness. The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of Reliability. A highly

conscientious person is responsible, organized, Dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on
this dimension are Easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.

● Emotional stability. The emotional stability dimension—often labeled By its converse,

neuroticism—taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to
be calm, self-confident, And secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious,
Depressed, and insecure.

● Openness to experience. The openness to experience dimension addresses Range of interests and
fascination with novelty. Extremely open people Are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at
the other end of the category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.

12.Discuss briefly what are the other several personality traits relevant to understanding and managing
behavior in organization.(Jenifer+ chat gpt)

Answer:

The other several personality traits relevant to understanding and managing behavior in organization are as
follows:

1.Locus of control: This refers to whether people believe they control their own fate or if external forces
(like luck or other people) control it

EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL- Describes people who believe That fate, luck, or outside forces Are
responsible for what happens To them.
INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL- Describes people who believe that ability, effort, or their own action
Determine what happens to them.

2.self monitoring -The extent to which people try to control the way they present themselves to others.
Describes how people adjust their behavior to fit social situations.

High self-monitors adapt their behavior to suit others.

Low self-monitors are more consistent with their own beliefs and less concerned with social approval.

3.self esteem : Refers to how much pride and confidence people have in themselves.

High self-esteem : Confident and willing to take on challenges.

Low self-esteem: • Doubt their abilities and are more cautious.

4.Type A and Type personality :

TYPE A-A person who has an intense desire to achieve, is extremely competitive, and has a strong Sense
of urgency.
TYPE B A person who tends to be easygoing and relaxed.

5. Need for achievement : The desire to perform challenging tasks well and to meet one’s own high
standards. People with a high need for achievement set goals and love taking on difficult tasks to prove
themselves. They are driven to succeed and perform well in challenging situations.

6.Need for affiliation : The desire to establish and maintain good relations with Others. These individuals
value relationships and like being liked by others. They prefer teamwork and group settings, focusing on
maintaining good personal connections.

7. Need for power: The desire to exert emotional and behavioral control or influence over others. People
with a strong need for power desire to control or influence others. They often seek leadership roles where
they can have authority and make decisions.

14.Differentiate between Values and attitudes.-5 Answer :

15. Identify and explain some other personality traits, in addition to the Big Five, that influence
employees' behaviors in organization. (From Stephen’s book)

Answer: Although the Big Five traits have proven highly relevant to OB, they don’t exhaust the range of
traits that can describe someone’s personality. Now we’ll look at other, more specific, attributes that are
powerful predictors of behavior in organizations. The first relates to our core self-evaluation. The others
are Machiavellianism, narcissism, self-monitoring, propensity for risk taking, proactive personality, and
otherorientation.

Core Self-Evaluation: People who have positive core self-evaluations like themselves and see
themselves as effective, capable, and in control of their environment. Those with negative core self-
evaluations tend to dislike themselves, question their capabilities, and view themselves as powerless
over their environment. Core selfevaluations relate to job satisfaction because people positive on this
trait see more challenge in their job and actually attain more complex jobs.

Machiavellianism: Kuzi is a young bank manager in Taiwan. He’s had three promotions in the past 4
years and makes no apologies for the aggressive tactics he’s used to propel his career upward. “I’m
prepared to do whatever I have to do to get ahead,” he says. Kuzi would properly be called Machiavellian.
The personality characteristic of Machiavellianism (often abbreviated Mach ) is named after Niccolo
Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use power. An individual high in
Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes ends can justify means. “If it
works, use it” is consistent with a high-Mach perspective. A considerable amount of research has found
high Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and persuade others more than do low
Machs. They like their jobs less, are more stressed by their work, and engage in more deviant work
behaviors. Yet high-Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors. High Machs flourish

(1) when they interact face to face with others rather than indirectly;

(2) when the situation has minimal rules and regulations, allowing latitude for improvisation; and

(3) when emotional involvement with details irrelevant to winning distracts low Machs.

Narcissism: Hans likes to be the center of attention. He looks at himself in the mirror a lot, has
extravagant dreams, and considers himself a person of many talents. Hans is a narcissist. The term is
from the Greek myth of Narcissus, a man so vain and proud he fell in love with his own image. In
psychology, narcissism describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance, requires
excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant. Evidence suggests that narcissists are
more charismatic and thus more likely to emerge as leaders, and they may even display better
psychological health (at least as they self-report). Despite having some advantages, most evidence
suggests that narcissism is undesirable. A study found that while narcissists thought they were better
leaders than their colleagues, their supervisors actually rated them as worse.

Self-monitoring: It refers to an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational
factors. Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability in adjusting their behavior to
external situational factors. They are highly sensitive to external cues and can behave differently in
different situations, sometimes presenting striking contradictions between their public persona and their
private self. Low selfmonitors, can’t disguise themselves in that way. They tend to display their true
dispositions and attitudes in every situation; hence, there is high behavioral consistency between who
they are and what they do. Evidence indicates high self-monitors pay closer attention to the behavior of
others and are more capable of conforming than are low self-monitors.
Risk Taking: People differ in their willingness to take chances, a quality that affects how much time and
information they need to make a decision. For instance, 79 managers worked on simulated exercises that
required them to make hiring decisions. High risk-taking managers made more rapid decisions and used
less information than did the low risk takers. Interestingly, decision accuracy was the same for both
groups. Although previous studies have shown managers in large organizations to be more risk averse
than growthoriented entrepreneurs who actively manage small businesses, recent findings suggest
managers in large organizations may actually be more willing to take risks than entrepreneurs.

16. Describe the nature of personality and how it is determined by both nature and nurture. (From
Jennifer’s book )

Answer: Nature of Personality:

People’s personalities can be described in a variety of ways. Some people seem to be perfectionists; they
can be critical, impatient, demanding, and intense. Other kinds of people are more relaxed and
easygoing. You may have friends or coworkers who always seem to have something to smile about and
are fun to be around. Or perhaps you have friends or coworkers who are shy and quiet; they are hard to
get to know and may sometimes seem dull. In each of these examples, we are describing what people
are generally like without referring to their specific feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in any given
situation. In formulating a general description of someone, we try to pinpoint something relatively
enduring about the person, something that seems to explain the regularities or patterns we observe in the
way the person thinks, feels, and behaves.

Personality is the pattern of relatively enduring ways that a person feels, thinks, and behaves. Personality
is an important factor in accounting for why employees act the way they do in organizations and why they
have favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward their jobs and organizations. Personality has been shown
to influence career choice, job satisfaction, stress, leadership, and some aspects of job performance.

The Determinants of Personality: Why are some employees happy and easygoing and others intense
and critical? An answer to this question can be found by examining the determinants of personality:
nature and nurture.

Nature: Personality is partially determined by nature, or biological heritage. The genes you inherited from
your parents influence how your personality has unfolded. Although specific genes for personality have
not yet been identified, psychologists have studied identical twins in an attempt to discover the extent to
which personality is inherited. Because identical twins possess identical genes, they have the same
genetic determinants of personality. Identical twins who grow up together in the same family have the
same permissive or strict parents and similar life experiences. If the twins have similar personalities, it is
impossible to identify the source of the similarity because they have not only the same genetic makeup
but also similar life experiences. In contrast, identical twins who are separated at birth and raised in
different settings (perhaps because they are adopted by different families) share the same genetic
material but often have very different life experiences. Evidence from research on separated identical
twins and other studies suggests that approximately 50 percent of the variation we observe in people’s
personalities can be attributed to nature—to genetic factors. Thus, about half of the variation we observe
in employees’ personalities in organizations reflects the distinctive ways of thinking, feeling, and
behaving they inherited from their parents. The other 50 percent reflects the influence of nurture, or life
experiences.

Nurture: Personality develops over time, responding to the experiences people have as children and as
adults. Factors such as the strictness or permissiveness of a child’s parents, the number of other
children in the family, the extent to which parents and teachers demand a lot from a child, success or
lack of success at making friends or getting and keeping a job, and even the culture in which a person is
raised and lives as an adult are shapers of personality. Because about half of the variation in people’s
personalities is inherited from their parents and, thus, is basically fixed at birth, it comes as no surprise
that personality is quite stable over periods of time ranging from 5 to 10 years. This does not mean that
personality cannot change; it means that personality is likely to change only over many years. Thus, the
impact of any specific work situation or crisis on an employee’s personality is likely to be felt only if the
situation continues for many years. An important outcome of this fact is that managers should not expect
to change employees’ personalities. In fact, for all practical purposes, managers should view employees’
personalities as relatively fixed in the short run. Personality, nevertheless, is an important individual
difference that managers and other organizational members need to take into account in order to
understand why people feel, think, and act as they do in organizations. For example, realizing that an
employee complains a lot and often gets upset because of his or her personality will help a manager deal
with this type of employee, especially if the employee’s job performance is acceptable.

17.Identify and explain the Big Five personality traits and their implications for understanding
behavior in organizations. (from Stephen’s book)

Answer: The Big Five Model:

The MBTI may lack strong supporting evidence, but an impressive body of research supports the thesis of
the Big Five Model —that five basic dimensions underlie all others and encompass most of the significant
variation in human personality. Moreover, test scores of these traits do a very good job of predicting how
people behave in a variety of real-life situations. The following are the Big Five factors:

● Extraversion. The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with relationships. Extraverts
tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.

● Agreeableness. The agreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to

others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusting. People who score low on
agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.

● Conscientiousness. The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of reliability. A highly

conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on
this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.

● Emotional stability. The emotional stability dimension—often labeled by its converse,

neuroticism—taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to
be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious,
depressed, and insecure.
● Openness to experience. The openness to experience dimension addresses range of interests and
fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at
the other end of the category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.

How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior at Work: Research has found relationships between these
personality dimensions and job performance. As the authors of the most-cited review put it, “The
preponderance of evidence shows that individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able
to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have higher job
performance in most if not all occupations.” In addition, employees who score higher in
conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge, probably because highly conscientious
people learn more (a review of 138 studies revealed conscientiousness was rather strongly related to
GPA).Higher levels of job knowledge then contribute to higher levels of job performance. Conscientious
individuals who are more interested in learning than in just performing on the job are also exceptionally
good at maintaining performance in the face of negative feedback. There can be “too much of a good
thing,” however, as extremely conscientious individuals typically do not perform better than those who
are simply above average in conscientiousness.

18."Psychologists have identified many types of cognitive ability and grouped them in a hierarchy."
Explain those cognitive ability. What are the three ways in which ability can be managed in
organizations? (from
Jennifer’s book, chapter 1)

Answer: Psychologists have identified many types of cognitive ability and grouped them in a hierarchy.
The most general dimension of cognitive ability is general intelligence. Below general intelligence are
specific types of cognitive ability that reflect competence in different areas of mental functioning . Eight
types of cognitive ability identified and described by psychologist Jum Nunnally, whose work was based
in part on the pioneering work of L. L. and T. G. Thurstone in the 1940s.

Ability Description Examples of jobs in which the

ability is especially important
Verbal Ability Ability to understand and use written and spoken Comedians, teachers, lawyers,
language. writer
Numerical Ability Ability to solve arithmetic problems and deal with Waiters, investment bankers,
numbers engineers, accountants.
Reasoning Ability Ability to come up with solutions for problems and Therapists, interior designers, car
understand the principles by which different mechanics, computer software
problems can be solved designers.
Deductive Ability Ability to reach appropriate conclusions from an Medical researchers, detectives,
array of observations or evaluate the implications of scientists, investigative reporters.
a series of facts
Ability to see The ability to see how two things are related to each Anthropologists, travel agents,
relationships other and then apply this knowledge to other consultants, wedding panners.
relationships and solutions.
Ability to Ability to recall things ranging from simple Translators, salespeople,
remember associations to complex groups of statements or managers, researchers.
sentences
Spatial ability Ability to determine the location or arrangement of Air traffic controllers, architects,
objects in relation to one’s own position and to clothing designers, astronauts.
imagine how an object would appear if its position in
space were altered.

The Management of Ability in Organizations:. There are three fundamental ways to manage ability in
organizations to ensure that this match-up happens: selection, placement, and training.

Selection: Managers can control ability in organizations by selecting individuals who have the abilities
they need. This first involves identifying the tasks they want the employees to accomplish and the
abilities they need to do them. Once these abilities are identified, managers then have to develop
accurate measures of them. The key question at this point is whether a person’s score on an ability
measure is actually a good predictor of the task that needs to be performed. If it isn’t, there is no point in
using it as a selection device. Furthermore, it would be unethical to do so. An organization that uses an
inappropriate measure and rejects capable applicants leaves itself open to potential lawsuits for unfair
hiring practices. But if the ability measure does predict task performance, then managers can use it as a
selection tool to ensure that the organization has the mix of abilities it needs to accomplish its goals.

Placement: Once individuals are selected and become part of an organization, managers must
accurately match each employee to a job that will capitalize on his or her abilities. Again, managers need
to identify the ability requirements of the jobs to be filled, and they need accurate measures of these
abilities. Once these measures are available, the aim is to place employees in positions that match their
abilities. Placement, however, involves more than just assigning new employees to appropriate positions.
It also becomes an issue in horizontal moves or promotions within the organization. Obviously, an
organization wants to promote only its most able employees to higher-level positions.

Training: Selection and placement relate to the nature aspects of ability. Training relates to the nurture
aspects of ability. Training can be an effective means of enhancing employees’ abilities. We often think
that the goal of training is to improve employees’ abilities beyond the minimum level required. Frequently,
however, organizations use training to bring employees’ skills up to some minimum required level.
Extensive research suggests that job-appropriate training is effective in increasing employees’ skills and
abilities and, ultimately, their performance. To gain a competitive advantage, organizations often need to
use new and advanced technology to lower costs and increase quality, efficiency, and performance.
19.Define value. Distinguish between terminal value and instrumental value.

Answer: Values represent basic convictions that “a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is
personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.”
61 They contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individual’s ideas as to what is right, good, or
desirable. Values have both content and intensity attributes. The content attribute says a mode of
conduct or end-state of existence is important. The in tensity attribute specifies how important it is.
When we rank an individual’s values in terms of their intensity, we obtain that person’s value system . All
of us have a hierarchy of values that forms our value system. We find it in the relative importance we
assign to values such as freedom, pleasure, self-respect, honesty, obedience, and equality.

The difference between terminal value and instrumental value are: