Managerial--Psychology.docx

Managerial Psychology

Different lenses/different questions
How? Individual processes (intra)
Helps us understand how people are experiencing the
problem or issue, and how are they (likely to) respond?
Who? Individual differences (inter)
What stable individual characteristics of are contributing to
peoples' experience and responses?
When? Where? Group processes (intra and inter)
What characteristics of the situation are contributing to
peoples' experience and responses?

Intra-individual processes
Information processing
What are people paying attention to, thinking about, and remembering for later?
Affective processing
How people make sense of their feelings
Attribution
How people make sense of other peoples' behaviour and their own

Individual differences
The stable (dispositional) differences between people that impact:
Cognition and affect
Responses to situations

So how do people actually differ?
Personality: reflects differences in the way people behave, experience, and understand the world
Intelligence: reflects differences in the speed and ways in which information is processed
Character: reflects differences in what people care about or value

Key general questions
What are the primary dimensions that describe stable differences between people?
Why do people differ on those dimensions?

Individual differences as traits and dispositions
Behaviour is caused by underlying traits that are:
Stable across time and situations
Unique to the individual
Difficult to change
Strength of situation influences how much our traits influence our behaviour

Trait structure
Level 1: Basic traits
Level 2: Characteristic adaptations
Level 3: Personal life story/ identities

Traits we will look at today
Personality traits
Values

Personality
What is personality?
Can it be measured?
When does it influence our behaviour?

Personality is a set of traits, characteristics, and predispositions of a person
How would you describe your own personality in one word?

Personality theories
Cognitive theory: people develop their thinking patterns and interpretation of the world as their lives unfold
Learning theories: people are shaped entirely by their own social environment
Operant-learning theory: people learn behaviour because external stimuli reinforces the behaviour

Personality theories (cont.)
Cognitive social-learning theory: accepts the role of reinforcement but sees behaviour as largely learned by observation
Biological theories: how members develop common characteristics because of evolution (ethological theory) and how an individual’s unique gene structure affects personality development (behaviour genetics)

Emotion is a feeling, psychological state, and biological state that incline a person to act in a certain way
Are your emotions a key part of your personality?

Types of emotions

Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a mental process that includes
(1) appraising and expressing emotions in self and others,
(2) managing emotion in self and others,
(3) adaptively using emotions to guide behaviour and solve problems

Emotional intelligence (CONT.)
Self-awareness: strengths, weaknesses, limits, effects of emotions
Self-management: integrity, flexibility, control
Social awareness: sensing, understanding, concern
Relationship management: guidance, feedback, building, cooperating, managing conflict
Both verbal and non-verbal communication is important

Can we measure personality?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Personality test

MBTI: a personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types
Extroverted vs Introverted (E or I)
Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)
Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)
Judging vs. Perceiving (J or P)

Extroverted (E) vs. introverted (I)
Extraversion is a preference to focus on the world outside the self. Extraverts enjoy social interactions and tend to be enthusiastic, verbal, assertive, and animated. They enjoy large social gatherings, such as parties and any kind of group activity. Extraverts are likely to enjoy time spent with people and find themselves energised by social interaction.
Introversion is a preference to focus on the world inside the self. Introverts tend to be quiet, peaceful, and deliberate and are not attracted to social interactions. They prefer activities they can do alone or with one other close friend, activities such as reading, writing, thinking, and inventing. Introverts find social gathering draining.

The power of introverts Susan Cain

Sensing (S) vs. intuition (N)
Sensing refers to how people process data. Sensing people focus on the present, they are “here and now” people, who are factual and process information through the five senses. They see things as they are, they are concrete thinkers.
Intuition refers to how people process data. Intuitive people focus on the future and the possibilities. They process information through patterns and impressions. They read between the lines, they are abstract thinkers.

Thinking (T) vs. feeling (F)
Thinking refers to how people make decision. Thinking people are objective and make decisions based on facts. They are ruled by their head instead of their heart. Thinking people judge situations and others based on logic.
Feeling refers to how people make decisions. Feeling people are subjective and make decisions based on principles and values. They are ruled by their heart instead of their head. Feeling people judge situations and others based on feelings and extenuating circumstances.

Judging (J) vs. perceiving (P)
Judging is the preference outwardly displayed. Judging does not mean “judgemental”. Judging people like order, organisation, and think sequentially. They like to have things planned and settled. Judging people seek closure.
Perceiving is the preference outwardly displayed. Perceiving people are flexible, like to keep their options open, and thinking randomly. They like to act spontaneously, and are adaptable. Perceivers like to keep things open ended.

Problems with MBTI
People don’t neatly categorise
People are classified 
differently over time
Does not predict choice of occupation very well
Does not predict success in 
an occupation at all

The Big Five personality model personality test

The Big Five personality model
A personality assessment model that taps five basic dimensions
Based on clusters of adjective 
ratings
Consistent organisation across cultures

Extraversion
The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with relationships

Extraversion
Benefits:
More likely to emerge as a leader; more charismatic and inspiring; greater ambition
Costs: More impulsive and risky decisions; less likely to listen to followers;
may lack persistence and commitent to long-term vision
What does it affect?
Higher performance; enhanced leadership; higher job and life satisfaction

Agreeableness
The agreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others
High:
Gentle
Good-natured
Understanding
Forgiving
Cooperative
Warm
Trusting
Low:
Irritable
Short-tempered
Uncooperative
Antagonistic
Cold
Disagreeable
Disorganised
Unreliable
Benefits: More considerate, more positive interpersonal interactions and helping behaviour, lower conflict, lower deviance and turnover
Costs:Lower ambition to lead or excel; less capable of initiating structure; easily “rolled” off course
by influential followers
What does it affect?
Higher performance; lower levels of deviant behaviour

Conscientiousness
The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of reliability.
High:

Few goals
Systematic
Organised
Self-disciplined
Careful
Responsible
Dependable
Persistent

Low:
Many goals
Careless
Irresponsible
Disorganised
Easily distracted
Unreliable
Benefits: Greater desire to lead; more effective at setting and maintaining goals; more ethical
Costs:
Reduced adaptability; more controlling; more likely to lose
visionary focus in favour of micro-management
What does it affect?
Higher performance; enhanced leadership; greater longevity

Emotional stability
The emotional stability dimension taps a person’s ability to withstand stress
High:
Poised
Resilient
Secure

Calm
Self-confident

Low: Neuroticism
Depressed
Reactive
Insecure
Anxious
Nervous

Benefits:
More able to detect risks; more concerned with danger and less susceptible to illusions; less likely to choose “easy” wins that verify self-concept
Costs:
Tends to create a more negative work environment; less able
to create a positive vision; less able to manage conflict
What does it affect?
Higher job and life satisfaction; lower stress levels

Openness to experience
The openness to experience dimension addresses range of interests and fascination with novelty
High:
Curious
Imaginative

Creative

Potential thrill-seeker
Artistically sensitive
Low:
Conventional
Conservative
Dogmatic
Avoids thrill-seeking behaviours
Find comfort in the familiar
Benefits:
More innovative; more visionary; more adaptable
Costs: Non-conformist; more likely to lead group in dangerous or independent directions;
less likely to accept leadership from above
What does it affect?
Training performance; enhanced leadership; more adaptable to change
The Dark Triad
A constellation of negative personality traits consisting of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy
Machiavellianism: the degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance,
and believes that ends can justify means
Narcissism: the tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance,
require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement
Psychopathy: the tendency for a lack of concern for others and a lack of guilt or remorse
when their actions cause harm
The Dark Triad test
Machiavellianism
25 is roughly normal range

60 or more is the level for a personality disorder
Narcissism
25 is roughly normal range

60 or more is the level for a personality disorder
Psychopathy
20 is roughly normal range
Non-psychopathic compulsive criminals range between 45 and 55
If you have a score of 75 or more, it’s more than likely that you are a psychopath
Personality and situations
Situation-strength theory: a theory indicating that the way personality translates into behaviour depends on the strength of the situation > the degree to which norms, cues, or standards dictate appropriate behaviour
Clarity, or the degree to which cues about work duties and responsibilities are available and clear
Consistency, or the extent to which cues regarding work duties and
responsibilities are compatible with one another
Constraints, or the extent to which individuals’ freedom to decide or
act 
is limited by forces outside their control
Consequences, or the degree to which decisions or actions have important implications for the
organisation or its members, clients, supplies, and so on
Trait activation theory (TAT): a theory that predicts that some situations, events, or interventions “activate” a trait more than others
Detail orientation

Social skills

Competitive work
Innovation

Dealing with angry people
Time pressure (deadlines)

Values
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
Values as traits
What is important to us in our lives
Each of us holds numerous values with varying degrees of importance
Key to our character rather than specific abilities

Schwartz basic values
1. Self-direction: independent thought and action; choosing, creating, exploring
2. Stimulation: excitement, novelty, and challenge in life 3. Hedonism: pleasure and sensuous gratification for
oneself
4. Achievement: personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards
5. Power: social status and prestige, control, or dominance over people and resources
6. Security: safety, harmony, and stability of society of relationships, and of self
7. Conformity: restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms
8. Tradition: respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that traditional culture or religion provide the self
9. Benevolence: preserving and enhancing the welfare of those with whom one is in frequent personal contact (the ‘in-group’)
10. Universalism: understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature

Values as traits
Values are beliefs

Values are a motivational construct
Values transcend specific actions and situations. Values guide the selection or
evaluation of actions, policies, people, and events
Values are ordered by importance relative to one another