week 4: Personality and Organizational behaviour

Individual differences can be divided into personality and ability differences. Understanding the nature, determinants, and consequences of individual differences is essential for managing organizational behavior. An appreciation of the nature of individual differences is necessary to understand why people behave in certain ways in an organization. A review of the personality literature offers general guidelines that can lead to effective job performance. As such, it can improve hiring, transfer, and promotion decisions. Because personality characteristics create the parameters for people’s behavior, they give us a framework for predicting behavior. For example, individuals who are shy, introverted, and uncomfortable in social situations would probably be ill-suited as salespeople. Individuals who are submissive and conforming might not be effective as advertising “idea” people.

Personality assessment should be used in conjunction with other information such as skills, abilities, and experience. However, knowledge of an individual’s personality can aid in reducing mismatches, which, in turn, can lead to reduced turnover and higher job satisfaction.

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