Personality, Perception & Attribution

Chapter 3

Personality, Perception & Attribution

Learning Points:

1. Managers need to know as much as possible about individual differences in order to understand themselves and those with whom they work.

2. An understanding of personality characteristics can help a manager appreciate differences in employees.

3. Managers use social perception constantly on the job. Knowing its forces and barriers can help managers form more accurate impressions of others.

4. Knowledge of attribution at work can help a manager guard against these biases in the processes of looking for causes of behavior on the job.

A. Main Theme :

(a) What is Individual Differences? P.74

Individuals are unique in terms of their skills, abilities, personalities, perceptions, attitudes, values and ethics.

(b) The Objective of understanding individual differences and their behavior :

They represent the essence of the challenges of management;

It is the role of the managers to understand and work with people who process different sets of characteristics and succeed.

B. (a) What is Personality? P.75

A relatively stable set of characteristics that influence an individual’s behavior. It represents the overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts and interacts with others.

b) Why People have Different Personality?

1) heredity

2) environment a person is exposed to:

＊ family influences

＊ cultural influences

＊ educational influences

＊ other environmental forces

C. Two Major Theories of Personality: P.76

1) Trait Theory : understand individuals by breaking down behavior patterns into observable traits (special features).

＊ “Big Five” traits include :

a. Extraversion = sociable

b. Agreeableness = cooperative

c. Conscientiousness = hardworking...