Exam 13: Understanding Individual Behaviour

An Interesting Group (Scenario) Ruba has her hands full. She recently took over managing the technical support group at her company and immediately noticed that her supervisors represent an unusual collection of personalities. She was having a problem understanding them and called the human resource department who referred her to a local psychologist. The psychologist suggested that she do some "low- key" testing. Ruba agreed, as she felt she had no other way of understanding her supervisors. The testing was completed and Ruba reviewed the results of the information. -Bassam, her assistant manager, seems to always maintain an emotional distance from others and others from him. He is self- described as "pragmatic," and the test indicates that he believes that the "ends justify the means," descriptions that are consistent with characteristics of _______ .

The Perceptive Manager (Scenario) Rami has been a manager for several years. He has several employees who work directly for him. Rami tries to understand these employees so that he can help them do a better job, motivate them, and understand their needs better. -Rami feels one employee is very bright and will be a good manager in the future. This process of using one characteristic to judge someone is called _______ .

________is the unique combination of psychological traits that describe a person.

The three components that make up an attitude are _________ .

Just Your Type Employees (Scenario) Ramzi has recently been promoted to manager of a group of 13 scientists. All of his employees are well educated and have been with the company for a minimum of three years. In an attempt to learn more about the employees and to better assign them to jobs that they will enjoy, he has administered the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). -Samar is patient with details and good at precise work. She dislikes new problems unless there are standard ways to solve them. Samar's preferred method of gathering data is ______.

Employees with high self- esteem tend to be more satisfied with their jobs than those with low self- esteem.

The New Supervisor (Scenario) Dawood is a new supervisor and has been assigned to supervise a group of manufacturing operatives. As he begins his job, he observes the employees under his supervision. These employees have been working for several years in this company. The attitude of each employee is different. -Dawood feels strongly that he should work longer hours to develop his career, but he and his wife have a new baby. He is torn between two obligations. ______describes this inconsistency between his attitudes and his beliefs.

Which Is It? (Scenario) Marwan has been Lina's boss now for about six months. Recently, Lina had recommended firing Samir, one of her own staff, for his repeated "inability to get along with others." Marwan checked with Samir's coworkers, and none of them supported Lina's contention. In addition, several of Lina's peers had met with Marwan. Word of Samir's fate was getting out, and they wanted to let Marwan know that in the past, Lina had singled out other employees for persecution. When asked for specific problems with Samir, Lina mentioned that in addition to his attitude, he had been late several times recently. Marwan knew that Samir lived several miles away and that others had been late due to poor weather. Marwan did not know whether he should support Lina, his manager, or hold off and not fire Samir. -What factor of attribution theory was Marwan concerned about when Lina's peers mentioned her history of singling out subordinates?

U.S. workers are more likely to have an external locus of control than Iranian workers.

After seeing a behavior in social learning situations, a person can learn by performing the behavior. This is known as______ .

The New Supervisor (Scenario) Dawood is a new supervisor and has been assigned to supervise a group of manufacturing operatives. As he begins his job, he observes the employees under his supervision. These employees have been working for several years in this company. The attitude of each employee is different. -Two of Dawood's subordinates do not like each other because of each other's religious affiliations. The attitudes of these employees are based on the ______component of their attitudes.

One of the goals of organizational behavior is to ________behavior.