May Zyra V.

Cuevas PA 203- Human Behavior in Organizations

June 29, 2017 Dr. Anna Kathrina Watin

1. Explain the importance of individual differences for understanding behavior in organizations.

Individual differences matter significantly in organizations. Organizations, being an

aggregation of people, are naturally affected by the combination of distinct traits and
personalities of those comprising them.

In a commercial setting, companies are mostly interested in assessing two types of fit:
Person-organization fit, and Person-Job fit1. Personorganization fit pertains to the degree to
which a persons values, personality, goals, and other characteristics match those of the
organization. To illustrate, an individual who is creative may be an ideal for a company in the
high-tech sector that would benefit from risk-taking individuals, but may not be suitable for
a company that rewards routine and predictable behavior, such as accountants.

On the other hand, Personjob fit is the degree to which a persons skill, knowledge,
abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands. For example, a person may be a
good fit for a scientist position but he or she may not do so well in a routine office job.

The fit most commonly sought by recruiters is the personjob fit, considering that this
is related to a number of positive work attitudes such as satisfaction with the work
environment, identification with the organization, job satisfaction, and work behaviors such
as job performance.

Companies are often also interested in hiring candidates who will fit into the company
culture (those with high personorganization fit). When people fit into their organization,
they tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to their companies, and more
influential in their company, and they remain longer in their company2.

It is important to note however, that some individuals may choose to fit in with the
culture of the organization in making their decisions.3 When a member builds good
relationships with members of the organization, being a misfit does not necessarily lead to
job dissatisfaction.4

To sum, a persons individual characteristics may affect their attitudes towards

performing inside an organization and their level of commitment towards it. While it may
seem that individual differences would promote divisiveness, such variegation may serve the
ends of an organization. Furthermore, addressing these individual differences, like response
to positive or negative stress, would help the organization in identifying factors which impact
maximum productivity of its operations.

1
Bauer & Erdogan, An Introduction to Organizational Behaviour, Creative Commons (2012)
2
Anderson, C., Spataro, S. E., & Flynn, F. J., Personality and organizational culture as determinants of influence
Journal of Applied Psychology, (2008)
3
Kristof-Brown, A. L., Jansen, K. J., & Colbert, A. E., A policy-capturing study of the simultaneous effects of fit with
jobs, groups, and organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, (2002)
4
Erdogan, B., Kraimer, M. L., & Liden, R. C. Work value congruence and intrinsic career success, Personnel
Psychology, (2004).
 2. Suggest some specific actions that organizations may take to encourage ethical behavior by
managers and employees.

One way of encouraging ethical behavior is by promoting ethics leadership and

ethics mindfulness5, or the enriched awareness among organizational members of risk
potentials and personal responsibility to prevent its occurrence. This turns into a form of
self-regulation that causes one to behave with ethical consciousness in making decisions or
responding to an event. Hence, it is essential to establish a written code of ethics and
standards such as a handbook which would lay down rules and guidelines with respect to
conduct required of the members within the organization. It would also be prudent to
conduct workshops and seminars on ethical standards to clearly set the expectations of the
organization.

Ethics mindfulness calls into mind the Albert Banduras Social Learning Theory
wherein self-regulation is highly responsive to learning from ones social context. When
people are exposed to role models who display self-regulatory behaviors, they also learn and
subsequently display such behaviors.6 This goes to say that it is only when leaders show their
personal mindfulness of ethics that they may become models for positive learning by others.
In this context, it would be highly beneficiary for the organization to provide training in ethics
for executives and managers so that may lead by example.

Another means of promoting ethical behavior is by rewarding it. By acknowledging

those who have met or exceeded ethical standards of an organizations, this may become an
incentive for other managers and employees in the organization. This may be done by
including such individuals in reviews or imposing ethical behavior as a condition for future
raise in salary.

Aside from providing rewards, there must also be a system in place to quash unethical
behavior. Since most organizations have a hierarchical structure in place, there may be a
natural reluctance to report complaints. A venue to air out complaints without the fear of
retaliation may be provided to maintain accountability and sustain ethical culture in the
workplace. Ideally, corrective feedback should be given to reinforce the demand for ethical
behavior in the workplace.

In conclusion, ethical behavior may be encouraged by using strategies which aim to

educate, to lead by example or to subject managers and employees to operant
conditioningall to hopefully create an organizational climate wherein following ethical
standards is a norm.

5
Schermerhorn, Jr., & Dienhart, Strategic leadership of ethical behavior in business, (2004)
6
Ibid