. Basic Elements of Individual Behavior in Organizations: Skill-Building Exercise

Exercise Overview

Interpersonal skills refer to the ability to communicate with, understand, and motivate individuals and groups. Implicit in this definition is the notion that a manager should try to understand important characteristics of others, including their personalities. Diagnostic skills help managers visualize and understand the most appropriate response to a situation. This also relates to assessing how various things are related to one another. This exercise will give you insight into both the importance of personality and other elements of individual behavior in the workplace as well as some of the difficulties associated with assessing personality traits.

Exercise Background

In this exercise please assess which personality traits are most relevant for different jobs. You will also determine the ease or difficulty in assessing or measuring traits in prospective employees. First, read each of the following job descriptions:

1.Sales representative: This position involves calling on existing customers to ensure that they are happy with the firm's products. It also requires the sales representative to work to get customers to increase the quantity of your products they are buying, as well as attracting new customers. A sales representative must be aggressive but not pushy.2.Office manager: The office manager oversees the work of a staff of twenty administrative assistants, receptionists, and clerks. The manager hires them, trains them, evaluates their performance, and sets their pay. The manager also schedules working hours and, when necessary, disciplines or fires workers.3.Warehouse worker: Warehouse workers unload trucks and carry shipments to shelves for storage. They also pull customer orders from shelves and take products for packing. The job requires workers to follow orders precisely and has little room for autonomy or interaction with others during work.4.Receptionist: Receptionists greet visitors and may direct them to the office or person they need to see. They may also inform employees of appointments. Receptionists also answer telephones and are often the first point of personal contact between visitors and an organization.5.Programmer: A programmer is someone who creates computer software. Programmers write, test, debug, and maintain the instructions that enable computers to function. They may specialize in one specific computer language or be proficient in multiple languages. The nature of the work itself can vary, and within the general title of programmer there can be several specializations.

Use your interpersonal and diagnostic skills to answer the following questions.

Suppose you are interviewing someone for the position of sales representative. Which of these personality traits might be a useful predictor of performance?Check all that apply.

High Machiavellianism

High extraversion

High authoritarianism

External locus of control

Low self-efficacy