Chapter 3

Understanding People at Work

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

  1. Define personality and describe how it affects work behaviors.
  2. Understand the role of values in determining work behaviors.
  3. Explain the process of perception and how it affects work behaviors.
  4. Understand how individual differences affect ethics.
  5. Understand cross-cultural influences on individual differences and perception.

Individuals bring a number of differences to work, such as unique personalities, values, emotions, and moods. When new employees enter organizations, their stable or transient characteristics affect how they behave and perform. Moreover, companies hire people with the expectation that those individuals have certain skills, abilities, personalities, and values. Therefore, it is important to understand individual characteristics that matter for employee behaviors at work.