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Exhibit 2.7 Cultural Differences among Managers in Four Countries (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA
4.0 license)
C O N C E P T C H E C K
1. What role do managers play to ensure that the culture of individuals are valued and appreciated and
contribute to a successful work environment?
56 Chapter 2 Individual and Cultural Differences
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Authoritarianism
Basic incongruity thesis
Cognitive complexity
Culture
Dependability
Dogmatism
Ethics
Extroversion
Instrumental values
Introversion
Locus of control
Mental abilities
Personal values
Personality
Physical abilities
Psychomotor abilities
Self-esteem
Terminal values
Work ethic
Key Terms
Refers to an individual’s orientation toward authority.
Consists of three parts: what individuals want from organizations, what
organizations want from individuals, and how these two potentially conflicting sets of desires are
harmonized.
Represents a person’s capacity to acquire and sort through various pieces of
information from the environment and organize them in such a way that they make sense.
The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from
another; the interactive aggregate of common characteristics that influences a human group’s response
to its environment.
Individuals who are seen as self-reliant, responsible, and consistent, are viewed as
dependable.
Refers to a particular cognitive style that is characterized by closed-mindedness and inflexibility.
Values that help us determine appropriate standards of behavior and place limits on our behavior
both inside and outside the organization.
Refers to people who direct more of their attention to other people, objects, and events.
Represent those values concerning the way we approach end-states and whether
individuals believe in ambition, cleanliness, honesty, or obedience.
Refers to people who focus their energies inwardly and have a greater sensitivity to abstract
feelings.
Refers to the tendency among individuals to attribute the events affecting their lives either
to their own actions or to external forces; it is a measure of how much you think you control your own
destiny.
An individual’s intellectual capabilities and are closely linked to how a person makes
decisions and processes information. Included here are such factors as verbal comprehension, inductive
reasoning, and memory.
Represent an important force in organizational behavior for several reasons.
A stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those communalities and
differences in the psychological behavior (thoughts, feelings, and actions) of people that have continuity
in time and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of
the moment.
Basic functional abilities such as strength, and psychomotor abilities such as manual
dexterity, eye-hand coordination, and manipulation skills.
Examples are manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, and manipulation skills.
One’s opinion or belief about one’s self and self-worth.
End-state goals that we prize.
Refers to the strength of one’s commitment and dedication to hard work, both as an end in itself
and as a means to future rewards.
Summary of Learning Outcomes
2.1 Individual and Cultural Factors in Employee Performance
1. How do managers and organizations appropriately select individuals for particular jobs?
Because people enter organizations with preset dispositions, it is important to be able to analyze important
Chapter 2 Individual and Cultural Differences 57
individual characteristics, effectively select individuals, and appropriately match them to their jobs. However,
this must be done carefully in light of both ethical and legal issues that face managers today.
2.2 Employee Abilities and Skills
2. How do people with different abilities, skills, and personalities build effective work teams?
Ability refers to one’s capacity to respond, whereas motivation refers to one’s desire to respond. Abilities can
be divided into mental abilities and physical abilities. Personality represents a stable set of characteristics and
tendencies that determines the psychological behavior of people.
Personality development is influenced by several factors, including physiological, cultural, family and group,
role, and situational determinants.
2.3 Personality: An Introduction
3. How do managers and employees deal effectively with individual differences in the workplace?
Self-esteem represents opinions and beliefs concerning one’s self and one’s self-worth.
Locus of control is a tendency for people to attribute the events affecting their lives either to their own actions
(referred to as internal locus of control) or to external forces (referred to as external locus of control).
2.4 Personality and Work Behavior
4. How can organizations foster a work environment that allows employees an opportunity to develop and
grow?
Authoritarianism represents an individual’s orientation toward authority and is characterized by an overriding
conviction that it is appropriate for there to be clear status and power differences between people.
2.5 Personality and Organization: A Basic Conflict?
5. How do managers know how to get the best from each employee?
Dogmatism refers to a cognitive style characterized by closed-mindedness and inflexibility.
The basic incongruity thesis asserts that individuals and organizations exist in a constant state of conflict
because each has different goals and expectations from the other. Employees want organizations to provide
more autonomy and meaningful work, while organizations want employees to be more predictable, stable,
and dependable.
2.6 Personal Values and Ethics
6. What is the role of ethical behavior in managerial actions?
A value is an enduring belief that one specific mode of conduct or end-state is preferable to others.
Instrumental values are beliefs concerning the most appropriate ways to pursue end-states, whereas terminal
values are beliefs concerning the most desirable end-states themselves.
Ethics are important to individuals because they serve as (1) standards of behavior for determining a correct
course of action, (2) guidelines for decision-making and conflict resolution, and (3) influences on employee
motivation. The work ethic refers to someone’s belief that hard work and commitment to a task are both ends
in themselves and means to future rewards.
2.7 Cultural Differences
7. How do you manage and do business with people from different cultures?
Culture refers to the collective mental programming of a group or people that distinguishes them from others.
Culture (1) is shared by the members of the group, (2) is passed on from older members to younger members,
58 Chapter 2 Individual and Cultural Differences
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and (3) shapes our view of the world. Six dimensions of culture can be identified: (1) how people see
themselves, (2) how people see nature, (3) how people approach interpersonal relationships, (4) how people
view activity and achievement, (5) how people view time, and (6) how people view space.
Chapter Review Questions
1. Why is it important for managers to understand individual differences at work?
2. Which employee abilities seem to be most important in determining job performance? Explain.
3. Define personality. Which personality traits are most relevant to understanding organizational behavior?
Why?
4. Explain how the concept of locus of control works. Provide an example.
5. Describe the basic incongruity thesis. Do you agree with this thesis? Under what circumstances might the
thesis be most likely to be true? Least likely to be true? Explain.
6. Why is it important for managers to understand ethical standards in the workplace? How do ethics affect
our behavior at work?
7. How should managers handle the “gray zones”that are common to ethical dilemmas in organizations?
Explain.
8. Define culture. How do culture and cultural variations affect work behavior and job performance? Provide
examples to show why a knowledge of such differences is important for managers.
Management Skills Application Exercises
1. What Is Your Locus of Control?
Instructions: This instrument lists several pairs of statements concerning the possible causes of behavior. For
each pair, select the letter (A or B) that better describes your own beliefs. Remember: there are no right or
wrong answers. To view the scoring key, go to Appendix B.
1. A. In the long run, the bad things that happen to us are balanced by the good ones.
B. Most misfortunes are the result of lack of ability, ignorance, laziness, or all three.
2. A. I have often found that what is going to happen will happen.
B. Trusting to fate has never turned out as well for me as making a decision to take a definite course of
action.
3. A. Many of the unhappy things in people’s lives are partly due to bad luck.
B. People’s misfortunes result from the mistakes they make.
4. A. Without the right breaks, one cannot be an effective leader.
B. Capable people who fail to become leaders have not taken advantage of their opportunities.
5. A. Many times, I feel I have little influence over the things that happen to me.
B. It is impossible for me to believe that chance or luck plays an important role in my life.
6. A. Most people don’t realize the extent to which their lives are controlled by accidental happenings.
B. There really is no such thing as “luck.”
7. A. Unfortunately, an individual’s worth often passes unrecognized no matter how hard she tries.
B. In the long run, people get the respect they deserve.
Source: Adapted from Julian B. Rotter, “Generalized Expectancies for Internal Versus External Control of
Reinforcement.” Psychological Monographs, 80 (Whole No. 609, 1966), pp. 11–12.
Chapter 2 Individual and Cultural Differences 59
2. Which Values Are Most Important to You?
Instructions: People are influenced by a wide variety of personal values. In fact, it has been argued that values
represent a major influence on how we process information, how we feel about issues, and how we behave. In
this exercise, you are given an opportunity to consider your own personal values. Below are listed two sets of
statements. The first list presents several instrumental values, while the second list presents several terminal
values. For each list you are asked to rank the statements according to how important each is to you
personally. In the list of instrumental values, place a “1” next to the value that is most important to you, a “2”
next to the second most important, and so forth. Clearly, you will have to make some difficult decisions
concerning your priorities. When you have completed the list for instrumental values, follow the same
procedure for the terminal values. Please remember that this is not a test—there are no right or wrong
answers—so be completely honest with yourself. To view the scoring key, go to Appendix B.
Instrumental Values
_____ Assertiveness; standing up for yourself
_____ Being helpful or caring toward others
_____ Dependability; being counted upon by others
_____ Education and intellectual pursuits
_____ Hard work and achievement
_____ Obedience; following the wishes of others
_____ Open-mindedness; receptivity to new ideas
_____ Self-sufficiency; independence
_____ Truthfulness; honesty
_____ Being well-mannered and courteous toward others
Terminal Values
_____ Happiness; satisfaction in life
_____ Knowledge and wisdom
_____ Peace and harmony in the world
_____ Pride in accomplishment
_____ Prosperity; wealth
_____ Lasting friendships
_____ Recognition from peers
_____ Salvation; finding eternal life
_____ Security; freedom from threat
_____ Self-esteem; self-respect
Managerial Decision Exercises
1. You work for a large multinational corporation with offices around the globe. One of your colleagues has
been offered an assignment overseas to either the Japanese, South Korean, or German offices for a long-
term assignment (three to seven years). She has asked your advice on the opportunity because she is
concerned about the failure some others have encountered. Often, they want to return home before their
assignment is complete, or they decide to quit. She is also concerned about building relationships as a
manager with the local employees. Your friend is very skilled technically and you know that she could be
successful in the positions being offered. You wonder whether her apprehension has to do with her
personality, and whether that might have an impact on her success for this role.
60 Chapter 2 Individual and Cultural Differences
This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5
	Chapter 2. Individual and Cultural Differences
	Glossary
	Summary of Learning Outcomes
	Chapter Review Questions
	Management Skills Application Exercises
	Managerial Decision Exercises