Individual Traits and Organizations

As a starting point for understanding the behavior of people in organizations, let’s first examine the basic nature of the individual - organization relationship. Let’s expand a bit further on the concept of individual differences. Every individual is unique. Individual differences are personal attributes that vary from one person to another.

Individual differences may be physical, psychological, and emotional. The individual differences that characterize a specific person make that person unique. One person may be dissatisfied, withdrawn, and negative in one job setting but satisfied, outgoing, and positive in another. Working conditions, coworkers, and leadership are just a few of the factors that affect how a person performs and feels about a job. Thus, whenever a manager attempts to assess or account for individual differences among her employees, she must also be sure to consider the situation in which behavior occurs.

Managers should also be aware of psychological contracts that exist between the organization and its employees. In an ideal situation, then, understanding differences across people and creating effective psychological contracts can help facilitate a good fit between people and the organization. Being good at our job is important, but is not enough - we need to fit with our organization and workgroup as well.

Why are some very talented people undesirable coworkers or employees despite being very talented at what they do? The answer lies in the many ways in which people need to fit with an employment opportunity to be a successful match. Employees must be able and willing to adapt to a company by learning, negotiating, enacting, and maintaining the behaviors appropriate to the company’s environment. To successfully adapt, employees must be openminded and have sufficient information about organizational expectations and standards and their own performance in light of those standards.

Realistic job previews (RJPs) involve the presentation of both positive and potentially negative information to job candidates. Given the relatively low cost associated with their development, RJPs may be useful for organizations trying to reduce turnover rates for jobs that departing employees say were not what they expected when they accepted job offers.