PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization

Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

Lesson title: Defining Individual differences Materials:

Lesson Objectives: FLM Student Activity Sheets
1. 1. Define individual differences
2. 2. Identify the Big Five Personality Dimensions References:
Human Behavior in Organization
by Roberto Medina, Organizational
Behavior by McShane

Tip: Try playing some music while doing the exercises on this module. 

A. LESSON PREVIEW/REVIEW
1) Introduction
Now that we learned about individual behavior, cross-culture and ethical principles that guide
ethical conduct, let’s now hop on a new topic. Today, we will learn about the individual
differences and personality dimensions.

Please read the learning targets before you proceed to the succeeding activities. The learning
targets are your goals. Remember, you need to achieve your learning targets at the end of the
lesson.

2) Activity 1: What I Know Chart

What do you know about Individual Differences? Try answering the questions below by writing
your ideas under the What I Know column. You may use key words or phrases that you think
are related to the questions.

What I Know Questions: What I Learned (Activity 4)

What are individual differences?

What makes people different from

each other?

What are the five personality

dimension?

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 PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization
Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

B. MAIN LESSON
1) Activity 2: Content Notes
Below are the notes about human behaviour in organization. You may underline or highlight words
or phrases that you think is the main focus of the lesson.

Individual differences refer to the variation in how people respond to the same situation based on
personal characteristics (Medina, 2011). Each person is different from all others are these differences
are usually substantial.

Individual differences become serious concern when people are in the workplace. Managers and
employees alike who want to relate well with people must be aware of the consequences arising out of
differences between people. The following are the consequences of individual differences:

 Quantity of work (Productivity) – The quantity of output or work differs per worker which may
be attributed to individual differences like experience, age, education etc.
 Quality of work – Some individuals will not be contented in making products of mediocre
quality, while others will produce outputs that barely passed the standard requirements.
 Reaction to empowerment – empowerment means giving someone power to do something. A
person may be empowered when given authority or given responsibility while others may feel
uncomfortable and will prefer to just follow orders.
 Reaction to style of leadership – some people prefer a leader with a democratic style while
others need close supervision from their superiors.
 Need for contact with others – other people cannot be productive at work unless they have
interaction with other people while others can work alone the whole day.
 Commitment to the organization – People who are highly committed to the organization tend
to produce high quality output. They are loyal and committed that they even work beyond
required working hours without noticing it. Those that are less committed are less concerned
about output and attendance.
 Levels of self-esteem – Self-esteem is the confidence in one's own worth or abilities. People
with low self-esteem avoid accepting more responsibilities as they think they didn’t have enough
abilities to do the job. This is in contrast with people with high regard of themselves.

What makes people different from each other?

People are different from each other because of the following:
● Demographics – this includes gender differences (male and female), generational differences
and age-based differences (millennials, baby boomers, etc.) and culture (Social and
Organizational). Social culture refers to the social environment of human-created beliefs,
customs, knowledge, and practices that define conventional behavior in a society.
Organizational culture is the set of values, beliefs, and norms that is shared among members of
an organization.

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 PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization
Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

● Aptitude and ability - Aptitude is the capacity of a person to learn or acquire skills. Ability refers
to an individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. There are two types of ability
such as (1) Physical ability and (2) Mental ability or intelligence
● Personality refers to the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with
others.

Five-Factor Model of Personality

One of the most important elements of personality theory is that people possess specific personality
traits. Traits such as sociable, depressed, cautious, and talkative represent clusters of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors that allow us to identify, differentiate, and understand people. The most widely
respected model of personality traits is the five-factor model (FFM).

1. Conscientiousness. Conscientiousness characterizes people who are careful, dependable, and

self-disciplined. Some scholars argue that this dimension also includes the will to achieve.
People with low conscientiousness tend to be careless, not meticulous, more unorganized, and
irresponsible.
2. Agreeableness. This dimension includes the traits of being courteous, good-natured, empathic,
and caring. This is labelled as “friendly compliance”, with its opposite being “hostile
noncompliance.” People with low agreeableness tend to be uncooperative, short-tempered, and
irritable.

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 PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization
Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

3. Neuroticism. Neuroticism characterizes people with high levels of anxiety, hostility, depression,
and self-consciousness. In contrast, people with low neuroticism (high emotional stability) are
poised, secure, and calm.
4. Openness to experience . It generally refers to the extent to which people are imaginative,
creative, curious, and aesthetically sensitive. Those who score low on this dimension tend to be
more resistant to change, less open to new ideas, and more conventional and fixed in their
ways.
5. Extroversion . Extroversion characterizes people who are outgoing, talkative, sociable, and
assertive. The opposite is introversion, which characterizes those who are quiet, shy, and
cautious. Extroverts get their energy from the outer world (people and things around them),
whereas introverts get their energy from the internal world, such as personal reflection on
concepts and ideas. Introverts do not necessarily lack social skills. Rather, they are more
inclined to direct their interests to ideas than to social events. Introverts feel quite comfortable
being alone, whereas extroverts do not.

Activity 3: Skill-building Activities

Let’s practice! Answer each activity to test your understanding of the lesson. I know you can do
this! You may start now.

Exercise No. 1: Based on your notes on the previous activity, complete the illustration on the effect of
individual differences.

Differences among
Result to
people

You may now see the key to corrections on the last page. How many correct answers did you
get? Write your score on the space before the instruction on this exercise.

This document is the property of PHINMA EDUCATION

 PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization
Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

Exercise No. 2: Since we already discussed the Big Five Personality, are you not curious how you
score on these personality dimensions? Let’s see!

Visit this website and take the test: https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test

After getting the results of your test, write down your scores(percentage) on the dimensions below

● Conscientiousness ________
● Agreeableness ________
● Neuroticism ________
● Openness ________
● Extroversion ________

How does the survey help you better understand yourself? Answer it also using not more than 5
sentences.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Activity 4: What I Know Chart

Now let’s check your final understanding on the topics for this session. I hope that everything
about the topic is clear to you. This time you have to fill out the What I Learned column.

Activity 5: Check for Understanding. Write the capital letter of the answer that best describes the
statement on the space provided.

_____1. The "Big Five" personality dimensions represent:

A. all of the personality traits found in an ideal job applicant.
B. the clusters representing most known personality traits.
C. the personality traits caused by the environment rather than heredity.
D. the necessary conditions for a person to have extraversion.

_____2. What is the best definition of personality?

A. the relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize a person
B. broad concepts that allow us to label and understand individual differences
C. genetic or hereditary origins
D. socialization, life experiences, and other forms of interaction with the environment.
E. clarity of “who we are”

_____ 3. Most employees in the social services section of a government department have frequent
interaction with people who are unemployed or face personal problems. Which of the following
personality characteristics is best suited to employees working in these jobs?
5

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 PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization
Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

A. high neuroticism C. high agreeableness

B. low motivation D. high introversion

_____ 4. Eric is the advertising head of a firm. He is extremely imaginative, creative, and curious.
Which of the following personality dimensions doesEric possess?
A. cautiousness C. resistance to change
B. openness to experience D. neuroticism

______ 5. Barney, a manager, is very conventional, resistant to change, habitual, and does not accept
new ideas very easily. This implies that Barney has:
A. low neuroticism. C. high extraversion.
B. low openness to experience. D. high agreeableness.

______6. You are looking for someone to fill a post as business strategy manager. Which of the
following personality traits would you prefer?
A. Extraversion C. Openness to experience
B. Motivation D. Conscientiousness

______ 7. A person is described as ‘moody’ and ‘hostile’. In Big Five terms, they might be
characterized as …
A. low in Extraversion and low in Agreeableness
B. high in Neuroticism and low in Agreeableness
C. low in Extraversion and low in Conscientiousness
D. high in Neuroticism and low in Conscientiousness

______ 8.Which of the following statements correctly describes the relationships between Big Five
traits and emotion dimensions?
A. Extraversion is related to more positive affect and Neuroticism to more negative affect
B. Extraversion is related to more positive affect and Neuroticism to less positive affect
C. Extraversion is related to less negative affect and Neuroticism to less positive affect
D. Extraversion is related to less negative affect and Neuroticism to more negative affect

______9. The ability of a person to think critically, to reason and to solve problems are example of
A. Physical Ability B. Culture C. Mental Ability D. Aptitude

______10. Which of the following concepts best exemplifies a personality characteristic?

A. A disposition B. A mood C. A habit D. An attitude

You may check the correct answers for this activity on the last page. How many correct answers did
you get? Write your score on the space before the instruction on this exercise.

This document is the property of PHINMA EDUCATION

 PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization
Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

C. LESSON WRAP-UP
1) Activity 6: Thinking about Learning
A. Work Tracker
You are done with this session! Let’s track your progress. Shade the session number you just
completed.

B. Think about your Learning

1. Please read again the learning targets for the day. Were you able to achieve those learning
targets? If yes, what helped you achieve them? If no, what is the reason for not achieving
them?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

2. What question(s) do you have as we end this lesson?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

FAQ
1. Are there any other traits aside from the CANOE?
Ans: Yes, there are other models aside from CANOE. Some suggest that there are more than five
major traits, or perhaps even fewer. For example, in one of the first comprehensive models to be
proposed, Hans Eysenck suggested that Extraversion and Neuroticism are most important. Eysenck
believed that by combining people’s standing on these two major traits, we could account for many of
the differences in personality that we see in people (Eysenck, 1981). Another revision of the Big Five is
the HEXACO model of traits (Ashton & Lee, 2007). This model is similar to the Big Five, but it posits
slightly different versions of some of the traits, and its proponents argue that one important class of
individual differences was omitted from the Five-Factor Model. The HEXACO adds Honesty-Humility as
a sixth dimension of personality. There are other important traits that are not included in comprehensive
models like the Big Five. Although the five factors capture much that is important about personality,
researchers have suggested other traits that capture interesting aspects of our behavior.

This document is the property of PHINMA EDUCATION

 PSY 002 Human Behavior in Organization
Student Activity Sheet Module #4

Name: _____________________________________________________________ Class number: _______

Section: ____________ Schedule: ______________________________________ Date: ______________

KEY TO CORRECTIONS
Skill-Building Exercises

Exercise 1.
(in any order)
Productivity or quantity of work, quality of work, reaction to empowerment, reaction to style of
leadership, need for contact with others, commitment to the organization and level of self-esteem.

Exercise 2
<Answer varies>

Activity 5: Check for Understanding

1.) B 6.)D
2.) A 7.) B
3.)C 8.) A
4.) B 9.) C
5.)B 10.) A

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