DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is a psychological contract? Why is it important? What psychological contracts do you
currently have?
A psychological contract is the overall set of expectations held by an individual with respect to what
2. What individual differences do you feel are most important to organizations? Why?
The individual differences that are most important in organizations are emotional stability because it
is associated with not being anxious, depressed, angry, anxious, and insecure, and conscientiousness
3. If you were denied a job because of your score on a personality test, what would be your
reaction?
4. If your supervisor exhibited bullying behaviors, what would you do?
Students could follow the suggestions offered in the Improve Your Skills feature. If the person were a
5. Which of Gardner’s multiple intelligences do you feel are most important for managers?
Answers will vary. Some may think linguistic intelligence is the most important form of intelligence
6. Do you think emotional intelligence is important to managers? How would you assess
emotional intelligence in deciding who to promote to a managerial position?
Emotional intelligence is important to managers because as Daniel Goldman explains: emotional
intelligence is “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating
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7. If you were a manager, what individual differences would be important to you in hiring an
assistant? Why?
Students’ answers will vary here. Some may say they would hire someone with emotional
GROUP EXERCISE – Strengths-Based Development
Learning Objective: This exercise incorporates many ideas contained in this chapter with the main point
reinforcing the fact that each individual is different. Intelligence is a related concept in this situation and
identifying other personality traits present when deciding the co-op’s course of action.
Summary: When drought threatened the survival of Ohio farming co-op Auglaize Provico, CEO Larry
Hammond realized that he would have to change the business model. Hammond then implemented
strengths-based development to leverage the unique strengths and talents of each employee. The strengths
approach recognizes that everyone has different talents and natural patterns of thought, feeling, and
behavior. Recognizing and building on those talents with pertinent skills and knowledge creates strengths.
Auglaize’s management had previously used a “deficit” development approach, spending a lot of time
identifying employees’ weaknesses and trying to correct them. This meant that a lot of Auglaize’s
management was relatively negative. Hammond wanted to change that approach.
Every employee in the co-op took an assessment to measure and identify his or her top five talents, and
received at least two consultations on their individual strengths. This enabled Auglaize to build on what
its employees naturally do best. Employees became more engaged, productive, and energized, and the
organization became more successful.
Task: Groups of 3-5 can answer the following questions and then present their answers in a class
discussion, or simply discuss the questions as a class.
1. Do you think it is better to focus on assessing and developing employees’ weaknesses, or to focus
on their strengths? Why?
Students mostly will answer focusing on strengths is better. The idea that workers should “fix” their
2. Why would strengths-based development increase employee engagement?
Answers will vary but there should be a reference to the statement in the fact that employees enjoy
3. If you were a manager, how might you interact with employees differently if you were using
strengths-based development rather than deficit-based development?
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VIDEO EXERCISE
VIDEO EXERCISE
Barcelona Restaurant Group
Summary: Barcelona Restaurant Group is always trying to attract and retain only those employees who
reinforce its service-oriented culture and provide top quality customer service. The manager being
interviewed in the video is constantly recruiting and hiring new employees and letting low performers and
poor fits go. He also tries to provide job candidates with a realistic description of the company’s
expectations to ensure that they know what they would be getting into if they took a job with the
company.
Task: As a class, watch “Barcelona” (6:04) and then individually consider the following questions. After
students’ have come up with their own ideas, form groups of 4-5 people to discuss their insights. Be sure
to have each group nominate someone to serve as a spokesperson to share their ideas with the class.
1. How does the Barcelona Restaurant Group focus on fit? What types of fit does Barcelona try to
optimize when hiring?
Barcelona focuses on fit by attempting to hire employees who already possess the right
qualities rather than attempting to train those qualities into their existing employees.
2. How does sending managerial candidates on a $100 “Shop” serve as a realistic job preview?
Explain why you think this would or would not be effective in helping job candidates assess
their fit with the Barcelona Restaurant Group.
The “Shop” is an assignment in which prospective employees must spend $100 at a
Barcelona restaurant or two and write an essay about the experience. The purpose of a
realistic job preview is to present both positive and potentially negative information to job
3. Besides the “Shop”, how else does Barcelona try to maximize employee fit? What other
suggestions do you have for the company to improve new hires’ fit with the job and
organization?
After the “Shop,” Barcelona attempts to maximize employee fit by asking prospective
employees to pretend that they have been working for the restaurant for six months and take
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The second part of this question is open-ended, so accept a diversity of answers from students
provided there is sufficient justification. In this author’s humble opinion, one way to promote
Now What?
While waiting for a phone call with two subordinates, imagine that another subordinate walks into the
room and has a loud, frustrated outburst after being unable to find something. The other employees in the
room clearly feel uncomfortable as a result of this behavior. What do you say or do? Go to this chapter’s
“Now What?” video, watch the challenge video, and choose a response. Be sure to also view the
outcomes of the two responses you didn’t choose.
Discussion Questions
1. Which aspects of management and organizational behavior discussed in this chapter are
illustrated in these videos? Explain your answer.
Management concepts: The ability to understand what others think and feel,
knowing how to appropriately persuade and motivate them, and knowing how to resolve
conflicts and forge cooperation are important skills for successful managers.
Organizational Behavior concepts: personality; emotional stability; individual differences, emotional
intelligence
Personality/ emotional stability: The Big Five is one of the more established personality
frameworks. One personality dimension is emotional stability, associated with not being anxious
Individual differences: Type A personalities like Ken are impatient and uptight. By understanding
Ken’s personality type, Alex could handle a potential source of work conflict (correct response).
Emotional intelligence: EI includes self-awareness and self-management, managing one’s own
emotions and impulses. When Ken can’t find something, he walks into the back of the room and
2. Which do you feel is more important at work, an employee’s behavior or performance? Why?
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An employee’s behavior and performance are both important at work because behavior affects
performance. Negative emotions, such as anxiety or frustration, result in diminished learning and
Research has shown that conscientiousness is positively related to performance and that emotionally
3. As a manager, what else might you do to effectively handle this situation?
The manager should continue to develop a strong organizational culture that is supportive of
employees. Strong organizational cultures decrease the influence of personality on employee