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Kinicki/Williams, Management, 9e: Chapter 11 Managing Individual Differences and Behavior: Supervising
People as People
One way that you could begin your coverage of these topics is to have the students watch the
CBS video “From Toga to Yoga.” This approximately 6-minute video profiles a wellness
program at the University of Vermont that is designed to foster healthy habits for the brain. For a
supplemental activity, you could have the students describe the types of wellness programs they
ONLINE
VIDEO
Kinicki/Williams, Management, 9e: Chapter 11 Managing Individual Differences and Behavior: Supervising
People as People
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Copyright © 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
programs are an increasingly important aspect of addressing a key source of worker
stress.
Section 11.6 Key Concepts:
Workplace Stress
● Stress is the tension people feel when they are facing or enduring extraordinary demands,
constraints, or opportunities and are uncertain about their ability to handle them
effectively.
Sources of Job-Related Stress
● Demands Created by Individual Differences
● Individual Task Demands
Individual Role Demands
o Stress can be created by others’ expectations of you.
o Roles are sets of behaviors that people expect of occupants of a position.
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▪ Role conflict occurs when one feels torn by the different expectations of
important people in one’s life.
▪ Role ambiguity occurs when others’ expectations are unknown.
● Group Demands
● Organizational Demands
● Nonwork Demands
o Stress can be created by forces outside the organization.
o Money problems, marital problems, care responsibilities, and other serious
concerns from outside one’s work life can have a significant effect on work.
Connect® Exercise
CLICK AND DRAG: Sources of Job-Related Stress
Summary of Activity:
In this Click and Drag exercise, students will match the different sources of job-related stress
with their appropriate examples.
The Consequences of Stress
● Negative stress reveals itself in three kinds of symptoms: physiological signs,
psychological signs, and behavioral signs.
Reducing Stressors in the Organization
● There are all kinds of buffers, or administrative changes that managers can make to
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● Some general organizational strategies for reducing unhealthy stressors include offering
employee assistance programs, providing holistic wellness programs, creating a
supportive environment, making jobs interesting, and providing career counseling.
o Employee assistance programs (EAPs) include a host of programs aimed at
helping employees to cope with stress, burnout, substance abuse, health-related
problems, family and marital issues, and any general problem that negatively
influences job performance.
o Stress can result from routinized and boring jobs, so it is better to try to structure
jobs so that they allow employees some freedom.
o Career planning can reduce the stress that comes when employees don’t know
what their career options are and where they’re headed.
SELF-ASSESSMENT 11.8 CAREER READINESS
What Is Your Level of Resilience?
This Self-Assessment determines students’ level of resilience in their work and personal lives.
Click for follow-up activity.
Interactive Classroom Material:
EXAMPLE: Corporate Wellness Programs
This Example describes Google’s holistic employee wellness program. This program does not
just include a gym on campus. Rather it includes a whole host of exercise options, healthy eating
options, onsite medical care, intramural sports, and financial help and guidance. They try to
eliminate as much stress as possible from their employees’ lives.
Click for follow-up activity.
Connect® Exercise
VIDEO CASE: Workplace Burnout
Summary of Activity:
CAREER
READINESS
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The goal of this Video Case is to apply students’ knowledge of workplace stress to one hospital’s
mission to combat stress in the workplace. Then, students will respond to 4 multiple-choice
questions to measure comprehension.
Follow-Up Activity:
Step 1: Instructor should open the floor for students to discuss the impacts of workplace burnout.
What influences might workplace burnout have on attitudes, perceptions, and individual
behaviors of workers? How might managers tackle burnout?
The Type-A Behavior Pattern
There is a group exercise available at the end of this manual that explores Type A and Type B
individuals.
Exercise Objectives:
To analyze a real-life scenario and determine how Type A and Type B individuals might
respond.
Click for follow-up activity.
Connect® Exercise
CASE ANALYSIS: Individual Differences, Values, Attitudes, and Diversity at Facebook
Summary of Activity:
In this Case Analysis, students will begin by reading about individual differences, values,
attitudes, and diversity at Facebook. After reading the case, students will respond to 4 multiple
choice questions to measure comprehension.
Follow-Up Activity:
Instructor should open the floor to students to discuss Facebook hackathons. The following
questions may be asked of the class:
1. How do hackathons promote more employee commitment to Facebook?
2. What other ways can individual differences, values, attitudes, and diversity be
leveraged at Facebook?
11.7 Career Corner: Managing Your Career Readiness
POWERPOINT SLIDES:
#39 Model of Career Readiness
#40 and #41 Managing Your Career Readiness
Section 11.7 focuses on how to develop the attitude of positive approach and how to improve the
self-management element of emotional intelligence. The two steps of developing the attitude of
positive approach are to (1) identify potentially bad attitudes and (2) identify “good attitude”
Kinicki/Williams, Management, 9e: Chapter 11 Managing Individual Differences and Behavior: Supervising
People as People
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Copyright © 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
• A positive approach represents a willingness to accept developmental feedback, to try
and suggest new ideas, and to maintain a positive attitude at work.
• Two step approach:
o Identify potentially bad attitudes
▪ Are you a porcupine? Porcupines send out verbal and nonverbal messages
that say, “Stay away from me.”
▪ Are you an entangler? Entanglers want to involve others in their interests.
They push their concerns and want to be heard, noticed, and listened to.
▪ Are you a debater? Debaters like to argue even if there is no issue to
debate.
▪ Are you a complainer? Complainers point out the problems in a situation
but rarely provide solutions of their own.
▪ Are you a blamer? Blamers are like complainers but point out negatives
aimed at a particular individual.
▪ Are you a stink bomb thrower? Stink bomb throwers like to make sarcastic
or cynical remarks, use nonverbal gestures of disgust or annoyance, and
sometimes yell or slam things
Connect® Exercise
CLICK AND DRAG: Identify Potentially Bad Attitudes
Summary of Activity:
In this Click and Drag exercise, students will match the different types of potentially bad
attitudes with their appropriate examples.
Self-Managing Your Emotions
• Tips for enhancing this ability:
Career Corner Group Exercise: Self-Awareness and Fostering a Positive Approach
Exercise Objective:
Students will create a framework to develop a positive approach.
Click to view activity.
CAREER
READINESS
CAREER
READINESS
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MANAGEMENT IN ACTION
DOES THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY LACK DIVERSITY?
Problem-Solving Perspective
1. What is the underlying problem in this case from the FSI’s perspective?
2. What role do you believe financial service industry leaders have had in allowing the lack
of progress toward increasing diversity and inclusion?
3. What, if anything, do you believe the government should do to encourage more
understanding of, and progress toward solving the industry’s diversity problems?
Application of Chapter Content
1. How would you characterize the diversity climate and the overall work environment for
women and minorities in the FSI?
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People as People
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Copyright © 2020 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
that women and minorities are not highly valued, and they are not treated fairly. Whether
the male Caucasian employees do, in fact, perceive this to be the case depends on how
open their view is beyond themselves.
The overall FSI work environment for women and minorities is relatively hostile. These
two groups of employees experience harassment, often being treated unfairly and in a
demeaning fashion. This is exemplified by differences in pay, retaliation when voicing
their concerns, and systemic bias against these two groups when it comes to
opportunities for promotion.
2. What do you think have been the primary drivers of a lack of diversity in the FSI?
3. What role do you think stereotypes and prejudices have played in women’s and
minorities’ struggle to break the glass ceiling in the FSI?
4. What strategies do you suggest the FSI use to fight discrimination against women and
minorities?
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5. How might financial services institutions create more supportive environments for their
female and minority workers?
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LEGAL/ETHICAL CHALLENGE
SHOULD AIRLINES ACCOMMODATE OVERSIZED PEOPLE?
Solving the Challenge
1. I recommend creating a national standard for airline seats based on the average passenger
as opposed to using gender as part of the computation. I would standardize seat width
based on passengers’ average hip size. I would also standardize seat pitch so that it
accommodates passengers’ average height. Once this is done, I would charge passengers
a special fee for more space.
2. Let market forces determine the design of airplanes and fares. The government should
stay out of this issue. For example, Bombardier's CS100 expanded seat width to 18.5
inches, and included 19 inches for the middle seat. The airline maker did this to compete
with smaller seats offered in planes made by Airbus and Boeing.
3. Because women on average have larger hip breadth than men, it is not fair to base fees on
the size of a seat. This would disadvantage women. As such, I would standardize seat
width based on the average size of women. People can pay extra fees if they want
additional seat width or pitch.
4. Invent other options.
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TEXTBOOK EXAMPLES
EXAMPLE: The Halo Effect: Does Body Weight Weigh Down Careers?
This Example discusses how managers frequently use body weight as a proxy for other traits. It
states that managers frequently equate being overweight with being lazy, uncontrolled,
unintelligent, incompetent, and nonproductive. The Example points out that this is an example of
a halo misperception—making a decision about a total individual based on a single trait.
YOUR CALL
Do you allow weight to influence your judgments about others’ abilities and characteristics? Do
you think you would be able to suppress this bias in your role as a manager?
Students will most likely deny that they do this. Some may admit to this bias though. Ask them if
they can recall any examples of when heavy individuals have been judged as lacking in some
ability simply because they are heavy. How did the student react in the situation? Did they agree
with the majority and go along with the judgment? You could link this back to the discussion of
empathy earlier in the chapter. Ask students if they have ever empathized with heavy individuals
in these situations. Have they ever wondered how these actions by others make a heavy person
feel?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Ask your students to read “One Type of Diversity We Don’t Talk about at Work” from CNN
Business. Discrimination based on weight has real, economic consequences in addition to the
anxiety, shame, and depression caused by microaggressions. Research has shown that an obese
woman’s earnings are lower by 4.5 percent and an obese man’s earning drop by 2.3 percent.
After your students have read the article, lead a discussion with such questions as:
1. It is not illegal to discriminate against someone because they are overweight except in a few
cities. Should it be legal or illegal to discriminate against individuals based on their weight? If
yes, at what level would it be okay to discriminate: 10 percent, 20 percent, 50 percent above an
individual’s ideal weight? Why should it be legal? If no, why not?
2. This article points out that it is not only overweight people who suffer from microaggressions
applied to weight, but even lean people feel stress because of weight. Do you agree?
3. Is weight bias an implicit or explicit bias? What examples can you give to support your
answer?
4. How can organizations reduce or eliminate this type of bias?
Return.
EXAMPLE: “What’s within You Is Stronger Than What’s in Your Way”
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This Example tells the story of Erik Welhenmayer, a blind man who has climbed the highest
peak on each of the seven continents, a feat accomplished by very few people. He founded No
Barriers, a company that helps challenged individuals live rich lives. He points out that his
blindness is only one element of who he is and that there are many other elements that are
important to mountain climbing, as well as to other activities in life.
YOUR CALL
Have you allowed yourself to be limited by certain expectations? What is something you’ve
wanted to do but have been afraid to try because you don’t believe you can? What advice do you
think Erik Welhenmayer would give you?
Students will offer a variety of answers. Have them try to identify why it is they have avoided
certain challenges. What exactly do they think is holding them back? Have them link their
reluctance to the self-fulfilling prophecy (the Pygmalion effect.) How has their fear of trying led
them to the outcome they believed would happen? Does Welhenmayer’s advice to set
tremendously high expectations sound right to them?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
A way to expand on this Example is to have students watch “Reprogramming Your Brain to
Overcome Fear.” In this 15-minute video, Olympia LePoint, an award-winning rocket scientist,
discusses how fear can get in the way of what you want to do and how to overcome fear.
After your students have watched the video, consider leading a discussion with questions such
as:
1. What are you afraid of? In other words, what could hold you back from attempting something
you desperately want to do? What expectations are getting in your way?
2. Consider LePoint’s method to reprogram your mind and apply it to what is holding you back.
What are you afraid of? Can you reject it? What can you do that will help you to reject this fear?
3. What different thoughts can help you reprogram your brain? What can you do that will
eliminate the elements that underlie your fear?
4. What are you going to do now? What is the first step you will take to build confidence and
ability?
Return.
EXAMPLE: People First at Ultimate Software
This Example details why Ultimate software is consistently listed as ones of the Best Places to
work for diversity. Ultimate supports diversity in many ways including extensive benefits that
are available to all, support for four specific communities of interest for LGBTQ+, Women in
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YOUR CALL
Which of an organization’s diversity management initiatives will be most important to you when
you are interviewing for jobs? To what extent would Ultimate’s diversity programs help recruit
the best talent?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
You can extend this Example by having your students access Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best
Workplaces for Diversity. You can assign this either as an individual assignment if your class is
fairly small or as a group assignment in larger classes.
Have the students choose two to four companies on the list. Their companies should be at least
15 places apart from each other to maximize variety.
Once they have chosen their companies, they can click on them from the list to access the short
profile provided by Fortune. They should make a chart comparing their companies, noting
similarities and differences.
Return.
EXAMPLE: The Toxic Workplace: “Rudeness Is Like the Common Cold”
Rudeness and incivility are contagious. The Example points out that those who are the targets of
incivility are more likely to turn around and be uncivil themselves. Rudeness and incivility have
deep negative consequences for organizations: decreased creativity, lower performance, loss of
customers, and a lower profitability.
YOUR CALL
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If you were working in a toxic workplace and had to stay there for a while, what would you do to
try to make things better?
Many students will say they would just quit. They wouldn’t put up with such behavior. Ask what
they would do if they couldn’t quit, for instance if the economy was bad, and jobs were scarce to
non-existent? Ask them what they would do if they were the manager and saw an employee being
rude to another employee. Point them toward recruiting and hiring decisions—trying to void
hiring jerks in the first place. Ask them to consider using empathy: try to understand why people
are acting this way? Is there something going on in their lives that is upsetting? Can the
organization help?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
To expand on this Example, ask your students to read “Why Rudeness Is So Toxic—and How
To Stop It.” This article offers important insights for students, such as many acts of rudeness
tend to be unintentional. They come from “cluelessness, being inconsiderate, not thinking it
through, or simply not imagining that somebody could be offended by something.” Rudeness is
both contagious and detrimental, with even those who merely witness rudeness demonstrating
lower performance on both routine and creative tasks. The article offers seven methods for
combatting rudeness. After your students have read the article consider discussion questions such
as:
1. Think of the rudest coworker you have ever had. How did people act whenever he or she was
around? Did anyone ever try to interrupt the rude coworker to stop their behavior?
2. Do you think it is possible to redirect counterproductive work behaviors into productive ones?
How? Be specific.
3. If you were a manager with a high performing sales person who was also the biggest jerk in
the company, would you consider firing him/her if they would not change their behavior?
Explain and justify your answer.
Return.
EXAMPLE: Corporate Wellness Programs
This Example describes Google’s holistic employee wellness program. This program does not
just include a gym on campus. It includes a whole host of exercise options, healthy eating
options, onsite medical care, intramural sports, and financial help and guidance. They try to
eliminate as much stress as possible from their employees’ lives.
YOUR CALL
1. Which of Google’s wellness perks are most appealing to you?
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2. How important will a corporate wellness program be for you when you are choosing an
employer?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
One way to extend this Example is to have your students develop their own wellness program.
Have your students access “50 Employee Wellness Program Examples for any Budget.” This
article offers low, medium, and high-cost strategies in three categories: physical activity wellness
programs, nutrition wellness plans, and tobacco cessation wellness programs. The last could be
applied to any type of cessation program. Students could consider drug and alcohol cessation
programs or anger management programs. Students do not need to limit themselves to the
suggestions in this article. You should encourage them to be creative in their plans.
Return.
ONLINE
ARTICLE
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TEXTBOOK PRACTICAL ACTIONS
PRACTICAL ACTION: Using Technology to Develop Emotional Intelligence
This Practical Action points out that increasing one’s EI can not only make one a more attractive
applicant, but can also improve performance and engagement. This Practical Action focuses on
empathy and the question of whether or not it can be taught. Three different tools are described
including Xander, Translator, and Random App of Kindness.
YOUR CALL
1. Do you believe that AI, simulations, and games can help increase employees’ emotional
intelligence?
2. Do you think that you could be a more empathetic person? What can you do to develop this
skill?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Ask your students to watch “Building Empathy: How to Hack Empathy and Get Others to Care
More.” In this 13-minute video, Stanford Professor Jamil Zaki, describes empathy not as a trait
but as a skill, one that can be practiced and improved. One interesting finding is that overall in
the United States, the number of people who describe themselves as empathetic has dwindled
significantly since the 1970s. He uses the characters of Counselor Troi and the android Data
from Star Trek: The Next Generation to demonstrate the continuum of empathy. Zaki
particularly emphasizes the need to recognize that empathy is a skill which can be nurtured and
grown, not an unchanging trait. Consider asking discussion questions such as:
1. Think of a time a friend was upset. How did you react? Did you try to help? How? Could you
have exhibited more empathy? If so, what stopped you?
2, (Ask for a show of hands) How many females in the class feel they are highly empathetic?
How many males? If there is a difference, have the students suggest reasons for the difference. Is
it cultural? Is it just what is expected of men and women? Is it genetic? What do they think?
3. Your generation, the digital natives, have grown up with computers and smart phones. Many
older people worry about the amount of time you spend on your phones rather than interacting
face-to-face. Do you think smart phone usage limits empathy? If so, how can we encourage
members of your generation to engage more and learn to be more empathetic?
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Return.
PRACTICAL ACTION: Using Cognitive Reframing to Reduce Cognitive Dissonance
This Practical Action offers advice to students on how to reframe their anxieties about being able
to succeed in their college classes. It offers a five-step technique they can use: 1. Name the event
or problem. 2. List your beliefs about the problem. 3. Identify the consequences of your beliefs.
4. Formulate a counterargument to your initial thoughts and beliefs. 5. Describe how energized
and empowered your counter argument makes you feel.
YOUR CALL
Do you struggle with high levels of stress because of your workload, responsibilities, a cognitive
difference, or some other invisible challenge such as anxiety or depression that sometimes gets
the better of your self-esteem? Which of the preceding suggestions would help you to reframe
your experiences in a more positive light?
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Have your students read “Cognitive Distortions and Stress.” This article details the most
common cognitive distortions that contribute to stress. Ask students to identify examples of at
least two of these common distortions that they use or have used. (Students may not have used
Return.
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SELF-ASSESSMENTS
SELF-ASSESSMENT 11.1 CAREER READINESS
Where Do You Stand on the Big Five Dimensions of Personality?
This survey is designed to assess students’ personalities, using the Big Five index.
STUDENT QUESTIONS
What is your personality profile according to the Big Five?
Students’ personality profiles will differ. However, all students should have an understanding of
each of the Big Five dimensions of personality.
Which of the Big Five is most likely going to help you achieve good grades in your classes and
gain employment after graduation?
Conscientiousness is the dimension that is most likely to help achieve good grades in this class
and others. Conscientiousness is concerned with achievement orientation and persistence.
What things might you say during an interview to demonstrate that you have self-awareness
regarding your personality?
Student responses will vary, but they should discuss how they’ve measured their own strengths
and weaknesses and have assessed where they fall on the Big 5. Most employers will know what
these personality dimensions are, and if they don’t, the candidate may be able to use his or her
knowledge of these dimensions as a competitive advantage by informing the interviewer about
them.
SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITY
Students should be put into groups based on their Self-Assessment scores. Students who scored
lowest on a particular personality dimension should be grouped together.
Students should analyze their assigned dimension based on the following:
1. What are the disadvantages of being high or low on this particular dimension?
2. What are the workplace implications of this dimension?
3. Does this dimension change over time or is it something permanent you are born with?
CAREER
READINESS
Kinicki/Williams, Management, 9e: Chapter 11 Managing Individual Differences and Behavior: Supervising
People as People
SELF-ASSESSMENT 11.2 CAREER READINESS
What Is Your Level of Generalized Self-Efficacy?
This survey is designed to assess students’ level of generalized self-efficacy.
STUDENT QUESTIONS
1. What is your level of generalized self-efficacy?
2. Examine the three lowest scores and determine the issues that are lowering your level of
efficacy. What might you do to improve your generalized self-efficacy based on this
determination?
3. What things might you say during an interview to demonstrate that you have possess the
career readiness competency of generalized self-efficacy?
SUPPLEMENTAL ACTIVITY
Students should be put into groups based on their Self-Assessment scores. There should be a
good mix of students in each group (high or low scorers on each dimension). Developing
awareness of generalized self-efficacy happens here.
Students should discuss the following:
1. What are some of the negative impacts of having a low level of generalized self-efficacy?
How about having an overly high level of generalized self-efficacy?
2. How can you build your self-efficacy? Can anyone from the group share their specific
experiences?
Select groups can share with the class.
Return.
SELF-ASSESSMENT 11.3 CAREER READINESS
What Is Your Level of Emotional Intelligence?
This survey was designed to assess students’ levels of emotional intelligence.
CAREER
READINESS
CAREER
READINESS
