Lesson 1: Organizational Behavior and Individual Differences

Introduction

Humans behave differently in organizations than they do on their own. Each of us brings a number of individual differences to each group setting of which we are a part. Although there are standard patterns of behavior that we could expect from everyone, the variations can be largely explained by differences between us. For example, a person with an introverted personality may be perceived as "stuck up" by extroverted coworkers. Actually, the opposite may be true. By understanding what these differences are and how they affect our behavior, we can better predict the behavior of those with whom we work.

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain how our concept of individual differences has changed over the thousands of years that humans have studied human behavior, what recent science has found, how the research was done, and the direction of future research

Explain your personality, how it affects working interactions with team members and managers, and what changes to your behavior need to be made in order to be most effective

Explain how the personalities of your current project team members have affected problem situations and describe how these problems can be better addressed.