Individual behaviour

Individual behaviour at work is shaped by personality, perception, values, attitudes, learning and motivation — and managers who understand these six factors can explain why the same policy produces different reactions in different people. Personality is the relatively stable pattern of traits: the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) predict job performance best through conscientiousness. Perception is how people select, organise and interpret information; it is selective, so two people can see the same appraisal meeting very differently. Worked example: an employee who hears 'you need to improve' may perceive a threat or a challenge depending on past experience — the manager's words are identical, the behaviour that follows is not.