Question: Understanding Situational Influences Form groups of three or four people and appoint one member as the spokesperson who will communicate your conclusions to the rest of the class.

1. Take a few minutes to think about a recent incident in which you behaved in a manner that was inconsistent with your personality and/or abilities.

2. Take turns describing these situations and why you behaved the way you did.

3. As a group, develop a list of the characteristics of situations in which people's behavior is primarily determined by the context or situation and in which individual differences play a very minor role.

4. Think of reasons why it is important for employees and managers to be aware of situational influences on work behavior.