Personality Personality

What is Personality?What is Personality?

Personality

The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others; measurable traits a person exhibits.

Personality Traits

Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.

Personality

Determinants

• Heredity

• Environment

• Situation

Personality

Determinants

• Heredity

• Environment

• Situation

The Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorThe Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Personality Types

• Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)

• Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)

• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)

• Judging vs. Perceiving (P or J)

Score is a combination of all four (e.g., ENTJ)

Personality Types

• Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)

• Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)

• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)

• Judging vs. Perceiving (P or J)

Score is a combination of all four (e.g., ENTJ)

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types.

Meyers-Briggs, ContinuedMeyers-Briggs, Continued

A Meyers-Briggs score– Can be a valuable too for self-awareness and

career guidance

BUT– Should not be used as a selection tool because

it has not been related to job performance!!!

The Big Five Model of Personality DimensionsThe Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions

ExtroversionSociable, gregarious, and assertive

AgreeablenessGood-natured, cooperative, and trusting.

ConscientiousnessResponsible, dependable, persistent, and organized.

Openness to ExperienceCurious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive

Emotional StabilityCalm, self-confident, secure under stress (positive), versus nervous, depressed, and insecure under stress (negative).

Major Personality Attributes Influencing OBMajor Personality Attributes Influencing OB

Core Self-evaluation

– Self-esteem

– Locus of Control

Machiavellianism

Narcissism

Self-monitoring

Risk taking

Type A vs. Type B personality

Proactive Personality

Core Self-Evaluation: Two Main ComponentsCore Self-Evaluation: Two Main Components

•Self Esteem

Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking themselves.

•Locus of Control

The degree to which people believe they are masters of their own fate.

•Internals (Internal locus of control) Individuals who believe that they control what happens to them. •Externals (External locus of control)Individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance.

MachiavellianismMachiavellianism

Conditions Favoring High Machs

• Direct interaction with others

• Minimal rules and regulations

• Emotions distract for others

Conditions Favoring High Machs

• Direct interaction with others

• Minimal rules and regulations

• Emotions distract for others

Machiavellianism (Mach)

Degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.

Self-Monitoring Self-Monitoring

Self-Monitoring

A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors.

High Self-Monitors

• Receive better performance ratings

• Likely to emerge as leaders

• Show less commitment to their organizations

High Self-Monitors

• Receive better performance ratings

• Likely to emerge as leaders

• Show less commitment to their organizations

Risk-TakingRisk-Taking

High Risk-taking Managers– Make quicker decisions– Use less information to make decisions– Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial

organizations Low Risk-taking Managers

– Are slower to make decisions– Require more information before making decisions– Exist in larger organizations with stable

environments Risk Propensity

– Aligning managers’ risk-taking propensity to job requirements should be beneficial to organizations.

Personality TypesPersonality TypesType A’s1. are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;2. feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place;3. strive to think or do two or more things at once;4. cannot cope with leisure time;5. are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in

terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire.

Type B’s1. never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its

accompanying impatience;2. feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements

or accomplishments;3. play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their

superiority at any cost;4. can relax without guilt.

Which of the following is not a typical

personality trait considered to be

organizationally relevant?

Locus of controlLocus of control

Self-monitoringSelf-monitoring

Self-enhancingSelf-enhancing

Self esteemSelf esteem

Machiavellianism Machiavellianism

Chapter Check-Up: Personality

Discuss with your neighbor how each of the three traits above would

influence a college instructor’s behavior, and where you think your

teacher falls with respect to each of them.

Chapter Check-Up: Personality

KishorKishor arrives to class and realizes that he’s arrives to class and realizes that he’s

forgotten his homework to turn in. He says “Oh forgotten his homework to turn in. He says “Oh

man, it’s just not my lucky day today.” Kishor man, it’s just not my lucky day today.” Kishor

has ______________.has ______________.

Kishor has a high external locus of control. Kishor believes that

things outside of his control determine what happens.

If Kishor works on a team with you, and you have a very

high internal locus of control, what kinds of discussions

do you think the two of you might have? Discuss with a

friend.

Julia is known for being a go-getter. She never leaves a task

incomplete, and is involved in a number of activities. Moreover,

she’s at the top of her class. She’s so busy that sometimes,

she forgets to stop and eat lunch. Julia can be easily

characterized as someone that has/is a Type ____ Personality.

Chapter Check-Up: Personality

A

Julia is also likely to not be very

• Happy?

• Fun?

• Creative?

• Stressed?

Chapter Check-Up: Personality

In general, Type A’s are rarely creative because they generally don’t allocate the necessary time for new solution development; they usually rely on past experiences to solve problems in order to be speedy.

Achieving Person-Job FitAchieving Person-Job Fit

Personality Types

• Realistic

• Investigative

• Social

• Conventional

• Enterprising

• Artistic

Personality Types

• Realistic

• Investigative

• Social

• Conventional

• Enterprising

• Artistic

Personality-Job Fit Theory (Holland)

Identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines satisfaction and turnover.

Holland’s Typology of Personality

andCongruent

Occupations

Holland’s Typology of Personality

andCongruent

Occupations

E X H I B I T 4–8E X H I B I T 4–8

Relationships among

Occupational Personality

Types

Relationships among

Occupational Personality

Types

E X H I B I T 4–9E X H I B I T 4–9

Source: Reprinted by special permission of the publisher, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., from Making Vocational Choices, copyright 1973, 1985, 1992 by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. All rights reserved.

Organizational Culture Profile (OCP)Organizational Culture Profile (OCP)

Useful for determining person-organization fit

Survey that forces choices/rankings of one’s personal values

Helpful for identifying most important values to look for in an organization (in efforts to create a good fit)