PERSONALITY & ATTITUDE

Personality is a complex, multi-dimensional construct and there is no simple definition of what personality
is. Maddi defines personality as, A stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those
commonalities and differences in the psychological behavior and that may not be easily understood as the
sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment".
Personality traits are very important in organizational behavior. In particular, five personality traits
especially related to job performance have recently emerged from research. Characteristics of these traits can
be summarized as follows:
PERSONALITY DETERMINANTS:
1. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS 1. Heredity
2. Environment
3.Physical characteristics
2. CULTURAL FACTORS
3. SITUATIONAL FACTORS

Explain each point

Personality Attributes OR Dimensions of personality:

1.
Extroversion: Sociable, talkative and assertive.
2.
Agreeableness: Good-natured, cooperative and trusting.
3.
Conscientiousness: Responsible, dependable, persistent and achievement-oriented.
4.
Emotional Stability: Viewed from a negative standpoint such as tense, insecure and nervous.
5.
Openness to Experience: Imaginative, artistically sensitive and intellectual.

Transactional Analysis refers to a method of analyzing & understanding interpersonal behaviour. When
people interact, there is social transaction in which 1 person responds to another. The study of these
transactions is called as Transactional Analysis. TA is a method to improve communication.

Miss: Kavita Chordiya

Attitude
In simple words, an "attitude" is an individual's point of view or an individual's way of looking at
something. To be more explicit, an "attitude" may be explained as the mental state of an individual, which
prepares him to react or make him behave in a particular pre-determined way.
An attitude is defined as, "a learned pre-disposition to respond in a consistently favourable or
unfavorable manner with respect to a given object".
Functions of Attitude
According to Katz, attitudes serve four important functions from the viewpoint of organizational behaviour.
These are as follows.
The Adjustment Function. Attitudes often help people to adjust to their work environment. Well-treated
employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their job, management and the organization in general
while berated and ill treated organizational members develop a negative attitude. In other words, attitudes help
employees adjust to their environment and form a basis for future behaviour.
Ego-Defensive Function. Attitudes help people to retain their dignity and self- image. When a young faculty
member who is full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm, joins the organization, the older members mi ght feel
somewhat threatened by him. But they tend to disapprove his creative ideas as crazy and impractical and
dismiss him altogether.
The Value-Expressive Function . Attitudes provide individuals with a basis for expressing their values. For
example, a manager who values hard and sincere work will be more vocal against an employee who is having a
very casual approach towards work.
The Knowledge Function . Attitudes provide standards and frames of reference that allow people to understand
and perceive the world around him. If one has a strong negative attitude towards the manage ment, whatever the
management does, even employee welfare programmes can be perceived as something bad and as
actually against them.

Miss: Kavita Chordiya

Types of Attitudes:
There are three types of job-related attitudes such as job satisfaction, job involvement,
and organizational commitment.
i)
ii)
iii)

Job Satisfaction
Job Involvement
Organizational Commitment

Miss: Kavita Chordiya

Explain