Chapter 4 to be a result of both.
However, it might surprise
“Personality and Values”
What Is Personality?
When we talk of personality, we don’t mean
a person has charm, a positive attitude toward life,
or a constantly smiling face. When psychologists
talk of personality, they mean a dynamic concept
describing the growth and development of a
person’s whole psychological system.
The definition of personality we most
frequently use was produced by Gordon Allport
nearly 70 years ago. Allport said personality is “the
dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment.” For our purposes,
you should think of personality as the sum total of
ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts
with others. We most often describe it in terms of
the measurable traits a person exhibits.
Measuring Personality
The most important reason managers need to
know how to measure personality is that research
has shown personality tests are useful in hiring
decisions and help managers forecast who is best
for a job. The most common means of measuring
personality is through self-report surveys, with
which individuals evaluate themselves on a series of
factors, such as “I worry a lot about the future.”
 Observer-ratings surveys
- It provides an independent assessment
of personality. Here, a co-worker or
another observer does the rating
(sometimes with the subject’s
knowledge and sometimes not). Though
the results of self- report surveys and
observer-ratings surveys are strongly
correlated, research suggests observer-
ratings surveys are a better predictor of
success on the job.
Personality Determinants
An early debate in personality research
centered on whether an individual’s personality was
the result of heredity or of environment. It appears
you that research tends to support the importance of
heredity over the environment.
Heredity- refers to factors determined at
conception. Physical stature, facial attractiveness,
gender, temperament, muscle composition and
reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms are
generally considered to be either completely or
substantially influenced by who your parents are—
that is, by their biological, physiological, and
inherent psychological makeup. The heredity
approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an
individual’s personality is the molecular structure of
the genes, located in the chromosomes.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is
the most widely used personality assessment
instrument in the world. It is a 100-question
personality test that asks people how they usually
feel or act in particular situations. Respondents are
classified as extraverted or introverted (E or I),
sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling (T
or F), and judging or perceiving (J or P). These
terms are defined as follows:
 Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I).
- Extraverted individuals are outgoing,
sociable, and assertive. Introverts are quiet
and shy.
 Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N).
- Sensing types are practical and prefer
routine and order. They focus on details.
Intuitive rely on unconscious processes and
look at the “big picture.”
 Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F).
- Thinking types use reason and logic to
handle problems. Feeling types rely on
their personal values and emotions.
 Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P).
- Judging types want control and prefer their
world to be ordered and structured.
Perceiving types are flexible and
spontaneous.
The Big Five Personality Model Traits that Matters most to Business Success at
Buyout Companies
The MBTI may lack strong supporting
evidence, but an impressive body of research Most Important Less Important
supports the thesis of the Big Five Model—that five
basic dimensions underlie all others and encompass
Persistence Strong Oral
most of the significant variation in human Attention to Detail Communication
personality. Moreover, test scores of these traits do Efficiency Teamwork
a very good job of predicting how people behave in Analytical Skills Flexibility/Adaptability
a variety of real-life situations. The following are Setting High Standards Enthusiasm
the Big Five factors: Listening Skills
 Extraversion.
- The extraversion dimension captures our
comfort level with relationships. Extraverts
tend to be gregarious, assertive, and
sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, Conscientiousness is as important for
timid, and quiet. managers as for front-line employees. As Exhibit 5-
 Agreeableness. 1shows, a study of the personality scores of 313
- The agreeableness dimension refers to an CEO candidates in private equity companies (of
individual’s propensity to defer to others. whom 225 were hired, and their company’s
Highly agreeable people are cooperative, performance later correlated with their personality
warm, and trusting. People who score low scores) found conscientiousness—in the form of
on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and persistence, attention to detail, and setting of high
antagonistic. standards—was more important than other traits.
These results attest to the importance of
 Conscientiousness.
conscientiousness to organizational success.
- The conscientiousness dimension is a
measure of reliability. A highly
conscientious person is responsible,
organized, dependable, and persistent. Those
who score low on this dimension are easily
distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.
 Emotional stability.
- The emotional stability dimension—often
labeled by its converse, neuroticism—taps a
person’s ability to withstand stress. People
with positive emotional stability tend to be
calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with
high negative scores tend to be nervous,
anxious, depressed, and insecure.
 Openness to experience.
- The openness to experience dimension
addresses range of interests and fascination
with novelty. Extremely open people are
creative, curious, and artistically sensitive.
Those at the other end of the category are
conventional and find comfort in the
familiar.
Core Self-Evaluation
People who have positive core self-
evaluations like themselves and see themselves as
effective, capable, and in control of their
environment. Those with negative core self-
evaluations tend to dislike themselves, question
their capabilities, and view themselves as
powerless over their environment. 29 We
discussed in Chapter 3that core self-evaluations
relate to job satisfaction because people positive
on this trait see more challenge in their job and
actually attain more complex jobs.
Machiavellianism - The degree to which an
Values
individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional
distance, and believes that ends can justify means. Basic convictions that a specific mode of
conduct or end-state of existence is personally or
Narcissism - The tendency to be arrogant,
socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode
have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require
of conduct or end-state of existence.
excessive admiration, and have a sense of
entitlement. Value System - A hierarchy based on a
ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their
Self-Monitoring - A personality trait that
intensity.
measures an individual’s ability to adjust his or her
behavior to external, situational factors. Terminal Values - Desirable end-states of
existence; the goals a person would like to achieve
Proactive Personality
during his or her lifetime.
Did you ever notice that some people
Instrumental Values - Preferable modes of
actively take the initiative to improve their current
behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal
circumstances or create new ones? These are
values.
proactive personalities. Those with a proactive
personality identify opportunities, show initiative, eBay’s young employees rank their
take action, and persevere until meaningful change employer as one of the best places to work for
occurs, compared to others who passively react to millennials. The company’s culture of fun, casual
situations. dress, and flexible work schedules that provide for a
work/life balance appeal to Generation Y
Other-orientation
employees like those shown here at eBay’s offices
Some people just naturally seem to think in San Jose, California. Young employees say that
about other people a lot, being concerned about eBay managers give them job responsibility
their well-being and feelings. Others behave like quickly, generous recognition for their
“economic actors,” primarily rational and self- achievements, and learning opportunities to advance
interested. These differences reflect varying levels their careers. They also admire eBay’s “Social
of other-orientation, a personality trait that reflects Venture” initiatives such as WorldofGood.com,
the extent to which decisions are affected by social eBay Giving Works, and Micro Place that make a
influences and concerns vs. our own well-being and positive difference in the lives of people throughout
outcomes. the world.
 investigation of leadership and national culture.
Using data from 825 organizations in 62 countries,
Personality-Job Fit Theory
the GLOBE team identified nine dimensions on
A theory that identifies six personality types which national cultures differ. 85 Some—such as
and proposes that the fit between personality type power distance, individualism/collectivism,
and occupational environment determines uncertainty avoidance, gender differentiation
satisfaction and turnover. (similar to masculinity versus femininity), and
future orientation (similar to long-term versus short-
 Power Distance- A national culture attribute term orientation)—resemble the Hofstede
that describes the extent to which a society dimensions.
accepts that power in institutions and
organizations is distributed unequally. The main difference is that the GLOBE
 Individualism- A national culture attribute framework added dimensions, such as humane
that describes the degree to which people orientation (the degree to which a society rewards
prefer to act as individuals rather than as individual for being altruistic, generous, and kind to
members of groups. others) and performance orientation (the degree to
 Collectivism- A national culture attribute that which a society encourages and rewards group
describes a tight social framework in which members for performance improvement and
people expect others in groups of which they excellence). Which framework is better? That’s
are a part to look after them and protect them. hard to say, and each has its adherents. We give
 Masculinity- A national culture attribute that more emphasis to Hofstede’s dimensions here
describes the extent to which the culture because they have stood the test of time and the
favors traditional masculine work roles of GLOBE study confirmed them. However,
achievement, power, and control. Societal researchers continue to debate the differences
values are characterized by assertiveness and between them, and future studies may favor the
materialism. more nuanced perspective of the GLOBE study.
 Feminity- A national culture attribute that
indicates little differentiation between male
and female roles; a high rating indicates that
women are treated as the equals of men in all
aspects of the society.
 Uncertainty Avoidance- A national culture
attribute that describes the extent to which a
society feels threatened by uncertain and
ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them.
 Long-term Orientation- A national culture
attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift, and
persistence.
 Short-term Orientation- A national culture
attribute that emphasizes the past and present,
respect for tradition, and fulfillment of social
obligations.

The GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures

begun in 1993, the Global Leadership and
Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE)
research program is an ongoing cross-cultural