Individual Processes

Personality and Attributes

Personality
Is a term derived from persona, the Latin word for mask, this also refers to the organization of behavioral and emotional attributes that characterize a unique individual.

It also refers to a set of unique characteristics that make an individual different from others

The Myers-Briggs Framework

This is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. This is a popular questionnaire used to assess personality types Communications styles Interaction preference History: The fundamental to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the theory of psychological type as originally developed by Carl Jung. Jung proposed the existence of two dichotomous pairs of cognitive functions The "rational" (judging) functions: thinking and feeling The "irrational" (perceiving) functions: sensation and intuition

The Big Five Personality Traits

A set of fundamental traits that are especially relevant to organizations.
1. Agreeableness: The ability to get along with others 2. Conscientiousness: The number of goals on which a person focuses.

3. Negative emotionality: Characteristics are moodiness/insecurity

4. Extraversion: The quality of being comfortable with relationships 5. Openness: The capacity to entertain new ideas and to change as a result of new information

The Myers-Briggs Framework

Jung believed that for every person each of the functions are expressed primarily in either an introverted or extraverted form.

From Jung's original concepts, Briggs and Myers developed their own theory of psychological type, described below, on which the MBTI is based.

The Myers-Briggs Framework

The Concept of Myers and Briggs The MBTI sorts some of these psychological differences into four opposite pairs, or dichotomies, they theorized that individuals naturally prefer one overall combination of type differences. These dichotomies are typically referred to by an abbreviation of four lettersthe initial letters of each of their four type preferences ESTJ Extraversion Sensing Thinking Judging INFP Introversion Intuition Feeling Perception

The Self Concept: Self Esteem & Self Efficacy

Self: personality of an individual as viewed by that person himself Self Concept: efforts made by an individual to understand his own self Self esteem: self perceived competence & self image of people

Self efficacy: persons perception of his ability to cope with different situations as they arise

Personality Determinants
Heredity: an individuals personality is determined by the type of genes he inherits from his parents. Environment: culture of the society, norms set by the parents, teachers, & other social groups with which the individual interacts. Situation: Personality changes with the situation (partially).

Other personality attributes that influence Organizational Behavior

Locus of control:
The extent to which a person believes his/her circumstances are a function of either his/her own actions or of external factors beyond his/her control

Self-efficacy:

A persons beliefs about his/her capabilities to perform a task

Authoritarianism:

The belief that power/status differences are appropriate within hierarchical social systems such as organizations

Other personality attributes that influence Organizational Behavior

Machiavellianism: Behavior directed at gaining power and control
of others
Self-esteem: The extent to which a person believes he/she is a worthwhile/deserving individual Risk propensity: The degree to which to take chances and make risky decisions he/she is willing.

Attitudes
A tendency to feel & behave in a particular way towards objects, people or events

Characteristics of an attitude
Remain unchanged for a long period unless influenced by external forces

Evaluative statements favorable or unfavorable

Components of attitudes
Cognitive the opinions, values or beliefs of an individual Affective the feelings of a person towards something Behavioral the intention of a person to behave in a particular way

Sources of Attitude
Attitudes are acquired from parents, teachers, & peer group members Individuals are willing to modify their behavior & shape their attitude to match with the opinion leader Attitude can be changed by providing feedback from a respected person.

Types of Attitude
1. Job satisfaction : the pleasurable or positive emotional state that results when an individual evaluates his job or job experience 2. Job Involvement: The extent to which person identifies himself psychologically with his job, actively participates in it & considers that his performance in the job contribute to his self worth 3. Organizational Commitment: A members satisfaction with a particular organization & its goals. It is affected by a number of, Personal variables (age, attitude towards job) and Organizational variables (job design, leadership style of the superior).

Organizational Commitment
3 Component Model (John P. Meyer & Natalie J. Allen) Affective commitment: concerned with the clients emotional attachment & involvement with the organization. Continuance commitment: influenced by the costs that could accrue to the client if he leaves the organization. Normative commitment: refers to the extent to which a client feels obliged to continue in the organization

Functions of Attitudes
1. The Adjustment function

People modify their attitudes to adjust to their work environment

When fair treatment is given positive attitude When treatment is not good negative attitude

Functions of Attitudes
2. Ego-defensive function: Attitudes help clients to defend their self image when mistake identified protects their ego 3. The Value expressive function: Values can be expressed through attitudes 4. The knowledge function: Attitudes act as a standard of reference which allows people to understand & explain their environment

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator Individual Behavior: Universitas Friburgensis; Prof Robert D. Zaugg http://www.scribd.com/doc/17055450/Lesson-2-IndividualProcesses-and-Behavior