Exhibit 2-3 Sixteen Primary

Personality Traits
1. Reserved vs. Outgoing
2. Less intelligent vs. More intelligent
3. Affected by feelings vs. Emotionally stable
4. Submissive vs. Dominant
5. Serious vs. Happy-go-lucky
6. Expedient vs. Conscientious
7. Timid vs. Venturesome
8. Tough-minded vs. Sensitive
9. Trusting vs. Suspicious
10. Practical vs. Imaginative
11. Forthright vs. Shrewd
12. Self-assured vs. Apprehensive
13. Conservative vs. Experimenting
14. Group-dependent vs. Self-sufficient
15. Uncontrolled vs. Controlled
16. Relaxed vs. Tense
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• Extroverted vs. Introverted: extroverted are outgoing,
sociable & assertive. Introverts are quiet and shy.
• Sensing vs. Intuitive: sensing are practical &prefer
routine& order. intuitive rely on unconscious processes
and look at the big picture.
• Thinking vs. Feeling: thinking types use reason &logic to
handle problems. feeling types rely on their personal
values and emotions.
• Judging vs. Perceiving: judging types want control
&prefer their world to be ordered & structured.
Perceiving types are flexible.
 Exhibit 2-5 Big Five Personality
Factors and Performance
Big Five Personality Factor Relationship to Job  Relationship to Team 
Performance Performance

Extroversion * Positively related to job * Positively related to team 

performance in occupations requiring  performance
social interaction * Positively related to degree of 
* Positively related to training  participation within team
proficiency for all occupations

Agreeableness * Positively related to job * Most studies found no link between 

performance in service jobs agreeableness and performance or 
productivity in teams
* Some found a negative link between 
person’s likeability and team performance 

Conscientiousness * Positively related to job

performance for all occupational
groups
* May be better than ability in
predicting job performance
 Exhibit 2-5 Big Five Personality
Factors and Performance
Big Five Personality Factor Relationship to Job  Relationship to Team 
Performance Performance

Emotional Stability * A minimal threshold amount may be 

necessary for adequate performance; 
greater degrees not 
related to job  performance
* Positively related to performance in 
service jobs
* May be better than ability in predicting 
job performance across all occupational 
groups 

Openness to Experience *Positively related to training  *Data unavailable

proficiency 
 Major Personality Attributes
Influencing OB
• Locus of Control
• Machiavellianism
• Self-Esteem
• Self-Monitoring
• Risk Taking
• Type A and Type B Personalities
 Locus of Control
• The degree to which people believe they
are in control of their own fate
– Internals
• Individuals who believe that they control what
happens to them
– Externals
• Individuals who believe that what happens to them
is controlled by outside forces such as luck or
chance
 Machiavellianism
• Degree to which an individual is
pragmatic, maintains emotional distance,
and believes that ends can justify means
 Self-Esteem
• Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking of
themselves
 Self-Monitoring
• A personality trait that measures an
individual’s ability to adjust behaviour to
external situational factors
 Risk-Taking
• Refers to a person’s willingness to take
chances or risks
 Type A Personality
– Always moving, walking, and eating rapidly.
– Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take
place.
– Strive to think or do two or more things at once.
– Cannot cope with leisure time.
– Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success
in terms of how many or how much of everything they
acquire.
 Type B Personality
– Never suffer from a sense of time urgency
with its accompanying impatience.
– Feel no need to display or discuss either their
achievements or accomplishments unless
such exposure is demanded by the situation.
– Play for fun and relaxation, rather than to
exhibit their superiority at any cost.
– Can relax without guilt.