Unit 2: Personality

Deepa Kumari
deepakumari@hotmail.com

Learning Objectives

Define personality, describe how it is

measured, and explain the factors that
determine individuals personality.
Describe MBTI personality framework and
assess its strengths and weaknesses.
Identify the key traits in the Big Five
Personality Model.
Demonstrate how the Big Five traits predict
behavior at work.
Identify other personality traits relevant to OB
Identify Hofstedes six value dimension of
national culture

1. Personality

Personality is the sum total of ways in which

individual reacts to and interacts with others.
We most often describe it in terms of the
measurable traits a person exhibits.
In
psychology,
trait
theory
(also
calleddispositional theory) is an approach
to the study of human personality. Trait
theorists are primarily interested in the
measurement of traits, which can be defined
as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and
emotion.

1.1 Defining 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.
Two ways to conduct personality tests and are
generally co-related:
1. Self-Report Surveys
2. Observer-rating Surveys
A combination of self-report and observerreports predicts performance better than any
one type of information.

1.2. Personality Determinants

It is result of heredity or of the environment.

However, the research tends support the
importance of heredity over the environment.
Heredity, refers to the factor determined at
conception. Physical stature, facial stature, facial
attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle
composition and a lot of other things are either
completely or substantially inherited from genes.
Therefore, this school of thought believes in the
fact that personality is a matter of genes than
anything else.
Therefore, does it mean that personality will
remain the same over the years? NOT REALLY

1.2. Personality Determinants Contd.,

Early work on the structure of personality tried to

identify and label enduring characteristics that
describes an individual behavior, including shy,
aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal and
timid.
When someone exhibits these characteristics in a
large number of situations, we call them
personality traits of that person. Therefore
consistency and frequency of a trait describe the
personality of an individual.
Two popular models MBTI and Big Five Model are
now the dominant framework for identifying and
classifying traits.

1.2. Personality Determinants Contd., MBTI

MBTI or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the
most widely used personality assessment
instrument in the world. It is a100 question
personality tests that asks people about how
they feel or act in particular situations.
Respondents are classified as:
1. Extraverted versus Introvert or E vs I
2. Sensing versus Intuitive or S vs N
3. Thinking versus Feeling or T vs F
4. Judging versus Perceiving or J vs P

1.2. Personality Determinants Contd., MBTI

1.2. Personality Determinants Contd., MBTI

The identification and description of the 16

distinctive personality types that result from
the interactions among thepreferences.
Let us look at this link
:http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbtipersonality-type/mbti-basics/

1.3. The Big Five Personality Model

The MBTI may lack strong supporting evidence, but an

impressive body of research supports the thesis of the
Big Five Model-that five basic dimensions underlie all
others and encompass most of the significant variation
in human personality. The following are the big factors:
Extraversion-Sociable, Gregarious, and Assertive
Agreeableness-Good Nature, Cooperative and Trusting
Conscientiousness-Responsible,
Dependable,
Persistent, and Organized
Emotional Stability-Calm, Self-confident, Secure vs
Nervous, Depressed and Insecure
Openness to Experience-Imagination; Sensitivity and
Curiosity

1.3. The Big Five Personality Model Contd.,

1.6. Type A or B: Personality Types

The theory describes "Type A" individuals as ambitious,

rigidlyorganized,
highlystatus-conscious, sensitive,
impatient, take on more than they can handle, want other
people to get to the point, anxious, proactive, and
concerned withtime management. People with Type A
personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who
multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both
delays and ambivalence.
The theory describes "Type B" individuals as a contrast to
those with Type A personalities. People with Type B
personality by definition generally live at a lower stress
level and typically work steadily, enjoying achievement but
not becoming stressed when they do not achieve. They
may be creative and enjoy exploring ideas and concepts.
They are often reflective.

1.4. Other Traits Relevant to OB

Core Self Evaluation

Mach
Narcissism
Self-Monitoring
Risk Taking
Proactive Personality
Other-orientation

2. Values and their importance.

Values are judgmental elements in an

individual that carry an idea about what is
right , good and desirable. Value system
therefore, is an individual ranking of values in
terms of their intensity.

2. Values and their importance.

3. Summary and implications for managers

Personality:
Screening job candidates for a high degree of
conscientiousness.
Demands
of job, degree of interaction
required with others and work on personalityjob performance relationship.
Training and development ; other traits such
as core-self evaluation and narcissism is also
relevant in a lot of situations.

4. Hofstedes Cultural Typology

One of the most widely referred approach for

analyzing variations among cultures was done
in late 1970 by Geert Hofstede.
He found that managers and employees vary
on five value dimensions of national culture.

Hofstedes Cultural Typology Contd.,

Power
distance
the
degree to which people in
a country accept that
power in institutions and
organizations
is
distributed unequally.
Individualism
versus
CollectivismIndividualism
is
the
degree to which people
prefer to act as individual
a contrast to collectivisim
where people expect to
work in a group

Masculinity versus Femini-nty-It is

degree to which culture favors
traditional masculine roles such as
achievement, power and control as
opposed to viewing men and women
equal a contrast to high femininity.

Uncertainity avoidance-the degree to

which people in a country prefer
structured versus unstructured
situations.

Hofstedes Cultural Typology Contd.,

Long term versus

short term
orientation- People in
a culture with long
term orientation look
to the future and
value thrift,
persistence and
tradition. In short
term orientation
people value the
here and now.

Indulgence versus resistanceIndulgence is the degree to which it is

alright for people to enjoy life and have
fun and fulfill all natural human desires.
Restraint is the extent to which social
norms govern the gratification of
individuals.

References

Organizational Behavior, 15nth Edition,

Robbins, Judge and Vohra. Pg No 138-165