2: personality and values

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Essentials of Organizational Behavior,

10/e

Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge

Chapter 2

Personality and Values

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After studying this chapter you should be able to:

1. Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain the factors that determine an individual’s personality.

2. Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and assess its strengths and weaknesses.

3. Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model and demonstrate how the traits are relevant to OB.

4. Define values, demonstrate the importance of values, and contrast terminal and instrumental values.

5. Compare the generational differences in values and identify the dominant values in today’s workforce.

6. Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.

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Personality

• The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others

• Most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits, such as shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal and timid

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Measuring Personality

• Self-reports Surveys Most common Prone to error

• Observer-ratings Surveys Independent assessment May be more accurate

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Personality Determinants

• Heredity is the most dominant factor Twin studies: genetics more

influential than parents• Environmental factors do have

some influence• Aging influences levels of ability

Basic personality is constant

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Measuring Personality Traits:

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator • Most widely used personality-

assessment instrument in the world• Individuals are classified as:

Extroverted or Introverted (E/I) Sensing or Intuitive (S/N) Thinking or Feeling (T/F) Judging or Perceiving (J/P)

• Classifications combined into 16 personality types (i.e. INTJ or ESTJ)

• Unrelated to job performance

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Measuring Personality Traits:

The Big-Five Model• Five Traits:

Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Emotional Stability Openness to Experience

• Strongly supported relationship to job performance (especially Conscientiousness)

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Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB

• Core self-evaluation Self like/dislike

• Type A personality Competitive, urgent, and driven

• Self-monitoring Adjusts behavior to meet external, situational factors

• Proactive personality Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action and perseveres

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ValuesRepresent basic, enduring convictions that "a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence."

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Value Systems• Represent a prioritizing of individual

values by: Content – importance to the individual Intensity – relative importance with other values

• The hierarchy tends to be relatively stable

• Values are the foundation for attitudes, motivation, and behavior

• Influence perception and cloud objectivity

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Rokeach Value Survey

• Terminal values refers to desirable end-states of existence

Goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime

• Instrumental values refers to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values

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Examples of Terminal Values

• A comfortable life (a prosperous life)• An exciting life (stimulating, active life)• A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution)• A world of peace (free of war and conflict)• A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)• Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all)• Family security (taking care of loved ones)• Freedom (independence, free choice)• Happiness (contentedness)

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Examples of Instrumental Values

• Ambitious (hard working, aspiring)• Broad-minded (open-minded)• Capable (competent, efficient)• Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)• Clean (neat, tidy)• Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)• Forgiving (willing to pardon others)• Helpful (working for the welfare of others)• Honest (sincere, truthful)

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Contemporary Work Cohorts

Cohort Entered the Workforce Dominant Work Values

Veterans 1950s or early 1960s

Hard working, conservative, conforming; loyalty to the organization

Boomers 1965-1985 Success, achievement, ambition, dislike of authority; loyalty to career

Xers 1985-2000 Work/life balance, team-oriented, dislike of rules; loyalty to relationships

Nexters 2000 to present Confident, financial success, self-reliant but team-oriented; loyalty to both self and relationships

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Personality-Job Fit:Holland’s Hexagon

• Job satisfaction and turnover depend on congruency between personality and task Fields adjacent are similar Field opposite are dissimilar

• Vocational Preference Inventory Questionnaire

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Person-Organization Fit• It is more important that

employees’ personalities fit with the organizational culture than with the characteristics of any specific job.

• The fit predicts job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover.

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Global Implications

• The Big Five Model appears across a wide variety of cultures Primary differences based on factor

emphasis and type of country• Values differ across cultures

Two frameworks for assessing culture:• Hofstede• GLOBE

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Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures

Five factors:Power Distance

Individualism vs. Collectivism Masculinity vs. Femininity

Uncertainty Avoidance Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation

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GLOBE* Framework for Assessing Cultures

• Assertiveness • Future orientation • Gender differentiation • Uncertainty avoidance • Power distance

• Individualism/ collectivism

• In-group collectivism • Performance

orientation• Humane orientation

*Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness

Ongoing study with nine factors:

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Implications for Managers

• Personality: Evaluate the job, group, and organization to

determine the best fit Big Five is best to use for selection MBTI for development and training

• Values: Strongly influence attitudes, behaviors, and

perceptions Match the individual values to organizational

culture

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Keep in Mind…• Personality

The sum total of ways in which individual reacts to, and interacts with, others

Easily measured• Big Five Personality Traits

Related to many OB criteria May be very useful in predicting

behavior• Values

Vary between and within cultures

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Summary1. Defined personality, described how it is measured, and

explained the factors that determine an individual’s personality.

2. Described the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and assessed its strengths and weaknesses.

3. Identified the key traits in the Big Five personality model and demonstrated how the traits are relevant to OB.

4. Defined values, demonstrated the importance of values, and contrasted terminal and instrumental values.

5. Compared the generational differences in values and identified the dominant values in today’s workforce.

6. Identified Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.

2-23Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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