chap 9 - personality and values

8/6/2019 Chap 9 - Personality and Values

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Personality and Values

Define Personality,

Personality Determinants,

Personality Traits Relevant to OB,

The Importance of Values,

Terminal Versus Instrumental Values,

Generational Values,

Linking an Individual's Personality and

Values to the Workplace.

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What is Personality?

The dynamic organization within the individual of those

psychophysical systems that determine his uniqueadjustments to his environment. - Gordon Allport.

The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and

interacts with others, the measurable traits a person

exhibits

How people affect others and how they understand view

themselves, as well as their pattern of inner and outer

measurable traits and the person-situation intervention.

Measuring Personality

Helpful in hiring decisions

Most common method: self-reporting surveys

Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent

assessment of personality often better predictors

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Personality Determinants

HeredityFactors determined atconception:

physical stature,

facial attractiveness,

gender,

temperament,

muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and bio-

rhythms

This Heredity Approach argues that genes are the sourceof personality

Twin studies: raised apart but very similar personalities

Parents dont add much to personality development

There is some personality change over long time periods

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Environment

Factors that exert pressures on our personality formation:

The culture in which we are raised

Early conditioning

Norms among our family

Friends and social groups

The environment we are exposed to plays a substantial role in shaping ourpersonalities.

Culture establishes the norms, attitudes, and values passed from one

generation to the next and create consistencies over time.

The arguments for heredity or environment as the primary determinant of

personality are both important. Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an individuals full

potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to the

demands and requirements of the environment.

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Situation:

Influences the effects of heredity and

environment on personality

The different demands of different situations

call forth different aspects of onespersonality.

There is no classification scheme that tells

the impact of various types of situations.

Situations seem to differ substantially inthe constraints they impose on behavior.

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Personality Traits

Personality Traits -are enduring characteristics that describe

an individuals behavior

The more consistent the characteristic and the more frequently

it occurs in diverse situations, the more important the trait.

Popular characteristics include shy, aggressive, submissive,

lazy, ambitious, loyal, and timid. These are personality traits.

The more consistent the characteristic, the more frequently it

occurs, the more important it is.

Trait can be common in individual but may vary in absolute

term. Researchers believe that personality traits can help in

employee selection, job fit, and career development.

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Personality Traits

Two dominant frameworks used to describe personality:

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Big Five Model

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The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Most widely used instrument in the world. Participants are classified on four

characteristics to determine one of 16 possible personality types, such as ENTJ.

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Extroverted(E)

Introverted(I)

Sensing(S)

Intuitive(N)

Thinking(T)

Feeling(F)

Judging (J)Perceiving

(P)

Flexible and

Spontaneous

Sociable andAssertive

Quiet and

Shy

Unconscious

Processes

Uses Values& Emotions

Practical and

Orderly

Use Reason

and Logic

Want Order

& Structure

Each of the sixteen possible combinations has a name, for instance:Visionaries (INTJ) (Introvert, Intutive, thinking, Judging) original, stubborn, and driven.

Organizers (ESTJ)(Extrovert, sensing, thinking, judjing) realistic, logical, analytical,

and businesslike.

Conceptualizer (ENTP)(extrovert, intuitive, thinking, perceiving) entrepreneurial,

innovative, individualistic,and resourceful.


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The Types and Their Uses

Research results on validity mixed.

MBTI is a good tool for self-awareness and

counseling.

Should notbe used as a selection test for job

candidates.

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The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions

Extroversion Sociable, gregarious, and assertive

Agreeableness

Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting

Conscientiousness

Responsible, dependable,persistent, and organized

Emotional Stability

Calm, self-confident, secure under stress(positive), versus nervous, depressed, andinsecure under stress (negative)

Openness to

Experience

Curious, imaginative, artistic, andsensitive

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Recent research gave 5 dimensions underlies all others and

encompass most of the significant variation in human

personalities


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The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions

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Extraversion. Comfort level with relationships. Extroverts tend to be

gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid,

and quiet. Agreeableness. Individuals propensity to defer to others. High

agreeableness peoplecooperative, warm, and trusting. Low

agreeableness peoplecold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.

Conscientiousness. A measure of reliability. A high conscientious

person is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those whoscore low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and

unreliable.

Emotional stability. A persons 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 range of interests and fascination with

novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically

sensitive. Those at the other end of the openness category are

conventional and find comfort in the familiar.


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How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior?

Research has shown this to be a better framework.

Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to

higher job performance:.

Other Big Five Traits also have implications for work.

Emotional stability is related to job satisfaction. Extroverts tend to be happier in their jobs and have good

social skills. Extroversion predicts performance in

managerial and sales positions.

The results showed that conscientiousness predicted job

performance for all occupational groups. Employees higherin conscientiousness develop higher levels of job

knowledge.

Open people are more creative and can be good leaders.

Openness to experience is important in predicting training

proficiency.

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Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

Core Self-Evaluation

The degree to which people like or dislike themselves

Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance

People who have a positive core self-evaluation see themselves aseffective, capable, and in control, more goal oriented ,set higherand ambitious goals .

People who have a negative core self-evaluation tend to dislikethemselves.

Machiavellianism

A pragmatic, emotionally distant power-player who believes thatendsjustify the means.

High Machs are manipulative, win more often, and persuade morethan they are persuaded. Flourish when:

They flourish when direct interaction Work with minimal rules and regulations

Emotions distract others

Named after Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on

how to gain and use power.

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Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

High Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors High Machs make good employees in jobs that require

bargaining skills or that offer substantial rewards for winning.

Narcissism

An arrogant, entitled, self-important

person who needs excessive admiration. Less effective in their jobs.

Describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance.

They think they are better leaders.

Often they are selfish and exploitive. Less effective at their job specially when its comes to help

others.

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Self-Monitoring This refers to an individuals ability to adjust his or her behavior to

external, situational factors.

Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability. They

are highly sensitive to external cues, can behave differently in different

situations, and are capable of presenting striking contradictions between

their public persona and their private self.

Low self-monitors cannot disguise themselves in that way. They tend todisplay their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation

resulting in a high behavioral consistency between who they are and

what they do.

The research on self-monitoring is in its infancy, so predictions must be

guarded. Preliminary evidence suggests: High self-monitors tend to pay closer attention to the behavior of others.

High self-monitoring managers tend to be more mobile in their careers and

receive more promotions.

High self-monitor is capable of putting on differentfaces for differentaudiences.

High monitors conform more and are more likely to become leaders.

More Relevant Personality Traits

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More Relevant Personality Traits

Risk Taking The willingness to take chances.

May be best to align propensities with job requirements.

Risk takers make faster decisions with less information.

The propensity to assume or avoid risk has been shown to have an impact

on how long it takes managers to make a decision and how muchinformation they require before making their choice.

High risk-taking managers make more rapid decisions and use less

information in making their choices.

Managers in large organizations tend to be risk averse; especially in

contrast with growth-oriented entrepreneurs.

Makes sense to consider aligning risk-taking propensity with specific job

demands.

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Even More Relevant Personality Traits

Type A Personality Aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant

struggle to achieve more in less time and, ifrequired to do so, against the opposing efforts ofother things or other persons.

They are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly, areimpatientwith the rate at which most events take place,

Strive to think or do two or more things at once

Cannot cope with leisure time

Obsessed with achievement numbers

They are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success interms of how many or how much of everything they acquire.

Prized in North America but quality of the work islow

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Type B Personality

In contrast to the Type A personality is the Type B Personality.

Type Bs never suffer from a sense of time urgency with itsaccompanying impatience.

Type Bs feel no need to display or discuss either their achievementsor accomplishments unless such exposure is demanded by thesituation.

Type Bs play for fun and relaxation, rather than exhibit their

superiority at any cost. They can relax without guilt.

Type A personality compared to Type B personality

Type As operate under moderate to high levels of stress. They subject

themselves to continuous time pressure, are fast workers, quantity overquality, work long hours, and are also rarely creative.

TypeAs behavior is easier to predictthan that of Type Bs.

Do Type As differ from Type Bs in their ability to get hired?

Type As do better in job interviews; are more likely to be judgedas having desirable traits such as high drive, competence, and

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Proactive Personality- Actively taking the initiativeto improve their current circumstances while others sit

by passively.

Identifies opportunities,

shows initiative, takes action, and

perseveres to completion

Creates positive change in the environment

More likely to be seen as leaders and change agents

More likely to achieve career success

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ValuesBasic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how to

live your life that is personally or socially preferable

How To live life properly.Values represent basic convictions:

There is a judgmental elementof

what is right, good, or desirable.

Values have both content and intensity

attributes.

Values are notgenerally fluid and flexible. They tend to be relatively stable and enduring.

A significant portion of the values we hold is established in our

early yearsfrom parents, teachers, friends, and others.

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Value

Attributes of Values: Content Attribute thatthe mode of conduct or end-

state is important

Intensity Attribute just how important that content is.

Value System A persons values rank ordered by intensity

Tends to be relatively constant and consistent

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Importance of Values

Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation,and behaviors

Influence our perception of the world around us

Representinterpretations ofright and wrong

Imply thatsome behaviors or outcomes are

preferred over others

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Classifying Values Rokeach Value Survey

Terminal Values Conviction aboutdesirable end-states of existence; the

goals that a person would like to achieve during his or

her lifetime- comfortable life, exciting life, peace, etc

Instrumental Values Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving

ones terminal values. Ex- ambitious, broad minded,

cheerful etc.

People in same occupations or categories tend tohold similar values

But values vary between groups

Value differences make it difficult for groups to negotiate

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Values in the Rokeach Survey

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Linking Personality and Values to theWorkplace

Managers are less interested in someones ability to

do a specific job than in that persons flexibility.

Person-Job Fit: personality attributes helps in

understanding the relationship between job

performance and personality characteristic.

JohnHollands Personality-Job Fit Theory

Six personality types and the congruent occupation

Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)

Key Points of the Model:

There appear to be intrinsic differences in personality

between people

There are different types of jobs

People in jobs congruent with their personality should be

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Hollands Personality Typology & Occupations

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Relationships Among Personality Types

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The closer the

occupationalfields, the more

compatible.

The furtherapart the fields,

the more

dissimilar.

Need to matchpersonality type with

occupation.


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Still Linking Personality to theWorkplace

In addition to matching the individuals personality tothe job, managers are also concerned with:

Person-Organization Fit:

Values -Often explain attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions

Higher performance and satisfaction achieved when the

individuals values match those of the organization.

The employees personality must fit with the organizational

culture.

People are attracted to organizations that match their values.

Those who match are most likely to be selected.

Mismatches will result in turnover.

Can use the Big Five personality types to match to the

organizational culture.

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chap 9 - personality and values

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