unit 2 (personality)

8/10/2019 Unit 2 (Personality)

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16.01.2010/ Reshmi Pillai/OB



Personality - A relatively stable set of

characteristics that influences an individual’s

behavior




DEFINATION

“Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individualREACTS;

and INTERACTS with others.”

Combines of a set of physical and mental characteristics that

reflect how a person looks, thinks, acts and feels.Predictable relationships are expected between people’spersonalities and their behaviors.



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 andinteracts with others, the measurable traits a personexhibits.

The term personality is derived form the latin word‘Persona’ which means to ‘speak through’. The Latin termdenotes the masks which actors used to wear in ancientGreece and Rome.

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Though personality is used in terms of influencing othersthrough external appearance. However mere externalappearance though important for personalitycharacteristics, does not make the whole personality.Personality should include:

i) External appearance and behavior or social stimulusvalue ii) Inner awareness of self as a permanent organizing force iii) The particular pattern or organization of measurable

traits, both inner and outer.

Taking these aspects together, personality may be definedin terms of organized behavior as predisposition to reactto a given stimulus in a particular manner.



Family andGroup factors

Culturalfactors

Situationalfactors

Biologicalfactors

Individualpersonality

Every person has a

different personality

and there are a lot of

factors which contributeto that personality. We

call them the

‘determinants of

personality’ or the‘factors of personality’.



(A).Brain: Psychologists have studied the

structure of the human brain and

divided it into two parts – Left hemisphere and righthemisphere. Depending upon the structure of the brain

and individual personality develops. Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere

Speech Musical

Logical/mathematics Artistic Active Spiritual

Reading, writing Facial Recognition



(B). Physical Features: An individual’s externalappearance which is biologically determined is animportant in personality. A person’s physical featureshave some influence on his personality because he will

influence others, which in turn will effect his self-concept.

It also includes rate of maturation because persons of

varying maturity are exposed to different physical andsocial situations and activities differently.



(C) Heredity Factors determined at conception: physical stature,

facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, musclecomposition and reflexes, energy level, and bio-rhythms

This “Heredity Approach” argues that genes are thesource of personality

Twin studies: raised apart but very similarpersonalities

There is some personality change over long timeperiods

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Socialization is a process by which an individual factacquires behavioral patterns that are customary andacceptable according to the standards of his family andsocial group. It starts with a mother and her infact and later

on members of family and social group influence thesocialization process

Identification occurs when a person tries to influencehimself with some person whom he feels ideal in the family. When a child acts like his father or mother. Perspectives

Firstly, it can be viewed as the similarity of behavior b/w childand the model.

Secondly, child’s motives and desires to be like the model.

Third, process through which child actually takes the

attributes of the model.



Socialization and identifications are influenced by :-

1. Home Environment : The total environment is a critical factor. For ex.

children with cold institutional upbringing have a much greater potential to beemotionally maladjusted than children raised by parents in a warm and lovingenvironment.

2. Family Members : Parents and family members have strong influence onpersonality of a child. A study by Newcomb has shown high correlation

between attitudes of parents and children with a further consistency withpatterns

3. Social groups :- As a person is exposed to agencies outside home, particularlyschool, friendship and other work groups. Socio-economic factors also affectpersonality development.



3. CULTURAL FCATORS : Culture determines attitudetowards independence, aggression, competition and

cooperation. Each culture expects and trains its members tobehave in a certain way. A child’s cultural defines the rangeof experiences and situations he is likely to encounter andthe values and personality characteristics that will bereinforced and hence learned.

4. SITUATIONAL FACTORS :- The S-O-B-C model consistsof situations under which the behavior is occurring.Situation exerts an

important pressure on theindividual . It exercisesconstraints or provides push.



Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’sbehavior.

The more consistent the characteristic and the more

frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the moreimportant the trait.

Two dominant frameworks used to describe personality:

Big Five Model/Personality Traits

Other Personality Traits

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The

Big Five PersonalityModel

Openness to Experience

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Emotional Stability



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,

and insecure under stress (negative)

Openness toExperience

• Curious, imaginative, artistic, andsensitive

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall5-15



Extraversion Gregarious, assertive,sociable

Agreeableness Cooperative, warm,agreeable

Conscientiousness Hardworking, organized,dependable

Emotional stability Calm, self-confidant, coolOpenness toexperience

Creative, curious,cultured

Sources: P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, The NEO-PI Personality Inventory (Odessa, Fla.: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1992); J. F. Salgado, “TheFive Factor Model of Personality and Job Performance in the European Community,” Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997): 30-43.



High Agreeableness Low Agreeableness

High ConscientiousnessLow Conscientiousness

High Emotional StabilityLow Emotional Stability

ExtroversionIntroversion

More Openness Less Openness

BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS

Experts agree that personality traits closer to the left end of eachdimension are more positive in organizational setting, whereas traitscloser to the right are less positive.



Agreeableness

Person’s ability to get along with others. Gentle, co-operative, forgiving, understanding and good natured in

dealing with others.

Develop better relationships with co-workers, subordinates,superiors.

Extend to relationship with customers suppliers etc.

Conscientiousness• Number of goals on which a person focuses attention.

• People who focus on few goals are organized, systematic, careful,

thoughtful, disciplines.• Less conscientiousness pursue wide array of goals: resultant

disorganized, careless, irresponsible, less thorough, less self –disclipned.



Emotional Stability – •High emotional stability are calm, poised and secure.

•Better handle job stress. pressure and tension. More reliable.•Low emotional stability- insecure, reactive and subject to extreme moodswings.

Extroversion –Comfort with relationships.•Introversion directed to inward and experience and thoughts.•Quiet, reflective and intellectual –interact with small intimate circle of friends.•Successful working on abstract ideas like research and development.•Extroversion –outward behavior searching for external stimuli with which they

can interact.•Sociable, lively, seek outward interaction.•Successful as Sales, publicity, public relations activities and face to faceinteractions.



Openness – Person’s rigidity of beliefs and range ofinterests.

High level of openness- willing to listen to new ideas, tochange their beliefs to new information.

Broad interest, curious, creative and imaginative.

Low level of openness – less receptive to new ideas/changetheir minds; fewer narrower interests and less willing tochange their minds.



1.Core Self-Evaluation The degree to which people like or dislike themselves Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance

2.Machiavellianism

A pragmatic, emotionally distant power-player who believesthat ends justify the means High Machs are manipulative, win more often, and persuade

more than they are persuaded. Flourish when: Have direct interaction

Work with minimal rules and regulations Emotions distract others

3.Narcissism An arrogant, entitled, self-important person who needs

excessive admiration

Less effective in their jobs 5-21



4.Self-Monitoring

The ability to adjust behavior to meet external, situationalfactors.

High monitors conform more and are more likely tobecome leaders.

5.Risk Taking

The willingness to take chances.

May be best to align propensities with job requirements.

Risk takers make faster decisions with less information.

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6.Type A Personality Aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to

achieve more in less time Impatient: always moving, walking, and eating rapidly

Strive to think or do two or more things at once Cannot cope with leisure time Obsessed with achievement numbers

Prized in North America but quality of the work is low Type B people are the complete opposite

7.Proactive Personality Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and

perseveres to completion Creates positive change in the environment

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8.Grit – Positive traits based on individual’s passion forparticular long term goals.

9.Locus of Control – People’s believe that they arein control of events or events control them.External locus of control believe that thingshappen by chance. Internal Locus of control people

seek opportunities for advancement.



Self-EsteemFeelings of Self Worth

Success tendsto increaseself-esteem

Failure tendsto decreaseself-esteem



Locus of Control

Internal External

I control whathappens to me!

People andcircumstances control

my fate!



10.Work-ethic Orientation:- Extremely work ethicorientating are involved in their job and live up to beingdescribed as living, eating and breathing job. Others try todo minimum that is necessary to get done without being

fired.

11.Tolerance of Ambiguity : Some people can tolerate high levelof ambiguity with experiencing stress and still function

effectively while others have low tendency for ambiguity andare effective in structured work setting.



Organizational Application of Personality

1. Matching Jobs and individuals- Starting point is atRecruitment and Selection. Personality tests in interviewsare designed to discover personality traits. Also in Training

and Development as people move up the nature of jobchanges. New traits can be developed through training.

2. Designing Motivation System :- Some people aremotivated by financial incentives and some are not.

Motivational system which takes into account personality variables is more suitable.

3. Designing Control System :- Based on personality variables, different people react differently to a particulartype pf control system.




You have been given a group project. You havemade a mistake in between and only you areaware of it. How will you react on it?

a) you will confess that you have made the

mistake. b) you will held someone else to be responsible

for the mistake

c) you will try to find out the solution for it

d) you will keep mum all through out theproject.



Situation 1 :-Suppose that you are new to the organisation,

and not familiar to your colleague. You get a chance tointeract with them in this party.

What will you do in this situation?

a) You will take the initiative to talk

b) Feel strange and nervous so will not talk with others

c) You will wait for someone else to talk to you

d) you will stand and smile to others.

unit 2 (personality)

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