Personality and Attribution

Unit - 2
What will you learn ?

• Personality Definition
• MBTI
• Big 5 Traits
• Managerial Implications of Personality
• Perception and Attribution
• Features and Definition
• Perceptual and Attribution Errors
• Managerial Implications
What is Personality?
The dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical
systems that determine his unique adjustments 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

• 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
• Heredity
• Factors determined at conception: physical stature, facial
attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition
and reflexes, energy level, and bio-rhythms
• This “Heredity Approach” argues that genes are the
source of personality

• Twin studies: raised apart but very similar personalities

• Parents don’t add much to personality development
• There is some personality change over long time periods

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Personality Traits
Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior
• The more consistent the characteristic and the more
frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important
the trait.
• 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 axes to determine one of 16
possible personality types, such as ENTJ.
• Extroverted (E) vs. Introverted (I)
• Sensing (S) vs. Intuitive (N)
• Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)
• Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)

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Definitions

• Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Extraverted individuals are outgoing,

sociable, and assertive. Introverts are quiet and shy.
• Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N). Sensing types are practical and prefer routine
and order. They focus on details. Intuitive rely on unconscious processes and
look at the “big picture.”
• Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F). Thinking types use reason and logic to handle
problems. Feeling types rely on their personal values and emotions.
• Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P). Judging types want control and prefer their
world to be ordered and structured. Perceiving types are flexible and
spontaneous.
The Types and Their Uses

• Each of the sixteen possible combinations has a name, for instance:

• Visionaries (INTJ) – are original, stubborn and driven.
• Organizers (ESTJ) – realistic, logical, analytical and businesslike.
• Conceptualizer (ENTP) – entrepreneurial, innovative, individualistic and
resourceful.

• Research results on validity mixed.

• MBTI® is a good tool for self-awareness and counseling.
• Should not be 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,
and insecure under stress (negative)
• Openness to Experience
• Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive

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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:
• Highly conscientious people develop more job knowledge, exert greater
effort, and have better 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.
• Open people are more creative and can be good leaders.
• Agreeable people are good in social settings.

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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
• Machiavellianism
• A pragmatic, emotionally distant power-player who believes that 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
• Narcissism
• An arrogant, entitled, self-important person who needs excessive admiration
• Less effective in their jobs
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More Relevant Personality Traits
• Self-Monitoring
– The ability to adjust behavior to meet external, situational factors.
– High monitors conform more and are more likely to become leaders.
• Risk Taking
– The willingness to take chances.
– May be best to align propensities with job requirements.
– Risk takers make faster decisions with less information.
• Proactive Personality
– Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres to
completion
– Creates positive change in the environment

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Implications of Personality Traits

• Job Fit
• Functional Roles
• Leadership Roles
• Organization Fit
• Cultural Fit
• Predicting On Job Performance
Perception and Attribution
Unit - 2
Perception
 The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally
important.

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Importance
Factors Influencing Perception – PST

Perceiver
Target
Situation

Perception
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Person Perceptions
Person Perception: Attribution Theory

Suggests that perceivers try to “attribute” the observed behavior to a

type of cause:
• Internal – behavior is believed to be under the personal control of
the individual
• External –the person is forced into the behavior by outside
events/causes

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Determinants of Attribution

Distinctiveness – whether an individual displays different behaviors in

different situations (the uniqueness of the act or unusual behavior)

Consensus – does everyone who faces a similar situation respond in the

same way as the individual did ( same behavior by all )

Consistency – does the person respond the same way over time ( habitual or
constancy in behavior)

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Determination of Attribution

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Attribution Errors
• Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate the influence of
external factors and overestimate that of internal
factors.

• Self-Serving Bias
Occurs when individuals overestimate their own
(internal) influence on successes and overestimate the
external influences on their failures like
Bad luck , coworkers failure, blame game etc.
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Shortcuts Used in Judging Others
• Selective Perception – a perceptual filtering process based on interests,
background, and attitude. May allow observers to draw unwarranted
conclusions from an ambiguous situation.
• Halo Effect – drawing a general impression based on a single
characteristic.
• Contrast Effects – our reaction is influenced by others we have recently
encountered (the context of the observation).
• Stereotyping – judging someone on the basis of the perception of the
group to which they belong.

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Selective Perception
The Link Between Perception and Decision Making
Decision making occurs as a reaction to a perceived problem
• Perception influences:
• Awareness that a problem exists
• The interpretation and evaluation of information
• Bias of analysis and conclusions

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Applications

• Employment Interviews
• Performance Expectations
• Performance Evaluations
Rational Decision-Making Model
1. Define the problem.
2. Identify the decision criteria.
3. Allocate weights to the criteria.
4. Develop the alternatives.
5. Evaluate the alternatives.
6. Select the best alternative.

Seldom actually used: more of a goal than a practical method

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Assumptions of the Model
• Complete knowledge of the situation
• All relevant options are known in an unbiased manner
• The decision-maker seeks the highest utility

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Decision Making in Bounded Rationality

Simpler than rational decision making, composed of three

steps:

1. Limited search for criteria and alternatives – familiar

criteria and easily found alternatives
2. Limited review of alternatives – focus alternatives, similar
to those already in effect
3. Satisficing – selecting the first alternative that is “good
enough”
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Bounded Rationality

The limited information-processing capability of human beings makes it

impossible to assimilate and understand all the information necessary to
optimize

So people seek solutions that are satisfactory and sufficient, rather than
optimal (they “satisfice”)

Bounded rationality is constructing simplified models that extract the

essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity

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Intuitive Decision Making

• An non-conscious process created out of distilled

experience
• Increases with experience
• Can be a powerful complement to rational analysis in
decision making

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Common Biases and Errors
• Overconfidence Bias
As managers and employees become more knowledgeable about an
issue, the less likely they are to display overconfidence
• Anchoring Bias
A tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to adequately
adjust for subsequent information
• Confirmation Bias
Seeking out information that reaffirms our past choices and
discounting information that contradicts past judgments
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Common Biases and Errors
• Availability Bias
The tendency to base judgments on information that is readily
available
• Escalation of Commitment
Staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence that it is
wrong
• Hindsight Bias
The tendency to believe falsely that we could have accurately
predicted the outcome of an event after that outcome is already
known
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Organizational Constraints on Decision Making

• Performance evaluations
• Reward systems
• Formal regulations
• Self-imposed time constraints
• Historical precedents

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Ethical Frameworks for Decision Making
Utilitarian
• Provide the greatest good for the greatest number
Rights
• make decisions consistent with fundamental liberties and
privileges
Justice
• impose and enforce rules fairly and impartially so that
there is equal distribution of benefits and costs

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Creativity in Decision Making
The ability to produce novel and useful ideas

• Helps people to:

• Better understand the problem
• See problems others can’t see
• Identify all viable alternatives
• Identify alternatives that aren’t readily apparent

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Three-Component Model of Creativity

Expertise

Creative- Intrinsic
Thinking Task
Skills Motivation

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Global Implications
Attributions:
• Cross-cultural differences exist – especially in collectivist traditions
Decision Making:
• Cultural background of the decision maker can have significant
influence on decisions made
Ethics:
• No global ethical standards exist
• Need organizational-level guidance

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Implications for Managers

Perception:
• To increase productivity, influence workers’ perceptions of their
jobs
To improve decision making:
1. Analyze the situation
2. Adjust your decision approach
3. Be aware of biases and minimize their impact
4. Combine rational analysis with intuition
5. Try to enhance your creativity

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Keep in Mind…
1. People have inherent biases in perception and decision making
• Understanding those biases allows for better prediction of
behavior
2. Biases can be helpful
• Managers must determine when the bias may be
counterproductive
3. Creativity aids in decision making
• Helps to appraise, understand, and identify problems

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Summary
1. Defined perception and explained the factors that
influence it.
2. Identified the shortcuts individuals use in making
judgments about others.
3. Explained the link between perception and decision-
making.
4. Listed and explained the common decision biases or
errors.
5. Contrasted the three ethical decision criteria.
6. Defined creativity and discussed the three-component
model of creativity.
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End of Unit 2