EPGDM

Organizational Behaviour
Module 3

Personality
Personality

The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. We
most often describe it in terms of the measurable traits a person exhibits.

American Psychological Association defines Personality as, “Personality refers to the

enduring characteristics and behavior that comprise a person’s unique adjustment to life,
including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns.
Various theories explain the structure and development of personality in different ways, but
all agree that personality helps determine behavior.”

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Determinants of Personality
Biological Heredity
factors Inherited from Parents, transmitted by genes in the chromosomes.
Brain
Role of the brain of the individual
Physical features
The most outstanding factor that contributes to personality.
Cultural Considered as the major determinant of an individual’s personality.
factors Each culture expects, and trains its members to behave in the ways that are
acceptable to the group.
Researchers are unable to establish correlation between personality and culture.
Family and Socialisation process
social Contribution of family and social group in combination with the culture.
factors Identification process
Starts when a person begins to identify himself with some other members of the
family.
Situational Despite the above factors, it is the situation or circumstances predominate the
factors personality finally.

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Personality Traits relevant to Work
Behaviour
1. Self Esteem: The individuals’ self-worthiness and the extent to which they
regard themselves as capable, successful, important and worthwhile.
2. Locus of control: The extent to which people tend to have control over their
own fate and life
▪ Internal control: Believe that they control what happens to them
▪ External control: Believe that what happens to them is controlled by
outside forces such as luck or chance
3. Self Efficacy: The belief that a person has in their own capability to perform a
specific task.
4. Self Monitoring: The extent to which a person has the ability to adjust his or
her behaviour to external or situational factors. More sensitive and notice
significant changes.
5. Emotional Intelligence: The individual’s ability to be aware of feelings and the
extent to which they can manage more effectively in dealing with others and
challenging events.

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Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a widely used self-report inventory designed
to assess an individual's personality traits and preferences.
• It was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers based on
the theories of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.
• The MBTI is founded on the belief that people experience the world and make decisions in
different ways, and that understanding these individual differences can be valuable for personal
growth, effective communication, and career development.
• The MBTI is typically administered through a self-report questionnaire consisting of a series
of statements or preferences.
• Respondents indicate their level of agreement or preference for each statement, and the
results are used to determine their personality type.
• The assessment generates a four-letter code representing the individual's preferences in each
dimension.
• Interpreting MBTI results involves understanding the meaning of each preference and how
they interact to form a personality type.

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Personality Types (MBTI)
Myers Briggs Type Indicator describes four dimensions of Personality Types

• Ways in which • Becoming aware

people relate to of and perceiving
the World information

E/I S/N
Extraversion Sensing
Vs Vs
Introversion Intuition

Thinking
Judging and
Vs
Perceiving
Feeling
• Amount of • Ways of deciding
control exercising and prefer to
and organizing make judgments
people
J/P T/F

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MBTI Personality Type Keys

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Shorter version of MBTI Personality Test

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YszORw9TO-A

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Temperaments of Personality Types
Guardian Artisan Idealist Rational
Temperament Temperament Temperament Temperament
ISFJ ISFP INFJ INTJ
Protector Composer Counselor Mastermind
Quiet, sociable, thorough, caring Calm, sensitive, kind, modest, Easygoing, persistent, Skeptical, critical, independent,
relaxed conscientious determined, original

ESFJ ESFP ENFJ ENTJ

Provider
Friendly, talkative, popular,
cooperative, seeks harmony,
little interested in abstract topics
Performer Teacher Field marshal
Slow, acceptable, sociable, loves Responsible, genuinely Friendly, sincere, determined,
sports interested in thoughts or wishes leader
of others, social, moderate to
praise and criticism

ISTJ ISTP INFP INTP

Inspector Crafter Healer Architect
Serious, Quite, Practical, logical Cold-blooded, Quiet, reserved Fond of learning, ideas and Quiet, reserved, enjoys science
dependable and analytical, witty independent projects, wants a topics, little interested in fun and
lot and realizes goals conversation

ESTJ ESTP ENFP ENTP

Supervisor
Practical, realistic, has an inborn
sense for business or mechanics,
likes to organize and to drive
activity
Promoter Champion Inventor
Gives weight to facts, carefree, Enthusiast, witty, imaginative, Fast, ingenious, discusses for fun,
may be dull or insensitive quick in problem solving can ignore routine tasks

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Temperament Matrix

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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jlY47VGa8E
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Personality Theories
• Personality theories aim to provide a framework to understand human personality,
including the causes and motivation for thoughts, behaviors, and social interactions.
• Personality theories are the result of hypotheses, experiments, case studies, and
clinical research led by scientists in the psychology and human behavior field.
• Some of the Personality theories are:
• Type Theory
• Trait Theory
• Social Learning Theory
• Humanistic Theory
• Psychoanalytic Theory

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Type Theory
• Type theory aims to classify people into distinct categories.
• Personality type approach says you are either an introvert or an extrovert.

Type A Personality Type B Personality

• Feels a chronic sense of time urgency.
• Highly achievement oriented.
• Exhibit a competitive drive.
• Impatient.
• Operate under moderate to high level
of stress.
• Subject themselves to more or less
continuous time pressure.
• Characteristics result in some specific
behaviour outcomes.
• Great Sales People are of this type.
• Easy going individuals.
• Able to take time to enjoy leisure.
• Not preoccupied.
• Seldom impatient.
• Relaxed.
• Not easily frustrated.
• Seldom lacks enough time.
• Senior Executives are likely to be this
type.

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Trait Theory
• Trait theory is one of the most popular types of personality theories.
• It proposes that people’s personalities vary according to which basic personality
traits are more dominant.
• Personality trait approach says you can be anywhere on a continuum ranging from
introversion to extroversion, with most people clustering the middle, and fewer
people towards the extremes.
• In this sense, each trait is seen as a continuum.
▪ Take kindness, for example:
▪ Rather than viewing this as an optional personality trait — some people are
kind while others are not — you can think of it as a sliding scale.
▪ Everyone falls somewhere on the kindness continuum.
▪ And you’re either more kind or less kind, compared with someone else.

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Social Learning Theory
• Through learning, one can acquire knowledge, language, attitudes, values, manual
skills, fears, personality traits, and self-insight.
• Therefore, a study of the process of learning throws more light on understanding
human activity.
• There are two ways of learning, one is reinforcement which is direct experience,
and another is observing others.
• Researchers began to recognize the fact that people sometimes exhibit a behaviour
without any external reward or reinforcement.
• The social learning theory focuses on behavior patterns and cognitive activities in
relation to the specific conditions that evoke, maintain, or modify them.
• The emphasis is on what an individual does in a given situation.

The difference between classical and operant conditioning - Peggy Andover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io

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Humanistic Theory
• Though many psychologists developed so many
personality theories, some psychologists felt that these
theories ignored the qualities that make humans unique
from animals, such as striving for self-determination and
self-realization.
• In the 1950s, some of these psychologists began a school
of psychology called humanism.
• They tend to have an optimistic perspective on human
nature.
• They focus on the ability of human beings to think
consciously and rationally, to control their biological
urges, and to achieve their full potential.
• In the humanistic view, people are responsible for their
lives and actions.
• One of the most common models used in psychology, the
Hierarchy of Needs, was the result of Abraham Maslow’s
research on Humanistic Theory.
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Psychoanalytic Theory
• Sigmund Freud is credited with the psychoanalytic
theory.
• Freud proposed a three-part personality structure
consisting of ego, superego and id.
• It operates on the pleasure principle, which is that every
wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately,
regardless of the consequences.
▪ The ego is related to reasoning and is the
conscious, rational part of the personality; it
monitors behavior in order to satisfy basic desires
without suffering negative consequences.
▪ The superego, or conscience, develops through
interactions with others to conform to the norms
of society.
▪ The id, the largest part of the mind, is related to
desires and impulses and is the main source of basic
biological needs.
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Sigmund Freud’s Personality Structure
(Iceberg Model)

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Big 5 Personality Traits
• Experts believe that there are five personality traits, known as the “Big Five” or the
Five-Factor Model.
• Each trait reflects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves.
• This model is one of the most widely used frameworks in personality research.
• It is used to help people better understand themselves and how they compare to
others.
• Companies use this model to predict how employees or potential candidates relate
to others.
• Also, it can be used for understanding how employees might think and handle
stress.
• The five Traits are:
▪ Emotional stability or Neuroticism
▪ Extraversion
▪ Openness
▪ Agreeableness
▪ Conscientiousness
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Big 5 Personality Traits

Taps a person’s ability to

withstand stress.

Describes your
emotional expression
and how comfortable
you are in your
environment.

Addresses range of
interests and fascination
with novelty.

Describes how you

treat your relationships
with others.

Refers to how
thoughtful and goal-
oriented you are.

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Big 5 Personality Traits of a Leader
• Indra Nooyi scores
high on all personality
dimensions of the Big
Five Model.
• She is described as
sociable, agreeable,
conscientious,
emotionally stable, and
open to experiences.
• These personality
traits have contributed
to Nooyi’s high job
performance and
career success.

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 End of Module 3

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