AIR UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD

HRM & OB
INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS: PERSONALITY

Facilitator
MUHAMMAD ALI BAIG
MHRM, MPM, PMP, MPHIL

UNIT 3
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Personality refers to the unique set of characteristic patterns, tendencies,
and traits that shape an individual's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors
within the context of the workplace.
It encompasses a wide range of dimensions, including cognitive styles,
emotional tendencies, interpersonal preferences, and motivational drivers.

It influences how individuals perceive and interpret their work environment,

interact with others, approach tasks and challenges, and ultimately contribute
to organizational outcomes.
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Why Should We Study Personality?

Understanding personality in the context of organizational behaviour

helps managers and leaders:

Recognize individual differences

Predict behavior patterns, and
Tailor management strategies to enhance employee engagement,
job satisfaction, and performance.
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Elements of Personality:

1. Traits:
Personality traits are enduring characteristics that describe an
individual's typical patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Traits such as extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness

to experience are commonly studied in organizational behavior due to
their relevance in predicting workplace behavior.
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Elements of Personality:
2. Values:

Values represent the beliefs and principles that individuals hold dear
and guide their behavior and decision-making.

Values influence how individuals prioritize goals, make ethical

judgments, and interact with others in the workplace.
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Elements of Personality:

3. Attitudes:

Attitudes are evaluative judgments or feelings that individuals hold

about specific objects, people, or situations in the workplace.

Common workplace attitudes include job satisfaction, organizational

commitment, and job involvement, which can significantly impact
employee motivation, engagement, and retention.
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Elements of Personality:

4. Motives:

Motives refer to the underlying psychological needs or desires that

drive individuals to pursue specific goals or engage in certain behaviors.

Motives such as achievement, power, affiliation, and autonomy

influence employees' aspirations, performance levels, and job
satisfaction.
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Elements of Personality:

5. Self-efficacy:

Self-efficacy refers to individuals' beliefs in their ability to successfully

perform specific tasks or achieve desired outcomes.

High self-efficacy levels are associated with greater task engagement,

persistence, and performance, while low self-efficacy can lead to self-
doubt and reduced effort.
Definition and Nature of
Personality
Elements of Personality:

6. Emotional Intelligence:

Emotional intelligence (EI) involves the ability to recognize, understand,

and manage one's own emotions as well as the emotions of others.

Employees with high emotional intelligence are better equipped to

navigate social interactions, resolve conflicts, and build positive
relationships with colleagues and clients.
How Heredity and Learning
Determine Personality?
Personality emerges over time from the interaction of genetic and
environmental factors.

To a large extent, genes predetermine an individual’s physical characteristics,

and they contribute to other important personality characteristics such as
intelligence and temperament. Gender, race, size, appearance, and even
health and energy are influenced significantly by genes.

Although heredity plays a role in the development of personality, it is clear that

learning is also vitally important.
How Heredity and Learning
Determine Personality?
One of the major characteristics that distinguish human beings from other
species is that human beings have a significantly greater capacity to learn,
remember and think about what happened in the past, is happening in the
present, and might happen in the future.

Individuals learn and acquire knowledge, abilities, values, and attitudes.

Individuals learn their own motives. Overtime, their pattern of behavior

becomes identified as their personalities.
Culture and Personality

Culture also gives an understanding of personality development because

it provides the context in which personality is observed.

Without a cultural framework, behavior has no meaning, and without

meaning, behavior has no purpose.

A culture provides people with a set of values and assumptive beliefs as

well as implicit inferences about how the world operates, which enable
them to find meaning in and make sense of the events of their lives.
Culture and Personality
Hofstede’s Framework

This framework discusses the variation in behavior between

members of different cultures as a result of collective learning.

The essence of a country’s culture is national mental pre-

programming, which is that part of peoples’ collective learning that
they share with other members of their nation, region, or group but
not with members of other nations, regions, or groups.
Culture and Personality
Hofstede’s Framework

On the basis of patterns of enduring values, four dimensions provide the

framework for describing national cultures which may as per Hofstede
determine human personality:

(1) Individualism versus Collectivism

(2) Centralized versus Diffused Power
(3) Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance
(4) Masculinity versus Femininity
Culture and Personality
(1) Individualism versus Collectivism

Individualism refers to the extent to which people choose their own

affiliations and stand up for themselves, whereas collectivism stresses
human interdependence.

In highly individualistic societies, the individual is expected to look out for

his or her own self-interest and maybe that of the immediate family.

Collectivist societies assume that close ties exist among people and that
the interests of the individual are subordinated to the group, family, village,
and the organization.
Culture and Personality
(1) Individualism versus Collectivism

Distribution of Individualism and Collectivism Across Nations

High Individualism / Low Collectivism: United States, Great Britain,

Australia, and the Netherlands

Middle Individualism / Collectivism: Japan, Spain, Israel, Australia,

Argentina and India

Low Individualism / High Collectivism: Columbia, Pakistan, Panama,

Taiwan, Venezuela, and South Korea
Culture and Personality
(2) Centralized versus Diffused Power

Centralized power societies permit unequal intellectual or physical

capabilities to grow into blatant inequalities in the distribution of power and
wealth.

Diffused power societies play down individual differences by sharing or

decentralizing power.

Societies that deliberately promote greater power differences among people

tend to centralize authority. They permit and even promote autocratic
leadership as part of their mental conditioning of people.
Culture and Personality
(2) Centralized versus Diffused Power

Distribution of Centralized and Diffused Power Across Nations

Centralized Power (High Power Distance): Philippines, India, Venezuela,

Guatemala, Pakistan, Panama, and Arab cultures.

Middle of the Road: Japan, Argentina, and Spain.

Diffused Power (Low Power Distance): United States, Australia, Great

Britain, New Zealand, Canada, and the Netherlands.
Culture and Personality
(3) Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty Avoidance measures the extent to which a society feels

uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, and how much they try
to avoid such situations by establishing strict rules, regulations, and norms.

People in strong uncertainty avoidance cultures prefer clear-cut

instructions and tend to be risk-averse.

People in weak uncertainty avoidance cultures are more comfortable

with change, innovation, and taking risks.
Culture and Personality
(3) Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance

Distribution of Strong and Weak Uncertainty Avoidance Across Nations

Strong Uncertainty Avoidance: Latin European and Latin American
countries; Mediterranean countries, Greece and Turkey; and Japan and
South Korea.

Middle of the Road: United States and Canada, Finland and Norway, East
Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia) and West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra
Leone)
Low Uncertainty Avoidance: Denmark, Sweden, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Culture and Personality
(4) Masculinity versus Femininity

Masculine cultures value traits such as competitiveness, assertiveness,

ambition, and achievement.

Success is often measured in terms of material possessions, status, and

career advancement.

There is a clear distinction between gender roles, with men typically

expected to be assertive and dominant, while women are encouraged to
be nurturing and supportive.
Culture and Personality
(4) Masculinity versus Femininity

Feminine cultures prioritize qualities such as cooperation, modesty,

empathy, and quality of life. There is less emphasis on competition and
achievement, and success may be defined more broadly to include
personal relationships, happiness, and work-life balance.

Gender roles are more fluid, with less rigid expectations regarding
behavior based on gender. Work is seen as a means to support one's
personal life and relationships, rather than the sole focus of existence.
Culture and Personality
(4) Masculinity versus Femininity

Distribution of Masculinity and Femininity Across Nations

High Masculinity: Japan, followed by German speaking nations and some
Latin American countries, such as Mexico and Venezuela

Middle of the Road: United States

High Femininity: Sweden, France, Panama, East Africa

Approaches to Understand
Personality
The Big Five Personality Traits:

One of the most well-known trait theories is the Big Five model, which
identifies five broad dimensions of personality:

Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)
Approaches to Understand
Personality
The Big Five Personality Traits:
1. Openness to Experience:
Reflects the degree to which individuals are open-minded, creative, and willing
to explore new ideas and experiences.
2. Conscientiousness:
Refers to the extent to which individuals are organized, responsible, and self-
disciplined.
3. Extraversion:
Describes the degree to which individuals are outgoing, sociable, and energetic,
as opposed to introverted and reserved.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
The Big Five Personality Traits:
4. Agreeableness:
Reflects the tendency to be cooperative, compassionate, and empathetic
towards others, as opposed to antagonistic or suspicious.

5. Neuroticism (Emotional Stability):

Indicates the level of emotional stability or instability, with high neuroticism
associated with anxiety, insecurity, and mood swings, and low neuroticism
associated with emotional resilience and stability.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF):
The Model by Cattell aims to capture the fundamental dimensions of personality
through the analysis of observable behaviors and traits.

It provides a framework for understanding individual differences in personality

across multiple dimensions.

1. Apprehensive versus Self-assured: Measures the extent to which an individual

experiences anxiety and self-doubt versus confidence and self-assurance.

2. Assertive versus Humble: Reflects the degree of assertiveness, dominance, and

confidence versus humility, modesty, and deference.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF):

3. Conscientious versus Expedient: Describes the level of conscientiousness,

responsibility, and organization versus impulsiveness, pragmatism, and
expediency.
4. Controlled versus Casual: Indicates the degree of emotional control, restraint,
and formality versus informality, spontaneity, and relaxation.
5. Emotionally Stable versus Unstable: Measures emotional stability and
resilience versus emotional volatility, neuroticism, and mood swings.
6. Experimental versus Conservative: Represents openness to new experiences,
innovation, and risk-taking versus conservatism, tradition, and risk aversion.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF):

7. Happy-go-lucky versus Sober: Reflects a carefree, optimistic, and lighthearted

disposition versus a serious, cautious, and somber demeanor.
8. Imaginative versus Practical: Describes creativity, imagination, and abstract
thinking versus practicality, realism, and focus on concrete details.
9. More Intelligent versus Less Intelligent: Indicates intellectual curiosity,
problem-solving ability, and cognitive complexity versus simplicity and lack of
intellectual curiosity.
10. Outgoing versus Reserved: Measures sociability, extroversion, and
gregariousness versus introversion, reticence, and preference for solitude.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF):

11. Relaxed versus Tense: Reflects the degree of relaxation, calmness, and ease
versus tension, nervousness, and agitation.
12. Reserved versus Warm: Describes the level of interpersonal warmth,
friendliness, and approachability versus aloofness, detachment, and coolness.
13. Shrewd versus Forthright: Indicates astuteness, cunningness, and strategic
thinking versus straightforwardness, honesty, and sincerity.
14. Suspicious versus Trusting: Measures distrustfulness, skepticism, and wariness
versus trustfulness, openness, and naivety.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF):

15. Tough-minded versus Sensitive: Reflects resilience, toughness, and

assertiveness versus sensitivity, empathy, and emotional vulnerability.

16. Venturesome versus Timid: Describes adventurousness, risk-taking, and

boldness versus cautiousness, timidity, and avoidance of risk.

These factors provide a comprehensive framework for understanding individual

differences in personality and behavior across various contexts within the
organization.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF): Applications in HRM

Recruitment and Selection:

HR professionals can use the 16 PF assessment as part of the recruitment

and selection process to identify candidates whose personality traits align
with job requirements.

By assessing factors such as leadership potential, interpersonal skills, and

emotional stability, organizations can make more informed hiring decisions
and select candidates who are likely to succeed in the role.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF): Applications in HRM

Job Placement and Role Fit:

Understanding employees' personality profiles can help HR managers place

them in roles that best suit their strengths and preferences.

By matching individuals' personality traits with job demands, organizations

can improve job satisfaction, productivity, and retention rates.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF): Applications in HRM

Training and Development:

HRM can utilize the 16 PF assessment to identify areas for employee

development and design training programs tailored to individual needs.

For example, employees with low assertiveness may benefit from

assertiveness training to enhance their communication and leadership
skills.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF): Applications in HRM

Team Composition and Dynamics:

Assessing team members' personality profiles using the 16 PF can facilitate

the formation of diverse and complementary teams.

By balancing different personality traits within a team, HR managers can

promote collaboration, creativity, and effective problem-solving.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF): Applications in HRM

Performance Management:

Incorporating personality assessments into performance evaluations can

provide additional insights into employees' strengths and areas for
improvement.

By considering personality factors such as conscientiousness, openness to

change, and resilience, HR managers can provide more targeted feedback
and support employee development.
Approaches to Understand
Personality
Cattell's 16 Personality Factors (16 PF): Applications in HRM

Succession Planning:

HRM can use the 16 PF assessment to identify high-potential employees for

leadership positions and develop succession plans accordingly.

By evaluating candidates' leadership potential, decision-making styles, and

strategic thinking abilities, organizations can groom future leaders and
ensure continuity in leadership roles.