MGMT 2110:

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Siyin Chen
L4: Tues & Thurs 10:30am - 11:50am
L5: Tues & Thurs 3:00pm - 4:20pm
 SPECIAL GUEST: AIESEC @ HKUST 
Overseas opportunities & Global mindset!
LET’S BEGAIN WITH…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCi0MRxaaCE
 WHAT DID WE LEARM FROM LAST WEEK?
Definition: O.B. is the field of behavioral science devoted to understanding,
explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and
groups in organizations and/or professions.

O.B. uses scientific methods to answer questions.

E.g., observation, interviews, surveys, experiments (causation!)

4
THIS CLASS
INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOUR Personality

Decision Making

Motivation

Emotion & Job Attitudes

ORGANIZATIONS AND
GROUPS
Teams & Conflict Management

Negotiation

Leadership

Power & Ethics

PERSONALITY: WHAT IS IT?
PERSONALITY: WHAT IS IT?
• What is a personality trait?
– Habitual pattern of cognitions, emotions, behavior
– Enduring: Stable over time

• Each trait lies on a continuum

– Many people fall in the middle
– Judgments are relative

What is it determined by?

• Nature (hereditary)
• Nurture (environment)
HOW IS PERSONALITY MEASURED?
HOW IS PERSONALITY MEASURED?
• The MBTI:
Used by: Apple, AT&T, Bain, Citigroup, GE, 3M, etc.
(Generates ~$20M/year in fees for publisher!)
 THOUGHTS ON THE MBTI
Pros
• Widely used (you will
hear these types)
• Helpful in getting people
to recognize individual
differences in ways of
thinking and approaching
work
Source: Furnham, 1996; Côte & Miners, 2006; Rynes et al., 2002
Cons
• “Armchair” psychology – doesn’t fully
capture known dimensions of personality
and cognitive style
• Little evidence supporting the predictive
ability of MBTI results*
• Forces bi-modality (“either/or”)
• From research, we know traits are
normally distributed and continuous
• Creates “false opposites”
• Thinking (IQ) & Feeling (EQ)
• Positively correlated (r = .45)
THE BIG 5
The 5 Factor Model of Personality:

 O – Openness to Experience

 C – Conscientiousness

 E – Extraversion

 A – Agreeableness

 N – Neuroticism (sometimes called emotional stability)

THE BIG 5: NEUROTICISM

Vs.

Anxious, Poised,
emotional Emotional Stability
secure

• High neuroticism predicts lower levels of job and life satisfaction

• Higher levels of stress and burnout

• But can increase critical thinking and preparation

THE BIG 5: EXTRAVERSION

Vs.

Quiet, Talkative,
reserved Extraversion
sociable

• Higher extraversion predicts high levels of job and life satisfaction

• Strong predictor of leader emergence

• Increased absenteeism
THE BIG 5: EXTRAVERSION
• Societal obsession with extraversion

• Susan Cain making the case that introverts

bring extraordinary talents and abilities to
the world and should be encouraged and
celebrated

• More on this when we talk about

leadership…

Source: QuietRev.com
THE BIG 5: OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE
Vs.

Prefers Likes variety &

familiarity & Openness to Experience
reflecting
customs

• More creative, increased comfort with ambiguity

• Decreased work-family conflict

• Better able to adapt to changes

THE BIG 5: AGREEABLENESS
Vs.

Rude, cold, Cooperative,

selfish Agreeableness warm

• Higher performance in interpersonally oriented jobs

• Less deviant in behavior

• Increased citizenship behaviors (i.e., helping others)

THE BIG 5: CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

Vs.

Carefree, Motivated,
disorganized Conscientiousness dependable

• Less creative because of decreased adaptability to changing contexts

• Increased work-family conflict due to prioritizing work

• Higher job performance (Strongest predictor among five traits)!

BREAK: 5 MINS
Get your big 5 results ready on your device - do NOT show anyone
3 people group – NOT friends
1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you
want as a dinner guest?
2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?
3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse
what you are going to say? Why?
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either
the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of
your life, which would you want?
7. Name three things you and your teammates appear to
have in common.
8. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
9. If you could change anything about the way you were
raised, what would it be?
10. Take four minutes and tell your teammates your life story
in as much detail as possible.
11. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one
quality or ability, what would it be?
12. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself,
your life, the future or anything else, what would you want
to know?
13. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a
long time? Why haven’t you done it?
14. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
15. What do you value most in a friendship?
16. What is your most treasured memory?
17. What is your most terrible memory?
18. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly,
would you change anything about the way you are
now living? Why?
19. What does friendship mean to you?
20. What roles do love and affection play in your life?
21. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your
childhood was happier than most other people’s?
22. Share with your teammates an embarrassing
moment in your life.
23. When did you last cry in front of another person? By
yourself?
24. Tell your teammates something that you like about
them already.
25. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to
communicate with anyone, what would you most
regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you
told them yet?
26. Your house, containing everything you own, catches
fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have
time to safely make a final dash to save any one
item. What would it be? Why?
SHARE WITH US!
WHO KNOWS SOMEONE’S PERSONALITY BEST?
Bosses?
Family?

On Accuracy in Personality Assessments:

• We aren’t always our own best judges
• Personality is who you are, not who you think you are
• External observers (friends, colleagues, even acquaintances) tend to be more
Friends
accurate in evaluating our personalities (especially in terms of agreeableness,
Other?
conscientiousness, and extraversion)
• Self?
The one exception is traits that are hard to observe (namely, neuroticism)

Colleagues?

Source: Conelly & Hulsheger, 2011; Vazire, 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVmMeMcGc0Y
PERSONALITY CHANGES OVER TIME
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: A FINAL WORD OF CAUTION
• “Personality” explanations often overused, exaggerated

• No dimensions are “better” than others across all situations, no “best” personality
• Risk of “fixed” mindsets

• A central theme of this class is going to be the power of the situation

Org/Profession/S
ociety

Supervisor

Group

Job

Person
IT DEPENDS ON…
1. Strength of the situation:
 Weak situations are ambiguous. There is no obvious way to behave.
 E.g., work group has just formed and no one knows each other well
 Strong situations are concrete. It is expected you behave in specific ways.
 E.g., assembly line worker following basic protocol

• Personality is more predictive of behavior in weak situations

IT DEPENDS ON…
2. The job/role (i.e., personality x role fit)
• Personality matters when a certain role calls for having a certain personality
• E.g., extraversion is extremely predictive of performance for a sales person
• Extraversion does not predict performance for assembly line worker