What

What is
is Personality?
Personality?

Personality
Personality refers to the set of traits and behaviors that
characterize an individual. It is the sum total of ways in
which an individual reacts and interacts with others.

Personality is the sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs,

and values that are characteristic of an individual. Our
personality traits determine how we adjust to our
environment and how we react in specific situations. No
two individuals have the same personalities. Each
individual has his or her own way of interacting with other
people and with his or her social environment.
 Personality
Personality

1. It consist of both internal and external elements.

2. External Traits are observable behaviour that we can see
for eg. how sociable we are, our leadership qualities or
initiative taking qualities.
3. Internal Traits represents our thoughts, feelings, values
which can not be seen but are reflected through our
observable behaviour.
4. It is relatively stable.
5. It is inherited as well as shaped by the environment I.e.
individual reshape through life experiences.
6. Each individual is different from other.
Determinants
Determinants of
of Personality?
Personality?

Environment

Heredity
Family

Personality

Social Situational
Determinants
Determinants of
of Personality
Personality

Heredity
• Refers to those factors that are determined at
conception
• Eg.: physical stature, facial attractiveness,
temperament, muscle composition and reflexes
• Physical characteristics which are generally
inherited by all humans:
a) Physical structure (how tall or short one is)
b) Intelligence (capacity to learn and modify
responses)
c) Temperament
Determinants
Determinants of
of Personality
Personality
 Determinants
Determinants of
of Personality
Personality
Environment
• Environment includes factors such as culture which
influences norms, attitudes and values that are
inculcated in children and are passed from one
generation to other
• For eg: Different behaviors are expected from males and
females. Males are expected to be more outgoing while
females are asked to be more silent and shy
• Individuals raised in urban areas (cities) show different
personality traits from the one raised in rural areas
• North Indians are aggressive, industrious, competitive,
enterprising whereas south Indians are more towards to
classical art, music & literature.
 Determinants
Determinants of
of Personality
Personality

Family
• Family also plays important role in personality development,
particularly in the initial stages. Family members helps the individual
in identification process I.e. what is right or wrong.
• Small children usually see their parents as their model and try to copy
them.
• They try to take on the attributes of their model and finally become
like them
• Children's living in orphanage or on streets are more maladjusted
(disturbed or estranged) than the ones living in family
• Children with brothers and sisters have different personality traits than
the single child
 Determinants
Determinants of
of Personality
Personality
Socialization Process:
• Involves the process by which person acquires behaviour patterns that are
open to him, which are acceptable to the standards of family and later the
social groups or working organisation.
• Mother is the first contact in the socialization process and later other family
members joins.
• Friends circle, school and college norms also influences personality
development
• Employing organisation, their work culture also plays its role in development
of personality
 Determinants
Determinants of
of Personality
Personality

Situational Consideration: An individual’s personality although

generally stable changes under different situations.
• Different demands of different situation’s calls for different
aspects of personality.
• We behave differently during our employment interview and
during celebrations.
• a person’s behavior will be totally different when he is in his
office, in front of his boss, when compared to his hangout with
old friends in a bar.
The
The Myers-Briggs
Myers-Briggs Type
Type Indicator
Indicator

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

A personality test that taps four characteristics and
classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types.

Personality
PersonalityTypes
Types
• •Extroverted
Extrovertedvs.
vs.Introverted
Introverted(E(Eor
orI)I)
• •Sensing
Sensingvs.
vs.Intuitive
Intuitive(S
(Sor
orN)
N)
• •Thinking
Thinkingvs.
vs.Feeling
Feeling(T
(Tor
orF)
F)
• •Judging
Judgingvs.
vs.Perceiving
Perceiving(P(Por
orJ)J)
 The
The Myers-Briggs
Myers-Briggs Type
Type Indicator
Indicator
Extrovert: outgoing, sociable, assertive
Introverts: quiets and shy

Sensing: practical and prefer routine and order and

intuitive: rely on unconscious processes

Thinking: use reason and logic to solve a problem

Feeling: give importance to values and emotions

Judging: want control and prefer world to be ordered

and structured
Perceiving: Flexible and spontaneous
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 4–12
Myers-
Myers-
Briggs
Briggs
Sixteen
Sixteen
Primary
Primary
Traits
Traits
 The
The Big
Big Five
Five Model
Model of
of Personality
Personality Dimensions
Dimensions

Extraverts: Sociable, talkative, assertive, and open to establishing new relationships –

Ophrah.
Introverts: Less sociable, talkative, and assertive and more reluctant to begin new
relationships – Harry Potter.
 The
The Big
Big Five
Five Model
Model of
of Personality
Personality Dimensions
Dimensions

Emotionally stable (Neuroticism) : Relatively poised, calm, resilient, and secure.

Better handle job stress pressure, and tension – James Bond 007.
Emotionally not stable : Excitable, insecure, reactive, and subject to extreme mood
swings. Less stable – Woody Allen.
 The
The Big
Big Five
Five Model
Model of
of Personality
Personality

Agreeable : Gentle, cooperative, forgiving, understanding, and good-

natured in their dealings with others.
Less agreeable : Irritable, short-tempered, uncooperative, and generally
antagonistic toward other people.
 The
The Big
Big Five
Five Model
Model of
of Personality
Personality

Conscientious : Focus on relatively few goals at one time are likely to be

organized, systematic, careful, thorough, responsible, and self-disciplined –
Margaret Thatcher, Ralph Nader
Less conscientious : Pursue a wider array of goals, and are more
disorganized, careless, and irresponsible, less thorough and less self-
disciplined – Iron Man.
Open to experience: Willing to listen to new ideas and to change their own
ideas, beliefs, and attitudes in response to new information. Have broad
interests and to be curious, imaginative, and creative – Einstein.
Less open to experience : Tend to be less receptive to new ideas and less
willing to change their minds. They have fewer and narrower interests and
to be less curious and creative – Spoke.
The
The Big
Big Five
Five Model
Model of
of Personality
Personality

Personality Dimensions and Job Performance

Conscientiousness people have high job performance in almost all
the occupations. They acquire high job knowledge by putting
greater level of efforts and thus contributes high towards their
performance.

Extroversion dominates performance in managerial and sales

positions because they involve high social interactions.

Openness to experience is important for finding out proficiency in

training. Similarly People with emotional stability are high on job
stability as compared to people who are anxious and insecure.
Major
Major Personality
Personality Attributes
Attributes Influencing
Influencing OB
OB
 Locus of control
 Machiavellianism
 Self-esteem
 Self-monitoring
 Risk taking
 Type A personality
 Locus
Locus of
of Control
Control
Locus of Control
The degree to which people believe they are masters
of their own fate.
Internals
Individuals who believe that they control what
happens to them. Initiative taking, motivated

Externals
Individuals who believe that what happens to
them is controlled by outside forces such as
luck or chance. Less satisfied, high
absenteeism
North America people think that they can dominate their environment.
Whereas people in other societies such as Middle Eastern countries,
believe that their life is preordained
Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism

Machiavellianism (Mach)
Degree to which an individual is pragmatic,
maintains emotional distance, and believes
that ends can justify means. They are very
much comfortable in game playing, power
politics and identifying influence system in org.

Conditions
ConditionsFavoring
FavoringHigh
HighMachs
Machs
••Direct
Directinteraction
interaction
••Minimal
Minimalrules
rulesand
andregulations
regulations
••Emotions
Emotionsdistract
distractfor
forothers
others
 Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem and
and Self-Monitoring
Self-Monitoring
Self-Esteem (SE)
Individuals’ degree of liking or
disliking themselves. Direct link
with degree of success.
Low esteem people always wants
to be directed.
Self-Monitoring
A personality trait that measures an individuals
ability to adjust his or her behavior to external,
situational factors. High Self monitoring people
are capable for putting different faces for diff.
kind of audiences.
Risk-Taking
Risk-Taking
 High Risk-taking Managers
– Make quicker decisions
– Use less information to make decisions
– Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial
organizations
 Low Risk-taking Managers
– Are slower to make decisions
– Require more information before making decisions
– Exist in larger organizations with stable environments
 Risk Propensity
– Aligning managers’ risk-taking propensity to job
requirements should be beneficial to organizations.
 Personality
Personality Types
Types
Type A’s
1. are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;
2. feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place;
3. strive to think or do two or more things at once;
4. cannot cope with leisure time;
5. are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in
terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire.

Type B’s
1. never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its
accompanying impatience;
2. feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements
or accomplishments;
3. play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their
superiority at any cost;
4. can relax without guilt.
Personality
Personality Types
Types

Proactive Personality
Identifies opportunities,
shows initiative, takes
action, and perseveres
until meaningful change
occurs.
Creates positive change
in the environment,
regardless or even in
spite of constraints or
obstacles.