Introduction to Organizational Behavior

Session 7: Personality & Values

Session Objectives

• Understand the concept and determinants of personality

• Dominant frameworks for measuring personality

• How situation affects whether personality predicts behavior

Personality

• The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.

• Described in terms of measurable traits a person exhibits.

Determinants of Personality

• Is it heredity or environment?

• Heredity: Factors determined at conception. They are completely or substantially influenced by

parentage.

• Example: physical stature, gender, temperament, reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythm.

• Heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the
molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.

• Environment influences personality through family influences, cultural influence, educational

influences, and other environmental factors.
Trait theory of personality

Trait Theory
• Personality traits: Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.

• Example: shy, timid, aggressive, reserved, apprehensive, etc.

• Consistency over time and frequency of expression in diverse situations.

• When someone exhibits the characteristics in a large number of situations, they are called personality traits.
Dominant framework for measuring personality

1. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Respondents are classified as:

o Extraverted (E) vs. Introverted (I): Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive. Introverts are
quiet and shy.
o Sensing (S) vs. Intuitive (N): Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They focus on details.
Intuitives rely on the sub-conscious process and look at the “big picture”.
o Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F): Thinking type use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely on their
personal values and emotions.
o Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P): Judging types want control and prefer order and structure. Perceiving types are
flexible and spontaneous.
2. The Big-Five Personality Model
• Measure 5 basic dimensions that encompass most of the significant variation in human personality.

i. Extraversion
• Someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive.

• Introverts are reserved, timid, and quiet.

ii. Agreeableness:
• Someone who is cooperative, warm, and trusting.

• People low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.

iii. Conscientiousness
• Someone who is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent.

• People low on conscientiousness are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.

iv. Emotional stability

• Someone who is calm, self-confident, and secure.

• People low on emotional stability are nervous, depressed, and insecure.

v. Openness to experience
• Someone who is curious, creative, and artistically sensitive.

• People low on this dimension are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.
Influence of Big Five traits
at workplace behavior
3. The Dark Triad

• Socially undesirable traits

1. Machiavellianism: The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional

distance, and believes that ends can justify means.

2. Narcissism: The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, requires

excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.

3. Psychopathy: The tendency for a lack of concern for others and a lack of guilt or remorse when
their actions cause harm.
4. Approach Avoidance Framework

• Casts personality traits as motivation.

• The framework by which individuals react to stimuli, whereby, approach motivation is attraction
to positive stimuli and avoidance motivation is our aversion to negative stimuli.

• Organizes traits and may help explain how they predict behavior.
5. Other important personality traits

• Core self-evaluation: Bottom line conclusions individuals have about their capabilities,
competence, and worth as a person.

• Self-monitoring: A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust his/her behavior
to external, situational factors.

• Proactive Personality: People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and
persevere until meaningful changes occur.
Personality and Situations

1. Situation Strength Theory

o The way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation.

o Situation Strength: The degree to which norms, cues, or standards dictate appropriate behavior.

o Situation strength in the organizations can be analyzed in terms of:

 Clarity- the degree to which cues about work duties and responsibilities are available and clear.

 Consistency- the extent to which cues regarding work duties and responsibilities are compatible with one
another.

 Constraints- the extent to which individuals’ freedom to decide or act is limited by forces outside their control.

 Consequences- the degree to which decisions or actions have important implications for the organization or its
members, clients, supplies, and so on.
2. Trait Activation Theory
• A theory that predicts that some situations, events, or interventions activate a trait more than others.