Robbins & Judge

Organizational Behavior
Chapter
5
14th Edition

Personality
Kelli J. Schutte
William Jewell College

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

5-1
 An introduction
What is personality?
• The sum of ways in which an individual reacts to and
interacts with others, the measurable traits a person shows
• Impacts important work outcomes so useful for e.g. hiring
decisions

How can we measure it?

• The most common method is self-reporting surveys
• Problems are higher ratings and accuracy
• Observer-rating surveys provide an independent assessment
of personalities and are often better predictors
• A combination is better than any method alone for predicting
work performance

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 Determinants of a personality
• Heredity is a determinant

• It includes factors determined at conception

• One’s biological, physiological and inherent psychological

makeup

• Physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament,

muscle composition and reflexes, energy level and biological
rhythms

• However, there is some personality change over time and

with different experiences
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 Personality traits

• They are enduring characteristics that describe an

individual's behaviour

• The more consistent a characteristic over time and the more

frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important
that trait is for describing an individual

• The most popular personality frameworks are Myers-Briggs

Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Big Five model

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 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• 100 questions about how people usually feel or act
• 16 possible personality types e.g. ENTJ

Extroverte Introverte
d (E) d (I)

Sensing Intuitive
(S) (N)

Thinking Feeling
(T) (F)

Judging Perceiving
(J) (P)

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 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive.

Introverts are quiet and shy

• Sensing types are practical, prefer routine & order and focus on
details. Intuitives rely on unconscious processes and look at the
“big picture”

• Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling

types rely on their values and emotions

• Judging types want control and prefer order & structure.

Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous

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 Using MBTI

• Research results on MBTI are mixed

• This is a good tool for self-awareness and

career guidance

• However, it should not be used as a selection

test for job candidates
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 Big Five Model

• Sociable, gregarious and assertive

Extroversion

• Warm, good-natured, cooperative and

trusting
Agreeableness

• Responsible, dependable,
persistent and organized
Conscientiousness

• Calm, self-confident and secure under

Emotional stress
stability
• Curious, imaginative, artistic and
Openness to sensitive
experience

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 Using the Big Five model

• This model proposes that five basic dimensions underlie

all others and encompass most of the variation in
personalities

• A large amount of research supports the Big Five Model

• Therefore it is valuable for predicting job performance

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 Big Five traits predict behaviour
• Highly conscientious people develop more job knowledge,
exert greater effort and have better performance

• Emotional stability is related to higher job satisfaction

• Extroverts tend to be more satisfied in their jobs

• Open people are more adaptable to change and can be good

leaders

• Agreeable people are good in social settings

See E X H I B I T 5–1

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 Other personality traits relevant to OB

Core self-evaluations
• Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their
capabilities, competence and worth as a person (how
much people like or dislike themselves)
• Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance

Narcissism
The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-
importance, require excessive admiration and have a sense of
entitlement

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 Other personality traits relevant to OB

Machiavellianism
• A pragmatic person who keeps emotional distance and
believes that ends justify means
• Such individuals manipulate more, win more, are
persuaded less by others and persuade others more

Self-monitoring
• The ability to adjust behaviour to meet external, situational
factors
• High monitors conform more and are more likely to become
leaders
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 Other personality traits relevant to OB

Proactive Personality

• People who identify opportunities, show

initiative, take action and persevere until
meaningful change occurs

• Creates positive change in the environment and

have better job performance

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 Values
What are values?
• Basic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how to live your
life, that are personally or socially preferable
• Examples include freedom, honesty and equality
• They tend to be relatively enduring

Attributes of values
• Content Attribute: the mode of conduct or end-state is important
• Intensity Attribute: how important that mode or end-state is

Value system
This is a hierarchy based on the ranking of an individual’s values in
terms of their intensity

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 Importance of values

• They provide understanding of attitudes, motivation and

behaviour

• Influence our perception of the world

• Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong”

• Imply that some behaviours or outcomes are preferred over

others

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 Organizing values (Milton Rokeach)

Terminal values
Desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would
like to achieve during his/her lifetime e.g. economic success

Instrumental values
Preferable modes of behaviour or means of achieving terminal
values e.g. goal orientation

Value differences may create conflict so it is important to

understand and manage them well

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 Generational values

E X H I B I T 5-5

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 Linking personality and values to the workplace

Managers are less interested in someone’s ability to do a specific job

than in that person’s flexibility

Person-Job Fit Theory

• John Holland
• Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) has 160 occupational titles.
Respondents indicate which they like or dislike. Their answers
form personality profiles
• Key points
o 6 personality types
o Fit between personality type and occupational environment
determines satisfaction and turnover

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 Linking personality and values to the workplace

Person-Organization Fit
• This theory states that people are attracted to & selected by
organizations that match their values and they leave workplaces
not aligned with their personalities

• The Big Five model can be used for matching personalities to

organizational cultures e.g. highly open people & organizations
that emphasize innovation

• When there is alignment between an employee’s personality and

organization’s culture, there is higher employee satisfaction
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 Global implications

Frameworks like Big Five transfer across cultures

Values
• Values differ across cultures
• Hofstede’s framework for assessing culture has five value
dimensions
o Power distance
o Individualism vs Collectivism
o Masculinity vs Femininity
o Uncertainty avoidance
o Long-term vs Short-term Orientation

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 Power distance
The extent to which a society accepts that power in
institutions and organizations is distributed unequally
Low distance
Relatively equal power
between those with
status/wealth and those
without status/wealth

High distance
Extremely unequal power
distribution between those
with status/wealth and those
without status/wealth

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 Individualism vs collectivism
Individualism
The degree to which people prefer to act as individuals instead
of group members

Collectivism
A tight social framework in which people expect others in
groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect
them

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 Masculinity vs femininity

Masculinity
The extent to which the society favours work roles of
achievement, power & control and where assertiveness and
materialism are also valued

Femininity
The extent to which there is little differentiation between roles
for males and females

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 Uncertainty avoidance

The extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain

& ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them

High uncertainty avoidance

Society wants structure

Low uncertainty avoidance

Society is okay with lack of clarity

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 Time orientation
Long-term orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift
and persistence

Short-term orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the present

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 Hofstede’s framework: an assessment

• Values can be different within one country also

• The original data is old and based on only 1 organization

• Despite these problems, it remains a very popular

framework

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 The GLOBE framework for assessing cultures

Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program
9 dimensions of national culture

Similar to Hofstede’s framework with these additional

dimensions
• Humane Orientation (how much society rewards people for
being altruistic, generous and kind)
• Performance Orientation (how much society encourages and
rewards performance improvement and excellence)

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 Implications for management
• Screen job candidates for Big Five traits, depending on the
most important criteria for your organization

• Other factors, e.g. core self-evaluation, may be relevant in

certain situations

• MBTI can help in training and development

• Analyze the job and organization with the candidate’s

personality, to achieve fit

• Take into account situational factors when evaluating

personality
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© 2011 Pearson Education, 5-28