Personality, Perception and

Learning – Part 1
Chapters 2 & 3

Stelian Medianu, Ph.D.

Questions in today’s lecture
Personality
 What is personality and how is it relevant for organizational behaviour? Part 1

Perception
 What is perception?
Part 2
 How do we perceive ourselves and others?
 What are some of the basic biases in person perception?
Learning
 What is learning?
Part 3
 What do employees learn?
 How do people learn?
Questions in today’s lecture
Personality
 What is personality and how is it relevant for organizational behaviour?
Perception
 What is perception?
 How do we perceive ourselves and others?
 What are some of the basic biases in person perception?
Learning
 What is learning?
 What do employees learn?
 How do people learn?
Introduction to Personality

 Have you ever been teamed up with someone for a school or work project who just
seemed so different from you?
Introduction to Personality

John, a successful manager at an IT company, is known for his philosophy that you should
“treat every employee equally differently,” which comes from his days as a soccer coach.
Opinion Question

Imagine a scenario in which you are working under a tight deadline and a new co-worker stops
by your office and asks for help understanding a key report she needs to submit to her
manager.

 How are you likely to respond given your stress level and overall personality?
Opinion Question

Imagine a scenario in which you are working under a tight deadline and a new co-worker stops
by your office and asks for help understanding a key report she needs to submit to her
manager.

 How would your response affect a new employee who didn’t know you well?
What is Personality?

 Relatively stable

 Psychological characteristics

 Influences how a person feels, thinks, and behaves

 “What people are like”

Where does personality come from?

 Nature vs. Nurture?

 Both!
Opinion Question

Describe your personality by listing 2–3 adjectives that illustrate your behavior and
approach to life.
The Five-Factor Model of Personality

 Conscientiousness
 Agreeableness
 Neuroticism/emotional stability
 Openness to experience
 Extroversion
The Five-Factor Model of Personality
 Conscientiousness
 Agreeableness
 Neuroticism/emotional stability
 Openness to experience
 Extroversion
The Five-Factor Model of Personality

Jobs in which certain Five-Factor personality traits are more relevant:

The Five-Factor Model of Personality

How the Five-Factor personality traits influence organizational behaviour:

The Dark Triad
 Dark Triad: a group of negative personality traits consisting of Machiavellianism,
narcissism, and psychopathy
Machiavellianism

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

distance, and believes that ends can justify the means.

 The personality characteristic of Machiavellianism is named after Niccolò Machiavelli

(1469-1527)
Narcissism

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

require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.

 The trait is named for the Greek myth of Narcissus, a youth so vain and proud he fell in
love with his own image.
Psychopathy
 Psychopathy: The tendency for a lack of concern for others and a lack of guilt or remorse
when one’s actions cause harm.

 Psychopathy is related to the use of hard

influence tactics (threats, manipulation) and
bullying work behaviour (physical or verbal
threatening).
The Dark Triad
 Main characteristics of the Dark Triad personality traits (D'Souza, 2016).
This is the end of ‘Part 1’.

Once you are ready to continue with the lecture, please watch ‘Part 2’.