Personality

• Personality


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


  The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment
• Personality traits


  • Most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits, such as shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal and timid
• Factors that determine personality


  • Heredity
  • Situation
  • Environment
• Heredity approach


  • Genetics more influential than parents
  • Traits like shyness, fear, and distress are most likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics
  • Genetics accounts for about 50 percent of the variation in personality differences and over 30 percent of occupational and leisure interest variation
  • Individual job satisfaction is remarkably stable over time, indicating satisfaction is determined by something inherent in the person
• Personality characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity
• Environment approach


  • The culture in which we are raised
  • Early conditioning
  • Norms among our family
  • Friends and social groups
• Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an individual's full potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment
• Situation approach


  • Influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality
  • The different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one's personality
  • There is no classification scheme that tells the impact of various types of situations
  • Situations seem to differ substantially in the constraints they impose on behavior
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)


  A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types
• Myers-Briggs personality types


  • Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)
  • Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)
  • Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)
  • Judging vs. Perceiving (J or P)
• A Myers-Briggs Score can be valuable for self-awareness and career guidance, but should not be used as a selection tool because it has not been related to job performance
• The Big Five model of personality dimensions is widely accepted today because this model presents a blueprint for understanding the main dimensions of personality, and experts have found that these traits are universal and provide an accurate portrait of human personality
• The Big Five personality dimensions

  • Extroversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Conscientiousness
  • Openness to Experience
  • Emotional Stability
• Extroversion


  Sociable, gregarious, and assertive
• Agreeableness


  Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting
• Conscientiousness


  Reliable, responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized
• Openness to Experience


  Imaginativeness, artistic, sensitivity, and intellectualism
• Emotional Stability


  Calm, self-confident, secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative)
• Individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have higher job performance in most if not all occupations
• Emotional stability is most strongly related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels
• Individuals who score high on openness to experience are more creative in science and art than those who score low, and are more likely to be effective leaders and more comfortable with ambiguity and change
• Extraversion is a relatively strong predictor of leadership emergence in groups; extraverts are more socially dominant, "take charge" sorts of people, and they are generally more assertive than introverts
• Major personality attributes influencing organizational behavior

  • Core Self-Evaluation (Self-Esteem, Locus of Control)
  • Machiavellianism
  • Narcissism
  • Self-Monitoring
  • Risk Taking
  • Type A vs. Type B Personality
  • Proactive Personality
• Core Self-Evaluation


  People who have positive core self-evaluations like themselves and see themselves as effective, capable, and in control of their environment. Those with negative core self-evaluations tend to dislike themselves, question their capabilities, and view themselves as powerless over their environment.
• Components of Core Self-Evaluation


  • Self-Esteem
  • Locus of Control
• Self-Esteem


  Individuals' degree of liking or disliking themselves, degree of thinking they are worthy or unworthy as a person
• Locus of Control


  • The degree to which people believe they are masters of their own fate
  • Internals (Internal locus of control) - Individuals who believe that they control what happens to them
  • Externals (External locus of control) - Individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance
• Self Esteem


  • The degree to which a person likes or dislikes himself
  • It is directly related to expectations for success
  • Two types: High Self Esteem and Low Self Esteem
• Low self-esteem individuals are more susceptible to external influence than are high self-esteem individuals, and are dependent on the receipt of approval and acceptance from others
• Core Self-Evaluation


  Two main components: Self-Esteem and Locus of Control
• Locus of Control


  The degree to which people believe they are masters of their own fate
• Locus of Control Types

  • Internals (Internal locus of control) - Individuals who believe that they control what happens to them
  • Externals (External locus of control) - Individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance
• Self Esteem


  The degree to which a person likes or dislikes himself
• Self Esteem Types


  • High Self Esteem
  • Low Self Esteem
• Low Self Esteem


  • More susceptible to external influence than high SEs
  • Dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations from others
  • Seek approval from others and try to conform to the beliefs and behaviors of those they respect
  • Try to please others and therefore they would not take unpopular stands
  • In managerial positions, will tend to be concerned with pleasing others
• High Self Esteem


  • Believe that they possess the ability they need to succeed at work
  • Will take more risks in job selection
  • More likely to choose unconventional jobs than people with low self esteem
  • Not susceptible to external influences
  • More satisfied with their job
• Self-Monitoring


  A personality trait that measures an individual's ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors
• High Self-Monitoring


  • Capable of presenting striking contradictions between their public persona & private self
  • Tend to pay closer attention to the behavior of others & more capable of conforming than low self-monitoring
  • Capable of putting different "faces" for different audiences
  • High self-monitoring managers tend to be more mobile in their careers and receive more promotions
• Low Self-Monitoring


  • Cannot disguise themselves, tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation resulting in a high behavioral consistency between who they are and what they do