Organizational BehaviorPERSONALITY AND VALUES

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AgendaDefine personality, describe how it is measured, and explain the factors that determine an

individual’s personality.

Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and assess its strengths and

weaknesses.

Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model and demonstrate how the traits predict

behavior at work.

Identify other personality traits that are relevant to OB.

Define values, demonstrate the importance of values, and contrast terminal and instrumental

values.

Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.

Who is Richard Branson?

British entrepreneur Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, is described as energetic, enthusiastic, charismatic, decisive, ambitious, adaptable, courageous, and industrious.

These traits helped Branson build one of the most recognized and respected global brands for products and services in the areas of business travel, entertainment, and lifestyle.

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Personality

Personality is a dynamic concept describing the

growth and development of a person’s whole

psychological system;

The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts

to and interacts with others

Most often described in terms of measurable traits

that a person exhibits, such as shy, aggressive,

submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal and timid.

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Measuring PersonalitySelf-reports Surveys

Most common

Work well when well constructed

Might lie or practice impression management (conscientious or emotionally stable)

Might be less accurate in a bad mood.

Observer-ratings Surveys

Independent assessment by supervisor or co-workers.

A better predictor of success on the job

Use both observer ratings and self-report ratings when making important employment decisions.

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Should you try to change someone’s personality?

Personality Determinants

Should you try to change someone’s personality?

Heredity versus environment

Personality Determinants

Heredity is the most dominant factor

Twin studies: genetics more influential than parents

On identical twins who were separated at birth and raised

separately.

Twins raised apart have much in common.

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A study on twinsOne set of twins separated for 39 years and raised 45 miles apart were found to drive the

same model and color car.

They chain-smoked the same brand of cigarette, owned dogs with the same name, and

regularly vacationed within three blocks of each other in a beach community 1,500 miles

away.

Researchers have found that genetics accounts for about 50 percent of the personality

similarities between twins and more than 30 percent of the similarities in occupational

and leisure interests.

Personality Determinants

Environmental factors do have some influence.

Aging influences levels of ability

Basic personality is constant.

Children become smarter as they age, so nearly everyone is smarter at age 20 than

at age 10.

Personality is more changeable in adolescence and more stable among adult.

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Measuring Personality Traits: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

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Most widely used personality-assessment instrument in the world Respondents are classified as,

In other words, Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and

assertive. Introverts are quiet and shy.

Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N). Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They

focus on details. Intuitives rely on unconscious processes and look at the “big picture.”

Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F). Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling

types rely on their personal values and emotions.

Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P). Judging types want control and prefer their world to be

ordered and structured. Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.

Classifications combined into 16 personality types (i.e. INTJ or ESTJ)

The Types and Their UsesEach of the sixteen possible combinations has a name, for instance:

Visionaries (INTJ) – original, stubborn, and driven

Organizers (ESTJ) – realistic, logical, analytical, and businesslike

Conceptualizer (ENTP) – entrepreneurial, innovative, individualistic, and resourceful

Research results on validity mixed: There is no in-between, though in reality people can be both extraverted and introverted to some degree.

MBTI® is a good tool for self-awareness and counseling.

Should not be used as a selection test for job candidates.

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Examples of MBTI types

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Personality predicts the performance?

How did Andrea Jung succeed?

She is sociable, agreeable, conscientious,

emotionally stable, and open to experiences.

These personality traits have contributed to her high

job performance and career success.

Since joining Avon in 1994, Jung has led a dramatic

turnaround of a company.

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Extroversion• Sociable, gregarious, and assertive

Agreeableness• Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting

Conscientiousness

• Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized

Emotional Stability

• Calm, self-confident, secure under stress (positive), versus nervous, depressed, and insecure under stress (negative)

Openness to Experience

• Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive

The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions

How the Big Five traits predict behavior

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How the Big Five traits predict behavior

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The five factors appear in almost all cross-cultural studies.

Differences seem to depend on whether countries are

predominantly individualistic or collectivistic.

They appear to predict a bit better in individualistic than in

collectivist cultures.

Where does the innovation of Nintendo come from?

Positive core self-evaluation helps Satoru Iwata meet the challenges of his job as CEO of Nintendo.

Confident and capable, Iwata has applied his years of experience and innovation as a game developer.

Iwata views his job as an opportunity to cultivate new customers.

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Other personality traits relevant to OB

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Core Self-Evaluation (Self-perspective)

Self-Monitoring

Type-A personality

Risk Taking

Proactive Personality

Dark triad of personality

Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

Core Self-Evaluation

The degree to which people like or dislike themselves.

Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance as well as job satisfaction.

Salesperson with positive CSE provide better customer service, leading to better job

performance.

Too positive: What happens when someone thinks he is capable but is actually incompetent?

One study of CEOs showed that many are overconfident, and their perceived infallibility

often causes them to make bad decisions.

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Example of questionsI am confident I get the success I deserve in life.

Sometimes I feel depressed. (r)

When I try, I generally succeed.

Sometimes when I fail I feel worthless. (r)

I complete tasks successfully.

Sometimes, I do not feel in control of my work. (r)

Overall, I am satisfied with myself.

I am filled with doubts about my competence. (r)

I determine what will happen in my life.

I do not feel in control of my success in my career. (r)

I am capable of coping with most of my problems.

There are times when things look pretty bleak and hopeless to me. (r)

Joyce McIntyre’s caseJoyce McIntyre is always in trouble at work.

Though she’s competent, hardworking, and productive, in performance reviews she is rated no

better than average, and she seems to have made a career of irritating bosses.

Joyce’s problem is that she’s politically inept. She’s unable to adjust her behavior to fit changing

situations.

As she puts it, “I’m true to myself. I don’t remake myself to please others.”

Low self-monitor

More Relevant Personality Traits Self-Monitoring:

The ability to adjust behavior to meet external, situational factors.

High monitors can behave differently in different situations.

Low self-monitors display their true attitudes in every situation.

High self-monitors receive better performance ratings, are more likely

to emerge as leaders, and show less commitment to their organizations.

They receive more promotions, and are more likely to occupy central

positions in an organization.

I’m a Chameleon!!

Even More Relevant Personality Traits

Type A Personality

Aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more in less time

Impatient: always moving, walking, and eating rapidly

Strive to think or do two or more things at once

Cannot cope with leisure time

Obsessed with achievement numbers

Prized in North America but quality of the work is low

Type B people are the complete opposite

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 5-26

More Relevant Personality Traits Risk Taking

The willingness to take chances.

May be best to align propensities with job requirements.

Risk takers make faster decisions with less information.

Proactive Personality

Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres to completion

Creates positive change in the environment (many desirable behaviors that organizations covet).

They are more likely than others to be seen as leaders and to act as change agents.

CasesKuzi is a young bank manager in Taiwan. He’s had three promotions in the past 4 years and makes no apologies for the aggressive tactics he’s used to propel his career upward. “I’m prepared to do whatever I have to do to get ahead,” he says.

Hans likes to be the center of attention. He looks at himself in the mirror a lot, has extravagant dreams, and considers himself a person of many talents.

Machiavellian

Narcissist

Dark Triad of PersonalityMachiavellianism: The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains

emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.

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

importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.

Psychopathy: The tendency to impulsive thrill-seeking, cold affect, manipulation,

and antisocial behaviors

What is Machiavellianism?

A behavioral disposition that may incite one to employ aggressive, exploitive and devious tactics in order to achieve one’s goals.

A strategy of social conduct that involves manipulating others for personal gain, often against the other's self-interest.

High Machiavellian is an individual who is socially manipulative and who engages in political behaviors.

A pragmatic, emotionally distant power-player who believes that ends justify the means.

Effective?

High Machs win more, are persuaded less, and persuade others more than do low

Machs.

They like their jobs less, are more stressed by their work, and engage in more

deviant work behaviors.

High Machs flourish when:

Have direct interaction (face to face)

Work with minimal rules and regulations

Emotions distract others.

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What is Narcissism?

Narcissism

An arrogant, entitled, self-important person who needs excessive

admiration.

An Oracle executive described that company’s CEO Larry Ellison as

follows: “The difference between God and Larry is that God does not believe

he is Larry.

Because narcissists often want to gain the admiration of others

and receive affirmation of their superiority, Narcissists tend to

treat others as if they were inferior.

More charismatic and thus more likely to emerge as leaders.

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ResultsMost evidence suggests;

Narcissists tend to be selfish and exploitive.

While narcissists thought they were better leaders than their colleagues, their

supervisors actually rated them as worse.

Their bosses rate them as less effective at their jobs than others, particularly

when it comes to helping people.

Narcissistic CEOs generate higher levels of manager turnover, although

curiously, members of external organizations see them as more influential.

Generational Changes in What is Valued in a Job

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Values

Represent basic, enduring convictions that "a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence."

Values are important to clearly understand individuals.

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Values

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Importance of Values

Values lay the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation.

Values generally influence attitudes and behaviors.

We can predict reaction based on understanding values.

Value Systems

Represent a prioritizing of individual values by: Content – importance to the individual Intensity – relative importance with other values

The hierarchy tends to be relatively stable

Values are the foundation for attitudes, motivation, and behavior

Influence perception and cloud objectivity

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Rokeach Value Survey

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Terminal values refers to desirable

end-states of existence

Goals that a person would like to ac

hieve during his or her lifetime

Instrumental values refers to preferable

modes of behavior or means of achieving

the terminal values

Examples of Terminal Values

A comfortable life (a prosperous life)

An exciting life (stimulating, active life)

A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution)

A world of peace (free of war and conflict)

A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)

Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all)

Family security (taking care of loved ones)

Freedom (independence, free choice)

Happiness (contentedness)

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Examples of Instrumental Values

Ambitious (hard working, aspiring)

Broad-minded (open-minded)

Capable (competent, efficient)

Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)

Clean (neat, tidy)

Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)

Forgiving (willing to pardon others)

Helpful (working for the welfare of others)

Honest (sincere, truthful)

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Mean value ranking executives, union members, and activists (top five only)

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Source: Based on W. C. Frederick and J. Weber, “The Values of Corporate Managers and Their Critics: An Empirical Description and Normative Implications,” in W. C. Frederick and L. E. Preston (eds.) Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1990), pp. 123–44.

Linking Personality and Values to the Workplace

Personality and value are important because they have been linked to

workplace outcomes.

John Holland’s Personality-Job Fit Theory

Six personality types: realistic, investigative, social, conventional,

enterprising, and artistic

Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)

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Relationships Among Occupational Personality Types

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The closer the

occupational fields,

the more

compatible.

The further apart

the fields, the

more dissimilar.

Need to match personality

type with occupation.

Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplace

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Key Points of the Model

There appear to be intrinsic differences in personality between

people

There are different types of jobs.

People in jobs congruent with their personality should be more

satisfied and have lower turnover

Person-Organization Fit

It is more important that employees’ personalities fit with the organizational culture than with the characteristics of any specific job.

The fit predicts job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover.

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Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplace

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People high on extraversion fit well with aggressive and team-oriented cultures,

People high on agreeableness match up better with a supportive organizational climate than one focused on aggressiveness,

People high on openness to experience fit better in organizations that emphasize innovation rather than standardization.

The Right Personality for a Global Workplace

Global Implications

The Big Five Model appears across a wide variety of cultures

Primary differences based on factor emphasis and type of country

Values differ across cultures

Two frameworks for assessing culture:

Hofstede

GLOBE

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Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures

Five factors:

Power Distance

Individualism vs. Collectivism

Masculinity vs. Femininity

Uncertainty Avoidance

Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation

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Hofstede’s Five Value Dimensions of National Culture

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Power Distance

The extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.

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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

Individualism vs. Collectivism

Individualism

The degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as member of groups

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

Versus

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Masculinity vs. Femininity

Masculinity The extent to which the society values work roles of achievement, power, and

control, and where assertiveness and materialism are also valued

Femininity The extent to which there is little differentiation between roles for men and women

Versus

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Uncertainty Avoidance

The extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them

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High Uncertainty Avoidance: Society does not like

ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them.

Low Uncertainty Avoidance: Society does not mind

ambiguous situations and embraces them.

Long-term vs. Short-term 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 and the here and now

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Keep in Mind…Personality The sum total of ways in which individual reacts to, and interacts

with others

Easily measured

Big Five Personality Traits Related to many OB criteria

May be very useful in predicting behavior

Values Vary between and within cultures

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