CHAPTER: PERSONALITY

Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and

interacts with others. Or Personality is generally defined as the deeply
ingrained and relatively enduring patterns of thought, feeling and behavior.
In fact, when one refers to personality, it generally implies to all what is
unique about an individual, the characteristics that makes one stand out in a
crowd. Personalities is the sum total of individuals Psychological traits,
characteristics, motives, habits, attitudes, beliefs and outlooks.

Personality determinants:

Heredity : Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at

conception. Physical structure, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament,
muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms are
characteristics that are generally considered to be either completely or
substantially influenced by who your parents were, that is by their biological,
physiological and inherent psychological makeup.

Environment : The environmental factors that exert pressures on our

personality formation are the culture in which we are raised, our early
conditioning, the norms among our family, friends and social groups, and
other influences that we experience. The environment to which we are
exposed plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities.

Situation : A third factor, the situation, influences the effects of heredity and
environment on personality. An individuals personality although generally
stable and consistent, does change in different situations. The varying
demand of different situation calls forth different aspects of ones
personality. We should not therefore look upon personality patterns in
isolation.

Self Awareness:
Self Awareness knows your motivations; preferences, personality and
understanding how these factors influence your judgment, decisions and
interactions with other people. Through self-awareness one develops the
ability to know how you are feeling and why, and the impact your feelings
have on your behaviour. But it involves a capacity to monitor and control
those strong but subliminal biases that all us harbor and that skew our
decision making. Internal feelings and thoughts, interests, strengths and
limitations, values, skills, goals, abilities, leadership orientation and preferred
communication style are just a few elements that self awareness comprises.

Benefits:

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Self-awareness or self-knowledge is the starting point for effectiveness at
work. Machiavelli, the astute author and statesman, wrote, To lead or
attempt to lead without first having a knowledge of self is foolhardy and sure
to bring disaster and defeat. Self-awareness has many benefits, among
them.
Understanding yourself in relation to others
Developing and implementing a sound self-improvement program
Setting appropriate life and career goals
Developing relationships with others
Understand the value of diversity
Managing others effectively
Increasing productivity
Increasing your ability to contribute to Organizations, your community and
family.

In others words it helps one to know what one is good at and choose a career
they enjoy. Depending on others thoughts or beliefs in terms of what is good
for us leads to personal and professional unhappiness.
By knowing our strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes by ourselves - will
help us know where we stand?
Self-awareness is also important for managers and Organizations as one who
have attained heightened states of self-awareness tend to be superior
performers. This is because they can relate and understand others better
and thus will be capable of reducing the potential of conflict. Usually this kind
of person will be open to feedback and make positive modifications to
personal behavior so as to create trusting and productive work
environments. Working effectively with others will therefore increase
managerial and Organizational effectiveness.

Self-awareness is also a crucial component in understanding the

Organization in which one is operating, as each of us can be thought of as an
instrument for assessment and change. By asking us a series of questions we
can diagnose our situation and develop some solutions to problems our
Organizations or we are experiencing. Doing this requires strong self-
awareness of our emotional reactions, initial perceptions, biases and
judgments.

Lack of self-awareness can lead to poor decisions, to an unrealistic notion of

ones competencies and to even career derailment.

How to Gain?
The first step in becoming aware of ourselves is to recognize our
weaknesses, strengths, biases, attitudes, values and perceptions. There are
many ways to enhance our self-awareness. Some of these include analyzing
our own experiences, looking at ourselves through the eyes of others, self-

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disclosure, acquiring diverse experiences and increasing our emotional
intelligence.

Self-analysis requires people to examine themselves as an object in an

experience or event. It requires a person to step back and observe the
positive and the negative impact that may have influenced behaviours,
attitudes, thoughts or interactions. Self-analysis is not always an easy
process, yet it is a necessary skill for synthesizing information relevant to
professional or personal effectiveness.

The self-analysis process should begin with reflection on and exploration of

thoughts and feelings associated with effective events. By reflecting on these
feelings and thoughts, individuals can obtain new perspectives relevant to
their lives based on these learning experiences. From obtaining new
knowledge and perspectives, individuals can become more effective by
implementing new behavioural and cognitive changes in future situations.

One of the means to gain insight about our self is through reflecting on,
examining and analyzing our behaviour, personality, attitudes and
perceptions.

Behaviour is the way in which we conduct ourselves-the way in which we

act. Our
behaviour is influenced by our feelings, judgments, beliefs, motivations,
needs, experience and opinions of others. Patterns of behaviour develop
through our reactions to events and actions over a period of time. Behaviour
consist of four components:

Motivation: The drive to pursue one action over another. Being aware of our
core
drivers, those things that motivate you positively or negatively- can help you
understand the roots of your behaviour and make adjustments as necessary
to modify your behaviour.

Modes of thinking: the way you process the various inputs your brain
receives.
Being aware of how you take in and make sense of information can help you
understand how you make judgments or decisions that lead to choosing one
behaviour or course of action over another.

Modes of acting: the course of action you apply in a given situation. Being
aware of how you express your reaction to the things that happen to and
around you can help you understand the alternatives available to you when
certain events arise.

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 Modes of interacting: the way in which you communicate and share ideas,
opinions and feelings with others. Being aware of how you talk and work with
others can help you understand how your preferred style meshes with those
with whom you work and live.

Personality: describes the relatively stable set of characteristics,

tendencies and temperaments that have been formed by heredity and by
social, cultural and environmental factors. These traits determine how we
interact with and react to various people and situations. Some of the aspects
of personality are believed to be a result of nature-those traits with which we
are born and that we posses through heredity. Other characteristics of our
personality are thought to be as a result of our environment-those factors
that we acquire through exposure to people and events in our lives.
Personality traits are enduring characteristics that describe an individuals
attitude and
behaviour. Examples are agreeableness, aggression, dominance and
shyness. Most of these traits have been found to be quite stable over time.
This means a person who is cold and uncaring in one situation is likely to
behave similarly in other situations. The Big five model is a powerful
instrument because it organizes numerous concepts into a short list of just
five factors that are representative of the characteristics that can be linked
with satisfaction and success. The Big Five has five primary components:
extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, conscientiousness and
openness to experience.

Extroversion: represents the degree to which an individual is social or

antisocial, outgoing or shy, assertive or passive, active or inactive and
talkative or quiet. A person who rates high for first traits in these pairs is
extroverted, while someone who rates high for second traits is introverted.
Extroversion or introversion, in itself, is not necessarily bad, but extremes at
both the ends of the spectrum can be equally dysfunctional. A person who is
too outgoing could be perceived as overbearing and a person who is too
reserved would lack the skills to relate to others.

Agreeableness: measures the degree to which a person is friendly or

reversed, cooperative or guarded, flexible or inflexible, trusting or cautious,
good natured or moody, softhearted or tough and tolerant or judgmental.
Those scoring high on the first element of these paired traits are viewed as
more disagreeable and difficult to work with. Being too agreeable could
cause a person to be too accommodating, however the others may take
advantage of this weaknesses.

Emotional Stability: characterizes the degree to which a person is

consistent or inconsistent is how they react to certain events, reacts
impulsively or weighs options before acting and takes things personally or
looks at a situation objectively.

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Those who rate high on emotional stability are viewed as generally calm,
stable having a positive attitude, able to manage their anger, secure, happy
and objective. Those who rate low are more likely to be anxious, depressed,
angry, insecure, worried and emotional.

Conscientiousness: represents the degree to which an individual is

dependable or inconsistent, can be counted on or is unreliable, follows
through on commitments or are generally perceived to be careful, thorough,
organized, persistent, achievement oriented, hardworking and persevering.
Those who score lower on this dimension are more likely to be viewed as
inattentive to detail, uncaring, disrespectful, not interested or motivated
unorganized, apt to give up easily and lazy.

Openness to experience: characterizes the degree to which people are

interested in broadening their horizons or limiting them, learning new things
or sticking with what they already know, meeting new people or associating
with current friends and co-workers, going to new places or restricting
themselves to known places. Individuals who score high on this factor tend to
be highly intellectual, broad minded. Curious, imaginative and cultured.
Those who rate lower tend to be more narrow minded, less interested in the
outside world and uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and situations.
Professionals who are open to experience are more willing to reflect on
feedback for personal development.

Self-monitoring: is the tendency to adjust our behaviour relative to the

changing demands of social situations. The concept of monitoring our own
personality can help us come to grips with both those qualities we view as
positive and those we would like to change. By being aware of the role of
self-monitoring, we can assess our own behaviours and attitudes; diagnose
which elements we are satisfied with, and identify and develop plans for
addressing those aspects we want to change. When self-monitoring, it is
important to want to set personal standards in accordance with certain
accepted norms. High self-monitors are very sensitive to external cues and
constantly adapt their true selves to conform to a situation or set of
expectations. Low self-monitors are more consistent, displaying their
feelings, attitudes and behaviours in every situation
Attitudes are evaluative statements or learned pre-dispositions to respond
to an object, person or an idea in a favorable or unfavorable way. Attitudes
are narrow in scope. They can vary from situation to situation. Strong
attitudes can have an impact on professional and personal relationship. Our
attitude can determine whether we think positively and take control of a
situation or think negatively and feel helpless to change or respond to a
situation. Our attitude is an important component of our ability to be
productive at work.

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Our attitudes can influence people around us. Being aware of our own
attitudes and making choices about which attitude to display to others is
very important to us as individuals or as managers. Our attitude can affect
our behaviour as well as our interaction with others. Our friends, significant
others, family members, co-workers and others are definitely influenced by
our thought and feelings towards situations. As managers it is also important
to recognize that our employees are affected by the attitudes we display
towards them and towards the work that needs to get done. A managers
attitude is a large factor in how people feel about their jobs. If a manager is
upbeat most of the time and supportive of his or her colleagues, employees
will generally respond well and work hard to produce the desired results. On
the other hand if a manager is pessimistic and belittling towards his or her
employees, staff morale will suffer and ultimately so will the expected
outcomes.

Perceptions: Perception describes the process by which individuals gather

sensory information and assign meaning to it. When we encounter a person
or situation, we use our senses to absorb various inputs. Next our brains
select aspects from stored information in order to process and organize these
inputs. Finally our brains interpret and evaluate the person or situation.
Individual perception may not always be consistent with reality; it is only
perceivers interpretation of reality. Our perceptions are influenced by many
factors, such as our culture, environment, heredity, the media, peers, past
experiences, intelligence, needs, emotions, attitudes and values. Perception
can be the result of multiple causality. As human beings we tend to form
perceptions based on our biases. If we are not aware of our biases and dont
check our understanding with others, we might miss out on important
information and situations by relying on distorted perceptions. Some of the
more common filters are stereotyping, selective perception, projection
expectation and interest. Others Perceptions about us is also viewed to be
important, as we can understand how we are shaped by others opinions of
us. This concept is referred to as social mirroring. By seeing ourselves
through others eyes we can learn about our strengths and also about areas
in which we can improve. Learning to read accurately how others see us
enhances our self-maps our images and judgments of our self.
Self-disclosure: Another means of self-awareness is through self disclosure-
sharing your thoughts, feelings and ideas with others without self-deception,
without distortion. Talking to others allows sharing our feelings and
responses. Self-disclosure is a key factor in improving self-awareness; we
must disclose information and interact with others to further clarify our
perceptions.

Diverse Experiences: Another way of increasing self-awareness is through

acquiring multiple experiences in diverse situations and with diverse others.
As we encounter new situations, we use skills and acquire new ones, meet
people and develop friendships, see new places and learn firsthand about

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things we might have only read about. Being open to experiences broadens
our horizons. It helps us to see ourselves in a new light while giving us new
information about ourselves and our ability to interact with the world. This
boosts our confidence level and encourages us to reach out to further our
experiences even more.