PERSONALITY

AND VALUES
WEEK # 4
I Q R A FAT I M A
OUTLINE
• Define Personality, description and factors determining personality.
• Myers- Briggs type indicator.
• Big five personality model.
• Big five traits predict behavior at work.
• Identify other personality traits relevant to OB.
• Define Values and the importance of values.
• Linking an individual’s personality and values to the workplace.
• International values.
PERSONALITY
• “The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical
systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment”. Gordon
Allport
OR
Personality as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts
with others consisting of measurable traits a person exhibits.

MEASURING PERSONALITY
Helpful in hiring Decision.
Most common method: Self-Reporting surveys.
Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent assessment of personality-
often better predictors
• Personality Determinants which is more influential --- Heredity or
Environment?
• Research Suggest Heredity wins……
• Twins was raised apart have much in common. One set of twins- separated for
39 years- raised 45 miles apart - same model and color car - chain smoked
same brand of cigarette- owned dogs with the same names - regularly
vacationed at the same beach1500 miles away.
• Researches says Genetics accounts for 50% of the personality similarities
between twins and more than 30% of the similarities of the occupational and
leisure interests.
• The personality of identical twins raised in different households are more
similar to each other than to the personalities of siblings with whom the twins
were raised.
 PERSONALITY TRAIT
Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.
• The more consistent characteristic and the more frequently it occurs
in diverse situations, the more important the trait is.

• Two dominant frameworks used to describe personality

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
 The Big Five Personality Model
THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR
(MBTI)
• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely used
personality assessment instrument in the world.
• It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they
usually feel or act in particular situations.
• Respondents are classified as extraverted or introverted (E or I),
sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling (T or F), and
judging or perceiving (J or P).
• Most widely used instrument in the world.
• Participants are classified on 4 axes to determine one of 16 possible personality types,
such as ENTJ.

Extraverted individuals
are outgoing, sociable, and Introverts are quiet and shy
assertive.

Sensing types are practical Intuitive rely on unconscious

and prefer routine and order processes and look at the “big
picture.”

Thinking types use reason and Feeling types rely on their

personal values and emotions.
logic to handle problems.

Judging types want control and Perceiving types are flexible

prefer their world to be ordered and and spontaneous.
structured.
These classifications together describe 16 personality types, identifying every
person by one trait from each of the four pairs.
Introverted/ Intuitive/Thinking/Judging people (INTJs) are visionaries - original minds
and great drive. They are skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and often stubborn.
 ESTJs are organizers - realistic, logical, analytical, and decisive and have a natural head
for business or mechanics.
The ENTP type is a conceptualizer - innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attracted
to entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be resourceful in solving challenging
problems but may neglect routine assignments.
Research result on validity mixed.
 Valuable tool for increasing self-awareness and providing career guidance.
 Unrelated to job performance.
 Shouldn’t use it as a selection test for job candidates
 THE BIG FIVE MODEL OF
PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS
• Extroversion Sociable, gregarious and assertive.
• Agreeableness Good- natured, Trusting and
cooperative.
• Conscientiousness Responsible, persistent, dependable
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.
HOW DO THE BIG FIVE TRAITS PREDICT
BEHAVIOR?
• Research has shown this is to be a better framework,
• Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to higher performance.
• Highly conscientious people have develop more job knowledge, exert greater
effort, and have better performance.
• Other Big Five traits also have implications for work.
– Emotional stability is related to job satisfaction.
– Extroverts tend to be happier in their jobs and have good social skills.
– Open people are more creative and can be good leaders.
– Agreeable people are good in social settings.
OTHER PERSONALITY TRAITS RELEVANT TO OB

• Core Self –Evaluation: Bottom- line conclusions individuals have about their
capabilities, competence, and worth as a person.
– Positive core self- evaluation like themselves and see them selves as effective, capable and
in control of their environment.
– Negative core self evaluation tend to dislike themselves question their capabilities and
view themselves as powerless over their environment.
• Machiavellianism: The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains
emotional distance and believes that ends can justify means.
– Researches found that MACHS manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less and
persuade others more as compare to low MACHS.
• Narcissism: The tendency to be arrogant, have a
grandiose sense of self importance, require
excessive admiration and have a sense of entitlement.

• Self Monitoring: A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to

adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors.
High Self Monitors --- Pays close attention to behavior of others, more
capable of conforming. receive better performance rating, more likely to
become leaders show less commitment to their organization.
• Risk Taking
• The willingness to take chances.
• May be best to align propensities with
job requirements.
• Risk takers make faster decisions with
less information.
• Assess the job and trait…..
– High Risk Taking ---------
Effective performance --------
Stock trader.
– Risk Taking ---------------- Major
Obstacle ---------------- Accountant
(auditing activities).
• Proactive Personality:
• People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take actions, and persevere
until meaningful change occurs.

Personality Trait Value

Enduring Characteristics Very Specific.
Describes a person Behavior Describe belief systems rather
than behavioral tendencies.
VALUES
• Basic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how to live your life that is
personally and socially preferable- “How To” to live life properly.
• They contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individual’s ideas as
to what is right, good, or desirable
• Attribute of Values:
• Content Attribute : a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is important.
• Intensity Attribute : specifies how important it is.
• Value System:
• A person’s values rank ordered by intensity.
• Tend to be relatively constant and consistent.
CLASSIFYING VALUE--- ROKEACH VALUE
SURVEY.
• Typology of value with two sets:
• Terminal Values: refers to desirable end-states. These are the goals a person
would like to achieve during his or her lifetime.
• Instrumental values : Refers to preferable modes of behavior, or means of
achieving the terminal values
INSTRUMENTAL VALUE TERMINAL VALUE

BEING RESPONSIBLE, DEPENDABLE, TRUE FRIENDSHIP

RELIABLE

AMBITIOUS A COMFORTABLE LIFE

LINKING PERSONALITY AND VALUES TO THE
WORKPLACE
• Managers today are less interested in an applicant’s ability to perform a
specific job than with his or her flexibility to meet changing situations and
commitment to the organization.
Person–Job Fit
– John Holland’s personality–job fit theory
– He proposed six personality types and proposes that satisfaction and
the propensity to leave a position depend on how well individuals
match their personalities to a job.
– Holland developed the Vocational Preference Inventory questionnaire,
which contains 160 occupational titles.
Key point of the Model:
1.There appear to be intrinsic
differences in personality among
individuals
2.There are different types of jobs.
3.People in jobs congruent with
their personality should be more
satisfied and less likely to
voluntarily resign than people in
incongruent jobs.
In addition to matching the individual’s personality to the job, managers are also
concerned with,
• Person–Organization Fit
– The person–organization fit essentially argues that people are attracted to and
selected by organizations that match their values, and they leave organizations that
are not compatible with their personalities.
– At the time of hiring we should identify new employees who fit better with the
organization’s culture, which should, in turn, result in higher employee satisfaction
and reduced turnover.
– Research on person–organization fit has also looked at whether people’s values
match the organization’s culture.
GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS
• International Values
One of the most widely referenced approaches for analyzing variations among cultures was
done in the late 1970s by Geert Hofstede.
• Power distance
A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power in
institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
• Individualism versus collectivism
Individualism is the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members
of groups and believe in individual rights above all else. Collectivism emphasizes a tight
social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after
them and protect them.
• Masculinity versus femininity.
Hofstede’s construct of masculinity is the degree to which the culture favors traditional masculine
roles such as achievement, power, and control, as opposed to viewing men and women as equals.
Femininity, A national culture attribute that indicates little differentiation between male and
female roles; a high rating indicates that women are treated as the equals of men in all aspects of
the society.
• Uncertainty avoidance.
The degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations defines
their uncertainty avoidance.
• Long-term versus short-term orientation.
People in a culture with long-term orientation look to the future and value thrift, persistence, and
tradition. In a short-term orientation people value the here and now; they accept change more
readily and don’t see commitments as impediments to change.
 HOME TASK
You have to go through the “generational values” from your book
and then we will have a small discussion on that.