PERSONALITY AND

ATTITUDE
UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

DEFINITION :
▼ Personality is defined as some total
ways in which an individual interacts
with people and reacts to situations.

▼ Personality is also defined as the traits

exhibited by a person during
interactions.
UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY
TRAITS
EXTRAVERSION INTROVERSIONS
▼ Comfortable with ▼ Preferred to be
other people themselves
▼ Sociable,talkative & ▼ Reluctant to interact
friendly. with others.
▼ Develop new ▼ Avoid developing new
relationships easily. relationships.
▼ Influence on job ▼ Can not influence
performance. ▼ Avoid interactive jobs
▼ Prefers interactive
jobs
 AGREEABLENESS

AGREEABLE LESS AGREEABLE

▼ Give importance in ▼ Give importance to
maintaining harmony. their own,opinions
▼ Good natured and values& needs.
cooperative and
trusting. ▼ Unlikely to develop
▼ Likely to develop good relationships.
good working
relationships
CONSCIENTIOUSENESS

CONSCIENTIOUS LESS
CONSCIENTIOUS
▼ Perfect goal setting ▼ Set too many goals
▼ Devotion towards goal ▼ Fail to achieve any
goal
▼ Responsible &
achievement oriented ▼ Lack of achievement
orientation
▼ Organized,responsible
& self disciplined ▼ Not organized
▼ Perform better in the ▼ Can not perform well
job
EMOTIONAL STABILITY
POSITIVE EMOTIONAL NEGATIVE EMOTIONAL
STABILITY STABILITY
▼ Emotionally secure ▼ Emotionally insecure
and tend to be calm

▼ Feeling of anxiety,&
▼ Enthusiastic about nervousness
their work

▼ Capable of
▼ Unable to withstand job
withstanding pressures
pressures
 OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE
HIGH LEVEL OF LOW LEVEL OF
OPENNESS OPENNESS
▼ Wide range of ▼ Narrow range of
interests interests
▼ Tends to be creative ▼ Rigid mind set
▼ Open to learning ▼ Reluctant towards
▼ Make good workers new ideas
▼ Make poor workers
 THE SELF CONCEPT

SELF EFFICACY SELF ESTEEM

▼ Persons perception to Self image of people
cope with different
situations ▼ Unique,competent
▼ Have capability secure& empowered
&required confidence
▼ Situation specific
▼ Generalized trait &
▼ Measured along- present in all
level,strength ,& situations
generality
PERSONALITY DETERMINANTS

HEREDITY :
▼ An individuals personality is determined
by the type of genes he inherits from his
parents
▼ Heredity plays an important role in
influencing an individuals personality.
 ENVIRONMENT
▼ Environment plays an important role in
shaping ones personality.

▼ Environmental factors such as culture

of the society,norms
 SITUATION

■ Different situations
bring out different
aspects of an
individuals personality.
PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES

LOCUS OF CONTROL
▼ Degree to which people believe that
they can control their fate or any
situation.
▼ Some people believed that they are
masters of their own fate.( Internals)
▼ Some believed that fate is controlled by
luck,chance or external
forces.(Externals)
 LOCUS OF CONTROL
■ INTERNALS ■ EXTERNALS
■ Committed to their work ■ Little commitment to work
■ Low rate of absenteeism ■ Frequently absent from
■ Satisfaction with the job work
■ Believed on themselves ■ Dissatisfaction with their
jobs
■ Tries to learn new things
■ Lack of achievement
■ Highly achievement
orientation
oriented.
■ Reluctant to take initiative
■ Perform better in
managerial jobs ■ Perform better in routine &
structured task
PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES
MACHIAVELLIANISM

▼ Refers to the degree to which an individual is

practical in his approach,maintains an emotional
distance from others.
▼ Individuals who scored high on Mach are good at
manipulating others& try to win by any mean.
▼ They successfully persuade others.
▼ Performs well in face to face meetings
▼ Productive in jobs that requires bargaining skills.
 SELF ESTEEM
■ Refers to degree of liking an individual for
himself.
■ People with high self esteem are confident.
■ Preference towards unconventional or
challenging jobs.
■ Do not care about pleasing others
■ Drives more satisfaction from their jobs.
■ Individuals with low self esteem lack
confidence,look for approval from others.
 SELF MONITORING

■ Refers to the ability of an individual to

adapt his behavior to the demands of the
situation.
■ High self monitors are capable of
changing their behavior according to the
situation.
■ Can play multiple and contradictory roles.
SELF MONITORING

■ They make successful managers and tend

to get promoted fast.
■ Low self monitors can not adapt quickly to
situations
■ Low self monitors do not advance in their
careers as high monitors
 RISK TAKING
■ Extend to which an individual is
preferred to take risk.
■ High risk takers make decision quickly.
■ Risk-averse people do not make
decisions in a hurry& gather a lot of
information.
■ The suitability of persons risk taking
depends on the responsibilities of job.
 TYPE A PERSONALITY
■ Individuals try to be fast in every thing they do.
■ Try to be involved in more than one thing at a
time.
■ The pace at which things generally happen
upsets them.
■ They are always busy and are unable to cope with
leisure time.
■ Measure their success in quantitative terms
■ Suitable for jobs that call for continuous hard
work,
TYPE B PERSONALITY
■ Do not experience a sense of urgency while
carrying out tasks.
■ Do not get upset if the tasks are not
accomplished within the specified span.
■ Do not consider necessary to discuss their
achievements unless asked.
■ Try to make the best use of leisure time
■ Suitable for the top management position as
they are wise,tactful and creative
 LEVINGSON’S THEORY OF
LIFE STAGES
According to Levinson’s theory,the four period
of stability occur between the following ages:
■ 22 - 28 : Adult stage

■ 33 - 40 : Process of settling down

■ 45 - 50 : Middle adulthood

■ 55 - 60 : Retirement or old age

 LEVINGSON’S THEORY OF LIFE
STAGES
FOUR TRANSITIONAL DIMENTIONS
Age thirty transition : 28 - 33 Yrs

▼ Mid life transition : 40- 45 yrs

▼ Age fifty transition : 50 - 55 yrs

▼ Late adult transition : 60 - 65 yrs

HALL’S CAREER STAGE MODEL
An individual goes through four stages during
his career.
■ EXPLORATION : Identity

■ ESTABLISHNENT : Settling down

■ MAINTENANCE : Reaches peak

■ DECLINE : Retirement
 ARGYRIS’ IMMATURITY TO
MATURITY THEORY
■ The personality of an individual depends
factors like perception,self-concept, and
his ability to adapt & adjust.

■ Continual change in the level of

development along with different
dimesions.

■ The development of an individuals

personality can be measured but it is
difficult to predict specific behavior.
ARGYRIS’ IMMATURITY TO
MATURITY THEORY
 ARGYRIS’ IMMATURITY TO
MATURITY THEORY
■ Personalities of the employees in the
organizations are at the mature end.

■ Formal organizations are failed to consider

them as mature & give them passive role.

■ The basic incongruity between the needs of a

mature personality and the nature of the
formal organization is the cause of conflict in
organizations.
 THE SOCIALIZATION
PROCESS
■ The process through which an individual’s
Personality is influenced by his interaction
with certain persons,groups and society at
large is referred as Socialization.

■ According to Schein the socialization

process in an organization is confined to
learning the values, norms, and behavioral
patterns.
 THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS
Characteristics of Socialization of
Employees in an Organization are :
■ Brings change in the attitude,values and
behavior of an individual.
■ Process continues for an extended period of
time.
■ Helps new employees to adjust with new
job,work groups ,policies & practices.
■ New employees as well as managers
influence each other.
■ Determines how well an employee fits into
the organization
 THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS
Steps taken by Organizations to
Socialize new employees :
■ Offers interesting & challenging job.
■ Provides objectives, relevant training and
timely feedback
■ Designs an informal orientation program.
■ Assigns new employees to work groups
that are highly satisfied & have high
morale
 MATCHING PERSONALITIES
WITH JOBS

■ JOB FIT THEORY BY JOHN HOLLAND

■ Established the relationship between personality

characteristics, requirement of a job,and job
performance.

■ Job satisfaction of an individual is determined

by the extent to which his personality matches
with the requirement of the job.
Biologist,mathematician Realistic
Physical activities
Investigative Shy, practical ,stable
Thinking
Analytical,independent Mechanic, farmer

Artistic
Creative
Imaginative
Musician,painter

Social Enterprising
teacher,counselor Lawyer
cooperative influence others
Helping others Self confident
Accountant file clerk

Conventional
Practical inflexible
Regulated activities
 MATCHING PERSONALITIES
WITH JOBS

Significant points made by Holland’s

Model are :
■ There are some intrinsic differences
among personalities
■ There are variety of jobs

■ Individuals whose personality matches

with their jobs are more satisfied.
 CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE

Attitude is a tendency to feel and

behave in a particular way towards
objects, people or events.
 CONCEPT OF ATTITUDES

Characteristic of Attitude:
■ Generally remained unchanged for prolonged
period of time unless he is influenced by
external forces.

■ Evaluative statements either favorable or

unfavorable

■ Refers to feelings and beliefs by an individual

towards an object.
 CONCEPT OF ATTITUDE
IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE

 Cognitive : Opinion,values & beliefs

 Affective : Feelings of a person

 Behavioral : Intention of a person

 SOURCES OF ATTITUDES
■ Acquired from parents,teachers and
members of the peer group.
■ Influenced by the people whom he
admires,respect or fears.
Attitudes can be changed by
■ providing new information

■ threatening

■ resolving differences

■ involving people in problem solving

■ providing right feedback

 TYPES OF ATTITUDE

■ JOB SATISFACTION

■ JOB INVOLVEMENT

■ ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
 JOB SATISFACTION
 Refers to an individuals general attitude
towards his or her job.

 Results when an individual perceives that

his job provides him with what is important
to him.
 JOB SATISFACTION

Dimensions of Job satisfaction are:

■ Job satisfaction is an emotional response to a
job.
■ Depends on the extent to which outcomes
meet his expectations.
■ Reflects other attitudes of employees.
JOB SATISFACTION

Six JOB DIMENSIONS

(P.C.Smith,L.M.Kendall,C.L.Hulin)
■ The work itself
■ Pay
■ Promotion opportunities
■ Supervision
■ Coworkers
■ Working conditions
 OUTCOMES OF JOB
SATISFACTION
■ Satisfaction &Productivity

■ Satisfaction &Turnover

■ Satisfaction & Absenteeism

■ Other effects of job Satisfaction

 JOB INVOLVEMENT

■ Refers to the extent to which a person

identifies his job, participates in it &
understands his self worth.

■ High level of job involvement leads to lower

absenteeism & employee turnover levels.
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
■ Refers to an employees satisfaction with a
particular organization & its goals.
Affected by number of variables
■ Personal variables -Age, tenure in the
organization & his attitude toward job.
■ Organizational variables-Job design & the
leadership style of superior
■ Non organizational factors- Influence an
employees commitment such as, State of job
market & other career options available to
employees
COMPONENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
Affective Commitment :
■ Concern with the employees emotional
attachment & involvement with the
organization
Continuance Commitment :
■ Influenced by the costs that could accrue to
the employee if he leaves the organization
Normative Commitment :
■ Refers to the extent to which an employee
feels obligated to continue the organization.
 FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE
■ ADJUSTMENT FUNCTION

■ THE EGO DEFENSIVE FUNCTION

■ THE VALUE EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION

■ THE KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION

 FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE

■ ADJUSTMENT FUNCTION
People modify their attitude to adjust to their
work environment.

Treating employees well may result in positive

attitude towards the organization.

Such attitudes help employees to adapt to their

environment & form the basis for their future
behavior.
FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE

THE EGO-DEFENSIVE FUNCTION

■ Attitudes not only enable employees to adapt
to their environment but also help them to
defend their self-images.
THE VALUE-EXPRESSIVE FUNCTION
■ People may express their values through their
attitudes.
THE KNOWLEDGE FUNCTION
■ Attitude provide a standard of reference which
allows people to understand & explain their
environment.
 ATTITUDE AND CONSISTENCY

■ People may change their attitudes so that

they do not contradict their actions.

■ Individuals constantly attempt to align their

attitudes with their behavior & tries to
eliminate any divergence among their
attitudes.
 COGNITIVE DISONANCE
THEORY
■ Proposed by Leon Festinger to explain the
relationship between attitudes & behavior.
■ Cognitive dissonance- Refers to the
incompatibility that an individual may perceive
between his behavior & attitudes.
■ Emotional dissonance- Refers to the conflict
between the emotions an individual
experiences & the emotions he needs to
express to confirm the norms.
 COGNITIVE DISONANCE
THEORY
The efforts made by an individual to reduce
dissonance depends on-
■ The significance of the elements that leads to
dissonance & the reward associated with it.

■ The greater the dissonance ,the higher the

pressure on the individual to overcome the
dissonance.