Personality

By
Dr. Sampath Kappagoda
Faculty of Management Studies
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
Learning objectives
• After reading this chapter, you should be able to
1. Understand What is personality and why do people’s
personalities differ
2. Explain the factors that determine an individual’s
personality
3. Identify the theories of personality
4. Identify the key traits in the Big five personality model
5. Explain the impact of job typology on the personality job
performance relationship
Definition

•Personality is the combination of characteristics or

qualities that forms a person's unique identity.

Personality trait is basically influenced by two major

features −

1. Inherited characteristics
2. Learned characteristics
Inherited Characteristics

• The features an individual acquires from their parents or

forefathers, in other words the gifted features an
individual possesses by birth is considered as inherited
characteristics.
It consists of the following features −
• Color of a person’s eye
• Religion/Race of a person
• Shape of the nose
• Shape of earlobes
 Learned Characteristics
• The characteristics an individual acquires by observing,
practicing, and learning from others and the surroundings
is known as learned characteristics.
Learned characteristics includes the following features −
• Perception − Result of different senses like feeling,
hearing etc.
• Values − Influences perception of a situation, decision
making process.
• Attitude − Positive or negative attitude like expressing
one’s thought.
Personality determinants

Heredity
The study of identical twins
Genetics accounts for about 50 percent of the
personality differences
Environment
The influences of peers, family, culture, norms
Situation
Personality determinants…….

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature:
Your personality is shaped pretty much at birth
Nurture:
Your personality is shaped by your life
experiences (culture, family, friends, etc
Theories of Personality

Trait approaches to personality

People possess broad predispositions, called trait, to
respond in particular way
Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s
behaviour (e.g shyness, aggressiveness, ambitiousness
etc)
Trait approaches to personality……..
1. Reserved vs Outgoing
2. Less intelligent . More intelligent
3. Affected by feelings vs Emotionally stable
4. Submissive . Dominant
5. Serious vs Happy-go-lucky
.
6. Expedient Conscientious
vs
7. Timid . Venturesome
8. Tough-minded vs Sensitive
9. Trusting . Suspicious
10. Practical vs Imaginative
11. Forthright . Shrewd
12. Self-assured vs Apprehensive
13. Conservative . Experimenting
14. Group-dependent vs Self-sufficient
15. Uncontrolled . Controlled
16. Relaxed vs Tense
.
vs
.
vs
.
vs
Big Five model of personality
An impressive body of research supports that five basic
dimensions underlie all others and encompass most of
the significant variation in human personality
 Extraversion

 Agreeableness

 Conscientiousness

 Emotional stability

 Openness to experience
Big Five model of personality……..
Extraversion

Describing someone who is sociable, gregarious,

assertive(self confidence), and not quiet
Agreeableness

Describing someone who is good-natured(pleasant) ,

cooperative, warm, and trusting
Conscientiousness

Describing some who is responsible,

dependable(reliable), persistent(constant), and
organized
Big Five model of personality……..

Emotional stability
Describing those who are calm, self-confident,
secure (vs., nervous, depressed, and insecure)
Openness to experience

Describing someone in terms of imaginativeness,

artistic, sensitivity, and intellectualism
Big Five model of personality……..

Emotional Stability
(Stable, confident, calm) (Nervous, insecure, anxious)

Extraversion
(Gregarious , energetic, sociable) (Shy, unassertive, withdrawn)

Conscientiousness
(Organized, persistent, dependable) (Careless, irresponsible, distracted)
Agreeableness
(Warm, cooperative, considerate) (Independent, cold, disagreeable)
Intellectual Openness
(Imaginative, curious, creative) (Dull, unimaginative, conventional)
 Big Five Personality Factors and
Performance
Big Five Personality Relationship to Job Relationship to Team
Factor Performance Performance

Extroversion * Positively related to

job performance in
* Positively related to
team performance
occupations requiring * Positively related to
social interaction degree of participation
* Positively related to within team
training proficiency for
all occupations

Agreeableness * Positively related to * Most studies found

job performance in positive link between
service jobs agreeableness and
performance or
productivity in teams
 Big Five Personality Factors and
Performance…..
Big Five Personality Relationship to Job Relationship to
Factor Performance Team
Performance
Conscientiousness * Positively related to job Positive
performance for all relationship
occupational groups
* May be better than ability in
predicting job performance
Emotional Stability * * Positively related to Positive
performance in service jobs Relationship
* May be better than ability in
predicting job performance
across all occupational
groups
Big Five Personality Factors and
Performance…..

Big Five Personality Relationship to Job Relationship to Team

Factor Performance Performance

Openness to *Positively related to *positively related

Experience training proficiency
Major personality attributes
influencing OB

Personality Attributes
and Behavior

Locus Machiavellian
of Control Traits

Self-Esteem Self-Monitoring

Risk Type A/B

Taking Personality
 Locus of control

The degree to which people believe they are masters of their own
fate
Internal

Individual who believe that they control what happens to them

External

Individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by

outside forces such as luck or chance
Locus of control………
Job satisfaction
Internal > External

Job involvement
Internal > External

Absenteeism
Internal < External
 Locus of control………
Internals

Do well on independent, and initiative tasks, which includes most of the

managerial and professional tasks

Externals

Do well on jobs that are well structured and routine and in which success
depends heavily on complying with the direction of others
 Machiavellianism

Machiavellianism is a personality trait that

denotes cunningness, the ability to be manipulative, and
a drive to use whatever means necessary to gain power.

Competing with others rather than cooperating.

Manipulating others in order to reach their goals. persuade
others into bad behaviour to further their own ends. Making
plans for personal benefit with no consideration of their effect
on other people.
 Machiavellianism…………
In terms of career choice, organizational scholars have
found that those who are more Machiavellian tend to
prefer careers in business-related fields and to avoid
professions that involve helping others.
 Self-esteem

Self-esteem is how we value and perceive ourselves.

The extent to which people have pride in themselves and their
capabilities
Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking of themselves
 Self-monitoring
A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust
his or her behavior to external, situational factors

High SMs vs. Low SMs

More adaptive, more sensitive to external cues and can behave
differently in different situations
 Type A personality

Aggressive involvement in a
chronic, incessant struggle to
achieve more and more in less
and less time and, if necessary,
against the opposing efforts of
other things or other people
 Type A personality………..

Type A’s
Are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly
Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place
Strive to think or do two or more things at once
Cannot cope with leisure time
Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms
of how many or how much of everything they acquire
 Type B Personality
 Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying
impatience
 Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or

accomplishments unless such exposure is demanded by the situation

 Play for fun and relaxation rather than to exhibit their superiority at any

cost
 Can relax without guilt
 Which type is better?

TypeB’s are those who appear to make it to the top

Great salespersons are usually Type A’s,
Senior executives are usually Type B’s
Risk taking
Generally, managers are reluctant on taking risks. However,
individual risk-taking inclination affects the bulk of information
required by the managers and how long it takes them to make
decisions.
Thus, it is very important to recognize these differences and align
risk-taking propensity with precise job demands that can make
sense.
 Achieving Personality Fit

Person-Job Fit
Identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit

between personality type and occupational environment

determines satisfaction and turnover.
Person-Organization Fit
Argues that people leave organizations that are not compatible

with their personalities

 Personality-Job Fit
Type Personality Congruent
Characteristics Occupations

Realistic Shy, genuine, Mechanic, drill, press

persistent operator
Investigative Analytical, original, Biologist, economist
curious
Social Sociable, friendly Social worker,
teacher
Conventional Conforming, efficient Accountant

Enterprising Self- manager

confident,ambitious Lawyer, real estate
agent
Artistic Imaginative, Painter, musician
disorderly