Personality

MBUS 612

Prof. Elloy

 Personality

• Personality is an organized whole • Personality appears to be organized into patterns • Personality is a product of social and culture

environments  • Personality involves both common and unique

characteristics • Definition: An individuals' personality is a relatively

stable set of characteristics, tendencies and temperaments that have been significantly formed by inferitance and by social, cultural and environmental factors.

The Big Five Personality Dimensions 1. Extroversion: Outgoing, talkative, sociable,

assertive 

2. Agreeableness: Trusting, good natured, cooperative, soft hearted 

3. Conscientiousness: Dependable, responsible, achevement oriented, persistent 

4. Emotional stability: Relaxed, secure, unworried 

5. Openness to experience: Intellectual, imaginative, curious, broad minded

Research finding: Conscientiousness is the best

(but not a strong) predictor of job performance 

Barriers to Accurate Perception

• Stereotyping: A tendency to assign attributes to people solely on the basis of their class or category 

• Halo Effects: A tendency to allow the traits exhibited by people to influence our impressions of their other traits

• Implicit Personality Theory: A tendency to have an a priori picture of what other people are like that colors how we see them

• Selective Perception: Systematically screening out information we don't wish to hear

• Projection: A tendency to ascribe to others the negative characteristics or feelings we have about ourselves

Organizational Commitment Relative strength of an individual's identification and involvement in an organization. Three characteristics: 

1. Strong belief in and acceptance of organizational goals and values 

2. Willingness to exert conscious effort on behalf of the organization. 

3. Strong desire to maintain membership in the organization.

Self-Efficacy • Self-efficacy: "A person's belief about his or

her chances of successfully accomplishing a specific task."

• Sources of Self-Efficacy Beliefs:• Prior experience • Behavior models • Persuation from others • Assessment of physical/emotional state

The Determinants and Consequences of OBSE 

Determinants of OBSE Factors Influenced by OBSE•Managerial Respect 

•Organizational Structure

--> OBSE 

•Job Complexity

•Global Self-Esteem 

•Job Performance 

•Intrinsic Motivation 

•General Satisfaction 

•Citizenship Behavior 

•Organization Commitment

Type A & Type B

Type A's:• work faster on many tasks• generally complain less about hard work  • better able to handle tasks involving multiple demands

Type B's: • do better than Type A's tasks requiring delayed responses  • most members of top management are Type B's• do better than Type A's in tasks that involve complex judgement, accuracy rather than speed, and working as part of a team

Machiavellianism

    

• People can be rapidly and easily manipulated for your own ends • Humility is harmful  • It is better to be feared than loved  • Be totally pragmatic and amoral   

How it operates:• High machs  - a pattern of cool detachment in their dealings with others  - work cooly and pragmatically toward the goals they are seeking  - resistant to influences from others and skilled in exerting such influence themselves  - more likely to use such tactics as ingratiation

Locus of Control

People tend to attribute the causes of theirbehavior primarily to either themselves orenvironmental factors. 

A. People who believe they control the events that affect their lives are said to possess an internal locus of control.

B. Those who believe their performance is the product of circumstances beyond their immediate control are said to possess an external locus of control.

Research Findings on Locus of Control

• Internals display greater work motivation • Internals have stronger expectations that effort

leads to performance • Internals exhibit higher performance on tasks

involving learning or problem solving, when performance leads to valued rewards

• There is a stronger relationship between job satisfaction and performance for internals than externals

A Model of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Organization Self-Esteem

Some Major Forces Influencing Personality

Influences on Personality Development

A Model of How Self-Efficacy Beliefs Can

Pave the Way for Success or Failure

Key Personality Traits: The Periphery of Personality

Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale

• Novelty Score:            Extent to which you are tolerant of new, unfamiliar information or situations.

• Complexity Score:      Extent to which you are tolerant of multiple, distinctive or unrelated information.

• Insolubility Score:       Extent to which you are tolerant of problems that are very difficult to solve.

  In general, the more tolerant people are of novelty, complexity an insolubility – the more likely they are to succeed as managers in

information – rich, ambiguous environments.

Characteristics of Individuals with

Internal Locus of Control

• Engage in actions to improve their environment • Place greater emphasis on striving for achievement • Be more inclined to develop their own skills • Less alienated from the work environment • More satisfied with their work • Outperformed externals in stressful situations • Higher levels of job involvement • Rely more on persuasion and expertise as a source

of power • Display greater motivation

Locus of Control

• Attitude people develop regarding the extent to which they are in control of their destinies

• Internal Locus of Control:

Believe they control the events and consequences that affect their lives

• External Locus of Control:

Performance is the product of circumstances

beyond their control

Descriptors of Fundamental Interpersonal

Relations Oriented-Behavior (FIRO-B) Needs

Inclusion Control Affection

Expressed toward others

I join other people, and I include others.

I take charge, and I influence people.

I get close and personal with people.

Wanted from others

I want other people to include me.

I want others to lead me or give me directions.

I want people to get close and personal with me.

Average FIRO-B Scores and Ranges

Inclusion Control Affection Row Totals

Expressed toward others

4 to 7

5.4

2 to 5

3.9

3 to 6

4.1

9 to 18

13.4

Wanted from others

5 to 8

6.5

3 to 6

4.6

3 to 6

4.6

11 to 20

15.9

Column

Totals

9 to 15

11.9

5 to 11

8.5

6 to 12

8.9

20 to 38

29.3

Self-Efficacy Implications for Managers

• Recruiting/Selection/Job Assignments

• Job Design

• Training and Development

• Coaching

• Rewards

Self-Esteem

"A belief about one's own

self worth

based on an

overall self-evaluation."

Organization-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE)

"Self-perceived value that

individuals have of themselves

as organization members

acting within an

organizational context."

The Determinants and Consequences of

Organiazation-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE)   • Determinants of OBSE

-    Managerial respect -    Organizational structure -    Job complexity

• Factors Influenced by OBSE -    Global self-esteem -    Intrinsic motivation -    Citizenship behavior -    Job performance -    General satisfaction -    Organizational commitment and satisfaction

Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation

• Inclusion  The need to establish and maintain a relationship

with other people.  

• Control  The need to maintain a satisfactory balance of

power and influence in relationships.

• Affection  The need to form close and personal relationships

with others.

Interpersonal Orientation

• Need for Inclusion -  Everyone needs to maintain a relationship with other people, to be

included in their activities, and to include them in one's own activities.

  • Need for Control

-  Need to maintain a satisfactory balance of power and influence in relationships.

1.     The need to control others, or expressed control 2.     The need to be controlled, or wanted control

  • Need for Affection

-  The need to form close personal relationships with others 1.     The need for expressing affection toward other people 2.     The need for wanting affection to be expressed toward

them