The Individual in Organisation

Instructor: Seth Oppong

 Learning Objectives
• At the end of this module, you should be able to
understand the following:
– Individual in the organisation
– Personality: The big Five Factors
– Oppong’s criticisms and revision of The Big Five Factors
– Self-esteem
– Attitudes
– Self-awareness and disclosure
– Johari Window for Self-awareness and disclosure
 Defining Organisation
• Farnham and Horton (1996) define an
organisation as…
“social constructs created by groups in society to achieve
specific purposes by means of planned and coordinated
activities. These activities involves using human resources to
act in association with other inanimate resources in order to
achieve the aims of the organisation”
• Pugh (1990) defines an organisation as a system
of inter-dependent human beings.
 Role of Individual in Organisation
• If an organisation is made up individuals who work
together, then understanding of the individuals at
work and how well each can interact with one
another is crucial to developing an effective
workforce.
• Understanding others should begin with
understanding ourselves.
 Self-concept
• Self-concept is the way you see or picture
yourself.
• Self-concept is the way you conceive yourself
and this conception of yourself is the
foundation of your self-esteem.
• Self-concept has a lot to do with knowing
one’s strengths and weaknesses.
 Types of Self-concept
• Ideal self
– Is the way you would like to be or plan to become
• Looking-Glass self
– Is the self you assume others see when they look at you
• Self-image
– Is the way you honestly feel about yourself.
• Real self
– Is the way you really are when nobody is around to
approve or disapprove.
 What is the ideal situation?
• That is when …
Ideal self = Looking-glass self = Self-image = Real
self
 Pleasing yourself and pleasing others
• Having a healthy self-concept means not
allowing yourself to be a slave to other people’s
opinions.
• On the other hand, it is a bit uncomfortable
being around people who do not need anyone
to like them or accept them.
• Balancing the need to being yourself and
pleasing others is instrumental to developing a
healthy self-concept.
 Self-esteem
• Lamberton and Minor-Evans (2002) defines self-esteem as
the regard in which an individual holds himself or herself.
• Coppersmith (1967) also defines it as the extent to which an
individual believes himself or herself to be capable, sufficient,
and worthy.

• Do you wonder why some people brag about themselves?

– Most people who always have a need to tell about their
accomplishments are actually compensating in some way for low
self-esteem.
 Why know your self-esteem?
• Liking and accepting yourself is one of the most
important skills you can learn in life.
• All relationships you have or will have with others
will be affected by the way you see yourself, accept
or reject yourself, and assume others feel about you.
• What is known is that people with low self-esteem
tend to have more emotional problems than others
• It is also known that low self-esteem is fairly
widespread.
 Why develop high self-esteem?
1. People with high self-esteem are more likely to
succeed at their personal goals and career goals
2. Positive self-esteem is often the key factor that
separates success from failure. If you believe you are
good enough to succeed, your chances of success are
much higher than they would without such a belief.
3. Work performance of individuals with low self-esteem
suffers. That is, such people tend to experience anxiety,
depression, aggressiveness, feelings of resentment and
alienation, unhappiness, and insomnia.
 Why develop high self-esteem? – Cont’d.

4. People with low self-esteem also feel

awkward in social settings, including the
workplace.
5. Low self-esteem is associated with low job
satisfaction, and even a higher likelihood of
unemployment. This is because such people
usually work with little enthusiasm or
commitment.
 How does self-esteem develop?
• It starts to develop in early childhood. As a
result, self-esteem starts to develop at home
with parents playing an important role in its
formation.
• For younger children, parents play a vital role
in its formation while for older children and
adolescents, their teachers, friends, coaches,
and others build or destroy their self-esteem.
 How does self-esteem develop?
Unconditional
positive regard
High Self-esteem
Parent/Guardian Child

Unconditional positive regard- is the acceptance of individuals as worthy regardless of

what their behaviour at the moment may be.

Conditional
positive regard Low self-esteem
Parent/Guardian Child

Conditional positive regard- is the acceptance of individuals as worthy only when they
behave in a certain way.
 Self-awareness
• The ability to see yourself realistically, without
a great deal of difference between what you
are and what you assume others see you.
• In other words, better self-awareness means
developing a better looking-glass self (the self
you assume others see when they look at you)
 The JOHARI window
Information Information
known Unknown
to you to you

Information known
to others Open/Public Blind spot

Information unknown
to others Hidden/Private Unknown
 Nnoboa Session:Becoming aware
of yourself
• Write down 3 things about yourself that you
believe…
– (A) you and people who know you are aware of
– (B) only you know about yourself
• Find a partner to do the following:
– your partner should tick those things you said
about yourself at A and B that he or she agrees
with as description of you.
– your partner should write down three things he or
she knows about you that you are not aware of
 Self-disclosure
• Involves letting another person know your real
thoughts, desires, and feelings.
– It means expanding the open pane by reducing the
hidden, blind spot, and the unknown.
• Disclosure leads to openness and honesty both of
which are needed in the workplace for open
communication.
 Why are people encouraged to hold
information about themselves?
• To feel all-powerful
• To control the feelings of others
• To feel superior to those around them
• To believe that they are perfect
• To have everyone’s approval
• To feel safe from people who might challenge them
• To deny that they have problems
• To avoid the feelings of inadequacy
Consequences of Failure to self-disclose
• Loss of relationships
• Waste of time and energy
– It wastes a lot of time trying to create and maintain a false
image.
• Loss of sense of identity
– Failure to self-disclose may hinder one’s self-acceptance and
assertiveness because much of self-knowledge comes through
close and genuine contacts with others.
• Slowdown of personal growth
– Failure to self-disclose also means loss of opportunity to have
advise to deal with personal problems.
 When is self-disclosure
appropriate?
• When it is a function of an ongoing
relationship
• When it occurs reciprocally
• When it is timed to fit what is happening
• When it moves by relatively small increments
• When account is taken of the effect disclosure
has on the other persons
• When it is speeded up in a crisis
 Attitude
• It is the position that results from the beliefs and
feelings people have about themselves and others
• Attitude has three components:
– Thoughts
– Feelings/emotions
– Actions
• Attitudes are usually linked to self-esteem
– People with low self-esteem will often show attitudes that
are not based on the way things really are, rather on their
own feelings of inadequacy.
 What makes a good attitude?
• Healthy self-esteem
• Optimism
– being hopeful
• Knowing how to interact with others
• Developing sense of personal control
– The power over one’s destiny.
 Attitude and Work performance
• Both employees and managers hold attitudes
at work.
• Usually, employees’ attitude is directed at
their job of which the management is part.
• Managers also direct their attitude towards
the employees.
 Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X Assumptions Theory Y Assumptions
• People do not dislike work; work is a
• People do not like work and try to natural part of their lives.
avoid it. • People are internally motivated to
• People do not like work, so reach objectives to which they are
committed.
managers have to control, direct,
• People are committed to goals to the
coerce, and threaten employees degree that they receive rewards
to get them to work toward when they reach their objectives.
organizational goals. • People both seek and accept
• People prefer to be directed, responsibility under favorable
conditions.
to avoid responsibility, and • People can be innovative in solving
to want security; they have problems.
little ambition. • People are bright, but under most
organizational conditions their
potentials are underutilized.
 How does management’s attitude affect
employee performance?
• According to Livingston (1979), if managers have
positive attitude and expect employees to be highly
productive, they will be highly productive.
• He introduced the concept of ‘Pygmalion effect’
– This states that supervisors’ attitudes and expectations of
employees and how they treat them largely determine
their performance. However, Pygmalion effect is used to
refer to the communication of positive and high
expectations that lead to high performance.
– Golem effect is used to refer to the situation where
managers communicate negative and low expectations of
employees.
What about your own expectations
about yourself?
• Galatea effect
– The tendency for high self-expectations to result in
high performance.
– Experience with success helps to build that self-
expectations.
– Self-fulfilling prophecy explains this phenomenon.
• It states that an individual will perform as well or as
poorly as he or she expects himself or herself to
perform. This expectation usually comes from what
others think and say about them!
 Personality
• May be defined as the relatively stable set of traits
that aids in explaining and predicting individual
behaviour.
• Other definitions of personality:
– The consistent, enduring, and unique characteristics of a person
– Characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
• Understanding personality has relevance for the
following work practices:
– Recruitment and selection
– Personal development
– Teamworking
 Theories of personality
• Psychoanalytic theory – proposes that childhood
sexuality and unconscious motivations influence our
personality
• Trait theory – characteristics that account for
consistent behaviour patterns can be identified and
studied
• Humanistic theory – focuses on our inner capacities
for growth and self-fulfillment
• Social-cognitive perspective – emphasizes how we
shape and are shaped by our environment (both
physical and social)
 Relative Importance of Environment and
Traits in influencing behaviour
• In a review of the person-situation debate, Stewart
and Barrick (2004) concluded that traits are most
likely to predict, explain and influence behaviour in
‘weak’ job environments that are characterized by
complexity, less structure and allow for autonomy.
• In other words, traits influence behaviour in a less
structured and more complex environment while the
influence of traits is almost nil in less complex and
more structured environments.
 Five Factor Model
Factor Trait
Conscientiousness Orderly, organized, dependable, meticulous, thorough,
industrious, etc.
Emotional Passionless, autonomous, not anxious, not nervous,
Stability/neuroticism unemotional, etc.
Openness to Contemplative, intellectual, meditative, insightful,
experience artistic, smart, etc.
Extraversion Sociable, gregarious, expressive, communicative,
energetic, carefree, etc.
Agreeableness Accommodating, helpful, cooperative, pleasant, polite,
trustful, etc.
 The Five factor and Performance
• Two meta-analyses (Hurtz & Donvan, 2000;
Salgado, 2003)have concluded that personality
is associated with job performance, with
conscientiousness being the best predictor.
• The conclusion that conscientiousness is
related with high work performance has also
been confirmed in a more recent study by
Higgins et al (2007).
How culturally universal are these five factors
of personality?
• Is this five-factor framework applicable to all cultures
including Ghana’s and Africa’s?
• Rossier et al (2005) concluded from a study of 470 Burkinabes
that …
‘this study suggests that even if the FFM is universally applicable, it
more adequately maps personality in some cultural contexts (Western
cultures) than others (non-Western cultures) and raises the possibility
that there may be regional differences in structure.’
• Their study indicated that probably only conscientiousness,
emotional stability, and openness are universal traits that cut
across different cultures
 Personality Factors and their associated traits in
Burkina Faso (Rossier et al 2005)

Factor Trait
Conscientiousness Orderly, organized, dependable, meticulous, thorough,
industrious, etc.
Emotional Stability Passionless, autonomous, not anxious, not nervous,
unemotional, etc.
Openness to experience Contemplative, intellectual, meditative, insightful,
artistic, smart, etc.
Love versus Hate Warmth, gregariousness, positive emotions, trust,
altruism, tender-mindedness, etc.
Submission versus Frank (S), compliant (S), modest (S), assertive (D),
Dominance active (D), Excitement-seeking (D), etc.
 Oppong’s (Course instructor) Reconstruction from
Burkinabe Study by Rossier et al (2005)

Factor Trait
Conscientiousness Orderly, organized, dependable, meticulous, thorough,
industrious, etc.
Emotional Stability Passionless, autonomous, not anxious, not nervous,
unemotional, etc.
Openness to experience Contemplative, intellectual, meditative, insightful,
artistic, smart, etc.
Humanitarianism/sociability Warmth, gregariousness, positive emotions, trust,
altruism, tender-mindedness, etc.
Unassuming (Not showing off) Truthful, compliant, modest, etc.
Self-assurance Assertive, Active, Excitement-seeking, etc.
 Personality Types: MBTI
• Based on the well-known research of Carl Jung, Katharine C.
Briggs, and Isabel Briggs Myers
• Theory of Personality Types contends that:
• An individual is either primarily Extraverted or Introverted
• An individual is either primarily Sensing or iNtuitive
• An individual is either primarily Thinking or Feeling
• An individual is either primarily Judging or Perceiving
• The possible combinations of the basic preferences form 16
different Personality Types.
• Learning about other people's Personality Types help us
understand the most effective way to communicate with
them, and how they function best.
 Briggs-Myers Type Indicator
ISTJ ISFJ INTJ
INFJ
Introverted Sensing with Introverted Sensing with Introverted iNtuition with
Introverted iNtuition with
auxiliary extraverted auxiliary extraverted auxiliary extraverted
auxiliary extraverted Feeling
Thinking Feeling Thinking
ISTP ISFP INFP INTP
Introverted Thinking with Introverted Feeling with Introverted Feeling with Introverted Thinking with
auxiliary extraverted auxiliary extraverted auxiliary extraverted auxiliary extraverted
Sensing Sensing iNtuition iNtuition
ESTP ESFP ENTP
ENFP
Extraverted Sensing with Extraverted Sensing with Extraverted iNtuition with
Extraverted iNtuition with
auxiliary introverted auxiliary introverted auxiliary introverted
auxiliary introverted Feeling
Thinking Feeling Thinking
ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ
ESTJ
Extraverted Feeling with Extraverted Feeling with Extraverted Thinking with
Extraverted Thinking with
auxiliary introverted auxiliary introverted auxiliary introverted
auxiliary introverted Sensing
Sensing iNtuition iNtuition