Organisation Behaviour

Personality & Values

• After this session , you should be able to:
– Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain
the factors that determine an individual’s personality.
– Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality
framework and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
– Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model.
– Demonstrate how the Big Five traits predict behavior at
work.
– Identify other personality traits relevant to OB.
– Define values, demonstrate their importance, and contrast
terminal and instrumental values.
– Compare generational differences in values, and identify the
dominant values in today’s workforce.
– Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.
 What is Personality?
The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and
interacts with others, the measurable traits a person
exhibits
• Measuring Personality(Personality Tests)
– Helpful in hiring decisions
– Most common methods:
(1) Self-reporting surveys
(2)Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent
assessment of personality – often better predictors.
Measure aspects such as intelligence, abilities, interests, self
esteem , emotional stability
Permit comparision between 2 individuals
(3) Projective Measures of personality

(a)Rorschach Ink Blot Test -the individual is

supposed to state what the inkblots resemble.
(b) Thematic Perception Test- shown a series of
pictures and asked to frame a story
Where are personality tests used?

1. Selection Process
2. Screening candidates
3. Succession planning
4. Career planning
5. Team Building
6. Management development activities
Personality Determinants
• Heredity
Factors determined at conception: physical stature,
facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle
composition and reflexes, energy level.
This “Heredity Approach” argues that genes are the
source of personality
Twin studies: raised apart but very similar
personalities
Parents don’t add much to personality development
There is some personality change over long time
periods
What are Personality Traits
Enduring characteristics that describe an
individual’s behavior eg. Shy, aggressive, lazy
– The more consistent the characteristic and the
more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the
more important the trait.
•Two dominant frameworks used to describe
personality:
– Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®)
– Big Five Model
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Most widely used instrument in the world.

• Participants are classified on four axes to determine
one of 16 possible personality types, such as ENTJ.
Sociable and Extro Introv Quiet and
verte erted
Assertive d (E) (I) Shy

Sensi Intuit Unconscious

Practical and ng ive
Orderly (S) (N) Processes

Think Feeli Uses Values

Use Reason ing ng
and Logic (T) (F) & Emotions

Perce Flexible and

Want Order Judgi
iving
ng (J) Spontaneous
& Structure (P)
The Types and Their Uses
• Each of the sixteen possible combinations has a
name, for instance:
– Visionaries (INTJ) – original, stubborn, and driven.
– Organizers (ESTJ) – realistic, logical, analytical, and
businesslike.
– Conceptualizer (ENTP) – entrepreneurial, innovative,
individualistic, and resourceful.

• Research results on validity mixed.

– MBTI® is a good tool for self-awareness and counseling.
– Should not be used as a selection test for job
candidates.
The Big Five Model of Personality
Dimensions
Extroversi • Sociable, gregarious, and assertive
on
• Good-natured, cooperative, and
Agreeabl trusting;work well with others
eness
• Responsible, dependable,
persistent, and organized,
Conscient RELIABLE
iousness
• Calm, self-confident, secure under stress
(positive), versus nervous, depressed, and
Emotiona
insecure under stress (negative)
l Stability
Openness • Curious, imaginative, artistic, and
to sensitive;Fascinated with Novelty
Experienc
e
So a person could be HIGH/AVERAGE/LOW in any of
these traits
How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior?
• Research has shown this to be a better
framework.
• Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate
to higher job performance:
– Highly conscientious people 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
• People low on Emotional stability are looking for
problems or impending danger.
• Extraverts –tend to be more impulsive, take charge
• Open people can adapt to organisation change.

• Let’s have examples as to which jobs require which

characteristics?
How big five traits Influence OB criteria?
Big Five trait Why it is relevant What does it Affect?
Emotional Stability Less negative thinking Lower stress levels
Less Hypervigilant Higher Job and life
satisafaction

Extraversion Better Interpersonal skills Enhanced leadership

Greater social dominance Higher Job and life
More emotionally satisfaction
expressive

Openness Increased learning Training performance

More creative Enhanced leadership
More flexible More adaptable to
change

Agreeableness Better liked Higher performance

More compliant and Lower levels of deviant
conforming behaviour

Conscientiousness Greater effort, drive , Higher

discipline, organised, performance,enhanced
planning leadership
 Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

• Core Self-Evaluation
– The degree to which people like or dislike themselves
– Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance
• Machiavellianism
– A pragmatic, emotionally distant power-player who
believes that ends justify the means.
– High Machs are manipulative, win more often, and
persuade more than they are persuaded. Flourish when:
• Have direct interaction
• Work with minimal rules and regulations
• Emotions distract others
• Narcissism
– An arrogant, entitled, self-important person who needs
excessive admiration.
– Less effective in their jobs.
More Relevant Personality Traits

• Self-Monitoring
– The ability to adjust behavior to meet external,
situational factors.
– High monitors conform more and are more likely to
become leaders.

• Risk Taking
– The willingness to take chances.
– May be best to align propensities with job
requirements.
– Risk takers make faster decisions with less information.
More Relevant Personality Traits
• Type A Personality
– Aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant
struggle to achieve more in less time
• Impatient: always moving, walking, and eating rapidly
• Strive to think or do two or more things at once
• Cannot cope with leisure time
• Obsessed with achievement numbers
– Type B people are the complete opposite

• Proactive Personality
– Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes
action, and perseveres to completion
– Creates positive change in the environment
High Flyers:
People with Executive potential who may take future
executive roles.
• Is sensitive to cultural differences
• Has business knowledge
• Has courage to take a stand
• Brings out the best in people
• Acts with Integrity
• Is insightfull
• Takes risks
• Uses feedback
• Seeks opportunities to learn
• Open to criticism
• Is flexible
Which Personality types will be able to
work Globally ?
Values
Basic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how
to live your life that is personally or socially preferable
– “How To” live life properly.

• Attributes of Values:
 Content Attribute – that the mode of conduct or end-state
is important
 Intensity Attribute – just how important that content is.
• Value System
 Values ranked in intensity
 Tends to be relatively constant and consistent
Importance of Values towards OB
• Provide understanding of the people‘s attitudes,
motivation, and behaviors
• Influence our perception of the world around us.
• Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong”
• Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others.
Classifying Values – Rokeach Value Survey
• Terminal Values
 Desirable end-states of existence; the goals that a person
would like to achieve during his or her lifetime
• Instrumental Values
 Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving
one’s terminal values

• People in same occupations or categories tend to

hold similar values
 But values vary between groups
 Value differences make it difficult for groups to negotiate
and may create conflict
Values in the Rokeach Survey
Rank 5 Terminal values in order of your preferences.
Think you are working as a manager in an Organisation
Value Differences Between Groups
Generational Values
Entered Approximate
Cohort Dominant Work Values
Workforce Current Age

Veteran 1950-1964 65+ Hard working, conservative,

s conforming; loyalty to the
organization
Boomer 1965-1985 40-60s Success, achievement,
s ambition, dislike of
authority; loyalty to career
Xers 1985-2000 20-40s Work/life balance, team-
oriented, dislike of rules;
loyalty to relationships
Nexters 2000-Present Under 30 Confident, financial success,
self-reliant but team-
oriented; loyalty to both self
and relationships
Can people from one generation have
similar values to those from another
generation?

What are the factors that impact a

person’s Values?
Linking Individual Personality And Values at
WORKPLACE
How well an individual’s personality and Values match that
of an organisation?

Managers are interested in how flexible a person is ,

inorder to meet changing situations and commitment to the
organisation .

Managers are less interested in someone’s ability to do a

specific job than in that person’s flexibility ?? (your
thoughts on this ?)
(A)Person-Job Fit:
John Holland’s Personality-Job Fit Theory
• Six personality types
• Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)

Key Points of the Model:

• There appear to be intrinsic differences in personality
between people.
• There are different types of jobs
• People in jobs congruent with their personality should
be more satisfied and have lower turnover
Personality Type:

• Realistic-prefers physical activities that require

strength, skill and coordination
• Investigative- activities that involve thinking,
organising, understanding
• Social- prefers activities that involves interacting with
others
• Conventional-prefers rule based, orderly activities
• Enterprising – prefers activities that require initiative
and drive
• Artistic - creative
Holland’s Personality Types & Occupations
Relationships Among Personality Types

The closer the

occupational The further apart
fields, the more the fields, the
compatible. more dissimilar.

Need to match personality

type with occupation.
In addition to matching the individual’s personality
to the job, managers are also concerned with:
(B)Person-Organization Fit:
 The employee’s personality must fit with the
organizational culture.
 People are attracted to organizations that match their
values.
 Those who match are most likely to be selected.
 Mismatches will result in turnover.
 Can use the Big Five personality types to match to the
organizational culture.
 Global Implications
• Personality
Do frameworks like Big Five transfer across
cultures?
• Yes, but the frequency of type in the culture may
vary.
• Better in individualistic than collectivist cultures.
• Values
Values differ across cultures.
Hofstede’s Framework for assessing culture –
five value dimensions (next slide)
Hofstead’s Framework for Assessing Culture
• Power Distance-degree to which people in a
country accept that power in organisations is
distributed unequally.High power distance means
large inequalities of power and wealth.Low power
distance means equality & opportunities
• Individualism vs. Collectivism – degree to which
people act as individuals rather than members of
a group.
• Masculinity vs. Femininity – degree to which the
culture favours traditional masculine roles such as
acheivement, power, control. Does not view men
& women as equals.
• Uncertainty Avoidance – degree to which people
prefer structured over unstructured situations.
Cultures low on uncertainty avoidance are more
accepting of ambiguity and are less rule oriented,
take more risks and readily accept more change.

• Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation- whether

people look to future and value thrift, persistence
and tradition . Short term culture people value the
here and now, they accept change more readily and
don’t see commitments as impediments to change.
Hofstede’s Framework: Power Distance
The extent to which a society accepts that power in
institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
• Low distance
• Relatively equal power between those
with status/wealth and those without
status/wealth
• High distance
• Extremely unequal power distribution
between those with status/wealth and
those without status/wealth
 Hofstede’s Framework: Individualism
• Individualism
The degree to which people prefer to act as
individuals rather than a member of groups
• Collectivism
A tight social framework in which people expect
others in groups of which they are a part to look
after them and protect them
 Hofstede’s Framework: Masculinity
• Masculinity
The extent to which the society values work roles
of achievement, power, and control, and where
assertiveness and materialism are also valued
• Femininity
The extent to which there is little differentiation
between roles for men and women
Hofstede’s Framework: Uncertainty Avoidance
The extent to which a society feels threatened
by uncertain and ambiguous situations and
tries to avoid them
High Uncertainty Avoidance:
Society does not like ambiguous situations and
tries to avoid them.
Low Uncertainty Avoidance:
Society does not mind ambiguous situations and
embraces them.
Hofstede’s Framework: Time Orientation

• Long-term Orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the
future, thrift, and persistence
• Short-term Orientation
A national culture attribute that emphasizes the
present and the here and now
Hofstede’s Framework: An Assessment

• There are regional differences within countries

• The original data is old and based on only one
company
• Hofstede had to make many judgment calls
while doing the research
• Some results don’t match what is believed to
be true about given countries
• Despite these problems it remains a very
popular framework
.
GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures

• Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program.
– Nine dimensions of national culture

• Similar to Hofstede’s framework with these additional

dimensions:
– Humane Orientation: how much society rewards people for
being altruistic, generous, and kind.
– Performance Orientation: how much society encourages and
rewards performance improvement and excellence.
Summary and Managerial Implications

• Personality
 Screen for the Big Five trait of conscientiousness
 Take into account the situational factors as well
 MBTI® can help with training and development

• Values
 Often explain attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions
 Higher performance and satisfaction achieved when the
individual’s values match those of the organization.