Assessment of Personality Traits

How people affect others and how they understand and view themselves, as well as their pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and the person situation intervention

- Fred Luthans

Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others

-Stephen P. Robbins

Personality

Affective

Cognitive

Behavioral

Personality Traits

What makes you who you are as a person?

Personality traits

Ways to measure personality

Powerful indicators of personality

Broadly depicts an individual

Personality Traits: History

17953

• Gordon Allport and Odbert identified 17953 traits

• Very difficult to predict individual’s behavior

171• R.B. Cattell reduced the number to 171

16• Further, he revised them to 16• These traits are steady and constant sources

of behavior

Sixteen Primary TraitsReservedLess IntelligentAffected by

feelingsSubmissiveSeriousExpedientTimidTough-minded

TrustingPracticalForthrightSelf-assuredConservativeGroup dependentUncontrolledRelaxed

Assessment of Traits: Why?

Advocate of non violence

Face of terrorism

Assessment of Traits: Why?

Adopted aggressive expansion policy for Reliance

Adopted slow & steady expansion policy for Tata group

Why do people vary so widely?

Different methods of Assessment of Personality traits

• Taking an Interview of a person

• Rating scale method

• Projective proficiency method

• MBTI Indicator • Big Five model

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator• Developed by Isabel Briggs Myers

and her mother Katharine Briggs• A 100-question personality test that

asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations

• One of the most widely used test for traits assessments

• On the basis of answers, person is categorized amongst following-– Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)• Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or

on your own inner world?

– Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or I)• Do you prefer to focus on the basic

information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? 

– Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)• When making decisions, do you prefer to

first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? 

– Judging vs. Perceiving ( P or J)• In dealing with the outside world, do you

prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options?

Extroverted• Like to get energy

from active involvement in events and having a lot of different activities

• Excited when around people

• Like to move into action and make things happen

Introverted• Like to get energy

from dealing with the ideas, pictures, memories, and reactions that are present in inner world

• Often prefer doing things alone or with one or two people

• Take time to reflect

Sensing• Pay attention to

physical reality• Concerned with what

is actual, present, current and real

• Experience speaks louder than words

• Notice facts and remembers details

Intuitive• Pay most attention to

impressions or meaning and patterns of the information

• Learn by thinking a problem through than by hands-on experience

• Remember events more as impressions than as actual facts or details

Thinking• Make decision by finding

the basic truth or principal to be applied

• Like to analyze pros and cons and then be consistent and logical in deciding

• Try to be impersonal, won’t let personal wishes influence decisions

Feeling• Make decision

weighing what people care about and the points-of-view of persons involved in a situation

• Concerned with values and what is the best for the people involved

Judging• Prefer a planned or

orderly way of life• Like to have things

settled and organized• Feel more comfortable

when decisions are made

• Like to bring life under control as much as possible

Perceiving• Prefer a flexible and

spontaneous way of life

• Like to understand and adapt to the world rather than organize it

• Stay open to new experiences and information.

• Personality type

• ISTJ– Quiet, serious, earn success by thoroughness and

dependability• ISFJ

– Quiet, friendly, responsible, and conscientious• INFJ

– Seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions

• INTJ– Have original minds and great drive for implementing

their ideas and achieving their goals

• ISTP– Tolerant and flexible, quiet observers until a problem

appears, then act quickly to find workable solutions• ISFP

– Quiet, friendly, sensitive, and kind. Enjoy the present moment, what's going on around them

• INFP– Idealistic, loyal to their values and to people who are

important to them• INTP

– Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them

• ESTP– Flexible and tolerant, they take a pragmatic approach

focused on immediate results• ESFP

– Outgoing, friendly, and accepting. Exuberant lovers of life, people, and material comforts

• ENFP– Warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. See life as full of

possibilities• ENTP

– Quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert, and outspoken

• ESTJ– Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact. Decisive, quickly move to

implement decisions• ESFJ

– Warmhearted, conscientious, and cooperative. Want harmony in their environment, work with determination to establish it

• ENFJ– Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly

attuned to the emotions, needs, and motivations of others• ENTJ

– Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems

• MBTI is not intended to determine whether you have the “right” personality

• The essence of the theory is-– variation in the behaviour is actually quite

orderly and consistent, being due to different personality traits and differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment

• Flaws in MBTI– It forces the person to be categorised either

one category or another. This means a person is either extrovert or introvert

– It uses forced-choice and bi-polar scales, not continuous scores and scales

Big Five Model

Extroversion• Capture’s one’s

comfort level with relationship

• Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, sociable

• Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, quite

Agreeableness• Individual’s

propensity to defer to others

• Highly agreeable people are co-operative, warm, trusting

• Low score agreeable people are cold, disagreeable, antagonistic

Conscientiousness

• It’s a measure of reliability

• Highly conscientiousness person is responsible, organised, dependable, persistent

• Low score conscientiousness person is distracted, disorganised, unreliable

Emotional Stability• Measure’s person’s

ability to withstand stress

• Positive emotional stability people are calm, self-confident, secure

• Negative emotional stability people are nervous, anxious, depressed, insecure

Openness to Experience

• Depicts one’s range of interests & fascination with novelty

• Extremely open people are creative, curious, artistically sensitive

• Those who put limit on their openness are conventional & find comfort in the familiar

High Average Low

Extroversion 1.Extroverted, outgoing, active, high-spirited2.Prefer people around them most of the time

1.Moderate in activity & enthusiasm2.Enjoy privacy of others but also value privacy

1.Introverted, reserved, serious2.Prefer to be alone or with a few close friends

Agreeableness

1.Compassionate, good-natured, eager to cooperate & avoid conflict

1.Warm, trusting, agreeable2.Sometimes be stubborn &competitive

1.Hard-headed, sceptical, proud & competitive2.Tend to express anger directly

High Average Low

Conscientiousness

1.Conscientious and well organized2. High standards and always strive to achieve goals

1.Dependable & moderately well organised2.Have clear goals but are able to set your work aside

1.Easy-going, not well organised, sometimes careless2.Prefer not to make plans

Emotional Stability

1.Sensitive, emotional and prone to experience feelings that are upsetting

1.Calm & able to deal with stress2. Sometimes experience feeling of guilt, anger and sadness

1.Secure, hard and generally relaxed under stressful conditions

High Average Low

Openness to experience

1.Open to new experiences 2.Broad interests & very imaginative

1.Practical but willing to consider new ways of doing things2. Seek balance between new and old

1. Down to earth, practical, traditional & much set in individual’s way

Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE who have spent 20 years in sales & managerial position actually scored high on the extroversion dimension of the Big Five model. He was described as gregarious & adept in building relationships

Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico scores high on all five dimesions of Big Five model. She is described as sociable, agreeable, conscientious ,emotionally stable and open to experience. These traits have contributed to Nooyi’s high job performance and career success.