Personality MBS Final

Unit 4

Personality

Presented by:Bal Ram Chapagain, M. Phil.

April 18, 2023 [email protected]

A Challenge

Please write a One Sentence Definition of “Personality”Personality”


Concept of Personality

Traditionally, personality referred to how people influence others through their external appearances and actions.

But, today personality is regarded as an interaction of physical and psychological characteristics.

To be noted, though psychologists and social scientists unanimously agree to the importance of personality, they are unable to come out with a unanimous definition.


Definitions of Personality

According to S.P. Robbins and S. Sanghi, “Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.”

According to Moorhead and Griffin, “Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another.”


Nature/Characteristics of Personality It is a sum total feature of an individual.Different individuals have different personality traits. It is partly born and partly acquired or developed.Over time personality traits of an individual can be

changed.Personality influences an individual’s behavior.Personality determines how an individual interacts

with others. It is most often described in terms of measurable traits

such as extroversion, agreeableness, emotional stability etc. that a person exhibits.


Personality Traits/CharacteristicsCharacteristics that are frequently exhibited in most

situations are called personality traits or characteristics.Thus, the more consistent the characteristic and the

more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important that trait is in describing the individual.

Allport and Odbert have found that there are three thousand to five thousand words that describe personal qualities and more than fifty different definitions of personally.


Personality Traits/Characteristics Reserved vs. outgoing Less intelligent vs. more intelligent Emotionally stable vs. Emotionally unstable Practical vs. Imaginative Trusting vs. Suspicious Self-assured vs. Apprehensive Conservative vs. Experimenting Relaxed vs. Tense ………………….etc.


“Big Five” Personality TraitsA century ago personality experts derived

17,953 words that represent individual traits. They aggregated these traits first into 171

clusters and finally into “Big five” personality dimensions.

The “Big five model”/ “five factor model” encompasses the following dimensions.


“Big Five” Personality Traits

1. ExtroversionPeople can be extroverts or introverts. Extroverts people are talkative, sociable,

assertive and outgoing. They want to interact with people and get

involved in events. Introverts are reserved, quiet, timid and

sensitive. They prefer to work independently.



2. AgreeablenessThis dimension refers to an individual’s

propensity to defer/agree to others. Highly agreeable people are courteous,

cooperative, warm, and trusting.People who score low on agreeableness are

cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.



3. ConscientiousnessThis dimension is a measure of

reliability/conscientiousness. A highly conscientious person is responsible,

organized, and consistent. Those who score low in this dimension are

easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.



4. Emotional stabilityThis dimension captures a person’s ability to

withstand stress. Emotionally stable people are calm, self-

confident, secure and relaxed. Emotionally unstable people are nervous,

depressed, anxious and insecure.



5. Openness to experienceThis dimension addresses one’s range of interests and

attraction with novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and

artistically sensitive. Closed persons are conventional and find comfort in

the familiar.

It is believed that “Big five model” is helpful in predicting the behavior of people at work and thereafter job performance.


Determinants of Personality

1. Heredity Heredity refers to those factors that were

determined at conception. Each parents contributes 23 chromosomes containing

thousands of genes which largely determine physical status, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition etc.

Researchers have found that heredity/genetics accounts for 50% of personality difference and more than 30% of variation in occupational and leisure interest.



2. Environment Overall socio-cultural, organizational and family

environment also shapes an individual’s personality. Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an

individual’s full potential will be determined by environmental factors.

Environmental factors like cultures in which we are raised, our early conditioning, our family, our organization, friends, social groups play substantial role in shaping our personality.



3. Situational differences Personality, although stable and consistent, does

change in different situations. So we shouldn’t look the personality pattern in

isolation. For instance, employment interview constrain many

behavior; other situations-- e.g., picnic or get-together with friends constrain relatively few.


Personality and Behavior

B = f(P, E)

Though personality and behavior and related, there are so many factors influencing individual behavior.

Thus, personality is not a sole and consistent predictor of individual behavior.


The person (P) The environment (E)1. Key personal biographical

factors:Sex, age, education, abilities,

material status etc.

1. Key environmental factors Economic conditions, political situations, Socio-cultural norms and values etc.

1. Psychological factors:Attitudes, values, beliefs,

motivation, perception, personality etc.

2 Organizational factors: Physical facilities, organizational structure and design, leadership styles, reward system etc.

Major Personality Traits/Attributes Influencing OB

1. Locus of Control (Internal Vs. External)

2. Machiavellianism (High Mach Vs. Low Mach)

3. Self-Esteem(High Self-Esteem Vs. Low Self-Esteem)

4. Self-Monitoring/Adjusting (High Self-Monitoring Vs. Low Self-Monitoring)

5. Risk-taking (High Vs. Low)

6. Personality Type( Type A Vs. Type B)


Matching Personality and Jobs

The manager's concern is more towards how to match the personality and jobs so that both organization and employees will be relatively benefited.

For this, John Holland has offered Personality Job-Fit Theory.

This theory identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality types and occupational environment determines job satisfaction and employee turnover.


Matching Personality and JobsPersonality Type Personality

Characteristics Congruent Occupation

Realistic: Prefers physical activities that require skills, strength, and coordination

Shy, genuine, persistent, stable, conforming, practical

Mechanic, drill press operator, assembly line worker, farmer

Investigative: Prefers activities that involve thinking, organizing , and understanding

Analytical, original, curious, independent

Biologist, economist, mathematician, news reporter

Conventional: Prefers rule-regulated, orderly and unambiguous activities

Conforming, efficient, practical, unimaginative, inflexible

Accountant, Corporate manager, bank teller, file clerk

Enterprising: Prefers verbal activities in which there are opportunities to influence other and attain power

Self confident, ambitious, energetic, dominant

Lawyer, real estate agent, public relations specialist, small business manager

Artistic: Prefers ambiguous and unsystematic activities that allow creative expression

Imaginative, disorderly, idealistic, emotional, impractical

Painter, musician, writer, interior decorator


Matching Personality and Jobs

But, in recent years, interest has expanded to include the person-organization fit.

Why? – because managers today are less interested in an applicant’s ability to perform a specific job than with his or her flexibility to meet changing situation and the employee’s personality fit with the overall organization’s culture.


ANY

QUESTIONS?


Documents

Personality MBS Final