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Understanding the Individual: Personality
6th June 2013
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Unique and relatively stable patterns of behavior, thoughts, and emotions shown by individuals.
A personality trait is a predisposition or tendency to behave in a particular way
Personality: a persons internally based characteristic
way of acting and thinking
Character: Personal characteristics that have been judged
or evaluated
Temperament: Hereditary aspects of personality, including
sensitivity, moods, irritability, and distractibility
Personality Trait: Stable qualities that a person shows in
most situations
Personality Type: People who have several traits in
common
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1. Managers care about personality they rate it as important as ability and take it into account when hiring
2. Research shows that there is a relationships between personality and performance
3. Overall, does not include cultural biases
4. Predicts multiple facets of career success
5. Personality is related to many work related behaviours that managers care about that matter to organisations
Barrick and Mount, 2005
Personality Success internal
/external
How we
interact with
others in the
job
Person- job fit
Planning
Dealing with
barriers
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We will be discussing different types of measures and tests today. While all measures have their limitations, a good measure must be:
Reliable has no measurement error. If you test the same person at different times you get the
same results
Valid measures what it is supposed to measure.
E.g. If we measured IQ based on birthdates (reliable but not valid)
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Trait Theory - understand individuals by breaking down behavior patterns into observable traits (Big 5, MBTI)
Psychodynamic Theory - emphasizes the unconscious
determinants of behavior (Freudian Theories)
Social Cognitive Theory - emphasizes individual growth and improvement (Self Efficacy, LOC)
Humanistic Theory - Approach that focuses on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals
(Maslow)
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Locus of Control
Internal External
I control what happens to me!
People and circumstances control
my fate!
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Internals tend to:
have high achievement
be independent
be healthier both physically and psychologically
cope better with uncertainty and stress.
Externals tend to:
Create a social environment around themselves
Communicate mainly within their group
Be less satisfied and involved with their job
Have higher absenteeism rates
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Scale Score Interpretation
Verbal Score Interpretation
4.5-5.0 Very High
3.75 4.49 High
2.26 3.74 Average
1.50 2.25 Low
1.0 1.49 Very Low
Score Reverse Score
1 5
2 4
3 3
4 2
5 1
Openness to Experience: Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive Vs. narrow-minded, conventional.
Conscientiousness: Responsible, dependable, persistent,
and organized VS. lazy, unreliable.
Extroversion: Sociable, gregarious, and assertive VS. reserved, timid.
Agreeableness: Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting VS. cold, belligerent.
Neuroticism (Emotional Stability): Nervous, depressed, stressed, anxious Vs. Calm, self-confident, secure under stress.
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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.
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Conscientiousness and emotional stability are the two Big Five traits most consistently related to job performance
High conscientiousness was associated with intrinsic career success
Low neuroticism, low agreeableness, high extraversion, and high conscientiousness were associated with extrinsic career success.
Preferences Represents
Extraversion Introversion How one re-energizes
Sensing Intuiting How one gathers information
Thinking Feeling How one makes decisions
Judging Perceiving How one orients to the outer world
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Self-Monitoring The ability to adjust behavior to meet external,
situational factors. High monitors conform more and are more likely to
become leaders.
Self-efficacy: A judgment of ones effectiveness in dealing with
particular situations. Individuals beliefs concerning their ability to perform specific tasks successfully.
Bandura proposed that people observe their own behavior and judge its effectiveness
High self-monitors flexible: adjust
behavior according to the situation and the behavior of others
can appear unpredictable & inconsistent
Low self-monitors act from internal
states rather than from situational cues
show consistency less likely to respond
to work group norms or supervisory feedback
Self-Monitoring Behavior based on cues from people & situations
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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
Prized in North America, but quality of the work is low
Type B Personality pattern of behavior characterized by a casual, laid-back
style the opposite of the type A behavior pattern
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