MGNT803:LECTURE 2
PERSONALITY & VALUES
Dr. Prikshat Verma
[email protected] Purpose of this lecture
The purpose of this lecture is to:
• To understand what is personality.
• The Big Five Model of Personality.
• Dark Triad of Personality.
• Theories of personality
• Measuring personality.
• Understanding Values.
• The Interactionist Perspective
Understanding Personality
Historical explanation:
Early research tried to identify and label enduring personality characteristics.
For example: Shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal, and timid.
*These are personality traits.
Personality Determinants
Is personality the result of heredity or environment?
Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception.
Ø The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an
individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located
in the chromosomes.
*Discussion thread: ‘Great Man Theory’ by Thomas Caryle.
Defining Personality
Definition of personality
Personality is a dynamic concept, that:
Ø Describes the growth and development of a person’s
whole psychological system.
Ø The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to
and interacts with others.
(Robbins and Judge, 2022)
Big 5 Model of Personality
The big 5 personality traits is a theory established by D. W. Fiske and later
expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967),
Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa (1987).
Relevance of Big Five Traits for OB
Dark Triad of Personality Traits
The Dark Triad:
The ‘Dark Triad; is a term used to describe a constellation of three exploitative
personality traits:
Ø Machiavellianism: Demonstrate a social conduct that involves manipulating
others for personal gain, often against the other's self-interests” (Wilson, Near,
& Miller, 1996, p. 285)
Ø Narcissism: People high in narcissism can be characterized by grandiosity,
entitlement, dominance, and superiority. They have a very high opinion of self-
worth and believe that they are superior to others (Paunonen, Lönnqvist,
Verkasalo, Leikas, & Nissinen, 2006).
Ø Psychopathy: A personality trait involving an arrogant and deceitful
interpersonal style, a deficient affective experience(the tendency for a lack of
concern for others and a lack of guilt or remorse when their actions cause
harm) and an impulsive and irresponsible behavioural style” (Boey &
Vantilborgh, 2015, p. 48)
Exercise (See situational reference)
Please go through situation reference for the trait of agreeableness and
create a job situation in which ‘one personality trait’ of an individual reflects
in a positive or negative way in an organizations.
Exercise (See situational reference)
Sipho was born in a small rural village in Swaziland. He spent his childhood years looking after his family’s livestock. The community
upheld high values, such as honesty and respect, but the people were desperately poor. He realized that he would have to go
to South Africa and apply for a job at a gold mine.
As a young man, Sipho left his village in the mountains and took on the difficult job of getting to South Africa. He went in
search of one of his distant family members, who was working for a gold mine near Johannesburg as a personnel assistant.
He managed to find his relative, who managed to find him a job as a general mine worker and accommodation in one of the
mine hostels. Sipho was dedicated to his work, and time passed quickly. Every month, he forwarded most of his wages to his
family in Swaziland.
One day Sipho’s family member called him into his office and informed him that he was due for promotion. He also told
Sipho that he would be required to pay him $500 for his “efforts.” This arrangement seemed strange to Sipho as he knew that
it was not in line with company procedures. When Sipho asked about this, the personnel assistant replied that he had the
authority to do so and that Sipho would not be promoted if he did not pay the $500. Sipho returned to his room and wrestled
with the options before him that night. He had grown up with strong personal values, which included honesty and hard work,
but his family needed the extra income. What was he to do?
After a restless night, he returned the next day to the personnel assistant’s office and handed him the $500. He was
immediately promoted, but he returned to his room with a troubled mind.
A few weeks later, the personnel assistant was reported and investigated for fraudulent behavior. He was suspended from
work, and the investigation revealed all his corrupt activities. The record he had kept on all employees who paid bribes to him
was also found. All employees on this list were called in and charged with fraud. Sipho’s name was on the list, and he was
found guilty and dismissed from the service of the company along with all the others.
.
Theories of personality (Situation and behaviour)
Research shows that the effect of a particular trait on organizational behavior depends on
the situation. Two theoretical frameworks that can help explain this are the ‘Situation
Strength Theory’ and ‘Trait Activation Theory’.
Situation Strength Theory: indicates that the way personality translates into
behavior depends on the strength of the situation.
The degree to which norms, cues, or standards dictate appropriate behavior
Ø Clarity
Ø Consistency
Ø Constraints
Ø Consequences
Theories of personality (Situation and behaviour-Contd.)
Situation strength theory(Contd.)
(Source: Judge and Zapata, 2015)
Theories of personality (Situation and behaviour-Contd.)
Trait Activation Theory: Trait activation theory predicts that some situations, events,
or interventions “activate” a trait more than others.
• ‘Trait activation’ is the process by which individuals express their traits when
presented with trait-relevant situational cues.
• When individuals are in trait-relevant situations, their characteristic adaptations or
their enduring habits, attitudes, roles, interests, and values— should naturally
translate into effective job performance (McCrae, 2001).
• Specifically, individuals in trait-relevant situations likely realize that their innate
tendencies are beneficial (i.e., valued resources) given the demands of the situation,
increasing both the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to perform.
Measuring Personality
Measuring Personality
Managers need to know how to measure personality.
Ø Personality tests are useful in hiring decisions and help managers forecast who is
best for a job.
Ø The most common means of measuring personality is Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI).
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an
introspective, self report evaluation that identifies a person’s personality type and psychological
preferences.Based on this test the individuals are classified into four categories:
Ø Extroverted or Introverted (E or I)
Ø Sensing or Intuitive (S or N)
Ø Thinking or Feeling (T or F)
Ø Perceiving or Judging (P or J)
Each person is said to have one preferred quality from each category, producing 16 unique
personality types.
MBTI- 16 Personality types
Take a test
https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/IPIP-BFFM/
https://www.humanmetrics.com/personality/test
Values
Values:
Basic convictions about what is right, good, or desirable.
Value system:
Ranks values in terms of intensity.
The Importance and Organization of Values
Ø Lay the foundation for understanding of attitudes and motivation.
Ø Influence attitudes and behaviors.
Terminal vs. Instrumental Values
Ø Terminal values: desirable end-states of existence (goals that an individual wants to
achieve in life like wanting to be successful or growth in career).
Ø Instrumental values: preferred modes of behavior or means of achieving terminal
values (for example, being imaginative, loving, or cheerful).
The Interactionist Perspective (Personality, Values and Job)
The interactionist perspective among personality, values and job, fit refers to the
degree to which a person's personality, values, goals, and other characteristics
match fit with the organization.
Person-Organisation Fit: Alignment of an individuals' core values, beliefs,
ethics and purpose are to those of the organization they work for (i.e. the
compatibility between individuals and the organization).
Person-Job Fit: The relationship between a person’s characteristics and those of
the job or tasks that are performed at work.
*Both are positively linked with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and
organizational citizenship behaviour, and job performance.
Implications for Managers
Ø Screening job candidates for high conscientiousness—as well as
the other Big Five traits—depending on the criteria your
organization finds most important. Although the MBTI has
limitations, managers can use it for training and development;
to help employees better understand each other, open up
communication in work groups, and possibly reduce conflicts.
Ø Evaluate jobs, work groups, and your organization to determine
the optimal personality fit.
Ø Take into account employees' situational factors when
evaluating their observable personality traits, and lower the
situation strength, to better ascertain personality characteristics
References
• Boey, L., & Vantilborgh, T. (2015). A theoretical model relating the dark triad of personality to the
content of employees' psychological contracts. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, 40(3),
44–66.
• Judge, T. A., & Zapata, C. P. (2015). The person–situation debate revisited: Effect of situation strength
and trait activation on the validity of the Big Five personality traits in predicting job
performance. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1149-1179.
• McCrae, R. R. 2001. 5 years of progress: A reply to Block. Journal of Research in Personality, 35: 108–
113.
• Paunonen, S. V., Lönnqvist, J.-E., Verkasalo, M., Leikas, S., & Nissinen, V. (2006). Narcissism and
emergent leadership in military cadets. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(5), 475–486.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.06.003.
• Robbins S. Judge, T. (2022) Organizational Behaviour Global Edition, 19th edition, Pearson, ISBN-13:
978- 0134729329.
• Wilson, D. S., Near, D., & Miller, R. R. (1996). Machiavellianism: a synthesis of the evolutionary and
psychological literatures. Psychological bulletin, 119(2), 285.
Thanks
