Personality and Values
Learning Outcomes
◉ After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
◉ Describe personality, the way it is measured, and the factors that shape it.
◉ Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI) personality framework and the Big Five model.
◉ Contrast terminal and instrumental values.
◉ Describe how the situation affects whether personality predicts behavior
◉ Describe the differences between person–job fit and person–organization
fit.
◉ Compare Hofstede’s five value dimensions and the GLOBE framework.
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. Describe personality, the way it is measured, and the
factors that shape it.
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What is Personality ?
◉ Personality is the overall profile or combination of traits that
characterize the unique nature of a person as that person reacts and
interact with others
◉ It is most often described in terms of the measurable traits a person
exhibits such as shy , aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal and
timid.
◉ Understanding personality contribute to an understanding of
organizational behavior by adding a consideration of
◉ What they can do ?
◉ What they will do? 4
Personality Determinants
◉ Personality reflect heredity and environment
◉ Heredity refers to factors determined at conception.
◉ Physical stature, facial features, gender, temperament, muscle composition and
reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms are either completely or
substantially influenced by parentage—by your biological parents’ biological,
physiological, and inherent psychological makeup.
◉ Environmental Factors consist of cultural, social and situational factors
◉ Personality traits enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s
behavior.
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Measuring Personality
1) Self Report Survey
◉ Most Common
◉ Prone to Error
2) Observer-ratings surveys
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Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality framework
and the Big Five model.
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Dominant Personality Frameworks
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
◉ Most widely used personality-assessment instrument in the world
◉ A 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in
situations
Individuals are classified as
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The Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment
A. Combinations based on these four categories of type preferences result in 16 different
personality types as shown below
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Issues with Myers-Briggs Personality
Assessment
◉ The model forces a person into one type or another; that is,
you’re either introverted or extraverted. There is no in
between.
◉ Reliability of the measure
◉ Difficulty of interpretation
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The Big five personality Model
1) Conscientiousness a personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible,
dependable, persistent, and organized.
2) Emotional stability a personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self-
confident, and secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).
3) Extraversion a personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and
assertive.
4) Openness to experience a personality dimension that characterizes someone in
terms of imagination, sensitivity, and curiosity.
5) Agreeableness a personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured,
cooperative, and trusting
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How Do the Big five traits predict
Behavior at Work?
• Conscientiousness at Work
• Emotional Stability at Work
• Extraversion at Work
• Openness at Work
• Agreeableness at Work
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Other Personality Framework
The Dark Triad
Dark Triad a constellation of negative personality traits consisting of
machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy
a) Machiavellianism: The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains
emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.
b) Narcissism: The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-
importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.
Psychopathy: The tendency for a lack of concern for others and a lack of guilt or
remorse when actions cause harm.
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Social Traits
◉ Social traits
Reflects surface-level traits that reflect the way a person appears to others when
interacting in social settings.
◉ Problem-solving style
reflects the way a person gathers and evaluates information when solving problems and
making decisions.
a) Style of gathering information (Sensation/ Intuitive)
b) Style of evaluating information (Feeling type individual / Thinking type individual)
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Style of gathering information (Sensation/ Intuitive)
◉ Sensation type individuals are people who prefer routine and
order and emphasize well defined details in gathering
information.
◉ Intuitive type individual are people who prefer the big picture
and like solving new problems , dislike routine and prefer to
look for possibilities than work with facts
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Style of evaluating information
◉ Feeling type individual are oriented toward conformity and try
to accommodate themselves to other people.
◉ Thinking type people are people who use reasons and intellect
to deal with problems.
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Personal Conception Traits
◉ Personal conception traits represent individuals’ major beliefs
and personal orientation concerning a range of issues concerning
social and physical setting.
◉ Locus of control is the extent a person feels able to control his or
her own life and is concerned with a person’s internal–external
orientation.
◉ A proactive personality is the disposition that identifies whether
or not individuals act to influence their environments.
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Personal Conception Traits
◉ Authoritarianism is a tendency to adhere rigidly to conventional
values and to obey recognized authority.
◉ Dogmatism leads a person to see the world as a threatening
place and to regard authority as absolute.
◉ Self-monitoring is a person’s ability to adjust his or her behavior
to external situational (environmental) factors
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Emotional Adjustment Traits
◉ Emotional adjustment traits are traits related to how much an
individual experiences emotional distress or displays unacceptable
acts.
◉ Type A orientations are characterized by impatience, desire for
achievement, and a more competitive nature than Type B.
◉ Type B orientations are characterized by an easygoing and less
competitive nature than Type A.
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Personality and Situations
◉ Situation strength theory A theory indicating that the way
personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of
the situation.
◉ Trait activation theory (TAT) A theory that predicts that some
situations, events, or interventions “activate” a trait more than
others.
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Values
Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate
courses of action or outcomes.
As such, values reflect a person’s sense of right and wrong or what
“ought” to be.
“Equal rights for all” and “People should be treated with respect and
dignity” are representative of values.
Values tend to influence attitudes and behavior.
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Personal Values
◉ Personal values essentially represent the things that have
meaning to us in our lives.
◉ Values are important to your understanding of organizational
behavior because they influence our behavior across different
settings.
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Schwartz’s Value Theory
◉ Schwartz believes that values are motivational in that they
“represent broad goals that apply across contexts and time.”
◉ Schwartz proposed that there are 10 broad values that guide
behavior
◉ For example, the desire for social power, authority, and wealth
drive someone who values power.
◉ In contrast, the value of conformity is driven by motives
related to politeness, obedience, self-discipline, and honoring
one’s parents and elders.
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Value Conflicts
◉ There are three types of value conflict that are related to an individual’s
attitudes, job satisfaction, turnover, performance, and counterproductive
behavior.
◉ They are intrapersonal value conflict, interpersonal value conflict, and
individual– organization value conflict.
◉ These sources of conflict are, respectively, from inside the person, between
people, and between the person and the organization.
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Work versus Family Life Conflict
◉ Pamela L Perrewé and Wayne A Hochwarter proposed a model of work/family
conflict.
◉ Family values involve enduring beliefs about the importance of family and who
should play key family roles (e.g., child rearing, housekeeping, and income
earning).
◉ Work values center on the relative importance of work and career goals in one’s
life.
◉ Value similarity relates to the degree of consensus among family members
about family values.
◉ Value congruence, on the other hand, involves the amount of value agreement
between employee and employer. 34
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Practical Research Insights about Work/Family Conflict
• Work/family balance begins at home
• An employer’s family-supportive philosophy is more important
than specific programs
• Informal flexibility in work hours and in allowing people to
work at home is essential to promoting work/family balance.
• Supportive bosses and spouses can help.
• Take a proactive approach to managing work/family conflict.
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Contrast terminal and instrumental values.
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Terminal versus Instrumental Values
Terminal Values Instrumental values
Reflect a person’s preferences Reflect a person’s beliefs
concerning the “ends” to about the “means” to
be achieved. achieve desired ends.
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Linking an Individual’s Personality
and Values to the Workplace
1) Personality–job fit theory : A theory that identifies six
personality types and proposes that the fit between personality
type and occupational environment determines satisfaction and
turnover.
2) Person–organization fit : A theory that people are attracted
to and selected by organizations that match their values, and
leave when there is not compatibility.
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Compare Hofstede’s five value dimensions and the
Globe framework.
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Hofstede’s framework
1. Power Distance
2. Individualism versus collectivism
3. Masculinity versus femininity
4. Uncertainty avoidance
5. Long-term versus short-term orientation
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The Globe framework for Assessing
Cultures
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Implications for Managers
◉ Screening job candidates for high conscientiousness—as well as the other
Big Five traits, depending on the criteria an organization finds most
important—should pay dividends. Of course, managers still need to take
situational factors into consideration.
◉ Factors such as job demands, the degree of required interaction with others,
and the organization’s culture are examples of situational variables that
moderate the personality–job performance relationship.
◉ You need to evaluate the job, the work group, and the organization to
determine the optimal personality fit.
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