Ob ch5

Ch5 Personality and values

Personality

• What is personality– The sum total of ways in which an individual

reacts to and interacts with others

• Measuring personality– Self-report surveys → problems : fake,

accuracy– Observer ratings surveys

Personality determinants

• Heredity vs. environment– Identical twins researches– Genetics accounts for 50% of the personality

similarities between twins

• Personality changes– Ex. Dependability tend to increase over time– More changeable in adolescence and more

stable among adults.

Personality determinants

• Personality traits– Enduring characteristics that describe an

individual’s behavior– Ex. Lazy, loyal– More frequently occurs, more consistent

overtime → more important in describing the individual

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI)

• 100-question personality test that ask people how they usually feel or act in particular situations.– Extraverted(E) vs. Introverted(I)

Sensing(S) vs. Intuitive(N)Thinking(T) vs. Feeling(F)Judging(J) vs. Perceiving(P)

→16 personality types

• Validity-most of the evidence suggested not• Valuable tool for increasing self-awareness

The Big Five Personality Model

• Big Five factors: Extroversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Emotional stability

Openness to experience• How do the Big Five traits predict behavior at

work?– Higher conscientious higher levels of job knowledge

higher job performance– Conscientious is more important than other traits(to

Business success)

Exhibit 5-2

Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

• Core self-evaluation– Positive core self-evaluation related to job

satisfaction and better job performance

• Machiavellianism– The degree to which an individual is

pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means

– High-Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors

– High Machs flourish when:• Interact face to face with others rather than

indirectly• Situation has a minimal number of rules and

regulations, allowing latitude for improvisation• Emotional involvement with details irrelevant to

winning

– High Machs make good employees depends on the type of job

Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

• Narcissism– While they thought they were better leaders than their

colleagues, their supervisors actually rated them as worse.

• Self-monitoring– High in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability

in adjusting their behavior to external situational factors

• Risk taking– People differ in their willingness to rake chances, a

affects how much time and information managers need to take a decision

Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

• Type A personality– Aggressive involvement in a chronic,

incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time and, if necessary , against the opposing efforts of other things or other people.

• Proactive personality– People who identify opportunities, show

initiative take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs.

Values

• Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse ones.

• Contain judgment element, have both content and intensity attributes.

• Value system-based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity.

Values

• The importance of values – influence attitudes and behavior

• Terminal vs. instrumental values– Rokeach Value survey

• 2 sets, each contain 18 individual value items

– Terminal values– Instrumental values– RVS values vary among groups → can

create serious conflicts while groups content

Values

• Generational values– Contemporary work cohorts

Cohort Entered the Workforce Approximate Current Age

Dominant Work Values

Veterans 1950s or early 1960s 65+ Hardworking, conservative, conforming; loyalty to the organization

Boomers 1965-1985 Mid-40s to mid-60s Success, achievement, ambition, dislike of authority, loyalty to career

Xers 1985-2000 Late 20s to early 40s Work/life balance, team-oriented, dislike of rules; loyalty to relationships

Nexers 2000-present Under 30 Confident, financial success, self-reliant but team-oriented; loyalty to both self and relationships

Linking an individual’s personality and values to the workplace

• Person-job fit theory– Vocational Preference Inventory

questionnaire

– The theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest when personality and occupation are in agreement• There do appear to be intrinsic differences in

personality among individuals• Different types of jobs• People in jobs congruent with their personality →

more satisfied and less likely to voluntarily resign

Linking an individual’s personality and values to the workplace

• Person-organization fit– People are attracted to and selected by

organizations that match their values, and they leave organizations that are compatible with their personalities

– Fit better with the organization’s culture → higher employee satisfaction and reduced turnover

Global Implications

• Personality– Big Five model appear in almost all cross-

cultural studies– Differences tend to be in the emphasis on

dimensions and whether countries are predominantly individualistic or collectivistic

Global Implications

• Values– Hofstede’s framework for assessing cultures

• Power distance• Individualism vs. Collectivism• Masculinity vs. Femininity• Uncertainty avoidance• Long-term vs. Short-term orientation

– External validity ? → data representation and cultural differences

– The GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures• An ongoing cross-cultural investigation of

leadership and national culture• Identified 9 dimensions on which national cultures

differ• Ex. humane orientation, performance orientation

Summary and Implications for Managers

• Personality– Personality and job performance were not

meaningfully related across traits or situations

• Values– Employee’s performance and satisfaction are

likely to be higher if their values fit well with the organization