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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