1. Organizational Behavior Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Essentials of
Organizational Behavior
13e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Chapter 5
Personality and Values

2. Chapter 5
Personality and Values

3. After studying this chapter you should be able to:
Describe personality, the way it is measured, and the factors that shape it.
Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality framework, the Big Five model, and describe their strengths and weaknesses.
Identify the three traits of the Dark Triad, and describe the contrasting ideas of the approach-avoidance framework.
Discuss how the concepts of core self-evaluation (CSE), self- monitoring, and proactive personality contribute to the understanding of personality.
Describe how the situation affects whether personality predicts behavior.
Contrast terminal and instrumental values.
Describe the differences between person-job fit and person- organization fit.
Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.
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Personality
Personality - the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others
Most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits such as shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal, and timid
Personality is often defined by characteristics such as outgoing or charming. However, psychologists define personality as the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system.
We study personality in Organizational Behavior because it impacts a number of important work outcomes. We can attempt to measure personality through a variety of methods. Often these methods are utilized in the hiring process to assist in hiring the right person for the job and the organization.
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5. Measuring Personality
Self-report surveys
Most common
Prone to error
Evaluate on a series of factors
Self-reports are the most common and easiest way to measure personality, but they are prone to error due to the fact that the individual is reporting all the data about themselves.
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6. Personality Determinants
Personality reflects heredity and environment
Heredity is the most dominant factor
Twin studies: genetics more influential than parents
Environmental factors do have some influence
Aging influences levels of ability
Basic personality is constant
There are many determinants of personality including heredity, environmental factors, and age.
There has been a long-standing debate about whether genetics or environment are more important in determining personality. They both play an important role. The heredity approach refers to factors determined at conception such as physical stature and gender. This has been reaffirmed by studies that have looked at twins who were raised apart but still had similar personalities. However, there were differences observed leading to the idea the environmental factors can have some influence.
Age does influence the level of ability that an individual has even though it is widely held that the basic personality stays constant throughout the life of the individual.
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7. Dominant Personality Frameworks Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Most widely used personality-assessment instrument in the world
Individuals are classified as:
Extroverted or Introverted (E/I)
Sensing or Intuitive (S/N)
Thinking or Feeling (T/F)
Judging or Perceiving (J/P)
Classifications combined into 16 personality types (i.e., INTJ or ESTJ)
The MBTI is the most widely used personality instrument worldwide. Participants are classified within four scales to determine 1 of 16 possible personality types. These types are broken down into four dichotomies. The first is extroverts who tend to be sociable and assertive versus introverts who tend to be quiet and shy. The second dichotomy is sensing and intuitive. Sensors are practical and orderly where intuits utilize unconscious processes. The third dichotomy is thinking and feeling. Thinking focuses on using reason and logic whereas feeling utilizes values and emotions. The final dichotomy is judging and perceiving. Judgers want order and structure whereas perceivers are more flexible and spontaneous.
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8. Measuring Personality Traits: The Big-Five Model
Five Traits:
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability
Openness to Experience
Strongly supported relationship to job performance (especially Conscientiousness)
The Big Five model of personality sets forth that there are five basic dimensions that underlie all others and encompass most of the significant variations in human personalities. The Big Five factors are: Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness to Experiences. There is a lot of research that supports the Big Five model and it has been shown to predict behavior at work.
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Big Five Traits and OB
As shown, the Big Five traits are related to job performance and also have other implications for work and life.
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10. Other Personality Frameworks
The Dark Triad
Machiavellianism
High machs tend to be pragmatic, emotionally distant, and believe the ends justify the means
Narcissism
A person with a grandiose view of self, requires excessive admiration, has a sense of self- entitlement, and is arrogant
Psychopathy
A lack of concern for others, and a lack of guilt or remorse when their actions cause harm
Researchers have found three socially undesirable traits called the Dark Triad are relevant to organizational behavior.
Machiavellianism describes a person who tends to be emotionally distant and believes that the ends justify the means. They tend to have a competitive drive and a need to win. They can be very persuasive in situations where there is direct interaction with minimal rules and people are distracted by emotions. Narcissism is a trait that often hinders job effectiveness. It describes a person who requires excessive admiration and has a strong sense of entitlement. Psychopathy refers to a lack of concern for others, and a lack of guilt or remorse when their actions cause harm.
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11. Other Personality Frameworks
The approach-avoidance framework
Approach motivation – our attention to positive stimuli
Avoidance motivation – our aversion to negative stimuli
Framework organizes traits and may help explain how they predict work behavior
There are some unresolved issues with the approach-avoidance framework: Is the framework simply a way of categorizing positive and negative traits? What traits fit into the framework? Further research is needed.
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12. Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB
Core self-evaluation
People with positive core self-evaluation like themselves and see themselves as capable and effective in the workplace
Self-monitoring
Adjusts behavior to meet external, situational factors
Proactive personality
Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres
People with positive CSE perform better because they set more ambitious goals, are more committed to their goals, and persist longer in attempting to reach them. Self-monitoring is another personality trait that is linked to job performance. It is the ability to adjust behavior to meet situational factors. High monitors are more likely to become leaders in the workplace. Proactive personalities are people who are able to identify opportunities and take action to capitalize on that opportunity. They also have the ability to persevere through difficulties to meet their goals. Proactive personality may be important for work teams.
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13. Personality and Situations
The effect of particular traits on organization behavior depends on the situation
Two frameworks
Situation Strength
Trait Activation
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14. Personality and Situations
Situation strength theory – the way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation
Analyze situation strength in terms of:
Clarity
Consistency
Constraints
Consequences
Trait activation theory (TAT) – predicts that some situations, events, or interventions “activate” a trait more than others
Strong situations pressure us to exhibit the right behavior, clearly show us what that behavior is, and discourage the wrong behavior. In weak situations, “anything goes,” and thus we are freer to express our personality in our behaviors. Thus, research suggests that personality traits better predict behavior in weak situations than in strong ones.
Research shows that in a supportive environment, everyone behaves prosocially, but in an environment that is not so nice, whether an individual has the personality to behave prosocially makes a major difference.
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15. Trait Activation Theory
Trait Activation Theory: Jobs in Which Certain Big Five Traits Are More Relevant
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Values
Values represent basic, enduring convictions that "a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence"
Values represent basic convictions that make judgments about what is the best mode of conduct or end-state of existence.
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Value Systems
Represent a prioritizing of individual values by:
Content – importance to the individual
Intensity – relative importance with other values
The hierarchy tends to be relatively stable
Values are the foundation for attitudes, motivation, and behavior
Influence perception and cloud objectivity
Value systems represent individual values and prioritizes them based on how important the particular value is to the individual and how intense their feelings are about that particular value. The way individuals set up their values in order of importance is relatively stable over time and sets the foundation for many work outcomes such as attitudes, motivation, and behavior. In addition, values are important in the workplace because they can influence an individual’s perception and cloud their objectivity.
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Rokeach Value Survey
Terminal values: desirable end-states of existence
Goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime
Instrumental values: preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving the terminal values
The Rokeach Value Survey was created by Milton Rokeach. It consists of two sets of values, terminal values and instrumental values. Terminal values describe the desired values/goals a person would like to keep/achieve through their lifetime. Instrumental values are the preferred modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal values.
Values vary between groups and can cause trouble when group members hold different values and negotiation is needed.
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19. Personality-Job Fit: Holland’s Hexagon
Job satisfaction and turnover depend on congruency between personality and task
People in jobs congruent with their personality should be more satisfied and less likely to voluntarily resign than people in incongruent tasks
Personality and value studies are important to the field of organizational behavior because they have been linked to workplace outcomes. The person-job fit theory developed by John Holland has been critical to thinking about how people fit with a specific job. Holland classified people into six personality types utilizing a vocational preference inventory.
Through the study of personality it has become clear that there are intrinsic differences in personality between people. Given that there are a number of different jobs it is logical that people in jobs congruent with their personalities would be more satisfied in their work.
When the personality is matched with the type of occupation, then there are stronger positive work outcomes.
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20. Personality-Job Fit: Holland’s Hexagon
The closer two fields or orientations are in the hexagon, the more compatible they are.
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21. Person-Organization Fit
It is more important that employees’ personalities fit with the organizational culture than with the characteristics of any specific job
The fit predicts job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover
This idea can be further linked to the workplace by looking at person-organization fit. The employee’s personality needs to fit with the organizational culture. When employees find organizations that match their values, they are more likely to be selected and correspondingly be more satisfied with their work. The big five personality types are often helpful in matching the individuals with organizational culture.
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International Values
Values differ across cultures
Two frameworks for assessing culture:
Hofstede
GLOBE
There are global implications to personality and values in the workplace. Frameworks such as the Big Five are transferable across cultures; in fact, it has been used worldwide. However, the applicability is higher in some cultures than others. Values, on the other hand, differ to a great degree across cultures.
Geert Hofstede developed a framework for assessing culture. He breaks up his framework of understanding into five value dimensions: power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term vs. short-term orientation.
The GLOBE, as discussed earlier, is also helpful in framing differences between cultures.
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23. Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures
Five factors:
Power Distance
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
Uncertainty Avoidance
Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation
Power distance is the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. Low-distance occurs when there is relatively equal power between those with status and wealth and those without. Higher distance occurs when there is unequal power distribution between groups.
The second component in Hofstede’s framework is individualism vs. collectivism. Individualism is the degree to which people prefer to act on their own rather than in a group. Collectivism is the idea that people operate within a social framework where they help others out and they expect help when they need it.
Hofstede offers a third component in his model that distinguishes between masculinity and femininity. Masculinity is the extent to which the culture prefers achievement, power, and control vs. characteristics that are more feminine in nature.
The fourth component is uncertainty avoidance. This is the extent to which a society is willing to live with uncertainty and ambiguity. High uncertainty avoidance cultures will try to avoid ambiguous situations as much as possible. Lower uncertainty avoidance cultures do not mind ambiguity.
The final component is time orientation. Long-term orientation societies will emphasize the future and what it takes to get to the future they desire, thrift and persistence. Short-term orientation societies will emphasize the here and now.
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24. Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures
Hofstede’s Cultural Values by Nation
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25. GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures
Ongoing study with nine factors:
Individualism/ collectivism
In-group collectivism
Performance orientation
Humane orientation
Assertiveness
Future orientation
Gender differentiation
Uncertainty avoidance
Power distance
The GLOBE framework takes a look at nine dimensions of national culture. It is similar to Hofstede’s model but adds the humane and performance orientations. The humane orientation looks at how much society rewards people for being altruistic and kind where the performance orientation looks at how much society encourages and rewards good work.
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26. Implications for Managers
Consider screening job candidates for high conscientiousness
Use MBTI in training and development to help employees better understand themselves and team members, and facilitate communication
Evaluate your employees’ jobs, their work groups, and your organization to determine the optimal personality fit
Take into account employees’ situational factors when evaluating their observable personality traits, and lower the situation strength to better ascertain personality characteristics
Take into consideration people’s different cultures
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Keep in Mind…
Personality
The sum total of ways in which individual reacts to, and interacts with others
Easily measured
Big Five Personality Traits
Related to many OB criteria
May be very useful in predicting behavior
Values
Vary between and within cultures
Keep in mind as a manager that personality impacts the way an individual interacts with others, and it is fairly easy to measure to gain insight into the worker.
The Big five personality traits are somewhat universal and are very useful in predicting behavior.
Values are important to understand as they influence how workers will behave as well. They vary significantly across cultures, however, so it is important to understand the culture in which you are.
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Summary
Described personality, the way it is measured, and the factors that shape it.
Described the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality framework, the Big Five model, and described their strengths and weaknesses.
Identified the three traits of the Dark Triad, and described the contrasting ideas of the approach-avoidance framework.
Discussed how the concepts of core self-evaluation (CSE), self- monitoring, and proactive personality contribute to the understanding of personality.
Described how the situation affects whether personality predicts behavior.
Contrasted terminal and instrumental values.
Described the differences between pers0n-job fit and person- organization fit.
Identified Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.
Copyright ©2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

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