Personality

DATED
Program
Semester

:
: BBA LLB
:

Dr. Vikrant Makhija

Associate Professor ,

AURO UNIVERSITY
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Dr.Vikrant Makhija: Module leader

Lecture Outlines:
Meaning and nature of Personality
Definitional concepts of work place personality.
Measuring concepts of personality and its importance in the work organizations.
Theories of Personality.
Key determinants of Personality relevant to OB.
Significant Personality Traits impacting OB.

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What is personality?
The term comes from the Latin word Persona
Which means Mask
It is the Public Self: The aspect of ourselves we select to display to the world
It implies that the important aspects of a person remains concealed for some reasons.
Every Human being is :
1.0 Like every other human beings
2.0 Like some other human beings
3.0 Like no other human beings
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Exercise
A) List the traits you have like
1.0 every other human being has
2.0 some other human beings have
3.0 no other human being has
B) Make the list of those some other human beings whom you think have common
traits with you.
C) List the traits which makes you unique
D) Classify the class in to groups of common personality individuals
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Why to study Personality?

Understanding peoples personalities helps us know what to expect of them,

Understanding our own personalities provides valuable insight into our own behavior.

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Personality Defined

Personality can be defined as the unique and relatively stable pattern of behavior,
thoughts, and emotions shown by individuals

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How is personality Defined?

Nature

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or

Nurture?

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The Big Five Dimensions of Personality

Extraversion.
The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with relationships. Extraverts tend to be
gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, and quiet.
Agreeableness.
The agreeableness dimension refers to an individuals propensity to defer to others. Highly
agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are
cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.
Conscientiousness.
The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of reliability. A highly conscientious person is
responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are
easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.
Emotional stability.
The emotional stability dimensionoften labeled by its converse, neuroticismtaps a persons
ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident,
and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.
Openness to experience.
The openness to experience dimension addresses range of interests and fascination with novelty.
Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of
the category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.
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How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior at Work?

Research has found relationships between these personality dimensions and job
performance.
Individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized,
hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have higher job performance
in most if not all occupations.
Employees who score higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job
knowledge, probably because highly conscientious people learn more.
Higher levels of job knowledge then contribute to higher levels of job performance.
Interestingly conscientious people live longer cause they take better care of themselves
(they eat better and exercise more) and engage in fewer risky behaviors like smoking,
drinking and drugs, and risky sexual or driving behavior.
Still, probably because theyre so organized and structured, conscientious people dont
adapt as well to changing contexts.
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Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

Core Self-Evaluation People who have positive core self-evaluations like
themselves and see themselves as effective, capable, and in control of their
environment. Those with negative core self-evaluations tend to dislike themselves,
question their capabilities, and view themselves as powerless over their environment.
People with positive core self-evaluations perform better than others because they set
more ambitious goals, are more committed to their goals, and persist longer in
attempting to reach these goals.
Ninety percent of life insurance sales calls end in rejection, so an agent has to believe
in him- or herself to persist.
Can we be too positive? What happens when someone thinks he is capable but is
actually incompetent?
One study of Fortune 500 CEOs showed that many are overconfident, and their
perceived infallibility often causes them to make bad decisions.
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Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

Machiavellianism Machiavellian makes no apologies for the aggressive tactics hes
used to propel his career upward. He is prepared to do whatever he has to do to get
ahead.
An individual high in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and
believes ends can justify means.
Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuadedless, and persuade others more than
do low Machs.
They like their jobs less,are more stressed by their work, and engage in more deviant
work behaviors.
Thus, in jobs that require bargaining skills (suchas labor negotiation) or that offer
substantial rewards for winning (such ascommissioned sales), high Machs will be
productive.
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Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

Narcissism Narcissist likes to be the center of attention. He looks at himself in the
mirror a lot, has extravagant dreams, and considers himself a person of many talents.
In psychology, narcissism describes a person who has a grandiose sense of selfimportance, requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant.
Evidence suggests that narcissists are more charismatic and thus more likely to
emerge as leaders.
Despite having some advantages, most evidence suggests that narcissism
is undesirable.
Because narcissists often want to gain the admiration of others and receive affirmation
of their superiority, they tend to talk down to those who threaten them, treating others
as if they were inferior.
Their bosses rate them as less effective at their jobs than others
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Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB

Self-monitoring refers to an individuals ability to adjust his or her behavior to external,

situational factors.
Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability in adjusting their
behavior to external situational factors. They are highly sensitive to external cues and
can behave differently in different situations, sometimes presenting striking
contradictions between their public persona and their private self.
Evidence indicates high self-monitors pay closer attention to the behavior of others and
are more capable of conforming than are low self-monitors.
They also receive better performance ratings, are more likely to emerge as leaders, and
show less commitment to their organizations.

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Risk Taking
People differ in their willingness to take chances, a quality that affects how much time
and information they need to make a decision. For instance, 79 managers worked on
simulated exercises that required them to make hiring decisions. 48 High risk-taking
managers made more rapid decisions and used less information than did the low risk
takers. Interestingly, decision accuracy was the same for both groups.
Recent findings suggest managers in large organizations may actually be more willing to
take risks than entrepreneurs.
A high risk-taking propensity may lead to more effective performance for a stock trader in
a brokerage firm because that type of job demands rapid decision

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Pro Active

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Other orientation

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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely used personality
assessment instrument in the world.
It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in
particular situations.
Respondents are classified as extraverted or introverted (E or I), sensing or intuitive
(S or N), thinking or feeling (T or F), and judging or perceiving (J or P).

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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and
assertive. Introverts are quiet and shy.
Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N). Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and
order. They focus on details. Intuitives rely on unconscious processes and look at the
big picture.
Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F). Thinking types use reason and logic to handle
problems. Feeling types rely on their personal values and emotions.
Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P). Judging types want control and prefer their world to
be ordered and structured. Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.

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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

These classifications together describe 16 personality types, identifying every person by
one trait from each of the four pairs.
For example,
Introverted/ Intuitive/Thinking/Judging people (INTJs) are visionaries with original minds
and great drive. They are skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and
often stubborn.
ESTJs are organizers. They are realistic, logical, analytical, and decisive and have a
natural head for business or mechanics. The ENTP type is a conceptualizer, innovative,
individualistic, versatile, and attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be
resourceful in solving challenging problems but may neglect routine assignments.

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