 The overall profile or combination of characteristics that

capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts

and interacts with others.
 Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic
patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. It combines a set of
physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person
looks, thinks, acts, and feels.
 Personality can be described as the collective qualities,
characteristics, nature/character and values of a person
which distinguish him or her from others, which also affect
the manners he/she reacts toward or interacts with other
people and his /her environment.
 A person’s personality should be seen as on-going
development process.
 Every person has a different personality traits.
 All individuals have some universally common characteristics. Yet they
differ in some other specific attributes.
 This makes it difficult for the managers to assume that they can apply
same reward types or motivation techniques to modify different
individual behaviors.
 However, it does not mean that people never change. In simple terms, it
states that individuals do not change all at once. Their thoughts, feelings,
values and actions remain relatively stable over time. Changes in
individual's personality can occur gradually over a period of time.
 The managers should, therefore, attempt to understand certain
dimensions of personality. This can enable them to predict the behavior
of their employees on a daily basis.
 Personality refers to the set of traits & behaviors that characterize an
individual.
 Personality of an individual is relatively stable in nature.
 Personality is both inherited as well as it can be shaped by the
environment.
 Personality reflects individual differences: For instance, some people can
be described as "high" in venturesomeness, e.g., willing to accept the
risk of doing something new or different, such as skydiving or mountain
climbing, whereas others can be described as "low" in venturesomeness,
e.g., afraid to buy a really new product.
 Personality can change: For instance, an individual's personality may be
altered by major life events, such as the birth of a child, the death of a
loved one, a divorce, or a significant career promotion. An individual's
personality changes not only in response to abrupt (sudden) events but
also part of a gradual maturing process.
 Law of Behavior: “People are different”.
 Personality plays a key role in organizational behavior because the
way that people think, feel, and behave affects many aspects of the
workplace.
 To manage workforce diversity.
 Personality consists of characteristics or traits that describe how
people are likely to behave in a given situation.
 Personality is useful in predicting & understanding the general
feelings, thoughts and behaviors of individuals at the workplace.
 Contribution of various personality theories.
 Determinants of
Personality

Heredity Social Factor

Nature: It advocates that Part of Nature: It advocates that Part of

personality finds its Origins in personality finds its Origins in
biology (Heredity) cultural values & Social norms
(Environment)

Situational
Factors which affect personality:
• HEREDITY – The heredity factors play a very important role as the major determinants and factors of
personality. Heredity factors are the ones that are determined at the time of conception. These factors not
only affect the physical features of a person, but the intelligence level, attentiveness, temperament, various
inherited diseases and energy level, all get affected by them.
 The example of how heredity factors determine such a huge and significant part of an individual’s
personality can easily be observed in children. Many children behave exactly how their parents do. Similarly,
twin siblings also have a lot of things in common.
 Physical factor: One of the most important factors in determining personality is the ‘Physical Characteristics’
of an individual. It is believed that this factor plays a vital role in determining/predict one’s behavior in any
organization. Physical features may involve the height of a person (short or tall), his color (white or black),
his health status (fat or skinny) and his beauty (handsome or ugly). These factors are involved when
interacting with any other person and thus contribute in the personality development in many ways.
 Social factors –
 Cultural, values and norms play a substantial role in the development of personality since its the
culture & social norms in which we are grown, our early conditioning, the norms among our family,
friends, and social groups, and other influences that we experience play a critical role in shaping our
personalities.

 Social factors also play a vital role in determining one’s personality. The things that revolve and
evolve around us on a regular basis determine our personality. The society that we live in, the
cultural environment that we face daily, the community we get interacted to, all are included in this
factor. Relationships, co-ordination, cooperation, interaction, environment in the family,
organizations, workplaces, communities, societies all contribute in way or another as personality
determinants. The culture in which one lives in, that may involve traditional practices, norms,
customs, procedures, rules and regulations and values, all are important determinants of
personality. Moreover, the creed, religion and believes are also very important factors of personality
determinants.
 Situational Factor –
 Personality can change in some situations. A person will be different in a job
interview as compared to being at dinner with friends.
 Although these factors do not literally create and shape up an individual’s
personality, situational factors do alter a person’s behavior and response from time
to time. For example, a person’s behavior will be totally different when he is in his
office, in front of his boss, when compared to his hangout with old friends in a bar.
In this way, situational factors impact a personality in a significant way. They often
bring out the traits of a person that are not commonly seen.
Personality traits reflect people’s characteristic such as patterns of thoughts, feelings,
and behaviors. A number of efforts tried to identify the primary traits which govern
behavior. Out of which two were found to be most commonly used personality traits.

 MYERS & BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR (MBTI)

 THE BIG FIVE MODEL

 The MBTI was constructed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel
Briggs Myers.
 MBTI is the most widely used personality assessment instruments in the
world. It’s a 100 questions personality test that ask people how they usually
feel or act in particular situation.
 It consists of 16 type personality test. For e.g.: If a person wants to apply for a
job , he will have to face a interview so that his personality can be examined in
order to know if he is a fit or mis- fit for the job.
 The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report
questionnaire with the purpose of indicating differing psychological
preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make
decisions. On basis of their answers individuals are classified as below-
 Personality Types Description

EXTROVERTED individuals are outgoing, sociable, and

Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)
assertive. INTROVERTS are quiet and shy.

SENSING types are practical and prefer routine and order.

They focus on details and facts. INTUITIVE rely on
Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N) unconscious processes, able to understand something
because of feelings rather than facts or proof; they rely on
a big picture.

THINKING types uses reason and logic to handle

Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F) problems. FEELINGS types rely on their personal values
and emotions.

JUDGING types uses ordered and work in a structured

Judging vs. Perceiving (P or J) way; well planned. PERCEIVING types are flexible and
spontaneous; they respond to things as they arise.
 The Big Five model were developed in the 1970s by two research teams. These
teams were led by Paul Costa and Robert R. McCrae.
 In big five model the human personality is divided into 5 traits. The Big Five
are the ingredients that make up each individual's personality. A person might
have a dash of openness, a lot of conscientiousness, an average amount of
extraversion, plenty of agreeableness and almost no neuroticism at all. Or
someone could be disagreeable, neurotic, introverted, conscientious and
hardly open at all.
 The most widely used system of traits is called the Five-Factor Model. This
system includes five broad traits that can be remembered with the acronym
OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and
Neuroticism.
 In addition, some trait theorists argue that there are other traits that cannot
be completely captured by the Five-Factor Model. Critics of the trait concept
argue that people do not act consistently from one situation to the next and
that people are very influenced by situational forces.
 Factors Description

“Are you outgoing”? The personality dimension captures one’s comfort level with
relationships. It is the human ability how he interacts with others and well he is
comfortable with others. Extraversion people may be of two types either it may
Extroversion
be extrovert or introvert. extrovert describes someone who is sociable, talkative &
assertive. The one who score low are treated as introvert such as reserved, rigid
and timid/shy.

“How well you work with others”? The personality dimension describes someone
who is good-natured, cooperative and trusting. The tendency to go along with
Agreeableness others and not to asserts one’s opinion and choices. He wants to be liked by every
one and he want to be in harmony. People who score low are thus opposite of it
such as he may be dominating, untrustworthiness, uncooperative.

“How responsible you are”? It is a persons ability to concentrate on goal. The

personality dimension describes someone who is responsible, organized, reliable,
Conscientiousness disciplined and achievement-oriented. Those who score low on this dimension are
easily or who is not conscientiousness may be distracted, multitasker , he focus on
lot of goals at a single time, unorganized and unreliable.

“How will you handle the stress”? The personality dimension that characterized
someone who is viewed as stable such as calm, happy person, unworried, self
Emotional Stability (Neuroticism)
confident, secured. The one who score low is treated as unstable such as
depressed, tense, insecure and nervous.

Openness to Experience
“ How flexible are you”? The personality dimension that characterized someone
who is viewed as open such as Imaginative, adventurous, artistic, broad minded,
always welcome to change and intellectual. The one who score low are treated to
be not open such as conventional/conservative/orthodox and find comfort in the
familiar and status quo.
 According to trait psychologists, there are a limited number of these
dimensions (dimensions like Extraversion, Conscientiousness, or
Agreeableness) and each individual falls somewhere on each dimension,
meaning that they could be low, medium, or high on any specific trait.

 There are other important traits that are not included in comprehensive
models like the Big Five. Although the five factors capture much that is
important about personality, researchers have suggested other traits that
capture interesting aspects of our behavior. In the next slide there are just
a few, out of hundreds, of the other traits that have been studied by
personalists.
 SELF MONITORING /
SELF ESTEEM
EFFICACY

PERSONALITY
LOCUS OF CONTROL ATTRIBUTES / RISK TAKING
TRAITS

TYPE A & B
MACHIAVELLIANISM
PERSONALITY
LOCUS OF CONTROL- Locus of control is the degree to which an individual believes
that his or her behavior has direct impact on the consequences of that behavior.
 Internal Locus of Control- Some people, for example, believe that if they work
hard they will certainly succeed. They, strongly believe that each individual is in
control of his or her life. They are said to have an internal locus of control.
 External Locus of Control- Some people think that what happens to them is
controlled by outside factors such as fate/destiny, chance, luck or the behavior of
other people, rather than the lack of skills or poor performance on their part.
Because these individuals think that forces beyond their control dictate the
happenings around them, they are said to have an external locus of control.
 MACHIAVELLIANISM- Machiavellianism is manipulating or influencing other people
as a primary way of achieving one's goal. An individual tends to be Machiavellian, if he
tends to be logical in assessing the system around, twist and turn facts to influence
others, and try to gain control of people, events and situations by manipulating the
system to his advantage.

High Mach Personality People Low Mach Personality People

Approach situations logically and thoughtfully Accept direction imposed by others
Are capable of lying to achieve personal goals Are strongly guided by ethical considerations
Are rarely influenced by loyalty, friendships,
Are unlikely to lie or cheat
past promises, or others’ opinions
Are skilled at influencing others
Try to exploit
SELF ESTEEM & SELF MONITORING-

SELF ESTEEM- Judgement of one’s self. Individuals’ degree of

liking or disliking themselves. People's self-esteem has to do with
their self-perceived competence and self-image. “Self Esteem is
the degree of respect a person has for himself.”

SELF MONITORING/ EFFICACY- A personality trait that measures

an individuals ability or it is one’s belief in one’s ability to
succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. Those with
high self-efficacy feel capable and confident of performing well
in a situation.
RISK TAKING- Risk-taking is the degree to which an individual is willing to take
chances and make risky decisions. A manager with a High Risk propensity/tendency
might be expected to experiment with new ideas and to lead the organization in new
directions. In contrast, a manager with Low Risk propensity might lead to a stagnant
and overly conservative/traditional organization.

High Risk-taking Managers Low Risk-taking Managers

Make quicker decisions Are slower to make decisions

Require more information before making

Use less information to make decisions
decisions

Operate in smaller and more Exist in larger organizations with stable

entrepreneurial organizations environments
TYPE “A” & “B” PERSONALITY-
Type A’s
1. Aggressive.
2. Feel impatient.
3. Highly competitive.
4. Do two or more things at once.
5. Time conscious.
6. Goal oriented, workaholic and independent work (do not like to work under someone).
7. Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of
everything they acquire, in short they are highly competiti.
Type B’s
1. They are relaxed, easy going, non-competitive and cool.
2. Never suffer from a sense of time urgency, enjoy while working. E.g: Therapist, writers, poets, actors
etc.
3. If goals cannot be achieved, feel no guilt.
4. Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments.
5. Type ‘B’ people do better on complex tasks involving judgment and
accuracy rather than speed and hard work because some work requires
lot of time to perform.
Great sales persons are usually Type A’s while senior executives are
generally Type B’s.
• The Johari Window model is a simple and useful tool for
understanding our self and improving self-awareness.
• The Johari Window model is used to assess and improve a
group's relationship with other groups as well as knowing
the perception what others think about us.
The Johari Window model was developed by American
psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955, at the
University of California Los Angeles.
The Johari Window model is used for understanding and
training self-awareness, personal development, improving
communications, interpersonal relationships, group
dynamics, team development and intergroup relationships.
The Johari Window model is also referred to as a
'disclosure/feedback model of self awareness', and by some
people an 'information processing tool'.
The Johari Window actually represents information -
feelings, experience, views, attitudes, skills, intentions,
motivation, etc - within or about a person - in relation to
their group, from four perspectives.
Johari region 1 is also known as the 'area of free activity'. This is
the information about the person - behavior, attitude, feelings,
emotion, knowledge, experience, skills, views, etc. - known by the
person ('the self') and known by the group ('others'). E.g. Height,
completion, education, name, habits etc.
Johari region 2: (blind self)is Others known about a person in the
group, but is unknown by the person him/herself. E.g. Snoring;
people may be very good at teaching, counseling others, good
speakers.
Johari quadrant 3- (hidden self)What is known to ourselves but
kept hidden from, and therefore unknown to others. E.g. past
experience specially bad experiences, insecurity.
Johari quadrant 4 -It contains information, feelings, talent abilities,
aptitudes etc., that are unknown to the person him/herself and
unknown to others in the group e.g. Abilities not discovered yet;
inner potentiality such as may be good at sales or motivating
others, leading a team etc. reason may be lack of opportunities etc.
 Hidden self: Try to share hidden things with others.
 Blind self: A natural ability or aptitude that a person doesn't
realize they possess, in this case try to take feedback from
others so that the person can expand open areas.
 As the person try to expand open self the person will start
entering into the unknown area also which says that the
person try to identify the true potentialities and ability which
in turn leads to achieve anything in their lives.
Hence, the unknown area can be reduce by the counsellor also.
 Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the
result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the Id,
Ego, and Superego.
 Freud believed the three components of personality that are the id, the ego, and the
superego. The id is responsible for all needs and urges, while the superego for
ideals/principles and morals. The ego moderates between the demands of the id, the
superego, and reality.
 This theory is based on the belief that man is encouraged more by unforeseen forces than the
conscious and logical thought. Freud believed that most of the things in life are not present at
the conscious level but they are present at an unconscious level.

ID SUPEREGO

EGO
The features of Freud’s theory include three attributes − Id, Ego, and Superego.
 Id − It defines the innate component of personality. It is the impulsive and unconscious part of mind
that seeks immediate satisfaction. Such as thrust, hunger etc. Example − If you walked past a stranger
eating ice cream, it would most likely take the ice cream for itself. It doesn't know, or care, that it is
rude to take something belonging to someone else; it would care only that you wanted the ice cream.
 Superego − It is different from ego and is partially unconscious. It includes the traditional values of
society as interpreted by our parents. It develops as a child learns what their culture considers right
and wrong. Example − If you walked past the same stranger, it would not take their ice cream because
it would know that that would it be wrong to take someone else's ice cream.
 Ego − It is derived from Id and assists in dealing with the external world. It is mostly conscious part. It
also helps in translating the inner needs into expressions. It deals with practical and rational thinking
process, its job is to balance the demands of the id and superego in the practical context of
reality. Example − if you walked past the stranger with ice cream one more time, your ego would
mediate the conflict between your id ("I want that ice cream right now") and superego ("It's wrong to
take someone else's ice cream") and decide to go buy your own ice cream.
 Abraham Maslow is
considered father of the
humanistic movement.
 The highest step
on Abraham Maslow’s
ladder of human motives is
the need for self-
actualization (what we are
capable of becoming.).
Maslow said that human
beings struggle/attempt for
self-actualization, or
realization of their full
potential, once they have
satisfied with all their basic
needs.
Abraham H Maslow Need Hierarch Pyramid Model