Personality and Values PDF

# Personality and Values ## Chapter Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to: - Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain the factors that determine an individual's personality. - Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and as...

# Personality and Values ## Chapter Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to: - Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain the factors that determine an individual's personality. - Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and assess its strengths and weaknesses. - Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model. - Demonstrate how the Big Five traits predict behavior at work. - Identify other personality traits relevant to OB. - Define values, demonstrate their importance, and contrast terminal and instrumental values. - Compare generational differences in values, and identify the dominant values in today's workforce. - Identify Hofstede's five value dimensions of national culture. ## What is Personality? The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment. - Gordon Allport - The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others, the measurable traits a person exhibits. ### Measuring Personality - Helpful in hiring decisions - Most common method: self-reporting surveys - Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent assessment of personality - often better predictors ## Personality Determinants ### Heredity - Factors determined at conception: physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and bio-rhythms. - This "Heredity Approach" argues that genes are the source of personality. - Twin studies: raised apart but very similar personalities. - There is some personality change over long time periods. ## Personality Traits Enduring characteristics that describe an individual's behavior. - The more consistent the characteristic and the more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important the trait. ### Two dominant frameworks used to describe personality: - Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®) - Big Five Model ## The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - Most widely used instrument in the world. - Participants are classified on four axes to determine one of 16 possible personality types, such as ENTJ. | Sociable and Assertive | Extroverted (E) | Introverted (I) | Quiet and Shy | |---|---|---|---| | Practical and Orderly | Sensing (S) | Intuitive (N) | Unconscious Processes | | Use Reason and Logic | Thinking (T) | Feeling (F) | Uses Values & Emotions | | Want Order & Structure | Judging (J) | Perceiving (P)| Flexible and Spontaneous | ## The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions | Dimension | Traits | |---|---| | Extroversion | Sociable, gregarious, and assertive. Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting. | | Agreeableness | Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized. | | Conscientiousness | Calm, self-confident, secure under stress (positive), versus nervous, depressed, and insecure under stress (negative). | | Emotional Stability | Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive. | | Openness to Experience | | ## How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior? - 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. ## Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB ### Core Self-Evaluation - The degree to which people like or dislike themselves. - Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance. ### 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. ## More Relevant Personality Traits ### Self-Monitoring - The ability to adjust behavior to meet external, situational factors. - High monitors conform more and are more likely to become leaders. ### Risk Taking - The willingness to take chances. - May be best to align propensities with job requirements. - Risk takers make faster decisions with less information. ## Even More Relevant Personality Traits ### 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 people are the complete opposite. ### Proactive Personality - Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres to completion. - Creates positive change in the environment. ## Values Basic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how to live your life that is personally or socially preferable - "How To" live life properly. ### Attributes of Values: - Content Attribute - that the mode of conduct or end-state is important. - Intensity Attribute - just how important that content is. ### Value System - A person's values rank ordered by intensity. - Tends to be relatively constant and consistent. ## Importance of Values - Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation, and behaviors. - Influence our perception of the world around us. - Represent interpretations of "right" and "wrong". - Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are preferred over others. ## Classifying Values - Rokeach Value Survey ### Terminal Values - Desirable end-states of existence; the goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime. ### Instrumental Values - Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one's terminal values. ### People in same occupations or categories tend to hold similar values - But values vary between groups. - Value differences make it difficult for groups to negotiate and may create conflict. ## Value Differences Between Groups | Group | Terminal | Instrumental | |---|---|---| | Executives | 1. Self-respect, 2. Family security, 3. Freedom, 4. A sense of accomplishment, 5. Happiness | 1. Honest, 2. Responsible, 3. Capable, 4. Ambitious, 5. Independent | | Union Members | 1. Family security, 2. Freedom, 3. Happiness, 4. Self-respect, 5. Mature love | 1. Responsible, 2. Honest, 3. Courageous, 4. Independent, 5. Capable | | Activists | 1. Equality, 2. A world of peace, 3. Family security, 4. Self-respect, 5. Freedom | 1. Honest, 2, Helpful, 3. Courageous, 4. Responsible, 5. Capable | *Source: Based on W. C. Frederick and J. Weber, "The Values of Corporate Managers and Their Critics: An Empirical Description and Normative Implications," in W. C. Frederick and L. E. Preston (eds.) Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1990), pp. 123-44* ## Generational Values | Cohort | Entered Workforce | Approximate Current Age | Dominant Work Values | |---|---|---|---| | Veterans | 1950-1964 | 65+ | Hard working, conservative, conforming; loyalty to the organization | | Boomers | 1965-1985 | 40-60s | Success, achievement, ambition, dislike of authority; loyalty to career | | Xers | 1985-2000 | 20-40s | Work/life balance, team-oriented, dislike of rules; loyalty to relationships | | Nexters | 2000-Present | Under 30 | Confident, financial success, self-reliant but team-oriented; loyalty to both self and relationships | ## Linking Personality and Values to the Workplace Managers are less interested in someone's ability to do a specific job than in that person's flexibility. ### Person-Job Fit: - John Holland's Personality-Job Fit Theory - Six personality types - Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) - Key Points of the Model: - There appear to be intrinsic differences in personality between people. - There are different types of jobs. - People in jobs congruent with their personality should be more satisfied and have lower turnover. ## Relationships Among Personality Types *Image of a hexagon with six personality types: Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C), Enterprising (E), Artistic (A), Social (S)* The closer the occupational fields, the more compatible. The further apart the fields, the more dissimilar. *Need to match personality type with occupation.* *Source: Reprinted by special permission of the publisher, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., from Making Vocational Choices, copyright 1973, 1985, 1992 by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. All rights reserved.* ## Still Linking Personality to the Workplace In addition to matching the individual's personality to the job, managers are also concerned with: ### Person-Organization Fit: - The employee's personality must fit with the organizational culture. - People are attracted to organizations that match their values. - Those who match are most likely to be selected. - Mismatches will result in turnover. - Can use the Big Five personality types to match to the organizational culture. ## Global Implications ### Personality - Do frameworks like Big Five transfer across cultures? - Yes, but the frequency of type in the culture may vary. - Better in individualistic than collectivist cultures. ### Values - Values differ across cultures. - Hofstede's Framework for assessing culture - five value dimensions: - Power Distance - Individualism vs. Collectivism - Masculinity vs. Femininity - Uncertainty Avoidance - Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation ## Hofstede's Framework: Power Distance The extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. - **Low distance**: Relatively equal power between those with status/wealth and those without status/wealth. - **High distance**: Extremely unequal power distribution between those with status/wealth and those without status/wealth. ## Hofstede's Framework: Individualism ### Individualism - The degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as member of groups. ### Collectivism - A tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them. *Image of a lone cowboy and a dense crowd of people, with "Versus" written in the middle.* ## Hofstede's Framework: Masculinity ### Masculinity - The extent to which the society values work roles of achievement, power, and control, and where assertiveness and materialism are also valued. ### Femininity - The extent to which there is little differentiation between roles for men and women. *Image of a man in a suit and a woman in similar attire. "Versus" is written in the middle.* ## Hofstede's Framework: Uncertainty Avoidance The extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them. - **High Uncertainty Avoidance**: Society does not like ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them. - **Low Uncertainty Avoidance**: Society does not mind ambiguous situations and embraces them. *Image of a man in a suit running away from a hypothetical trap with a "High Uncertainty Avoidance" text. Followed by a text "Low Uncertainty Avoidance" and an image of another man in suit confidently walking toward a trap.* ## Hofstede's Framework: Time Orientation ### Long-term Orientation - A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift, and persistence. ### Short-term Orientation - A national culture attribute that emphasizes the present and the here and now. *Image of a turtle and a rabbit, with the turtle representing long-term orientation and the rabbit representing short-term orientation.* ## Hofstede's Framework: An Assessment - There are regional differences within countries. - The original data is old and based on only one company. - Hofstede had to make many judgment calls while doing the research. - Some results don't match what is believed to be true about given countries. - Despite these problems it remains a very popular framework. ## GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures - Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program - Nine dimensions of national culture ### Similar to Hofstede's framework with these additional dimensions: - Humane Orientation: how much society rewards people for being altruistic, generous, and kind. - Performance Orientation: how much society encourages and rewards performance improvement and excellence. ## Summary and Managerial Implications ### Personality - Screen for the Big Five trait of conscientiousness. - Take into account the situational factors as well. - MBTI® can help with training and development. ### Values - Often explain attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions. - Higher performance and satisfaction achieved when the individual's values match those of the organization.