Personality

The word personality comes from Latin root persona, meaning mask. According to the
root, personality is the impression we make on others; the mask we present to the world.
Personality is defined as a unique set of traits and characteristic, relatively stable over
time. Each of us has our personality, different from any other persons. Psychologist consider
both nature (a persons gene) and nurture (the environment in which a person grows up) are
necessary for personality development. Both help to make us who we are.
Several factors influence the shaping of our personality, Major among these are:

Heredity
Culture
Family Background
Our experience through life
And the people we interact with.

Personality Theories:
Trait Theory: Understand individual by breaking down behavior patterns into observable traits.
Psychodynamic Theory: Emphasizes the unconscious determinants of behavior.
Humanistic Theory: Emphasizes individual growth and improvement.
Integrative Approach: Describe personality as a composite of an individuals psychological
processes.
Researchers have identified 171 personality traits on which persons can be ranked or
measured. From these 171 traits, five core personality traits called the five factors model was
found to be of value for use in organizational situation, known as The Big Five Model The
Big five factors are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Extraversion Gregarious, Assertive, Sociable.

Agreeableness Cooperative, Warm, Agreeable.
Conscientiousness Hardworking, Organized, Dependable.
Emotional Stability Calm, Self-confident, Cool.
Openness to Experience Creative, Curious, Cultured.

Major personality attributes influencing Organization are:

1. Locus of Control: The degree to which people believe they are master of their own fate.
Internal: Individual who believes that they control what happens to them.
External: Individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by
outside forces such as luck or chance.

2. Machiavellianism: Degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional

distance and believes that ends justify means.
3. Self-Esteem: Individuals degree of liking or disliking themselves.
4. Self-Monitoring: A personality that measures an individual ability to adjust his or her
behavior to external, situational factors.
5. Risk Taking:
High Risk taking: Make quicker decisions, use less info to make decision,
operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial organization.
Low Risk Taking: Are slower to make decision, require more info before making
decision, Exists in large organization with stable environment.
Personality Types:
1. Type A personality:
- Are always moving, walking and eating rapidly.
- Feel impatient with the rate at which most events takes place.
- Strive to think or to do two or more things at once.
- Cannot cope with leisure time.
- Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how
much of everything they acquire.
2. Type B personality:
- Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience.
- Feel no need to display or discuss their achievements.
- Play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their superiority at any cost.
Importance of personality in an Organization:
Law of Behavior: People are Different
To ensure high performing employees in an organization.
To manage workforce diversity.
Summarizing persons behavior and attitudes in relation to a wide range of events.
Personality consists of characteristic or traits that describe how people are likely to
behave in a given situation.
Personality is useful in predicting and understanding the general feelings, thoughts and
behavior of individuals at the workplace.

It is widely accepted that, unlike the hard technical skills of managing, success
with the soft skills of managing people are much harder to achieve. Understanding
personality and personality types, however, does give us clue into how to manage people
better.