Personality and Values

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-1

 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

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-2

 Measuring Personality

• Self-reports Surveys
 Most common
 Prone to error

• Observer-ratings Surveys
 Independent assessment
 May be more accurate

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 Personality Determinants

• 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

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 Measuring Personality Traits:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• Most widely used personality-assessment instrument in the
world
A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies
people into 1 of 16 personality types.

• Individuals are classified as:

 Extroverted or Introverted (E/I)
 Sensing or Intuitive (S/N)
 Thinking or Feeling (T/F)
 Judging or Perceiving (J/P)

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 • 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.”

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 • 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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Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-8
 Classifications combined into 16 personality types
•INTJ (visionaries with original minds , great drive,
skeptical, critical, independent, determined, stubborn)

•ESTJ ( organizers, realistic, logical, analytical, decisive and

have a natural head for business or mechanics)

•ENTP (conceptualizer, innovative, individualistic, versatile,

and attracted to entrepreneurial ideas.)

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 Measuring Personality Traits:
The Big-Five Model
• Five Traits:
 Extraversion
 Agreeableness
 Conscientiousness
 Neuroticism
 Openness to Experience

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-10

 • Extraversion. The extraversion dimension captures our
comfort level with relationships. Extraverts tend to be
gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be
reserved, timid, and quiet.

• Agreeableness. The agreeableness dimension refers to

an individual’s propensity to defer to others. Highly
agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusting.
People who score low on agreeableness are cold,
disagreeable, and antagonistic.

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• 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.
• Neuroticism. The neuroticism taps a person’s 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

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 • 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 conformist and find comfort in the
familiar.

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-13

 How Do the Big Five Traits
Predict Behavior at Work?
• Big Five traits are related to aspects of performance and
have implications for work and for life.
• Conscientiousness is as important for managers as for front-
line employees.
• Emotional stability is most strongly related to life
satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels.
• Extraverts tend to be happier in their jobs and in their lives
as a whole. They experience more positive emotions than do
introverts, and they more freely express these feelings.
• Individuals who score high on openness to experience are
more creative in science and art than those who score low.

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 Myers-Briggs personality
Instrument
Class Activity

Using the Myers-Briggs personality

Instrument ,Evaluate your personality type.

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 Values
"a specific mode of conduct and fundamental
beliefs of a person. These guiding principles
dictate behavior and can help people
understand the difference
between
•Good or bad
•Right or wrong

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 Rokeach Value Survey
The Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) is a values classification
instrument

• Terminal values • Instrumental

refers to desirable values
end-states of refers to preferable
existence modes of behavior, or
means of achieving
Goals that a person
the terminal values
would like to achieve
during his or her
lifetime

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 Examples of Terminal Values

• A comfortable life (a prosperous life)

• An exciting life (stimulating, active life)
• A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution)
• A world of peace (free of war and conflict)
• A world of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
• Equality (brotherhood, equal opportunity for all)
• Family security (taking care of loved ones)
• Freedom (independence, free choice)
• Happiness (contentedness)

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 Examples of Instrumental
Values
• Ambitious (hard working, aspiring)
• Broad-minded (open-minded)
• Capable (competent, efficient)
• Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)
• Clean (neat, tidy)
• Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)
• Forgiving (willing to pardon others)
• Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
• Honest (sincere, truthful)

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 Generational Values
(Contemporary Work Cohorts)
Entered the
Cohort Dominant Work Values
Workforce
Veterans 1950s or early Hard working, conservative, conforming;
1960s loyalty to the organization

Boomers 1965-1985 Success, achievement, ambition, dislike

of authority; loyalty to career

Xers 1985-2000 Work/life balance, team-oriented, dislike

of rules; loyalty to relationships

Nexters 2000 to present Confident, financial success, self-reliant

but team-oriented; loyalty to both self
and relationships

2-20
 Personality-Job Fit Theory

Job satisfaction and turnover depend on

congruency between personality and task
•Personality–job fit theory The personality–
job fit theory postulates that a person's
personality traits will reveal insight as to adaptability
within an organization. The degree of confluence
between a person and the organization is expressed as
their Person-Organization (P-O) fit.

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 Person-Organization Fit
• It is more important that employees’ personalities fit with
the organizational culture rather than with the
characteristics of any specific job
• Research on person–organization fit has also looked at
whether people’s values match the organization’s culture.
• The fit predicts job satisfaction, organizational
commitment and turnover.
• The person–organization fit essentially argues that people
are attracted to and selected by organizations that match
their values, and they leave organizations that are not
compatible with their personalities.

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 Class Activity
Person-Organization Fit
Based on previous lecture identify which personality trait is
best fit for which job?

•people high on extraversion fit well in jobs like?

•people high on agreeableness best fit with ?
• people high on openness to experience fit better in
organizations that ?
•people high on neuroticism best fit with ?
•People with introvert personality trait are good for jobs
like?

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 Hofstede’s Framework for
Assessing Cultures

Five factors:
High vs low Power Distance
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
High vs low Uncertainty Avoidance
Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-24

 • Power distance describes the degree to which people in
a country accept that power in institutions and
organizations is distributed unequally.

• Individualism is the degree to which people prefer to

act as individuals rather than as members of groups and
believe in individual rights above all else.

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 • Collectivism emphasizes a tight social framework in
which people expect others in groups of which they are a
part to look after them and protect them.

• masculinity is the degree to which the culture favors

traditional masculine roles.

• femininity is the degree to which the culture favors

equality among male and female.

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 • Uncertainty avoidance. The degree to which people in
a country prefer structured over unstructured situations.

• People in a culture with long-term orientation look to

the future and value thrift, persistence, and tradition.

• In a short-term orientation , people value the here

and now; they accept change more readily and don’t see
commitments as weaknesses to change

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 Hofstede’s Culture
Class Activity

• Based on lecture of Culture, what you think

you are living with which culture here in
Pakistan and how.

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