OB- UNIT-II

Course Code: 2HS401II

Personality

Dr. Anshika Sharma

Assistant Professor
OB-HRM Area
Department of Humanities & Social Science
Institute of Technology
Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
 Unit II

✔ Personality Fundamentals and determinants of personality

✔ Big five dimensions of personality or Big five personality traits
✔ Personality theory
 Learning Objectives

⮚ What is personality

⮚ Determinants of Personality or Factor Affecting Personality

⮚ Personality Framework

Different personality Frameworks

✔ Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

✔ Big Five Personality Model/ Ocean Model

✔ Dark Triad of Personality

⮚ Personality Theories
Why to conduct personality test?

• It helps managers forecast who is the best for a job.

• For recruitment and competency mapping most of the Indian companies do psychometric
assessment such as Cognizant, Ford Motors, Tata Motors, TVS Sundaram, and Deloitte.

• Top eight private U.S. companies and 57 percent of large U.S. companies do psychometric
assessment, such as Xerox, McDonald’s, and Lowe’s and schools such as DePaul
University begun to have personality test in their admissions process.
What is personality?

✔ Over the years there has no universal agreement on the exact meaning of personality (Luthans, 2013).
✔ Personality is sum of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others (Robbins et al., 2019).

Many individuals relates personality with Historically personality is defined and related with
social success many OB concepts
Definition comes from “Trait theory” says personality
• Having good or popular personality eg., is a observable patterns of behavior that lasts over
Elon musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Abdul time. (Ex, Rat pressing a liver)
Kalam, Barack Obama
• Having lot of personality Freud’s “psychoanalytical and psychodynamic theory”
Or define personality as unconscious determinant of
Defining personality from a single behavior. (Mind governs unconsciously)
dominant factor such as strong, weak, or
polite. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow’s humanistic
theory defines personality as “self actualization and
drive to realize one’s potential.
Conclusion: Personality entails how people affect others and how they understand and view themselves,
as well as their pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and the appearance (heights, weight, facial
features color and other physical aspects) and traits.
Defining Personality

The definition of personality we most frequently use was produced by Gordon Allport
nearly 70 years ago. Allport said personality is “the dynamic organization within the
individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his
environment.” For our purposes, you should think of personality as the sum total of ways
in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. We most often describe it in
terms of the measurable traits a person exhibits.
 Measuring Personality

The most important reason managers need to know how to measure personality is that research
has shown personality tests are useful in hiring decisions and help managers forecast who
is best for a job.

The most common means of measuring personality is through self-report surveys in which
individuals evaluate themselves on a series of factors, such as “I worry a lot about the future.”

Disadvantages of using self report surveys are:

1. The respondent might lie or practice impression management to create a good

impression.

2. A candidate who is in a bad mood when taking the survey may have inaccurate scores.
Observer-ratings surveys

Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent assessment of personality. Here, a co-

worker or another observer does the rating (sometimes with the subject’s knowledge
and sometimes not). Though the results of self-report surveys and observer-ratings surveys
are strongly correlated, research suggests observer- ratings surveys better predict
success on the job.

Conclusion: The implication is clear: Use both observer ratings and self-report ratings
of personality when making important employment decisions.
Determinants of Personality

Heredity &
Brain

Social Environment

Personality

Self-
Situational
Esteem
 Determinants of Personality

Q. Personality is a result of Heredity & Brain or Environment?

A. Both Heredity & Brain and Environment
(Exception: research says its hereditary).

✔ Heredity and Brain

Research shows that 40 percent of personality being

attributable to heredity

Research has shown that personality is more

changeable in adolescence and more stable
among adults.

✔ Environment

60 percent attributable to environment.

 Determinants of Personality

✔ Heredity

The heredity approach of personality says that Heredity refers to factors determined at
ultimately explanation of an individual’s personality is
the molecular structure of the genes, which are conception. Physical stature,
located on the chromosomes. facial features,
Research shows that 40 percent of personality being
attributable to heredity gender,
temperament,
muscle composition and
reflexes,
energy level, and biological rhythms are generally
considered to be either completely or sub- stantially
influenced by parentage—by your biological
parents’ biological, physiological, and inherent
psychological makeup.
 BRAIN

✔ Genes
Genes also affect the brain functions Example 2: Neuroscientific Example 3: Leader with higher
that in turn affect how people explanation of why level of psychological capital (i.e.,
interact with their environment and employees resist change. confidence, hopeful, optimism,
thus their personalities. and resilience) have a different
Example 1: The wall street journal Change taps fear receptors
in the brain and taxes the brain activity on vision task than
reported a study that those with those with low psychological
brain damage impairing their ability brain cognitive capacity to
learn new ways of doing capital.
to experience emotion made better
financial decisions than normal things.
players in a simple investment
game. Reason: It seems that
emotional brain is damaged but
(normal IQ) participants were more
willing to take risk that yielded
payoffs and less likely to react
emotionally to losses.
 Self-Esteem

One’s Self concept and self image Organizational Behaviour Implications on

✔ For example: Research says that people with high Self-Esteem:
self-esteem handle failures better than with lower
self esteem. • Organizational based self esteem (OBSE), it
is defined as self perceived value that
✔ Research also found that people with high self- individuals have of themselves as
esteem becomes egoistic when faced with organization members acting within an
pressure situation and sometimes becomes organization context.
aggressive and violent behavior when
threatened. • Research says that people with high self
esteem feel unique, competent, secure,
empowered, and connected to the people
around them.

• The Book “Self esteem at work, notes: “If self

esteem low and you aren’t confident in your
thinking ability, you are likely to fear decision
making, lack negotiation and interpersonal
skills and be reluctant and unable to change.
 Person-Situation Interaction

The true personality of an individual can only be

analyzed when situation demands changes.

For instance, About your colleagues and boss

personality that how much he favors you. You
can only analyze when you are in trouble and you
need help. They are trustworthy, non trustworthy,
charismatic, polite, and genuine are the traits of
the personality which you can describe after
happening situation.
 The Socialization-Process

✔ Family ✔ Family & Friends ✔ Organaizational Behaviour

Socialization After family, social groups like ⮚ Utilizing IT to nurture
starts with the (peers, school friends, and relationships indicates that either
initial contact members of the work groups. the way of doing socialization is
between mother different but the results are similar
and her new and dramatic.
infant. ⮚ In organizations specialized
techniques are used to socialize
the new employees such as:
• Orientation and training programs
After infancy • Mentors or role models
other members • Reward systems and career
of family (father, planning
brothers, and
sisters), close
relatives and
family friends
 Steps for successful Organizational Socialization Process

Research shows that

those new
employees who goes
Challenging
through socialization
First Job
training program are
more socialized then
those who do not Provide relevant training
and have better fit to
organization. Provide timely and consistent
feedback
Select a good first supervisor to be in charge
of socialization
Place new recruits in work groups with high morale
 Big Five Personality Model

✔ Many years ago about 18,000 words found to The Big Five Factors / Dimensions are:
describe personality.

✔ After combining words with similar meaning, there

still remaining 171 personality traits.

✔ Such huge number of personality traits were

practically unusable, so further factor analysis was
done to reduce the personality traits and found
core personality traits. Called the Five Factor
Model (FFM), or in OB and HRM as “Big Five.”

✔ Big five a personality assessment model that

describes five basic dimensions of personality.

✔ Test score of these traits do a very good job in

predicting how people behave in a variety of real
life situations and remain relatively stable for an
individual over time, with some daily variation.
We can also define Big Five as OCEAN
1st Big Five Personality Trait - Consciousness

✔ A personality trait that describes someone

Top Business Leaders who are High on Consciousness.
who is responsible, dependable, persistent,
and organized. The person who scores low in
this dimension are easily distracted,
disorganized, and unreliable.
✔ Consciousness is the strongest predictor of
job performance.
✔ In study in India it has found that highly
conscious people are more able to maintain General Motors CEO
their job performance even when faced with Marry Teresa Barra
abusive supervision.
✔ Highly conscious people are more engaged in
OCB and less engaged in counter productive
work behavior, and easily adapt to changing
task demand and situations.
✔ Conscious people indulge less in unsafe
behavior and tend to have fewer accidents
than those who are less conscious.
✔ Consciousness is important to overall
organizational success.
 2nd Big Five Personality Trait – Emotional Stability Neuroticism

✔ A personality trait that describes someone

Top Business Leaders who are High on Consciousness.
who is calm, self-confident, and secure
(positive). The person who scores low in this
dimension are characterized as neuroticism
type of personality easily become nervous,
depressed, and insecure (negative).
✔ High scorers are more happier and optimistic
than low scorer neuroticism.
Emotional Stability at Work
✔ If a person is emotional stable it reflects in his
life satisfaction, job satisfaction, reduced
General Motors CEO
burnout and intention to quit.
Marry Teresa Barra
✔ They are easily mingle and easily adapt the
changing demands of the job.
✔ At the other end of spectrum, neurotic
individuals, who may be unable to cope up
with these demands, may experience
burnout.
✔ Neurotic employees are more likely to engage
in CPWB, less likely to engage in OCBs.
3rd Big Five Personality Trait – Extraversion

✔ A personality trait that describes someone

Top Business Leaders who are High on Extraversion.
who is social, gregarious and assertive.
✔ They experience more positive emotions than
introverts, they are open to feel their feelings.
✔ On the other end of the spectrum, introverts
tend to be more thoughtful, reserved, timid
and quite.
Emotional Stability at Work
✔ Extraverts perform better on jobs with high General Motors CEO
requirement of individual interaction. Marry Teresa Barra
✔ Extroverts are tend to have generally high job
satisfaction and reduced burnout.
✔ Extraverts are relatively strong predictor of
leadership.
✔ The negative side of extraverts are that they
are appear to be self-aggrandizing, egoistic or
too dominating and their social behavior can
be disadvantageous for jobs that do not
require frequent interaction.
4th Big Five Personality Trait – Openness to Experience

✔ A personality trait that describes someone in

Top Business Leaders who are High on Openness to
terms of imagination, sensitivity and
Experience.
curiosity.
✔ Openness people are fascinated with
novelty.
✔ Open people are creative, curious, and
artistically sensitive.
✔ The people who are low in this spectrum are
conventional and find comfort in the familiar. General Motors CEO
Marry Teresa Barra
Openness at Work
✔ Open people are better cope with
organizational change and are more
adaptable.
✔ Open people also experience less work-family
conflict.
5th Big Five Personality Trait – Agreeableness at work

✔ A personality trait that describes someone

who is cooperative, adjusting and good
natured.
✔ Agreeable people are more happy than
disagreeable.
✔ Whenever people choose organizational team
members, agreeable people are the first
choice.
✔ On the other end, people who are low on Angela Ahrendts, CEO of British
agreeableness are cold and antagonistic. fashion house Burberry Group,
scores high on the Big Five Model
Openness at Work personality dimensions. She is
✔ Agreeable people are most liked and perform sociable, agreeable,
better in customer service. conscientious, emotionally stable,
✔ They feel less work-family conflict and and and open to experiences—factors
are less susceptible to turnover. that have contributed to her high
✔ They contribute in organizational job performance and career
performance by performing OCB. success in revitalizing the
✔ Disagreeable people on the other hand more Burberry brand.
likely to engage in CPWB and low on
MBTI – The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a

widely used psychological assessment
tool designed to measure personality
preferences and tendencies. It is based on
Carl Jung's theory of psychological types
and was developed by Katharine Cook
Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers.
The MBTI aims to provide insight into an
individual's personality characteristics,
preferences, and potential areas of growth.
MBTI – The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Respondents are classified as:

✔ Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Extraverted individuals are out-going, 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 order and structure.
Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.

Take your Personality Test: https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality

My personality test score

• My personality type is INFJ.

• INFJs are Advocates.
INTJs - Introverted/ Intuitive/ Thinking/ Judging

These classifications describe 16 personality

types by identifying 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.

INTJs don’t do well in a traditional corporate

environment, but they can be successful

innovators and entrepreneurs.

ESTJs - Extroverted/ Sensing/ Thinking/ Judging

ESTJs are organizers. They are realistic,

logical, analytical, and decisive, perfect for
business or mechanics.

Steve Ballmer CEO of Microsoft

Ivanka Trump, U.S. fashion designer

ENTP - Extroverted/ iNtutive/ Thinking/ Perceiving

The ENTP type is innovative, individualistic,

versatile, and attracted to entrepreneurial
ideas. These person tends to be resourceful
in solving challenging problems but may
neglect routine assignments.

Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President.

Alexander the Great, Macedonian general and king

positives and negatives of MBTI

✔ One problem is that the model forces a person into one type or another; that is, you’re
either introverted or extraverted. There is no in-between, though people can be both
extraverted and introverted to some degree.

✔ The MBTI can be a valuable tool for increasing self-awareness and providing career
guidance, but because results tend to be unrelated to job performance, managers
probably shouldn’t use it as a selection test for job candidates.

✔ It doesn’t indicate high or low on a particular trait.

✔ Neuroticism is missing.
Four rarest personality types:
• INFJ
• ENTJ
• INTJ
• ENFJ
16 Personality Type
Dark Triads
1. Machiavellianism
2. Narcissism
3. Psychopathy
1. Machiavellianism (Mach)
Hao is a young bank manager in Shanghai. He’s
received three promotions in the past four years and
makes no apologies for the aggressive tactics he’s
used to propel his career upward. “My name means
clever, and that’s what I am—I do whatever I have
to do to get ahead,” he says. Hao would be termed
Machiavellian.

The personality characteristic of Machiavellianism

(often abbreviated Mach) is named after Niccolo
Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on
how to gain and use power. An individual high in
Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional
distance, and believes ends can justify means.
 Niccolò Machiavelli: Italian Diplomat

1. Machiavellianism (Mach)
✔ Tendency to deceive, manipulate or exploit others for personal gain

✔ Believe that ends can justify means

✔ People are focused only on their own interests and

ambition.
✔ They seem confident and charming.
✔ When necessary, they will lie, cheat, manipulate and
deceive.
✔ For them, power and money matters more than
relationships.
✔ They tend to use flattery frequently.
✔ There is a total lack of values or principles.
✔ Empathy is either deficient or totally lacking.
✔ Due to their calculating nature, they can be
extremely patient.
2. Narcissism
Sabrina likes to be the center of attention. She often looks at herself
in the mirror, has extravagant dreams, and considers herself a
person of many talents. Sabrina is a narcissist.

Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by a grandiose sense

of self-importance, a strong need for admiration, and a lack of
empathy for others. The term "narcissism" comes from the Greek
myth of Narcissus, a character who fell in love with his own

Individuals with narcissistic traits often have an inflated view of their

own abilities and achievements. They may seek constant attention
and validation from others and have a sense of entitlement to
special treatment. Additionally, narcissists may have difficulty
empathizing with the feelings and needs of others, leading to
interpersonal difficulties and strained relationships.
Here are some key characteristics associated with narcissism:
1. Grandiosity: Narcissists often have an exaggerated sense of self-importance and may believe they are
superior to others.

2. Need for Admiration: They crave admiration and attention from others and seek validation to boost their
self-esteem.

3. Lack of Empathy: Narcissists may struggle to understand or care about the emotions and experiences of
others, leading to a lack of empathy.

4. Exploitative Behavior: They may exploit others for their own benefit, using charm and manipulation to
achieve their goals.

5. Fragile Self-Esteem: Despite their outward confidence, narcissists may have a fragile sense of self-esteem
that is easily threatened by criticism or perceived slights.

6. Envy and Competition: They may feel envious of others' achievements and try to outdo or belittle them to
maintain a sense of superiority.
Conclusion

It is important to note that not all individuals with narcissistic traits have Narcissistic
Personality Disorder (NPD), which is a clinical diagnosis that requires a comprehensive
assessment by a mental health professional. NPD involves a pervasive pattern of
behavior that significantly impairs functioning and causes distress to the individual or those
around them.
3. Psychopathy

✔ Psychopathy is considered one of the "Dark Triad" personality traits, along with narcissism and
Machiavellianism.

✔ Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by a range of traits, behaviors, and interpersonal

patterns.
Here are some key characteristics associated with psychopathy:

1. Lack of Empathy: Psychopathic individuals have difficulty understanding and experiencing empathy,
which is the ability to recognize and share the feelings of others.

2. Superficial Charm: Psychopaths often display a charming and charismatic demeanor, which they use to
manipulate and exploit others.

3. Manipulative Behaviour: They are skilled at influencing and deceiving others to achieve their goals and
fulfil their own desires.

4. Impulsivity: Psychopaths tend to act impulsively and irresponsibly, often disregarding the potential
consequences of their actions.
5. Shallow Emotions: Psychopathic individuals may have a limited range of emotional experiences and
exhibit shallow or inappropriate emotional responses.
6. Callousness and Lack of Remorse: They may display a lack of guilt or remorse for their harmful actions
towards others.
7. Antisocial Behaviour: Psychopaths often engage in behaviour that violates societal norms and rules,
such as lying, manipulation, and criminal activities.
8. Grandiose Sense of Self: They may have an inflated sense of self-worth and entitlement.
Conclusion
It is crucial to understand that psychopathy is a clinical diagnosis made by mental health professionals
based on specific criteria. Not everyone who exhibits some of these traits is a psychopath, as personality
traits exist on a continuum, and certain behaviours may be situational rather than indicative of a personality
disorder.
Psychopathy is associated with a higher risk of engaging in criminal behaviour and causing harm to others.
However, it is important to remember that not all individuals with psychopathic traits become criminals, and
some individuals may be able to control or manage their tendencies through therapy or other interventions.
Corporate Psychopaths

Mark Zuckerberg Elon Reeve Musk Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos
 Personality Theories
1. Trait Activation Theory of personality (TAT)

A theory that predicts that some situations, events, or interventions “activate a trait more than others.”

Trait Activation Theory (TAT) is a psychological theory that proposes how personality traits
influence behavior in different situations. Developed by Hans Eysenck and Sybil Eysenck in the
1960s, TAT builds upon the concept of traits as stable and consistent characteristics of an
individual's personality. It suggests that traits become activated or expressed when individuals are
exposed to specific environmental conditions or situations.
2. Situation Strength Theory of personality:
Theory describes that the strength of the situation determines the translation of personality into
behavior.

Situation Strength Theory (SST) is another

psychological theory that focuses on the
interaction between personality traits and
situations, but it approaches this interaction from
a slightly different perspective compared to Trait
If the situation is strong your personality
Activation Theory. SST, developed by Walter
will also become strong.
Mischel in the 1970s, emphasizes the role of
situational factors in influencing behavior and
suggests that the strength of a situation can impact
the expression of personality traits.
Summary:

Hundreds of genes do have slightly influence on personality traits, but same does the environment.

Nature and Nurture both contributes to one’s personality.

Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world;

Nurture is every influence from without that affects him after his birth.” – Francis Galton, cousin of
Charles Darwin, 1874.
References

• Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A., & Vohra, N. (2019). Organizational behaviour by pearson 18e. Pearson
Education India.

• Luthans, F. (2015). Organizational Behavior (12th Editi). New York: The Mcgrow-Hill Companies Inc.

• Jiang. (2018). Nature meets Nurture. Accessed on 28th May, 2023. From:
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/nature-meet-nurture.