Chapter-5
Personality & Value
Page-172

Chapter 5: Personality
What is personality?
The total of ways in which an individual reach to and i
nteract with others.
Other way determine one’s unique adjustments to on
e’s environment.
Measuring personality:
Personality test is important in taking hiring decision.
•Personal rating
•Co-worker rating
•Observer rating
But rating may not always give result in recruiting.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: (MBTI)
Most used personality assessment instrument
Extroverted (E)
( Outgoing, sociable and assertiv
e)
Vs Introverted (I)
( Quiet & Shy)
Sensing (S)
( Practical, prefer routine & order
and focus on details)
Vs Intuitive(N)
(Unconscious, look at big
picture)
Thinking (T)
(Use reason, and logic to handle
problem)
Vs Feeling (F)
(Rely on their personal Valu
es, and Emotion)
Judging (J)
(Want control, prefer ordered, str
ucture)
Vs Perceiving (P)
(Flexible, Spontaneous)
Can be used for self awareness & provide career guide.
Criticism: Unrelated to job performance so managers probably not use th
is tool.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: (MBTI)
INTJ-Visionaries
Sceptical/ doutful/inflexible, critical, independent,
determined, stubborn
ESTJ- Organiser
Realistic, logical, analytical, decisive and have a n
atural head for business or mechanics
ENTP- Entrepreneurial
Innovative, individualistic, versatile and attracted t
o entrepreneurial ideas

The big five personality Model
The big five factors are
1. Extraversion- focuses on relationship. Extrav
erts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and soci
able.
2. Agreeableness- The agreeableness dimensi
on refers to an individual’s propensity to defer
to others. They are co-operative, warm, trusty
.
3. Conscientiousness- responsible, organized,
dependable.
4. Emotional stability: stress, self-confident, cal
m.
5. Openness to experience: creative, curious.

Conscientiousness.
 The conscientiousness dimension is
a measure of reliability.
 A highly conscientious person is respo
nsible, organized, dependable, and pe
rsistent.
 Those who score low on this dimensio
n are easily distracted, disorganized, a
nd unreliable.

Conscientiousness at Work
 As researchers recently stated, “Personal attributes related to conscientiousness and ag
reeableness are important for success across many jobs, spanning across low to high le
vels of job complexity, training, and experience.”
 Employees who score higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowled
ge, probably because highly conscientious people learn more and these levels correspo
nd with higher levels of job performance. Conscientious people are also more able to ma
intain their job performance when faced with abusive supervision, according to a recent
study in India.
 Conscientiousness is important to overall organizational success. As
 Exhibit 5-1 shows, a study of the personality scores of 313 CEO candidates in private eq
uity companies (of whom 225 were hired) found conscientiousness—in the form of persi
stence, attention to detail, and setting high standards—was more important to success t
han other traits.
 Like any trait, conscientiousness has pitfalls. Highly conscientious individuals can prioriti
ze work over family, resulting in more conflict between their work and family roles (terme
d work-family conflict). They may also become too focused on their own work to help oth
ers in the organization, and they don’t adapt well to changing contexts.
 Furthermore, conscientious people may have trouble learning complex skills early in a tr
aining process because their focus is on performing well rather than on learning.
 Finally, they are often less creative, especially artistically.
 Conscientiousness is the best predictor of job performance. However, the other Big Five
traits are also related to aspects of performance and have other implications for work an

Emotional stability.
 Emotional stability dimension taps a person’s abil
ity to withstand stress.
 People with emotional stability tend to be calm, self
-confident, and secure.
 High scorers are more likely to be positive and opti
mistic and experience fewer negative emotions; the
y are generally happier than low scorers.
 Emotional stability is sometimes discussed as its c
onverse, neuroticism. Low scorers (those with high
neuroticism) are hyper vigilant and vulnerable to th
e physical and psychological effects of stress. Thos
e with high neuroticism tend to be nervous, anxious
, depressed, and insecure.

Emotional Stability at Work
 Of the Big Five traits, emotional stability is
most strongly related to life satisfaction, job
satisfaction, and low stress levels.
 People with high emotional stability can ada
pt to unexpected or changing demands in th
e workplace.
 At the other end of the spectrum, neurotic in
dividuals, who may be unable to cope with t
hese demands, may experience burnout.
 These people also tend to experience work-
family conflict, which can affect work outco
mes.

Extraversion
 The extraversion dimension captures our c
omfort level with relationships. Extraverts te
nd to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable
.
 They are generally happier and are often a
mbitious.
 They experience more positive emotions th
an do introverts, and they more freely expre
ss these feelings.
 On the other hand, introverts (low extraversi
on) tend to be more thoughtful, reserved, ti
mid, and quiet.

Extraversion at Work
 Extraverts perform better in jobs with signifi
cant interpersonal interaction. They are soci
ally dominant, “take charge” people who are
usually more assertive than introverts.
 Extraversion is a relatively strong predictor
of leadership emergence in groups.
 Some negatives are that extraverts are mor
e impulsive than introverts, more likely to be
absent from work, and may be more likely t
han introverts to lie during job interviews.

Openness to experience
 The openness to experience dimensi
on addresses the range of interests an
d fascination with novelty.
 Open people are creative, curious, an
d artistically sensitive.
 Those at the low end of the category a
re conventional and find comfort in the
familiar.

openness at Work
 Open people are more likely to be effective l
eaders—and more comfortable with ambigu
ity.
 They cope better with organizational chang
e and are more adaptable.
 While openness isn’t related to initial perfor
mance on a job, individuals higher in openn
ess are less susceptible to a decline in perf
ormance over a longer time period.
 Open people also experience less work-fam
ily conflict.

Agreeableness
 The agreeableness dimension refers to an individ
ual’s propensity to defer to others.
 Agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusti
ng.
 You might expect agreeable people to be happier t
han disagreeable people. They are, but only slightl
y.
 When people choose organizational team member
s, agreeable individuals are usually their first choic
e.
 In contrast, people who score low on agreeablenes
s are cold and antagonistic.

Agreeableness at Work
 Agreeable individuals are better liked than disagreeable people
; they tend to do better in interpersonally-oriented jobs such as
customer service.
 They’re more compliant and rule abiding, less likely to get into
accidents, and more satisfied in their jobs.
 They also contribute to organizational performance by engagin
g in organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).
 Disagreeable people, on the other hand, are more likely to eng
age in counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), as are peopl
e low in conscientiousness.
 Low agreeableness also predicts involvement in work accident
s.
 Lastly, agreeableness is associated with lower levels of career
success (especially earnings), perhaps because highly agreea
ble people consider themselves less marketable and are less
willing to assert themselves.

The big five personality Model

Other types of Personality
 Machiavellianism: Will do whatever th
ey need to do.
Example: Young bank manager get pro
motion 3 times within 4 years. High M
achs will be productive for reward job l
ike sales commissioning.

Characteristic of Mac
 An individual high in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional dist
ance, and believes ends can justify means.
 “If it works, use it” is consistent with a high-Mach perspective.
 High Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less by others, but p
ersuade others more than do low Machs.
 They are more likely to act aggressively.
 Surprisingly, Machiavellianism does not significantly predict overall job perfor
mance.
 High-Mach employees, by manipulating others to their advantage, win in the
short term at a job, but they lose those gains in the long term because they a
re not well liked.
 Machiavellianism tendencies may have ethical implications. One study show
ed high-Mach job seekers were less positively affected by the knowledge that
an organization engaged in a high level of corporate social responsibility (CS
R),suggesting that high-Mach people may care less about sustainability issue
s.
 Another study found Machs’ ethical leadership behaviors were less likely to tr
anslate into followers’ work engagement because followers see through thes
e behaviors and realize it is a case of surface acting.

Other types of Personality
 Narcissism
Who like centre of attention.
 In psychology, narcissism describes a person
who has a grandiose sense of self-importance,
requires excessive admiration, and is arrogant.
 Narcissists often have fantasies of grand succ
ess, a tendency to exploit situations and peopl
e, a sense of entitlement, and a lack of empat
hy.
 However, narcissists can be hypersensitive an
d fragile people.
 They also may experience more anger.

Other types of Personality
 Self monitoring
 Adaptability in work. Adjust behaviour to fit
changing situation.
 Evidence indicates high self-monitors pay clo
ser attention to the behavior of others and are
more capable of conforming than are low self
-monitors.
 High self-monitor employees show less com
mitment to their organizations, but receive bet
ter performance ratings and are more likely to
emerge as leaders.
 High self-monitor managers tend to be more
mobile in their careers, receive more promoti
ons (both internal and cross-organizational),
and are more likely to occupy central position

Other types of Personality
 Self monitoring
Adaptability in work. Adjust behaviour to fit
changing situation.
 Risk taking
Who take chances. May be failure or succe
ssful in his mission.

Other types of Personality
 Type A personality
Want to gain more and more.
1.are always moving, walking, and eatin
g rapidly;
2.Feel impatient with the rate at which m
ost events take place;
3. Strive to think or to do two or more thi
ngs at once.

Other types of Personality(Type
A personality: )
4. Can not cope with leisure time.
5. Are obsessed/passionate with numbe
rs, measuring their success in terms
of how many or how much of everyth
ing they acquire.
In contrast of Type A is the Type B pers
onality.

Other types of Personality
 Type B Personality
Aren’t harried by the desire to achieve
more and more.
They don’t suffer from a sense of time u
rgency and are able to relax without g
uilt.

Other types of Personality(Type
A personality: )
 Proactive personality
not reacting the situation rather working
and taking initiative.

Person job-fit