personality

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MANAGEMENT – Paper 3 (Sem:4)
MODULE: 4 PERSONALITY AND PERCEPTION
MEANINGAND DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY:
The term personality represents the overall profile or combination of characteristics that
capture the unique nature of a person as that person reacts and interacts with others and how
he views himself. Personality combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that
reflect how a person looks, thinks, acts, and feels. An understanding of personality
contributes to an understanding of organizational behavior in that we expect a predictable
interplay between an individual’s personality and his or her tendency to behave in certain
ways.
Personality is the sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristic
of an individual. Our personality traits determine how we adjust to our environment and how
we react in specific situations. No two individuals have the same personalities. Each
individual has his or her own way of interacting with other people and with his or her social
environment.
NATURE/CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONALITY:
- Personality is something which is unique in each individual: Personality refers to
internal as well as external qualities, some of which are quite general. But it is unique
to each individual. It is not possible for any other individual to reproduce or imitate
the qualities of the personality of the individual.
- Personality is greatly influenced by social interactions: Personality is not an
individual quality. It is a result of social- interaction. In other words, it means that
when we come in contact with other members of the society, we acquire certain
qualities while we exhibit certain others. All these come to form personality.
- Personality refers particularly to persistent qualities of an individual:
Every individual has certain feeling as well as other permanent traits and qualities.
Personality is mainly composed of the persistent or permanent qualities that exhibit
themselves in form of social behaviour and attempt to make adjustment with the
environment.

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- Personality represents a dynamic orientation of organism to environment:
Personality represents the process of learning. It takes place in reference to the environment.
We do not acquire all the traits of personality all at once.
- Personality represents a unique organisation of persistent dynamic and social
predisposition:
In personality various qualities are not put together. They are, in fact, integrated into one.
This integration is nothing but a result of organisation which may be different from man to
man. The behaviour of a person directed to one particular individual may differ from the
behaviour of another person. That is why; we put the condition of suitable environment. This
suitability is concerned with individual specificity.
Determinants/Factors of Personality
Following are the factors which help in shaping one’s personality:
1.Heredity - Heredity refers to factors that are determined once an individual is born. An
individual’s physique, attractiveness, body type, complexion, body weight depend on his/her
parents biological makeup.
2.Environment - The environment to which an individual is subjected to during his growing
years plays an important role in determining his/her personality. The varied cultures in which
we are brought up and our family backgrounds have a crucial role in shaping our
personalities.
3.Situation - An individual’s personality also changes with current circumstances and
situations. An individual would behave in a different way when he has enough savings with
him and his behavior would automatically change when he is bankrupt.
4.Physical Features: It determines personality formation is physical characteristics and rate
of maturation. An individual external appearance, which is biologically determined, is an
important ingredient of personality. Ina narrow sense personality is referred to the physical
features of a person. A person’s physical feature has some influence over his personality
because he will effect influence on others and in turn will affect his self-concept.

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5.Cultural Factors: Culture is the underlying determinant of human decision making. It
generally determines attitude towards independence, aggression competition and co-
operation. Each culture expects and trains its members to behave in the way that are
acceptable to the group. To a marked degree the child’s cultural group defines the range of
experiences and situations he/she is likely to encounter and the values and the personality
characteristics that will be reinforced and learned.
6.Social Factors: There is increasing recognition given to the role of other relevant persons,
groups and especially organizations, which greatly influence an individual's personality. This
is commonly called the socialization process. Socialization involves the process by which a
person acquires, from the enormously wide range of behavioural potentialities that are open
to him or her. Socialization starts with the initial contact between a mother and her new
infant. After infancy, other members of the immediate family – father, brothers, sisters and
close relatives or friends, then the social group – peers, school friends and members of the
work group, play influential roles.
Socialization process is especially relevant to organizational behaviour because the process is
not confined to early childhood, taking place rather throughout one's life. In particular,
evidence is accumulating that socialization may be one of the best explanations for why
employees be have the way they do in today's organizations.

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THE BIG FIVE MODEL OF PERSONALITY:
1.Openness is the degree to which a person is curious, original, intellectual, creative, and
open to new ideas. People high in openness seem to thrive in situations that require being
flexible and learning new things. They are highly motivated to learn new skills, and they do
well in training settings. [11] They also have an advantage when they enter into a new
organization. Their open-mindedness leads them to seek a lot of information and feedback
about how they are doing and to build relationships, which leads to quicker adjustment to the
new job. [12] When supported, they tend to be creative. [13] Open people are highly adaptable
to change, and teams that experience unforeseen changes in their tasks do well if they are
populated with people high in openness. [14] Compared to people low in openness, they are
also more likely to start their own business.
2.Conscientiousness refers to the degree to which a person is organized, systematic, punctual,
achievement oriented, and dependable. Conscientiousness is the one personality trait that
uniformly predicts how high a person’s performance will be, across a variety of occupations
and jobs. [16] In fact, conscientiousness is the trait most desired by recruiters and results in the
most success in interviews. [17] This is not a surprise, because in addition to their high

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performance, conscientious people have higher levels of motivation to perform, lower levels
of turnover, lower levels of absenteeism, and higher levels of safety performance at
work. [18] One’s conscientiousness is related to career success and being satisfied with one’s
career over time. [19] Finally, it seems that conscientiousness is a good trait to have for
entrepreneurs. Highly conscientious people are more likely to start their own business
compared to those who are not conscientious, and their firms have longer survival rates.
3. Extraversion is the degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, and sociable, and
enjoys being in social situations. One of the established findings is that they tend to be
effective in jobs involving sales. [21] Moreover, they tend to be effective as managers and they
demonstrate inspirational leadership behaviors. [22]Extraverts do well in social situations, and
as a result they tend to be effective in job interviews. Part of their success comes from how
they prepare for the job interview, as they are likely to use their social network. [23] Extraverts
have an easier time than introverts when adjusting to a new job. They actively seek
information and feedback, and build effective relationships, which helps with their
adjustment. [24] Interestingly, extraverts are also found to be happier at work, which may be
because of the relationships they build with the people around them and their relative ease in
adjusting to a new job. [25] However, they do not necessarily perform well in all jobs, and jobs
depriving them of social interaction may be a poor fit. Moreover, they are not necessarily
model employees. For example, they tend to have higher levels of absenteeism at work,
potentially because they may miss work to hang out with or attend to the needs of their
friends
4. Agreeableness is the degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind,
and warm. In other words, people who are high in agreeableness are likeable people who get
along with others. Not surprisingly, agreeable people help others at work consistently, and
this helping behavior is not dependent on being in a good mood. [27] They are also less likely
to retaliate when other people treat them unfairly. [28] This may reflect their ability to show
empathy and give people the benefit of the doubt. Agreeable people may be a valuable
addition to their teams and may be effective leaders because they create a fair environment
when they are in leadership positions. [29] At the other end of the spectrum, people low in
agreeableness are less likely to show these positive behaviors. Moreover, people who are not
agreeable are shown to quit their jobs unexpectedly, perhaps in response to a conflict they

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engage with a boss or a peer. [30] If agreeable people are so nice, does this mean that we
should only look for agreeable people when hiring? Some jobs may actually be a better fit for
someone with a low level of agreeableness. Think about it: When hiring a lawyer, would you
prefer a kind and gentle person, or a pit bull? Also, high agreeableness has a downside:
Agreeable people are less likely to engage in constructive and change-oriented
communication. [31] Disagreeing with the status quo may create conflict and agreeable people
will likely avoid creating such conflict, missing an opportunity for constructive change.
5. Neuroticism refers to the degree to which a person is anxious, irritable, aggressive,
temperamental, and moody. These people have a tendency to have emotional adjustment
problems and experience stress and depression on a habitual basis. People very high in
neuroticism experience a number of problems at work. For example, they are less likely to be
someone people go to for advice and friendship. [32] In other words, they may experience
relationship difficulties. They tend to be habitually unhappy in their jobs and report high
intentions to leave, but they do not necessarily actually leave their jobs. [33] Being high in
neuroticism seems to be harmful to one’s career, as they have lower levels of career success
(measured with income and occupational status achieved in one’s career). Finally, if they
achieve managerial jobs, they tend to create an unfair climate at work.
http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/3?e=bauer-ch03_s02
http://personalityspirituality.net/articles/what-is-personality

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TYPE A and TYPE B PERSONALITIES
Type A
Type A personality generally refers to hard workers who are often preoccupied with
schedules and the speed of their performance.
People are impatient, aggressive, & highly competitive, work hard & are more productive.
Negative side is that they are very impatient, more irritable, have poor judgement. Measures
success by quantity, does two things at a time.
The Type A personality generally lives at a higher stress level. This is driven by
 They enjoy achievement of goals, with greater enjoyment in achieving of more
difficult goals. They are thus constantly working hard to achieve these.
 They find it difficult to stop, even when they have achieved goals.
 They feel the pressure of time, constantly working flat out.
 They are highly competitive and will, if necessary create competition.
 They hate failure and will work hard to avoid it.
 They are generally pretty fit and often well-educated (a result of their anxiety).
Type B
Type B personalities may be more creative, imaginative, and philosophical
TYPE B :- Easy going, non-competitive. Do better in complex tasks involving judgement &
accuracy rather than speed & hard work. Relaxes without guilt, has no pressing deadlines. Is
never hurry, mild mannered.
The Type B personality generally lives at a lower stress level and are typically:
 They work steadily, enjoying achievements but not becoming stressed when they are
not achieved.
 When faced with competition, they do not mind losing and either enjoy the game or
back down.
 They may be creative and enjoy exploring ideas and concepts.
 They are often reflective, thinking about the outer and inner worlds.

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Measurement of Personalities/ Personalities pattern
1. AUTHORITARIANISM
2. MACHIAVELLIANISM
3. INTROVERSION & EXTROVERSION
4. SELF CONCEPT & SELF ESTEEM
5. LOCUS OF CONTROL
1. AUTHORITARIANISM
• A authoritarian personality tend to be rigid in their positions
• They place high moral value on their beliefs
.• Strongly oriented towards conformity of rules & regulations.
• Naturally prefer stable & structured work environments which are governed by clear
rules & procedures
.• Likely prefer autocratic or directive leadership.
2. MACHIAVELLIANISM
• This personality trait is also known as ‘Mach’ is named after Niceolo Machiavelli.
• An individual with high Mach is Pagmatic, maintains emotional distance, & believes
that ends can justify means, manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less and
persuade others more
.• Successful when situations have minimum number of rules & regulations.
• Have no hesitation using taking advantage of others in order to serve their own
goals.
• High self confidence & high self esteem.
3. INTROVERSION & EXTROVERSION
• Introverts are:- Shy, quiet & retiring ; Excels at tasks that require thought &
analytical skills
.• Extroverts are:- Suitable for positions that require more interaction with others.
4. SELF CONCEPT & SELF ESTEEM
• Self concept denotes the extent to which they consistently regard themselves as
capable, successful, important & worthy. Self concept (Both ‘I’ & ‘Me’) gives the
individual a sense of meaningfulness and consistency.• People assignments &
contribute to achieve organizational goals.

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Self esteem is directly related to the with high self esteem tend to take challenging
expectations for success. High self esteem people believe that they possess the ability
needed to succeed at work.
5. LOCUS OF CONTROL: Personality is developed on the basis of person’s locus of
control which is how one perceives the locus of control in one’s life