Robbins & Judge

Organizational Behavior
13th Edition

Personality
Personality and
and Values
Values

Bob Stretch
Southwestern College

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 Chapter
Chapter Learning
Learning Objectives
Objectives

 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

– Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain
the factors that determine an individual’s personality.
– Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality
framework and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
– Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model.
– Demonstrate how the Big Five traits predict behavior at work.
– Identify other personality traits relevant to OB.
– Define values, demonstrate their importance, and contrast
terminal and instrumental values.
– Compare generational differences in values, and identify the
dominant values in today’s workforce.
– Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.

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 What
What isis Personality?
Personality?
The dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment. - Gordon Allport.
– The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and
interacts with others, the measurable traits a person
exhibits
Measuring Personality
– Helpful in hiring decisions
– Most common method: self-reporting surveys
– Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent
assessment of personality – often better predictors

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 Personality
Personality Determinants
Determinants
 Heredity
– Factors determined at conception: physical stature, facial
attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle
composition and reflexes, energy level, and bio-rhythms
– This “Heredity Approach” argues that genes are the
source of personality
– Twin studies: raised apart but very similar personalities
– Parents don’t add much to personality development
– There is some personality change over long time periods

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 Personality
Personality Traits
Traits
Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s
behavior
– The more consistent the characteristic and the more
frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more
important the trait.

Two dominant frameworks used to describe

personality:
– Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®)
– Big Five Model

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 The
The Myers-Briggs
Myers-Briggs Type
Type Indicator
Indicator
 Most widely used instrument in the world.
 Participants are classified on four axes to determine
one of 16 possible personality types, such as ENTJ.

Sociable and Quiet and

Assertive Shy

Practical and Unconscious

Orderly Processes

Use Reason Uses Values

and Logic & Emotions

Want Order Flexible and

& Structure Spontaneous

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 The
The Types
Types and
and Their
Their Uses
Uses
 Each of the sixteen possible combinations has a
name, for instance:
– Visionaries (INTJ) – original, stubborn, and driven.
– Organizers (ESTJ) – realistic, logical, analytical, and
businesslike.
– Conceptualizer (ENTP) – entrepreneurial, innovative,
individualistic, and resourceful.

 Research results on validity mixed.

– MBTI® is a good tool for self-awareness and counseling.
– Should not be used as a selection test for job candidates.

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 The
TheBig
BigFive
FiveModel
Modelof
ofPersonality
PersonalityDimensions
Dimensions

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 How
How Do
Do the
the Big
Big Five
Five Traits
Traits Predict
Predict Behavior?
Behavior?
 Research has shown this to be a better framework.
 Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to
higher job performance:
– Highly conscientious people develop more job
knowledge, exert greater effort, and have better
performance.
– Other Big Five Traits also have implications for work.
• Emotional stability is related to job satisfaction.
• Extroverts tend to be happier in their jobs and have good
social skills.
• Open people are more creative and can be good leaders.
• Agreeable people are good in social settings.
See E X H I B I T 4–2
See E X H I B I T 4–2

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 Other
Other Personality
Personality Traits
Traits Relevant
Relevant to
to OB
OB
 Core Self-Evaluation
– The degree to which people like or dislike themselves
– Positive self-evaluation leads to higher job performance
 Machiavellianism
– A pragmatic, emotionally distant power-player who believes
that ends justify the means.
– High Machs are manipulative, win more often, and persuade
more than they are persuaded. Flourish when:
• Have direct interaction
• Work with minimal rules and regulations
• Emotions distract others
 Narcissism
– An arrogant, entitled, self-important
person who needs excessive admiration.
– Less effective in their jobs.

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 More
More Relevant
Relevant Personality
Personality Traits
Traits
 Self-Monitoring
– The ability to adjust behavior to meet external,
situational factors.
– High monitors conform more and are more likely to
become leaders.

 Risk Taking
– The willingness to take chances.
– May be best to align propensities with job requirements.
– Risk takers make faster decisions with less information.
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 Even
Even More
More Relevant
Relevant Personality
Personality Traits
Traits
 Type A Personality
– Aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to
achieve more in less time
• Impatient: always moving, walking, and eating rapidly
• Strive to think or do two or more things at once
• Cannot cope with leisure time
• Obsessed with achievement numbers
– Prized in North America but quality of the work is low
– Type B people are the complete opposite

 Proactive Personality
– Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action,
and perseveres to completion
– Creates positive change in the environment

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 Values
Values
Basic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how to
live your life that is personally or socially preferable –
“How To” live life properly.

Attributes of Values:
– Content Attribute – that the mode of conduct or end-state
is important
– Intensity Attribute – just how important that content is.
Value System
– A person’s values rank ordered by intensity
– Tends to be relatively constant and consistent

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 Importance
Importance of
of Values
Values
 Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation,
and behaviors
 Influence our perception of the world around us
 Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong”
 Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others

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 Classifying
Classifying Values
Values –– Rokeach
Rokeach Value
Value Survey
Survey
 Terminal Values
– Desirable end-states of existence; the goals that a person
would like to achieve during his or her lifetime
 Instrumental Values
– Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s
terminal values

 People in same occupations or categories tend to

hold similar values
– But values vary between groups
– Value differences make it difficult for groups to negotiate
and may create conflict

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 Values
Values in
in the
the Rokeach
Rokeach Survey
Survey

E X H I B I T 4–3
E X H I B I T 4–3

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 Value
Value Differences
Differences Between
Between Groups
Groups

Source: Based on W. C. Frederick and J. Weber, “The Values of Corporate Managers and Their Critics: An Empirical Description and Normative Implications,” in
W. C. Frederick and L. E. Preston (eds.) Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1990), pp. 123–44.

E X H I B I T 4–4
E X H I B I T 4–4

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 Generational
Generational Values
Values
Approximat
Entered
Cohort e Current Dominant Work Values
Workforce
Age
Veterans 1950-1964 65+ Hard working, conservative,
conforming; loyalty to the
organization
Boomers 1965-1985 40-60s Success, achievement,
ambition, dislike of authority;
loyalty to career
Xers 1985-2000 20-40s Work/life balance, team-
oriented, dislike of rules;
loyalty to relationships
Nexters 2000-Present Under 30 Confident, financial success,
self-reliant but team-oriented;
loyalty to both self and
relationships
E X H I B I T 4–5
E X H I B I T 4–5

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 Linking
LinkingPersonality
Personalityand
andValues
Valuesto
tothe
theWorkplace
Workplace
Managers are less interested in someone’s ability to do a
specific job than in that person’s flexibility.

Person-Job Fit:
– John Holland’s Personality-Job Fit Theory
• Six personality types
• Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)
– Key Points of the Model:
• There appear to be intrinsic differences in personality
between people
• There are different types of jobs
• People in jobs congruent with their personality should be
more satisfied and have lower turnover

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 Holland’s
Holland’sPersonality
PersonalityTypology
Typology&&Occupations
Occupations

E X H I B I T 4–7
E X H I B I T 4–7

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 Relationships
Relationships Among
Among Personality
Personality Types
Types

The closer the

occupational The further
fields, the more apart the fields,
compatible. the more
dissimilar.

Need to match
personality type with
occupation. Source: Reprinted by special permission of the publisher, Psychological
Assessment Resources, Inc., from Making Vocational Choices, copyright 1973,
1985, 1992 by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. All rights reserved.

E X H I B I T 4–8
E X H I B I T 4–8

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 Still
Still Linking
Linking Personality
Personality to
to the
the Workplace
Workplace
In addition to matching the individual’s personality to
the job, managers are also concerned with:

Person-Organization Fit:
– The employee’s personality must fit with the
organizational culture.
– People are attracted to organizations that match their
values.
– Those who match are most likely to be selected.
– Mismatches will result in turnover.
– Can use the Big Five personality types to match to the
organizational culture.

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 Global
Global Implications
Implications
 Personality
– Do frameworks like Big Five transfer across cultures?
• Yes, but the frequency of type in the culture may vary.
• Better in individualistic than collectivist cultures.
 Values
– Values differ across cultures.
– Hofstede’s Framework for assessing culture – five value
dimensions:
• Power Distance
• Individualism vs. Collectivism
• Masculinity vs. Femininity
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation
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 Hofstede’s
Hofstede’s Framework:
Framework: Power
Power Distance
Distance
The extent to which a society accepts that power in
institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.
•Low distance
•Relatively equal power
between those with
status/wealth and those
without status/wealth
•High distance
•Extremely unequal power
distribution between those
with status/wealth and
those without
status/wealth

See E X H I B I T 4–6
See E X H I B I T 4–6

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 Hofstede’s
Hofstede’s Framework:
Framework: Individualism
Individualism
 Individualism
– The degree to which people prefer to act as individuals
rather than a member of groups
 Collectivism
– A tight social framework in which people expect others in
groups of which they are a part to look after them and
protect them

Versus

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 Hofstede’s
Hofstede’s Framework:
Framework: Masculinity
Masculinity
 Masculinity
– The extent to which the society values work roles of
achievement, power, and control, and where
assertiveness and materialism are also valued
 Femininity
– The extent to which there is little differentiation between
roles for men and women

Versus

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 Hofstede’s
Hofstede’sFramework:
Framework:Uncertainty
UncertaintyAvoidance
Avoidance
The extent to which a society feels threatened by
uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid
them

High Uncertainty Avoidance:

Society does not like ambiguous
situations and tries to avoid them.
Low Uncertainty Avoidance:
Society does not mind ambiguous
situations and embraces them.

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 Hofstede’s
Hofstede’s Framework:
Framework: Time
Time Orientation
Orientation
 Long-term Orientation
– A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future,
thrift, and persistence
 Short-term Orientation
– A national culture attribute that emphasizes the present
and the here and now

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 Hofstede’s
Hofstede’s Framework:
Framework: An
An Assessment
Assessment

 There are regional differences within countries

 The original data is old and based on only one
company
 Hofstede had to make many judgment calls while
doing the research
 Some results don’t match what is believed to be
true about given countries
 Despite these problems it remains a very popular
framework

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 GLOBE
GLOBE Framework
Framework for
for Assessing
Assessing Cultures
Cultures

 Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program.
– Nine dimensions of national culture

 Similar to Hofstede’s framework with these

additional dimensions:
– Humane Orientation: how much society rewards people
for being altruistic, generous, and kind.
– Performance Orientation: how much society encourages
and rewards performance improvement and excellence.

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 Summary
Summary and
and Managerial
Managerial Implications
Implications

 Personality
– Screen for the Big Five trait of conscientiousness
– Take into account the situational factors as well
– MBTI® can help with training and development

 Values
– Often explain attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions
– Higher performance and satisfaction achieved when the
individual’s values match those of the organization.

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