Essentials of

Organizational Behavior,
10/e

Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A.

Judge

Chapter 05

Personality and Values

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

 After studying this chapter
you should be able to:
1. Define personality, describe how it is measured, and
explain the factors that determine an individual’s
personality.
2. Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality
framework and assess its strengths and weaknesses.
3. Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality
model and demonstrate how the traits are relevant to
OB.
4. Define values, demonstrate the importance of values,
and contrast terminal and instrumental values.
5. Compare the generational differences in values and
identify the dominant values in today’s workforce.
6. Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national
culture.
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-2
 Personality
• The sum of the total 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 2-3

 Measuring Personality

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

• Observer-ratings
Surveys
 Independent assessment
 May be more accurate
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-4
 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.

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-5

 Measuring Personality Traits:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• Most widely used personality-
assessment instrument in the world
• Individuals are classified as:
 Extroverted or Introverted (E/I)
 Sensing or Intuitive (S/N)
 Thinking or Feeling (T/F)
 Judging or Perceiving (J/P)
• Classifications combined into 16
personality types (i.e. INTJ or ESTJ)

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-6

 Measuring Personality Traits:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• Extraverted (E) versus Introverted

• 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.
• Intuitive relies on unconscious processes and looks 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 their world to be ordered and structured.
• Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-7
 Measuring Personality
Traits:
The Big-Five Model
• Five Traits:
 Extraversion
 Agreeableness
 Conscientiousness
 Emotional Stability
 Openness to Experience
• Strongly supported relationship to job
performance (especially
Conscientiousness)
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-8
 Measuring Personality Traits:
The Big-Five Model
• 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.
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-9
 Measuring Personality Traits:
The Big-Five Model
• 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.
• Emotional stability. The emotional stability dimension often
labeled by its converse, 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. 2-10
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
 Measuring Personality Traits:
The Big-Five Model
• Openness to experience.

• The openness to experience dimension addresses a 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 conventional and find
comfort in the familiar.

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-11

 Measuring Personality Traits:
The Big-Five Model

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-12

 Other Personality Traits Influencing
OB
• Core self-
evaluation
Self like/dislike
• Machiavellianism
Competitive, urgent,
and driven
• Narcissism
In psychology, narcissism describes a person who has a
grandiose sense of self-importance requires excessive
admiration has a sense of entitlement and is arrogant.
• Self-monitoring
Adjusts behavior to meet external, situational factors

• Proactive personality
Identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres.
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-13
 Values
• The beliefs people have, especially about what is right
and wrong and what is most important in life, that
control their behavior.
• The principles that help you to decide what is right and
wrong, and how to act in various situations.
• Values describe the personal qualities we choose to
embody to guide our actions, the sort of person we
want to be the manner in which we treat ourselves and
others, and our interaction with the world around us.
• They provide the general guidelines for conduct.
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-14
 Value Systems
• A hierarchy based on a ranking of an
individual’s values in terms of their
intensity:
 Content – importance to the individual
 Intensity – relative importance with other values
• The hierarchy tends to be relatively
stable
• Values are the foundation for attitudes,
motivation, and behavior
• Influence perception and cloud
objectivity 2-15
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
 Rokeach Value Survey

• Terminal values • Instrumental

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

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-16

 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)
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-17
 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)

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-18

 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
2-19
 Personality-Job Fit:
Holland’s Hexagon
• Job satisfaction and turnover depend on
congruency between personality and task
 Fields adjacent are similar
 Field opposite are dissimilar

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-20

 Personality-Job Fit:
Holland’s Hexagon

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-21

 Person-Organization Fit
• It is more important that
employees’ personalities
fit with the organizational
culture than with the
characteristics of any
specific job.
• The fit predicts job
satisfaction, organizational
commitment and
turnover.
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-22
 Global Implications

• The Big Five Model appears across

a wide variety of cultures
 Primary differences based on factor
emphasis and type of country
• Values differ across cultures
 Two frameworks for assessing culture:
• Hofstede
• GLOBE

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-23

 Hofstede’s Framework for
Assessing Cultures

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

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

 Hofstede’s Framework for
Assessing Cultures

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-25

 Hofstede’s Framework for
Assessing Cultures

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-26

 Implications for Managers

• Personality:
 Evaluate the job, group, and organization to
determine the best fit
 Big Five is best to use for selection
 MBTI for development and training

• Values:
 Strongly influence attitudes, behaviors, and
perceptions
 Match the individual values to organizational
culture
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-27
 Keep in Mind…
• Personality
 The sum total of ways in which
individual reacts to, and interacts with,
others
 Easily measured
• Big Five Personality Traits
 Related to many OB criteria
 May be very useful in predicting
behavior
• Values
 Vary between and within cultures
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-28
 Summary
1. Defined personality, described how it is measured,
and explained the factors that determine an
individual’s personality.
2. Described the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
personality framework and assessed its strengths
and weaknesses.
3. Identified the key traits in the Big Five personality
model and demonstrated how the traits are relevant
to OB.
4. Defined values, demonstrated the importance of
values, and contrasted terminal and instrumental
values.
5. Compared the generational differences in values and
identified the dominant values in today’s workforce.
6. Identified Hofstede’s five value dimensions of
national
Copyright ©2010 culture.
Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 2-29