Personality, Perception, and Teams

Personality

The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others

Heredity

Factors determined at conception; one’s biological, physiological, and inherent psychological makeup

Personality Traits

Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior

The Big Five Personality Model

A personality test measuring the five basic dimensions: Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized

Emotional Stability

A personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self-confident, and secure vs. nervous, depressed, and insecure

Extraversion

A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive

Openness to Experience

A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination, sensitivity, curiosity

Agreeableness

A personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured, cooperative, and trusting

The Dark Triad

A constellation of negative personality traits consisting of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy

Machiavellianism

The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means

Narcissism

The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement

Psychopathy

The tendency for a lack of concern for others and a lack of guilt or remorse when actions cause harm

Core Self-Evaluation (CSE)

Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capabilities, competencies, and worth as a person

Self-Monitoring

A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors

Proactive Personality

People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs

Situation Strength Theory

A theory indicating the way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation

Trait Activation Theory (TAT)

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

Values

Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct

Value System

A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity

Terminal Values

The goals a person would like to achieve during their lifetime

Instrumental Values

Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal values

Personality-Job Fit Theory

A theory that identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines satisfaction and turnover

Person-Organization Fit

A theory that people are attracted to and selected by organizations that match their values, and leave when there is not compatibility

Hofstede’s Framework

The set of five values most prevalent in the culture of a work organization: power distance, individual vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term vs. short-term orientation

Power Distance

A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally

Individualism

A national culture attribute that describes the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups

Collectivism

A national culture that describes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part of to look after them and protect them

Masculinity

A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which the culture favors traditional masculine work roles of achievement, power, and control. Societal values are characterized by assertiveness and materialism

Femininity

A national culture attribute that indicates little differentiation between male and female roles; a high rating indicates that women are treated as the equals of men in all aspects of the society

Uncertainty Avoidance

A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them

Long-Term Orientation

A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future and persistence

Short-Term Orientation

A national culture attribute that emphasizes the present and accepts change

Punctuated-Equilibrium Model

A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity

Role

A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit

Role Perception

An individual's view of how they are supposed to act in a given situation

Role Expectations

How others believe a person should act in a given situation

Psychological Contract

An unwritten agreement that sets out what management expects from an employee and vice versa

Role Conflict

A situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations

Inter-Role Conflict

A situation in which the expectations of an individual’s different, separate groups are in opposition

Norms

Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s members

Conformity

The adjustment of one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group

Reference Groups

Important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with whose norms individuals are likely to conform

Deviant Workplace Behavior

Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and, in doing so, threatens the well-being of the organization or its members

Status

A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others

Status Characteristics Theory

A theory that states that the differences in status characteristics create status hierarchies within groups

Three Sources of Status

The power a person wields over others, a person’s ability to contribute to a group’s goals, and an individual’s personal characteristics

Social Loafing

The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually

Cohesiveness

The degree to which group members are attracted to each other and are motivated to stay in the group

Diversity

The extent to which group members are similar to or different from each other

Fault lines

The perceived divisions that split groups into two or more subgroups based on individual differences such as gender, race, age, work experience, and education

Groupthink

A phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action

Groupshift

A change between a group’s decision and an individual decision that a member within the group would make; the shift can either be toward conservatism or greater risk, but it is usually toward a more extreme version of the group’s original position

Interacting Groups

Typical groups in which members interact with each other face to face

Brainstorming

An idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives while withholding any criticism of those alternatives

Nominal Group Technique

A group decision-making method in which individual members meet face to face to pool their judgements in a systematic but independent fashion

Organizational Demography

The degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, gender, race, educational level, or length of service in an organization, and the impact of this attribute on turnover

Reflexivity

A team characteristic of reflecting on and adjusting the master plan when necessary

Team Efficacy

A team’s collective belief that they can succeed at their tasks

Team Identity

A team member’s affinity for and sense of belonging to his or her team

Team Cohesion

A situation when team members are emotionally attached to one another and motivated toward the team because of their attachment

Mental Models

Team members’ knowledge and beliefs about how the work gets done by the team