Organizational Behaviour: Personality Traits and Work Values

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering personality definitions, determinants, assessment models (MBTI, Big Five, Holland's Hexagon), value systems (Rokeach), and cultural value frameworks (Hofstede, GLOBE).

Personality

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

Trait

A specific characteristic of an individual related to genetics, which can be qualitative (such as eye color) or quantitative (such as height or blood pressure) and determined by genes, environmental factors, or a combination of both.

Personality Traits

Long-lasting, comparatively consistent thought, emotion, and behavior patterns that characterize a person and set them apart from others.

Heredity Approach

An approach arguing that genes determined at conception are the ultimate source and primary determinant of an individual's personality.

Psychological Determinants of Personality

Internal psychological processes starting from childhood, including mental patterns, emotions, affective styles, fundamental needs, mental conflicts, and feelings of repression that shape evolving personality.

Intellectual Determinants of Personality

Cognitive abilities, problem-solving skills, decision-making styles, critical thinking, memory capacity, humor, morality, and values that influence how an individual processes information and behaves.

Social Determinants of Personality

External influences arising from interactions and relationships, including peer groups, socioeconomic status, romantic partnerships, workplace networks, and cultural contexts.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The most widely used personality-assessment instrument in the world, which classifies individuals into one of 16 personality types based on four bipolar dimensions.

Big Five Personality Model

A strongly supported personality framework consisting of five core traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience.

Extraversion

A Big Five trait describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, enthusiastic, talkative, and assertive, obtaining gratification primarily from outside themselves.

Agreeableness

A Big Five personality dimension reflecting individual differences in cooperation, empathy, kindness, warmth, honesty, and considerateness.

Conscientiousness

A Big Five trait defined by being responsible, careful, dependable, persistent, self-disciplined, and organized.

Neuroticism

A Big Five trait associated with emotional instability and a tendency to experience negative emotions like fear, anger, anxiety, shame, and depression.

Openness to Experience

A Big Five personality trait characterized by curiosity, creativity, sensitivity, emotional intelligence, and a preference for novelty and variety.

Core Self-Evaluation

The degree to which individuals like themselves and see themselves as capable and effective in the workplace.

Machiavellianism

A personality trait characterized by a pragmatic stance, emotional distance, and the belief that the ends justify the means.

Narcissism

A personality attribute marked by a grandiose view of self, a requirement for excessive admiration, a sense of self-entitlement, and arrogance.

Self-Monitoring

A personality trait measuring an individual's ability to adjust their behaviour to meet external, situational factors.

Proactive Personality

A personality profile of an individual who identifies opportunities, shows initiative, takes action, and perseveres until meaningful change occurs.

Values

Basic, enduring convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode of conduct or end-state.

Value System

A hierarchy based on ranking an individual's values in terms of intensity, providing the foundation for attitudes, motivation, perception, and behavior.

Rokeach Value Survey

An instrument comprising eighteen terminal and eighteen instrumental values that are ranked to determine an individual's value priorities.

Terminal Values

Desirable end-states of existence or ultimate goals that a person would like to achieve during their lifetime.

Instrumental Values

Preferable modes of behaviour or acceptable means used to achieve terminal values.

Holland's Hexagon

A personality-job fit model developed by John Lewis Holland proposing that satisfaction and turnover depend on the match between an individual's personality and occupational environment.

Person-Organization Fit

The theory that an employee's personality fitting with organizational culture is more critical than fitting specific job tasks, predicting job satisfaction, commitment, and reduced turnover.

Hofstede’s Framework

A framework for assessing national cultures across five value dimensions: Power Distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, Masculinity vs. Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation.

GLOBE Framework

An ongoing cross-cultural study established by Robert House that delineates cultural differences using nine core dimensions to construct national cultural profiles.

Institutional Collectivism

A GLOBE cultural dimension assessing how much societal institutional practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action.

In-group Collectivism

A GLOBE dimension capturing the pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness individuals feel towards their immediate families, groups, or organizations.

Gender Egalitarianism

A GLOBE dimension measuring the degree to which a society is dedicated to minimizing gender inequality and promoting equal gender rights and roles.

Humane Orientation

A GLOBE cultural dimension measuring the degree to which a society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, benevolent, kind, and generous.