Personality & Cultural Values - Org Behavior

Personality

the structures and propensities inside us that explain our characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior

Traits

recurring regularities or trend in people’s responses to their environment

Big Five: CANOE

• Conscientiousness

• Agreeableness

• Neuroticism

• Openness to Experience

• Extraversion

Conscientiousness

accomplishment striving - desire to accomplish task-related goals, get it done

• best predictor of job performance

• childhood conscientiousness is correlated with career success later in life

Agreeableness

communion striving - desire to obtain acceptance in relationships, get along

• mixed bag at work

Neuroticism

• negative affectivity

• differential exposure to stress and differential reactivity

• external locus of control

• rarely good for job performance

Extraversion

• status striving - desire to obtain power and influence

• positive affectivity

• related to leadership emergence and effectiveness as well as job satisfaction

Openness to Experience

can be valuable in creative roles and dynamic situations

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• extraversion vs. intoversion

• sensing vs. intuition

• judging vs. perceiving

• not useful for predicting job performance or organizational commitment

• useful in helping co-workers understand each other’s behavior

Culture

shared values, beliefs, motives, identities, and interpretations that result from common experiences of members of a society and are transmitted across generations

Cultural Values

shared beliefs about desirable end states or modes of conduct in a culture

Ethnocentrism

tendency to view one’s cultural values as “right” and the values of others as “wrong”

Two Major Taxonomies of Cultural Differences

1. Hofstede’s 5 Dimensions

2. Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness)

Individualism - Collectivism: Individualistic

culture tends to be a loosely knit social framework where people take care of themselves and their immediate family

Individualism - Collectivism: Collectivistic

culture tends to be a tight social framework where people take care of the members of a broader in-group and act loyal to it

Power Distance

Low - culture tends to prefer that power be distributed uniformly where possible, in a more egalitarian fashion

High - the culture tends to accept the fact that power is usually distributed unequally within organizations

Uncertainty Avoidance

Low - culture tends to tolerate uncertain and ambiguous situations and values unusual ideas and behaviors

High - culture tends to feel threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and relies on formal rules to create stability

Indulgence Vs. Restraint: Indulgent

culture tends to value expression of desires related to freedom, leisure, and activity

Indulgence Vs. Restraint: Restrained

culture tends to value stricter norms, with a focus on order and regulation

Project GLOBE

an ongoing international research effort to examine the impact of culture on leadership attributes, behaviors, and practices

Gender Egalitarianism

the culture promotes gender equality and minimizes role differences between men and women

Performance Orientation

the culture encourages and rewards members for excellence and performance improvements

Collectivists

• higher levels of task performance and citizenship behaviors in work team settings

• lower levels of counterproductive and withdrawal behaviors

• greater commitment to employers

• preference for group rewards versus rewards ties to individual achievement

Personality Importance

Conscientiousness is positively related to task performance and organizational commitment

Situational Strength

• personality is more important in some contexts than in others

• depends on the cues provided by environmental forces regarding the desireablity of potential behaviors

Clarity

the extent to which cues regarding work-related responsibilities or requirements are available and easy to understand

Consistency

the extent to which cues regarding work-related responsibilities or requirements are compatible with each other

Constraints

the extent to which an individual’s freedom of decision and action is limited by forces outside his or her control

Consequences

the extent to which decisions or actions have important positive or negative implications for any relevant person or entity

Bottom Line of Situational Strength

behavior may reflect personality, but it may also reflect the strength of the situation

Application: Personality Tests

integrity tests, honesty tests, focus on predisposition to counterproductive behaviors

Clear Purpose Tests

assess attitudes toward dishonesty, including confessions of past dishonesty

Veiled Purpose Tests

asses general personality traits associated with dishonesty