Chapter 4 - Personality & values

Personality

• @@Personality@@: sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.   * Measuring personality can be used in hiring decisions and forecasting who is better for a job.   * Personality determinants     * $Heredity$: factors determined at conception; one’s biological, physiological and inherent psychological makeup.     * Individuals personality has to do with heredity and the environment.     * $Personality traits$: enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.
• @@Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)@@: personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types.   * 4 characteristics     * Extroverted VS introverted     * Sensing VS intuitive     * Thinking VS feeling     * Judging VS perceiving   * Weakness: it forces people into being one way or the other, there is no in-between you are either introverted or extroverted.   * Strength: good tool that provides career guidance and increases self-awareness.
• @@Big Five personality model@@: personality assessment model that taps 5 basic dimensions   * $Extroversion$: personality dimension that describes someone who is sociable, gregarious and assertive.   * $Agreeableness$: personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured, cooperative and trusting.   * $Conscientiousness$: personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent and organized.   * $Emotional stability$: personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self confident, secure (positive) VS nervous, depressed and insecure (negative).   * $Openness to experience$: personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination, sensitivity and curiosity.   * How do the Big Five Traits predict behavior at work?

        * Other personality traits relevant to OB     * $Core-self evaluation$: degree to which an individual likes/dislikes himself/herself as capable and effective, and whether the person feels in control of his/her environment or powerless over the environment.     * $Machiavellianism$: degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance and believes that ends can justify means.     * $Narcissism$: tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self importance, require excessive admiration and have a sense of entitlement.     * $Self-monitoring$: personality trait that measures an individual's ability to adjust his/her behavior to external, situational factors.     * $Risk-taking$ → managers in large organizations may be more willing to take risks than entrepreneurs.     * $Type A personality$: aggressive involvement in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time and if necessary against the opposing efforts of other things other people       * Are always moving, walking and eating rapidly       * Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place       * Strive to think or do two of more things at once       * Cannot cope with leisure time       * Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire     * $Proactive personality$: people who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action and persevere until meaningful change occurs.   * Personality and situations     * $Situation-strength theory$: theory indicating that the way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation.     * $Trait Activation Theory (TAT)$: theory that predicts that some situations, events or interventions “activate” a trait more than others.

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Values

• @@Values@@: basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.
• @@Value system@@: hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity.
• Classifying values   * @@Terminal values@@: desirable end-states of existence; 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.
• Contemporary work values   * More importance on challenge and advancement, career progression, job satisfaction, personal growth and autonomy also, loyalty and trust.

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Linking an individual’s personality and values to the workplace

• @@Personality-job fit@@: theory that identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines satisfaction and turnover.
• @@Person-organization fit@@: theory that people are attracted to and selected by organizations that match their values and leave when there is not compatibility.

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Global implications

• Hofstede’s framework for assessing cultures   * @@Power distance@@: national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally.   * @@Individualism VS collectivism@@     * $Individualism$: national culture attribute that describes the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups.     * $Collectivism$: national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them.   * @@Masculinity VS femininity@@     * $Masculinity$: 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.     * $Femininity$: 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@@: 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 VS short-term orientation@@     * $Long-term orientation$: national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift and persistence.     * $Short-term orientation$: national culture attribute that emphasizes the present and accepts change.
• GLOBE framework for assessing cultures   * Similar to Hofstede’s, but with 2 added dimensions:     * @@Humane orientation@@     * @@Performance orientation@@

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