MGTS1601 Week 3: Personality and Individual Differences

Important Reminders

• Learning activities and assessment due dates have been adjusted.
• Week 4 is the final opportunity to join a team for the team workshop.
• You should have started your Individual and Team Profile Report.
• Attend tutorials next week to share your Team Roles Survey Results with your team members.

New Assessment Due Dates

• Individual and Team Profile Report:
  • Weighting: 20%
  • Due: April 11
• Team Workshop:
  • Weighting: 20%
  • Weeks 8-10
• Team Evaluation Report:
  • Weighting: 30%
  • Due: May 16
• Final Examination:
  • Weighting: 30%
  • Exam period in June

Personality

• Definition: "The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others" (Robbins et al., 2024, p. 81).
• Influence: Personality influences almost all work outcomes including job performance, job attitudes, leadership, team effectiveness, unethical behaviour, conflict and negotiation, leadership, stress and coping, etc.
• Shaped by multiple factors.
• Personality-job fit theory: The degree of fit between one’s personality and job will predict job satisfaction and turnover.

Personality Testing

• Frequently used to assess person-job fit in the workplace but has been criticized for:
  • Possibility of SDR (Socially Desirable Responding).
  • Use of biased reference groups.
  • Need for job-specific customisation.

Personality Tests: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• Used in a wide variety of settings to identify strengths and inform career choices; often used in school and university contexts.
• Helpful but not a good predictor of job performance.

Holland’s Personality Types

• Holland (1958, 1959, 1997) proposed individuals can be classified into one of six personality types, which are in turn likely to succeed in certain jobs.

The Big Five Model

• Openness to experience:
  • Extremely open people are creative, imaginative, curious, and sensitive.
• Conscientiousness:
  • A highly conscientious person is responsible, organised, dependable, and persistent.
• Extraversion:
  • Extraverted people tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable.
• Agreeableness:
  • Highly agreeable people are cooperative, good-natured, and trusting.
• Neuroticism:
  • People with high scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.
  • People with low scores who are emotionally stable tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure.

The Dark Triad

• Characterised by high scores on three key maladaptive traits: narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.
• Research suggests anywhere between 4-12% of corporate executives exhibit psychopathic traits.
• High scores on the Dark Triad have been linked to unethical behaviour and outcomes including low employee morale, high turnover, and organisational collapse.

Important Traits at Work

• Core self-evaluations
• Self-monitoring
• Proactive personality

Personality and Situations

• Recent OB research suggests that the effects of personality traits on behaviour depends on the situation.
• Both situation-strength theory and trait-activation theory are important here.

Values

• Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or a converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.
• Values are a major influence on behaviour in organisations (especially in the context of teamwork) and in our personal lives.
• People hold both terminal values (what you would like to achieve) and instrumental values (preferred modes of behaviour).
• Important in determining person-organisation fit at work.

Cultural Values: Hofstede’s Framework

• Psychologist and researcher Geert Hofstede surveyed employees in 40 countries about their values and found that managers and employees vary on five value dimensions of national culture (and later added a sixth dimension).
• The GLOBE study added even more dimensions.

Power Distance

• Power distance refers to the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organisations is distributed unequally.
• A high score means large inequalities of power and wealth exist and are tolerated in the culture.
• A low score represents a society that encourages equality and opportunity.
  • High distance: Malaysia, Indonesia, China.
  • Low distance: Australia, Canada, United States.

Individualism versus Collectivism

• Individualism describes the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups.
• Collectivism describes a tight social framework among people in groups where others expect that the group will look after them and protect them.
• Individualist cultures emphasise independence, self-reliance and personal goals; collectivist cultures prioritise group membership, social harmony and value the rights of the group rather than the individual.
  • Individualist: Australia, Canada, United States.
  • Collectivist: China, Vietnam, Bangladesh.

Masculinity versus Femininity

• Masculine cultures favour traditional masculine work roles of achievement, power and control, and less gender equality in society.
• Feminine cultures support less differentiation between male and female roles, and women are treated as the equal of men in society.
• Masculine societies value achievement, power and control; feminine societies emphasise relationship-building, social harmony and equality.
  • Masculine: United States, Australia, Japan.
  • Feminine: Denmark, Sweden, Iceland.

Uncertainty Avoidance (UA)

• Uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to a which society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them.
• High UA cultures have greater anxiety about uncertainty and ambiguity and use measures to reduce these.
• Low UA cultures are more accepting of ambiguity, tolerate greater risk-taking and are more accepting of change.
  • High: Japan, France, Argentina.
  • Low: Denmark, Jamaica, Sweden.

Long-Term Orientation versus Short-Term Orientation

• Long-term orientation cultures emphasise the future, thrift and persistence.
• Short-term orientation cultures prioritise “the here and now” and immediate rewards.
  • Long-term cultures: Japan, South Korea, China.
  • Short-term cultures: South Africa, United States, Australia.

New Dimension of Culture: Indulgence

• The degree to which a culture allows for relatively free gratification of people's emotions and desires, such as enjoying life and having fun.
  • High indulgence cultures: Angola, Venezuela, Colombia.
  • Low indulgence cultures: China, Vietnam, India.

Values in 21st Century Organisations

• Managing value differences between generations is a key challenge for employers today.
• However, recent research suggests that differences may not be as pronounced as first thought.

Dominant Work Values Today

• Boomers (1946-1964):
  • Entered workforce: 1965-1985
  • Dominant Work Values: Success, achievement, ambition, dislike of authority; loyalty to career
• Xers (1965-1980):
  • Entered workforce: 1985-2000
  • Dominant Work Values: Work-life balance, team-oriented, dislike of rules; loyalty to relationships
• Millennials (1981-1996):
  • Entered workforce: 2000 to present
  • Dominant Work Values: Confident, financial success, self-reliant but team-oriented; loyalty to both self and relationships
• Gen Z (1997-2012):
  • Beginning to enter now
  • Dominant Work Values: Mobility, job security, fun, flexibility, well-being, cultural transparency

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

• Diversity refers to the variety of differences among people; this can include both surface-level (e.g., gender, age, race) and deep-level (e.g., attitudes, experiences, talents, skills, opinions).
• Equity refers to fair treatment for all employees; this also means taking into consideration a person’s unique circumstances.
• Inclusion is when everyone feels welcomed, respected, and valued.

Diversity in Australia (2024 statistics)

• The Australian workforce has become increasingly diverse:
  • 49% female
  • 20% below the age of 30
  • 11% identify as having one or more disabilities
  • 12% identify as neurodivergent
  • 11% identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and/or Intersex (LGBTI+)
  • 1% identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Discrimination remains a significant problem in many work settings.

DEI as a Strength

• A diverse workforce fosters innovation by encouraging the exchange of new ideas and creative problem-solving.
• Diverse teams are more adept at identifying and addressing complex problems.
• Inclusive workplaces tend to have higher employee engagement and satisfaction, and lower turnover.
• Diversity is associated with better financial performance and offers a competitive advantage.

Biographical Characteristics

• Age
• Gender
• Race and ethnicity
• Disability

Other Individual Differences

• Tenure
• Religion
• Sexual orientation and gender identity
• Cultural identity

Ability

• Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.
  • The specific abilities needed depends on the nature of the job.
• Recent research suggests that demand for candidates with basic intellectual abilities and physical abilities (especially manual labour) is declining.

Diversity Management

• Employers today should seek to attract, select, develop and retain a diverse workforce.
• Managers need to pay particular attention to diversity management in groups.
• With increasing demand for international work placements, expatriates require specialised support to manage the adjustment process.
• Managers must be conscious of the elements of effective diversity programs and ensure these are implemented.

Diversity: Recent Research

• Companies with the most ethnically/culturally diverse boards worldwide are 43% more likely to experience higher profits.
• Companies in the top-quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21% more likely to have above-average profitability.

Week 3 Questions for Review

1. What is ‘personality’? How do we typically measure it? What factors determine personality?
2. How does the Big Five Model predict outcomes at work?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Big Five Model?
4. How do the concepts of core self evaluations, self-monitoring, and proactive personality help us to understand personality?
5. How does the situation or environment affect the degree to which personality predicts behaviour?
6. What is the difference between terminal and instrumental values?
7. How do generations differ with respect to major work values today?
8. What is the difference between personality-job fit and person-organisation fit?
9. What are Hofstede’s dimensions? How does this model differ from the GLOBE study?

Week 3 Questions for Review cont.

1. What are the two main forms of workplace diversity?
2. How does workplace discrimination undermine organisational effectiveness?
3. How are the key biographical characteristics relevant to OB?
4. How do other differentiating characteristics factor into OB?
5. How are intellectual and physical abilities relevant to OB?
6. How can organisations manage diversity effectively?

Next Week

• See the Learning Pathway and announcements at Blackboard for all important tasks
• Continue working on your Individual and Team Profile Report
• Continue developing your workshop with your team
• Attend the seminar and tutorial next week to discuss assessment tasks