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Chapter 2Personality &

Values

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Individuals & Personality

Personality: Sum total of ways people react and interact with others (set of psychological traits that make each person different).

• Ques. 1: What are its dimensions?

• Ques. 2: How is it measured?• Ques. 3: What is its value for management

and business applications?

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Ques. 1: What Are Its Dimensions?Answer 1: The “Big Five”

• Most scientifically established and empirically tested framework of personality in the world

• Individuals vary across five dimensions:– Emotional stability – Extraversion– Openness to experience– Agreeableness– Conscientiousness

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Ques. 1: What Are Its Dimensions (cont.)?

Answer 2: The MBTI• Most popular and widely used in the world• Individuals are classified as:

– Extroverted or Introverted (E or I):• Outgoing, sociable, and assertive, vs. quiet, “shy,” and draw energy and

strength from within

– Sensing or Intuitive (S or N):• Practical and prefer focusing on details vs. relying on unconscious

(intuitive) processes and look at the big picture

– Thinking or Feeling (T or F):– Use reason and logic to handle problems vs. rely on their personal values

and emotions

– Judging or Perceiving (J or P):– Like their world to be ordered, structured and controlled vs. flexible and

spontaneous

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Ques. 1: What Are Its Dimensions (cont.)?

Answer 3: Some additional misc. facets:• Core Self Evaluation: Degree of one’s self liking or disliking.• Self-Monitoring: Sensitivity to situational cues and the capacity

to modify or adapt one’s behavior as appropriate.• Locus of Control: Propensity to actively take initiative, and to

identify and pursue (even create) new opportunities.• Risk Propensity: Willingness and comfort in taking chances.• Machiavellianism: Tendency to manipulate and maintain

emotional distance to achieve one’s aims.• Type A/B Personality: Type A is aggressive, impatient and

incessantly struggling to achieve more (while B is opposite).

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Ques. 2: How Is Personality Measured?

Answer: Typical methods for measuring:• Self-report inventories (most common):

– NEO PI-R– CPI– MBTI– many others....

• Clinical evaluations:– MMPI

• Projective tests:• TAT (similar to “ink blots”)

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Ques. 3: Business and Mgmt. Applications

The more typical business applications:• Employee development and coaching• Making hiring decisions:

– What personality facets should be used?– What job performance criteria?– Interaction with job and contextual elements?

• job requirements• organization’s culture• situation cues (“strong” vs. “weak” situations)

• What is “predictive success” of using personality?

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Individuals and Values• Values defined as:

– Stable, long-lasting beliefs and preferences about what is worthwhile and desirable

– A mode of conduct or end state that is personally or socially desirable (what is right or good).

• Values can be classified (e.g., Rokeach)• Values vary by cohort groups• Values vary by cultural identity• Knowledge about personality and values

can help improve an employee’s “fit”

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Personality-Job Fit:Holland’s Hexagon

• Job satisfaction and turnover depend on congruency between personality and task– Fields adjacent are similar– Field opposite are dissimilar

• Vocational Preference Inventory Questionnaire

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Person-Organization Fit

• It appears more important that employees’ personalities fit with the organization’s culture than with the specific characteristics of a given job.

• A good fit helps predict job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover.

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Source: M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human Values (New York: The Free Press, 1973).

From the

Rokeach

Values Survey

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From the

Rokeach

Values Survey

Source: M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human Values (New York: The Free Press, 1973).

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Dominant Work Values by Cohort

Groups

Source: Based on W. C. Frederick and J. Weber, “The Values of Corporate Managers and Their Critics: An Empirical Description and Normative Implications,” in W. C. Frederick and L. E. Preston (eds.) Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1990), pp. 123–44.

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Contemporary Work Cohorts

Cohort Entered theWorkforce Dominant Work Values

Veterans1950s or early 1960s

Hard working, conservative, conforming; loyalty to the organization

Boomers 1965-1985Success, achievement, ambition, dislike of authority; loyalty to career

Xers 1985-2000Work/life balance, team-oriented, dislike of rules; loyalty to relationships

Nexters 2000 - presentConfident, financial success, self-reliant but team-oriented; loyalty to both self and relationships

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Rules, LawsStories of HeroesLanguage, Food

Physical StructuresRituals/Ceremonies

NormsBeliefsValues

Assumptions

Artifacts ofCulture

Core ofCulture

National Culture and Values

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Hofstede’s Frameworkfor Assessing Cultures

• Power distance

• Individualism vs. collectivism

• Achievement vs. nurturing

• Uncertainty avoidance

• Long-term vs. short-term orientation

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Exh. 2-6

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“GLOBE” Studies Frameworkfor Assessing Cultures • Assertiveness• Future Orientation• Gender Differentiation• Uncertainty Avoidance• Power Distance• Individualism/Collectivism• In-Group Collectivism• Performance Orientation• Humane Orientation

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Importance of Values• Help us make sense of attitudes, motivation,

and behaviors.

• Influence our perceptions of the world.

• Give us answers about right and wrong (and thus have implications for business ethics)

• Values, by definition, mean some behaviors or outcomes are more preferred than others.