Micro OB 3

Personality

Definition
There is no agreement among
scholars on the definition.
Personality is a relatively stable set
of characteristics that influences
an individuals behaviour

Cont
Personality refers to individual
differences in characteristic patterns of
thinking, feeling and behaving. The study
of personality focuses on two broad
areas:
Understanding individual differences in
particular personality characteristics, such as
sociability or irritability
The other is understanding how the
various parts of a person come together
as a whole.
Taken from American Psychological Association

Cont
According to Carl Roger Personality
is an organized, consistent pattern of
perception of the I around which
the individual interacts and has
experiences.
Fred Luthans how people affect
others and how they understand and
view themselves

Approaches to personality
Nomothetic explores the what of personality.
They identify the personality traits and produce
effective measurements of the traits in order to
draw comparisons between individuals. Able to
predict behavior is a major aim and outcome of
this approach.
Idiographic explores the why of personality.
They are concerned with understanding the
uniqueness of individuals and the development
of the self concept. They regard personality
development as a process which is open to
change.
Complimentary approaches Freud although
come under idiographic but does not allow
personality growth and change after childhood.

Nomothetic

Trait theory
They broke down individuals
behavioral patterns into a series of
observable traits
Combining these traits into a group
forms an individuals personality
There were 1800 traits
R. B. Cattell - He extracted 171 out of
the 1800 and finally 16 traits were
finalized

S. N.
1
2

Primary Factor
Warmth
Reasoning

Low Range
Reserved, detached
Less intelligent

High Range
Outgoing, likes people
More intelligent, abstract thinking

Emotional stability

Reactive, Emotionally unstable

Emotionally stable, Mature

Dominance

Humble, Accommodating

Assertive, Stubborn

Liveliness

Sober, Silent, Serious

Lively, cheerful, Happy-go-lucky

Rule-consciousness

Expedient, Non-conforming,
Disregards rule

Rule-Conscious, conforming

Social boldness

Timid, Shy, Hesitant

Venturesome, Socially bold

Sensitivity

Tough minded, No-Nonsense, Rough

Sensitive, Aesthetic, Sentimental

9
10

Vigilance
Abstractedness

Trusting, Accepting
Practical, prosaic, grounded

Suspicious, Skeptical
Imaginative, absorbed in ideas

11

Privateness

Forthright, open

Non-disclosing, Shrewd

12

Apprehension

Self assured, complacent, confident

Apprehensive, self-doubting

13

Openness to change

Traditional, Conservative

Experimental, liberal, free-thinking

14

Self-reliance

Group dependent, group-oriented

15

Perfectionism

Casual, flexible, uncontrolled

16

Tension

Relaxed, placid, tranquil

Self-sufficient, solitary,
individualistic
Controlled, organized, selfdisciplined
Tense, high energy, impatient, time

Big Five
Psychologists further reduced the number of
traits and brought it down to 5 core personality
traits:
1. Extraversion gregarious, assertive and sociable
(opposed to reserves, timid and quite)
2. Agreeableness cooperative, warm, agreeable
(opposed to cold disagreeable and antagonistic)
3. Consciousness hardworking, organized and
dependable (opposed to lazy, disorganized,
unreliable)
4. Emotional stability calm, self-confident and
cool (opposed to insecure, anxious and depressed)
5. Openness to experience creative, curious and
cultured (opposed to practical with narrow interest)

Reason for specific traits

Heredity gene plays a role in whatever
personality type a person has
Self-esteem personality viewed from
within
High self esteem people can handle failure
better (Mixed results)
If not nurtured properly can be antisocial and
destructive

Person-situation interaction
Socialization process
ORGB

Idiographic
Roggers Theory
Emphasis individuals view of themselves
their self concept
Roggers theory - entire theory is built on a
single force of life he calls the
actualizing tendency. He believes that all
creatures strive to make the very best of
their existence.
Organisms know what is good for them
evolution has provided us with the sense, the
taste and the discriminations we need called
Organismic Valuing

Cont
Organisms know what is
good for them.
Evolution has provided
us with the senses, the
tastes, the
discriminations we need
- organismic valuing
positive regard,
umbrella term for things
like love, affection,
attention, nurturance,
and so on

Cont
Another thing that we value is positive selfregard, that is, self-esteem, self-worth, a
positive self-image. We achieve this by
experiencing the positive regard others show us
over our years of growing up. Without this, we
feel small and helpless, and again we fail to
become all that we can be
Our society also leads us astray with conditions
of worth. Society creates conditions of worth
We get love and affection if and only if we
perform the way they want - conditional
positive regard
Leading us to Ideal self not Real self

Cont
Result is Incongruity
This gap between the real self and the ideal
self, the I am and the I should is called
incongruity. The greater the gap, the
more incongruity. The more incongruity,
the more suffering. In fact, incongruity is
essentially what Rogers means by
neurosis:
Being out of synch with your own self

Cont
Defenses
You feel incongruity as threatening situation
Which leads to anxiety
Result
Denial (denying facts),
Perceptual disorder (reinterpreting situation so as
to feel good),
Psychosis when peoples defenses are
overwhelmed, and their senses of self is
shattered into disconnect pieces, his behaviour
has little consistency

Complementary Theories
Sigmund Freud Id, ego (takes reality
into count) and Super ego
Super Ego
Conscience develops through punishment and
Ego ideal develops through reward

Ego satisfies the need of id at the same

time does not weakens the super ego.
Personality is outcome of the part which
becomes strong generally this process
is complete by the age of 7

MBTI
Carl Jungs description of personality
Psyche 1)ego (conscious mind), 2)personal
unconscious and 3)collective unconscious
Archetypes (contents of collective unconscious)
animus/ anima, the shadow and the self (equalizer).
Shadow Innocent (amoral like animals)
Principle of opposite or equivalence every wish
immediately suggests its opposite
Principle of equivalence the energy created from the
opposition is given to both sides equally

Functions Extraversion/ Intraversion, Sensing/

Intuiting, thinking/ feeling, Judging/ Perceiving (we
have all in different proportion superior,
secondary, tertiary, inferior)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) inventory
was developed by Katharine Briggs and her
daughter Isabel Briggs Myers
Most managers are of ESTJ type

MBTI Indicators
Where do you get your energy from
Extraversion (E)

Introversion (I)

Outgoing
Interacting
Speaks, then thinks
Gregarious

Quiet
Concentrating (get energy from time alone)
Thinks, then speaks
Reflective

How do you orient yourself to the outside world

Judging (J)

Perceiving (P)

Structured, organized, planned

Time oriented
Decisive
Organized

Flexible, spontaneous
Open ended, likes to keep options open
Exploring
Spontaneous

What do you pay attention to and collect information on

Sensing (S)

Intuiting (N)

Practical (getting information through five

senses)
Details
Concrete
Specific

Pays attention to sixth sense

Possibilities
Theoretical
Abstract

How do you evaluate and make decisions

Thinking (T)

Feeling (F)

Analytical (logical)
Head
Rules

Subjective (makes decisions through personal, value

oriented way)
Heart

MBTI Scales
ISTJ

ISFJ

INFJ

INTJ

ISTP

ISFP

INFP

INTP

ESTP

ESFP

ENFP

ENTP

ESTJ

ESFJ

ENFJ

ENTJ

Introverts

Extraverts

Sensing Types

Intuitive Types

Personality characteristics
in organisations

Core self evaluation broad set of personality

traits that refers to self concept. It comprised of
locus of control, self-esteem, generalised selfefficacy, and emotional stability
Locus of control (internal they control what happens
to them vs external circumstances and other people
control their fate)
Self efficacy persons overall view of himself as being
able to perform effectively in a wide variety of
situations.
Self esteem a general feeling of self-worth
Self monitoring high self monitor pay attention to
what is appropriate in particular situations and to the
behaviour of others

Cont
Positive/ Negative affect
individuals who focus on the positive aspects of
themselves, other people, and the world in
general are said to have positive affect. While
those who accentuate the negative in themselves,
other, and the world are said to possess negative
affect
Individuals with positive affect are more satisfied
with their jobs, they are fewer absentee days,
better performance etc

The term "affect" can be taken to indicate an

instinctual reaction to stimulation occurring
before the typical cognitive processes occur

Understanding Self Johari

Window

Used for improving personal

to
Not
effectiveness Known
self
known to
self
Known to
others

Not
known to
others

Arena
(public self)

Blind

Closed

Dark

Developed by Lutf and

Ingham

Cont
Those aspects of a persons behavior
that are known to him or her (self) and
those aspects of behavior that are
known to those with whom he or she
interacts
A combination of these two dimensions
reveals four areas of knowledge about
the self
Can improve by self- disclosure and
feedback

Cont
In most cases, the aim in groups should be to
develop the Open Area for every person.
Working in this area with others usually allows
for enhanced individual and team
effectiveness and productivity. The Open Area
is the space where good communications and
cooperation occur, free from confusion, conflict
and misunderstanding.
Self-disclosure is the process by which people
expand the Open Area vertically. Feedback is
the process by which people expand this area
horizontally.
By encouraging healthy self-disclosure and
sensitive feedback, you can build a stronger
and more effective team.