Personality and

Chapter
Attitudes
Syllabus
 Concept of Personality
 Hofstede's Framework of Personality
 Approaches to Understanding Personality Traits and
Dimensions
- Cattel's 16 Personality Factors (16PF),
-The "Big Five" Personality Theory
 Personality Profiling Using DISC (Dominance, Influence,
Steadiness, Compliance) Methodology
 Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation Behavior;
 Personality Traits - Locus of Control, Authoritarianism,
Dogmatism, Machiavellianism, Risk Propensity, Self-esteem,
Self-monitoring;
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 Syllabus cont…
 Concept of Attitudes
 Components of Attitudes
 Functions of Attitudes
 Changing Attitudes- Barriers to changing attitudes, Providing
New Information, Use of Fear, Resolving Discrepancies,
Influence of Friends or Peers, The Co-opting Approach;
 Organizational commitment- Meaning and dimensions
(Affective, Continuance, and normative);
 Guidelines to Enhance Organizational Commitment;
 Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCBs): Concept.

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 Concept of Personality

 It is the dynamic organization within the

individual of those psychological systems
that determine his unique adjustment to his
environment.
 In other words, it is the relatively stable set of
psychological attributes that distinguish one
person from another.

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 Examples of PERSONALITY in a
Sentence

 He has a very pleasant personality.

 We all have different personalities.
 He has lots of personality.
 He wants to buy a car that has personality.
 She has met many television personalities.
 He was an influential personality in genetic
engineering.

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 Nature of Personality

 It is a whole person concept,

 It can be developed,
 Every person has it but in different styles,
 It is goal directed,
 It is partly inborn and partly acquired,
 It influences behaviour, etc.

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 Hofstede's Framework of
Personality (Impact of Culture on
Personality)

 Geert Hofstede’s study in 1970s

 Focus on cultural values of world people
 Surveyed 1,16,000 IBM employees in 40
countries
 In this theory he describes six cultures with
two dimensions:

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 Cont…

1. Power distance
2. Individualism
3. Uncertainty avoidance
4. Masculinity
5. Long-term orientation
6 Indulgence (vs. restraints)

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 Approaches to Understanding
Personality Traits and Dimensions

 Early Search for Primary Traits: Cattel's 16

Primary Factor (16 PF)

 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

 The ‘Big Five’ Personality Traits

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 Early Search for Primary Traits:
Cattel's 16 Primary Factor (16 PF)

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 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)

 The MBTI was constructed by Katharine Cook

Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers.
 It is based on the conceptual theory proposed
by Carl Jung, who had speculated that humans
experience the world using four principal
psychological functions – sensation, intuition,
feeling, and thinking – and that one of these four
functions is dominant for a person most of the
time.

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 Katharine Cook
Briggs and her
daughter Isabel
Briggs Myers.

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 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)

MBTI measures:
 Extroversion vs. Introversion
(how people prefer to focus their attention)
 Sensing vs. Intuition (collect information)
 Thinking vs. Feeling
(process and evaluate information)
 Judging/Perceiving
(orient themselves to the outer world)
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 The ‘Big Five’ Personality Traits
(Theory)

 Extroversion (Extrovert vs. Introvert)

 Agreeableness (High Agreeableness vs. Low
Agreeableness)
 Conscientiousness
(efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless)
 Emotional Stability (Stable vs. Unstable)
 Openness to Experience (Open vs. Closed)

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 The Big Five Personality Dimensions

Dimension People who score "high" on this dimension tend to be more

Extroversion Outgoing, talkative, sociable, assertive

Agreeableness Courteous, good-natured, empathic, caring

Conscientiousness Careful, dependable, self-disciplined

Emotional stability Poised, secure, calm

Openness to experience Sensitive, flexible, creative, curious

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 Model of How Big Five Traits Influence
OB Criteria

Big Five Trait Why it is relevant? What does it affect?

Less negative thinking and fewer Higher job and life

Emotional stability
Emotional stability life satisfaction
satisfaction
negative emotions
emotions Lower stress levels
Less hyper-vigilant

Better interpersonal skills Higher performance*

Extraversion
Extraversion Greater social dominance Enhanced leadership
More emotionally expressive Higher job and life
life satisfaction
satisfaction

Increased learning Training performance (good)

Openness
Openness More creative Enhanced leadership
More flexible and autonomous More adaptable to change

Better liked by others Higher performance

Agreeableness
Agreeableness
More complaint
complaint and
and conforming
conforming Lower levels of deviant behaviour

Greater effort and persistence More Higher performance

Conscientiousne
Conscientiousne drive and discipline Enhanced leadership
ss
ss Better organized and planning Greater longevity

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 Determinants of Personality
 Nature (Inborn Factors)
1. Biological Factors (Determinants)
a. Heredity b. Brain c. Physical Features
 Nurture (Environmental & Situational Factors)

2. Cultural Factors
3. Family and Social Factors
a. Identification Process
b. Socialization Process
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 Personality Traits (Major Personality
Attributes Influencing OB)

 Locus of Control (Internal vs. External)

 Authoritarianism
 Dogmatism
 Machiavellianism (High Mach. vs. Low Mach)
 Self-Esteem (High SE vs. Low SE)
 Self-Monitoring/Adjusting (High SM vs. Low SM)
 Risk Propensity/ Taking (High vs. Low)
 Personality Type (Type A vs. Type B)

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 1. Locus of Control

The degree to which people believe they are in

control of their own fate
–Internal: Individuals who believe that they
control what happens to them
–External: Individuals who believe that what
happens to them is controlled by outside
forces such as luck or chance

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 2. Authoritarianism

 Authoritarianism as a concept was developed by the

psychologist Adorno during World War II to measure
susceptibility to autocratic, fascistic or antidemocratic appeals.
 After that the concept was extended to the human personality.
According to Adorno, “This concept refers to a belief that there
should be status and power differences among people in
organisations.”
 Authoritarians tend to place high moral value on their beliefs
and are strongly oriented towards conformity of rules and
regulations.
 They naturally prefer stable and structured work environments
which are governed by clean rules and procedures.
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 3. Dogmatism

 Tendency to act in a certain assertive and

authoritative manner in accord with a set of
beliefs.
 Personality trait where the belief system may
contain contradictory elements.
 "People with dogmatism are often intolerant
of people with differing beliefs."

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 4. Machiavellianism
(High Mach. vs. Low Mach)

 This personality trait of

Machiavellianism also known
as Mach is named after
Niccolo Machiavelli, who
wrote in the 16th century on
how to gain and use power.
 Degree to which an individual
is pragmatic, maintains
emotional distance, and
believes that ends can justify
means

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 5. Self-Esteem
(High SE vs. Low SE)

 Potential to predict
 Self Esteem is one of the
attributes of personality
that has the potential to
predict performance.
 This trait of personality is
the degree that a person
likes or dislikes
themselves.

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 6. Self-Monitoring/Adjusting
(High SM vs. Low SM)

 “Self monitoring is a
personality trait that
measures an
individual’s ability to
adjust his or her
behaviour to
external situational
factors”.

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 7. Risk Propensity/ Taking
(High vs. Low)

 The propensity of people to

assume risks or avoid risks
varies from person to person
depending upon the
willingness of the people to
take chances. This human
trait will affect the decision
making capability of a
manager.
 Some people are very
conscious in nature, while the
others are impulsive. 

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 8. Personality Type
(Type A vs. Type B)

 People who are

impatient, aggressive
and highly competitive
are termed as ‘Type A’
personality.
 But those who are easy
going, laid back and
non-competitive are
termed as ‘Type B’
personality.

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 Concept of Attitudes

 “Attitudes are learned predispositions toward

aspects of our environment. They can be
positively or negatively directed towards
certain people, service or institutions.”
 Attitude influences an individual's choice of
action, and responses to challenges,
incentives, and rewards (together called
stimuli).

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 Salient Features of Attitudes

 An attitude is the predisposition of the individual to evaluate some

object in a favourable or unfavourable manner.
 The most pervasive phenomenon is ‘attitude’. People at work
place have attitudes about lots of topics that are related to them.
 It is a ‘mental state of readiness’ to be motivated. It is neither
behaviour nor a cause of behaviour. It is an intervening pre-
disposition.
 Attitudes can also vary in relation to the needs they serve.
 Unlike values, attitudes are less stable.
 An attitude is a learned tendency. So it can be learnt.
 It is a point or object of reference.

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 Components of an Attitude

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 Components of an Attitude

 An affective component—the feelings, sentiments,

moods, and emotions about some person, idea,
event, or object;
 a cognitive component—the beliefs, opinions,
knowledge, or information held by the individual;
and
 a behavioural component—the predisposition to
act on a favourable or unfavourable evaluation of
something.

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 Types of Job Related Attitudes

 Job Satisfaction
 Job Involvement
 Organizational Commitment

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 Job Satisfaction

 Job satisfaction is the level of contentment a

person feels regarding his or her job. This
feeling is mainly based on an individual’s
perception of satisfaction.
 A person with a high level of job satisfaction
holds positive attitudes about the job, while a
person who is dissatisfied with his or her job
holds negative attitude about the job.

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 Job Involvement

 Job involvement refers to the degree with which

an individual identifies psychologically with his
or her job and perceives his or her perceived
performance level important to self-worth.
 High levels of job involvement have been found
to be related to fewer absences and lower
resignation rates.

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 Organizational Commitment

 The last job-attitude refers to organizational

commitment. It is understood as one’s
identification with his or her organization and
feels proud of being its employee.
 It is defined as a state in which an employee
identifies with a particular organization and,
its goals, and wishes to maintain
membership in the organization.

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 Functions of Attitudes

 The Adjustment Functions

 The Ego-Defence Functions
 The Value Expressive Function
 The Knowledge Function

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 Changing Attitudes
Barriers to Changing Attitudes

1. Prior Commitment
2. Insufficient Information

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 Techniques (Ways) to Change
Attitudes: Overcoming Barriers

 Providing New (sufficient) Information

 Use of Fear
 Resolving Discrepancies (Differences
 Influence of Friends/Peers
 The Co-opting Approach

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 Organization Commitment

 “Organizational commitment is the degree to which an

employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals,
and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.”
 As an attitude, OC is most often defined as:

1. A strong desire to remain a member of a particular

organization;
2. A willingness to exert high levels of effort on behalf of the
organization; and
3. A definite belief in and acceptance of, the values and goals of
the organization.

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 Dimensions of OC

1. Affective Commitment (AC)

2. Continuance Commitment (CC)
3. Normative Commitment (NC)

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 Consequences of OC

 Positive Consequence
 Negative Consequences

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 Organizational Citizenship Behaviours
(OCBs)

 “The discretionary (voluntary) behaviour that is not

part of an employee's formal job requirements, and
that contributes to the psychological and social
environment of the workplace, is called citizenship
behaviour.”
 Conclusion: OCB can be described as individual
behaviour that is discretionary, not directly (or
explicitly) recognized by the formal reward system. In
the aggregate OCB promotes the efficient and
effective functioning of the organization. A more
comprehensive conclusion on OCB is given at the
end of the topic.

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 OCBs as a Process/Model

 Figure: Antecedents and outcomes of OCB

Job attitudes Organizational
Organizational effectiveness
effectiveness and
and performance
performance
through better interpersonal and group dynamics
Task variables OCB such
such as
as trust
trust and
and cohesiveness
cohesiveness

Leadership behaviour

 Personality and motives  Helping

Helping co-workers
co-workers
 Satisfaction with job
job  Sportsmanship,
Sportsmanship, individual
individual interest
interest subordinated
subordinated
to
to that
that of
of organization
organization
 Commitment to organization
 Loyalty
Loyalty of of organization
organization
 Intrinsically satisfying tasks
 Compliance
Compliance and and courtesy
courtesy
 Supportive, Inspirational leaders
 Initiative
Initiative toto exceed
exceed standards
standards ofof work
work
 Civic
Civic virtue
virtue
 Self-development
Self-development

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 Personality Profiling/
DISC Methodology
 DISC is the short form of dominance, influence, steadiness,
and conscientiousness. It was initially developed by William
Marston. It is a major personality assessment tool. It's types
are:
 The Dominant "D" type are: They see the big picture, can be
blunt, accepts, challenges, and gets straight to the point.
 The Inspiring "I" type are: Shows enthusiasms, optimistic,
collaborative and dislikes being ignored.
 The Supportive "S" types are: Cool mannered, prefer
supportive action, etc.
 The Cautious "C" type are: Enjoy independence, objective
reasoning, want details, and fear being wrong, etc.

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  Figure: The DISC Profile & Descriptive
Terms

Outgoing

1. The Dominant "D" 2. The Inspiring "I"

Type us Type
it o
Do
c ien mi
o ns na
nc
C ss e
Task ne People
oriented oriented
S
(S tea nc
e
up di e
p o ne fl u
3. The Supportive rti ss In 4. The Cautious
"S" Type ve "C" Type
)

Reserved

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 Fundamental Interpersonal Relations
Orientation Behaviour (FIRO-B)

 It is a technique developed by Will Schutz to describe

interpersonal needs. It is a self-analysis, self-report
assessment of interpersonal behaviour in groups. Its full form is
fundamental interpersonal relations orientation behaviour. Its
different aspects are:
Dimensions: They are:
1. Inclusion
2. Control
3. Affection
Components: They are:
1. Expressed (E)
2. Wanted (W)

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 Thank you

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