Chapter 3

Personality and Values

This slide is adapted from

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2017).
Organizational Behavior (17th ed.).
England: Pearson Education.

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Chapter Learning Objectives
 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
 Define personality, describe how it is measured, and explain the
factors that determine an individual’s personality.
 Describe the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality framework and
assess its strengths and weaknesses.
 Identify the key traits in the Big Five personality model.
 Demonstrate how the Big Five traits predict behavior at work.
 Define values, demonstrate their importance, and contrast terminal
and instrumental values.
 Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture.

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What is personality
The dynamic organization within the individual of
those psychophysical systems that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment. - Gordon Allport
 The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and
interacts with others, the measurable traits a person exhibits
Measuring Personality
 Helpful in hiring decisions
 Most common method: self-reporting surveys
 Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent
assessment of personality – often better predictors

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Personality Determinants
 Heredity
 Factors determined at conception: physical stature,
facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle
composition and reflexes, energy level, and bio-
rhythms
 This “Heredity Approach” argues that genes are the
source of personality
 Twin studies: raised apart but very similar personalities
 There is some personality change over long time
periods

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Personality Traits
Enduring characteristics that describe an
individual’s behavior
 The more consistent the characteristic and the
more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the
more important the trait.
Two dominant frameworks used to describe
personality:
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®)
 Big Five Model
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 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
 Most widely used instrument in the world.
 Participants are classified on four axes to determine one of 16
possible personality types, such as ENTJ.

Extro Introv
Sociable and verte erted Quiet and Shy
Assertive d (E) (I)

Practical and Sensi Intuit

ng ive
Unconscious Processes
Orderly (S) (N)
Uses Values
Think Feeli
Use Reason ing ng & Emotions
and Logic (T) (F)
Perce
Want Order Judgi Flexible and
iving
ng (J) Spontaneous
& Structure (P)

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The Types and Their Uses
 Each of the sixteen possible combinations has a name,
for instance:
 Visionaries (INTJ) – original, stubborn, and driven
 Organizers (ESTJ) – realistic, logical, analytical, and
businesslike
 Conceptualizer (ENTP) – entrepreneurial, innovative,
individualistic, and resourceful

 Research results on validity mixed

 MBTI® is a good tool for self-awareness and counseling.
 Should not be used as a selection test for job candidates.
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The Big Five Model of Personality
Dimensions

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How do the Big Five Traits Predicts
Behavior
 Research has shown this to be a better framework.
 Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to
higher job performance:
 Highly conscientious people develop more job knowledge,
exert greater effort, and have better performance.
 Other Big Five Traits also have implications for work.
• Emotional stability is related to job satisfaction.
• Extroverts tend to be happier in their jobs and have good social
skills.
• Open people are more creative and can be good leaders.
• Agreeable people are good in social settings.

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Values
Basic convictions on how to conduct yourself or how to live
your life that is personally or socially preferable – “How To”
live life properly.

Attributes of Values:
 Content Attribute – that the mode of conduct or end-state is
important
 Intensity Attribute – just how important that content is
Value System
 A person’s values rank ordered by intensity
 Tends to be relatively constant and consistent
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What is personality
The dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment. - Gordon Allport
 The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and
interacts with others, the measurable traits a person
exhibits
Measuring Personality
 Helpful in hiring decisions
 Most common method: self-reporting surveys
 Observer-ratings surveys provide an independent
assessment of personality – often better predictors
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Importance Values
Provide understanding of the attitudes,
motivation, and behaviors
Influence our perception of the world around us
Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong”
Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others

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Classifying values – Rokeach Value Survey
 Terminal Values
 Desirable end-states of existence; the goals that a person would
like to achieve during his or her lifetime
 Instrumental Values
 Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s
terminal values

 People in same occupations or categories tend to hold

similar values
 But values vary between groups
 Value differences make it difficult for groups to negotiate and
may create conflict
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Value Differences Between Groups

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Linking Personality and Values to the
Workplace
Managers are less interested in someone’s ability to do a
specific job than in that person’s flexibility.
Person-Job Fit:
 John Holland’s Personality-Job Fit Theory
• Six personality types
• Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI)
 Key Points of the Model:
• There appear to be intrinsic differences in personality between
people
• There are different types of jobs
• People in jobs congruent with their personality should be more
satisfied and have lower turnover
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 Relationships Among Personality Types

The closer the

occupational The further apart
fields, the more the fields, the
compatible. more dissimilar.

Need to match personality

type with occupation.

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Still Linking Personality to the Workplace

In addition to matching the individual’s personality to

the job, managers are also concerned with:
Person-Organization Fit:
 The employee’s personality must fit with the organizational
culture.
 People are attracted to organizations that match their values.
 Those who match are most likely to be selected.
 Mismatches will result in turnover.
 Can use the Big Five personality types to match to the
organizational culture.

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Global Implications
 Personality
 Do frameworks like Big Five transfer across cultures?
• Yes, but the frequency of type in the culture may vary.
• Better in individualistic than collectivist cultures.
 Values
 Values differ across cultures.
 Hofstede’s Framework for assessing culture – five value
dimensions:
• Power Distance
• Individualism vs. Collectivism
• Masculinity vs. Femininity
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation
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Hofstede’s Framework: Power Distance

The extent to which a society accepts that

power in institutions and organizations is
distributed unequally.
• Low distance
• Relatively equal power between those with status/wealth and those
without status/wealth
• High distance
• Extremely unequal power distribution between those with
status/wealth and those without status/wealth

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Hofstede’s Framework: Individualism
 Individualism
 The degree to which people prefer to act as
individuals rather than as member of groups
 Collectivism
 A tight social framework in which people expect
others in groups of which they are a part to look after
them and protect them

Versus
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Hofstede’s Framework: Masculinity
 Masculinity
 The extent to which the society values work roles of
achievement, power, and control, and where
assertiveness and materialism are also valued
 Femininity
 The extent to which there is little differentiation
between roles for men and women

Versus
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Hofstede’s Framework: Uncertainty
Avoidance
The extent to which a society feels threatened
by uncertain and ambiguous situations and
tries to avoid them
High Uncertainty Avoidance:
 Society does not like ambiguous situations and
tries to avoid them.
Low Uncertainty Avoidance:
 Society does not mind ambiguous situations and
embraces them
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Hofstede’s Framework: Time Orientation
Long-term Orientation
 A national culture attribute that emphasizes the
future, thrift, and persistence
Short-term Orientation
 A national culture attribute that emphasizes the
present and the here and now

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Hofstede’s Framework: An Assessment
 There are regional differences within countries
 The original data is old and based on only one
company
 Hofstede had to make many judgment calls while
doing the research
 Some results don’t match what is believed to be
true about given countries
 Despite these problems it remains a very popular
framework
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GLOBE Framework for Assessing Cultures

 Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program
 Nine dimensions of national culture

 Similar to Hofstede’s framework with these additional

dimensions:
 Humane Orientation: how much society rewards people for
being altruistic, generous, and kind
 Performance Orientation: how much society encourages and
rewards performance improvement and excellence
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Summary and Managerial Implications

Personality
 Screen for the Big Five trait of conscientiousness
 Take into account the situational factors as well
 MBTI® can help with training and development

Values
 Often explain attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions
 Higher performance and satisfaction achieved when the
individual’s values match those of the organization
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