Chapter 3
PERSONALITY & INDIVIDUAL
DIFFERENCE
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Strong and weak situations
• Table 3.1
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
The study of individual difference
• Genetic influences
• Environmental influences
- Family
- Society, community and culture
- Experience
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Relationship between the
determinants of personality
• Figure 3.1
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Nomothetic perspectives
Eysenck and the study of personality types:
• Extroversion
• Neuroticism
Cattell and personality characteristics - 16 factors
Including:
• Warmth
• Liveliness
• Sensitivity
• self-reliance
The ‘Big Five model:
• Extraversion
• Emotional Stability
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Openness to experience
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Eysenck and personality types
• Figure 3.2
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Cattell and personality
characteristics
• Figure 3.3
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Cattell and personality
characteristics
• Figure 3.4
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Idiographic perspectives
Cooley:
•The looking-glass self - We begin to see (understand) ourselves as
others see us through the responses that we generate from others
Mead:
• I - The unique, spontaneous and conscious aspects of the
individual
• Me - The internalized norms and values learned through
experience within society
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Rogers’ View of the ‘I’ and ‘me’
• Figure 3.5
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Freud and psychoanalysis
There are three levels of mental activity:
The mind consists of three areas:
• Unconscious
• Pre-conscious
• Conscious
The main forms of ego defence mechanism:
• Sublimation
• Repression
• Denial
• Projection
• Reaction formation
• Regression
• Isolation
• Undoing
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
• Id
• Ego
• Superego
Jung and the cognitive approach
Three levels of personality:
• A conscious level
• An unconscious level
• A collective unconscious
Four different approaches to information gathering:
• Sensing
• Intuiting
• Thinking
• Feeling
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Jung’s cognitive styles
• Figure 3.6
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Differences between Jung’s
cognitive styles
• Table 3.2
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Personality dimensions particularly
relevant in organizations
• Table 3.3
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Other personality traits relevant in
organizations
•
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•
•
•
•
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Locus of Control - Rotter, (1966)
Need for Cognition - Cacioppo & Petty (1982)
Self-monitoring - Snyder (1974)
Proactive Personality
Need for Achievement )
Need for Power
) McClelland
Need for Affiliation
)
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Developing psychometric tests
Step 1. Initial ideas often emerge from practical need
Step 2. The development of appropriate test items is a creative
process
Step 3. The final forms of the test are developed and the
administration arrangements designed
Step 4. The standardization and ‘norming’ process
Step 5. Reliability and validity analyzes applied to data
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Psychometrics
Three ways in which tests can measure individual difference:
• Performance versus standard
• Norm-referenced measurement
• Criterion-referenced measurement
There are different forms of validity and reliability:
• Face validity
• Predictive
• Construct validity
• Test/retest reliability
• Alternative form reliability
• Split half reliability
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
ABILITY: INTELLIGENCE AND
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
• Physical abilities - people’s capacity to control and deploy their
bodies and to manipulate their physical environment
• Cognitive abilities - a broad range of mental capabilities. The most
often general terms for these abilities is intelligence
• Intelligence - the general mental ability to solve problems and
successfully deal with environmental conditions and demands in
varying situations
• Emotional intelligence - the ability to carry out accurate reasoning
about emotions and the ability to use emotions and emotional
knowledge to enhance thought
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Emotional intelligence
Dulewicz and Higgs model:
•The drivers - The two traits of motivation and decisiveness are
responsible for energizing individuals to achieve their goals
•The constrainers - The two traits of conscientiousness and
integrity, and emotional resilience perform the function of modifying
the potential of the drivers to push to excess or in the wrong
direction
•The enablers - The three traits of sensitivity, influence and selfawareness help to ensure that the other traits operate in the social
context involving the individual and other people
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Organizational applications of individual
difference
Recruitment and selection
Development
• Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ)
• Assessment Centres
Discrimination
Stress and bullying
The testing business
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning