Personality and
Attitudes
 Peter
Drucker (1974)- Management: Tasks,
Responsibilities, Practices

 “An
employer has no business with a man’s
personality. It is immoral as well as an illegal
intrusion of privacy. It is an abuse of power.
Employment is a specific contract calling for a
specific performance…an employee owes no
“loyalty”, he owes no “love” and no
“attitudes”—he owes performance and nothing
else.”
 Definition:
• The unique qualities of an individual and how
those qualities affect understanding of
themselves and others
 The
Role of Heredity and the Brain
• External appearance – due to genetics
• Internal characteristics – nature vs. nurture –
Twin Studies show that 40% are fixed…60%
developable
 How
 Is
would you describe it?
it inherited?
• Are you more like your mom or dad?
 Does
it change over time?
 Does
it change depending on who you are
with?
Trait Theory - understand individuals
by breaking down behavior patterns
into observable traits
Psychodynamic Theory - emphasizes
the unconscious determinants of
behavior
Humanistic Theory - emphasizes
individual growth and improvement
Integrative Approach - describes
personality as a composite of an
individual’s psychological processes
The Four Perspectives on Personality
Perspective
Psychoanalytic
Behavior Springs From
Assessment Techniques
Unconscious conflicts
between pleasure-seeking
impulses and social restraints
Evaluation
Projective tests aimed at
revealing unconscious
motivations
A speculative, hard-to-test
theory with enormous cultural impact
Trait
Expressing biologically
(a)Personality inventories
influenced dispositions, such
that assess the strengths
as extraversion or introversion of different traits
(b)Peer ratings of behavior
patterns
A descriptive approach criticized as sometimes underestimating the variability
of behavior from situation
to situation
Humanistic
Processing conscious feelings
about oneself in the light of
one’s experiences
A humane theory that
reinvigorated contemporary
interest in the self; criticized
as subjective and sometimes
naively self-centered and
optimistic
Social-cognitive
Reciprocal influences between
people and their situation,
colored by perceptions of
control
(a)Questionnaire
assessments
(b)Empathic interviews
(a)Questionnaire assessments Art interactive theory that inof people’s feelings of control tegrates research on learning,
(b) Observations of people’s
cognition, and social behavior,
behavior in particular
criticized as underestimating
situations
the importance of emotions
and enduring traits
How much of personality
is based on genetics?
How much of your personality
was developed, learned,
strengthened over time?
Socialization trains us how to act
in relationship to others.
Parents are our first teachers.
30
40
genetics
trained-permanent
trained-adjustable
30
 Challenging
jobs
 Relevant Training
 Timely and consistent feedback
 Mentoring relationships
 Orientation programs
 Work group morale
 Socialization
does have a long run
impact, but not on everything.
 Thousands
of “Traits”
 Significant Overlap
 Futile to Study Personality
 Barrick and Mount Propose the “Big 5”
 Big 5 now Widely Accepted and Used
 Other Personality Traits or “Individual
Differences” Still Researched
Extraversion
Gregarious, assertive,
sociable
Agreeableness
Cooperative, warm,
agreeable
Conscientiousness Hardworking, organized,
dependable
Emotional stability Calm, self-confidant, cool
Openness to
experience
Creative, curious,
cultured
Sources: P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, The NEO-PI Personality Inventory (Odessa, Fla.: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1992); J. F. Salgado, “The
Five Factor Model of Personality and Job Performance in the European Community,” Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997): 30-43.
Core Self Evaluation Traits
 Self-Esteem
• Your belief as to your competence and your image
• High self-esteem – positive attitudes, feelings, and
satisfaction
 Locus
of Control
 Generalized
Self Efficacy
 Neuroticism
(emotional stability)
Self-Esteem
Feelings of Self
Worth
Success tends
to increase
self-esteem
Failure tends
to decrease
self-esteem
Locus of Control
Internal
External
I control what
happens to me!
People and
circumstances
control my fate!
Learned Helplessness
Uncontrollable
bad events
Perceived
lack of control
Important Issue
• Nursing Homes
• Prisons
•Colleges
Generalized
helpless behavior
Generalized Self-Efficacy - beliefs and expectations
about one’s ability to accomplish a specific task
effectively
Sources of self-efficacy
• Prior experiences and prior success
• Behavior models (observing success)
• Persuasion
• Assessment of current physical & emotional
capabilities
Self-Monitoring
Behavior based on cues from people & situations

High self monitors
• flexible: adjust
behavior according
to the situation and
the behavior of others
• can appear
unpredictable &
inconsistent

Low self monitors
• act from internal
states rather than
from situational cues
• show consistency
• less likely to respond
to work group norms
or supervisory
feedback
Low-self
monitors
High-self
monitors
Get promoted
Accomplish tasks, meet other’s
expectations, seek out central
positions in social networks
Change employers
Self-promote
Make a job-related
geographic move
Demonstrate higher levels of managerial
self-awareness; base behavior on other’s
cues and the situation



 Swim
with Sharks Without Being Eaten
Alive
 Harvey B. Mackay (2005)
 “…to connect with celebrities you need
to avoid the “fan syndrome” and instead
talk to them about their interests.”
Positive Affect - an individual’s
tendency to accentuate the positive
aspects of oneself, other people, and
the world in general
Negative Affect - an individual’s
tendency to accentuate the negative
aspects of oneself, other people, and
the world in general
A strong
situation can
overwhelm the effects
of individual personalities
by providing strong cues
for appropriate
behavior
Strong
personalities
will dominate
in a weak
situation
Projective Test - elicits an individual’s response to
abstract stimuli
Behavioral Measures - personality assessments
that involve observing an individual’s behavior
in a controlled situation
Self-Report Questionnaire - assessment
involving an individual’s responses to questions
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) instrument measuring Jung’s theory of individual
differences.
 Based
on Carl Jung’s work
• People are fundamentally different
• People are fundamentally alike
• People have preference combinations for
extraversion/introversion, perception, judgment
 Briggs
& Myers developed the MBTI to
understand individual differences
Preferences
Extraversion
Introversion
Sensing
Intuiting
Thinking
Feeling
Judging
Perceiving
Represents
How one
re-energizes
How one gathers
information
How one makes
decisions
How one orients to the
outer world
 Big
5, CSET, MBTI
 Matter in:
• Certain jobs (sales, QA, leadership)
• At certain times (e.g., status quo, crisis)
• More than performance?
 Honesty
 Theft
 Absenteeism
 Turnover
 Commitment/Satisfaction




Do you feel organizations should hire people based
upon their personality characteristics?
What are the issues with this?
When people are hired into a job (e.g., engineering)
do you think the personality is attracted to the job, or
the job shapes the personality? Why?
“I didn’t used to me this way until I started working
here.”
 Describe
the meaning of attitudes
and their emotional, informational,
and behavioral components.
 Explain
the antecedents of workrelated attitudes, the functions they
perform, and how they are changed.
 “Attitudes”
• Persistent tendency to feel and behave in a
particular way towards some object
 Characteristics of Attitudes
• They tend to persist unless something is done to
change them.
• They can fall anywhere along a continuum from
very favorable to very unfavorable.
• They are directed toward some object about
which a person has feelings and beliefs.
genetics
Informational/
Cognitive
(i.e. beliefs)
Attitude
Behavior
socialization
Affective
(i.e. emotions)
Measurable in
the brain with fMRI
learning
observable
Job Attitudes and Actual Behavior
• The belief, attitude, intention sequence is
presumably followed by actual behavior.
• This traditional model suggests that behaviors
(including job performance) are largely
influenced by job attitudes. (e.g., absenteeism)
• Recently, this traditional model has been
questioned as being too simple and some more
comprehensive alternatives have been
developed.
 Components
of Attitudes
• Emotional – feelings about an object
• Informational – beliefs and information about the
object
• Behavioral – tendencies to behave in a particular
manner towards an object (usually behavioral
intentions)
 Only behavioral can be directly observed
(Continued)
 Antecedents
of Work-Related Attitudes:
PA/NA
• Positive affect – overall sense of well-being,
engaged, and experience positive attitudes
• Negative affect – nervous, tense, anxious, and
distressed
 Based
in history of Job Satisfaction
 Formal research began in mid-1930’s
• 1932 I/O textbooks had no mention of job
satisfaction or organizational commitment
• By 1972 over 3000 articles published
specifically exploring worker attitudes
 Why
interest developed
• Methodological breakthroughs
 Survey methods
• Statistical techniques
 Most
Americans like their jobs overall
 People are relatively satisfied with the
nature of the work itself:
• How interesting it is
• Having lots of contact with people
 People
less happy with rewards
• Pay
• Benefits
• Chances for promotion
Determinants of Job Satisfaction
Copyright 1999 by Brent Smith,
Ph.D.
 Influences
on Job Satisfaction
• Mental challenge in the work itself
• Pay
• Promotions
• Supervision
• Work Group
• Working Conditions
 Cultural
interest
• Something most of us believe we are entitled to
or at least desire from our work
 Functional
(practical) reasons
• Link to important organizational outcomes
 Performance…sometimes
 Turnover
 Absenteeism
 Counterproductive behaviors
 Outcomes
of Job Satisfaction
(Continued)
• Satisfaction and Performance
• Satisfaction and Turnover
• Satisfaction and Absenteeism
• Other Effects and Ways to Enhance Satisfaction
 Is
a happy worker a productive
worker?
 Correlations positive and low to
moderate
• .16 with overall satisfaction in individual
studies
• .30 with overall satisfaction in meta-analytic
studies
• .10 with specific facets
 Why
is the association not larger?
 The
Meaning of Organizational
Commitment
• Affective
• Continuance
• Normative
Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment has
been related to many different
job outcomes
Overall job
satisfaction
Performance (depends
Organizational
Commitment
.53
.11
on financial need)
Turnover
-.28
Conscientiousness
.67
Job involvement
.50
 Guidelines
to Enhance Organizational
Commitment
•
•
•
•
•
People-first
Communication Mission
Org. Justice
Create a community
Support employee development
 Organizational
(OCBs)
Citizenship Behaviors
 Satisfaction
 Commitment
 Embeddedness
 Multi-dimensional
Construct
• self-efficacy
• accountability
• belongingness
• self identity
• Negatively loaded “territoriality”

Correlates
• Leadership
• Empowerment
• Performance
Measurement
 I feel I need to protect my ideas from being used by
others in my organization.
 I am confident in my ability to contribute to my
organization’s success.
 I would challenge anyone in my organization if I
thought something was done wrong.
 I feel I belong in this organization.
 I feel this organization’s success is my success.

 Do
we care if employees are satisfied as
long as they do their job well?
 Describe
your current job: what steps
could be taken to enhance job
satisfaction?
Questions

What is personality?

What are some common personality traits?



Why should knowledge of personality matter to today’s
managers?
Would you say it is better to train personality or to select for
personality?
Describe Big 5, CSET, MBTI, Job Satisfaction, Organizational
Commitment

What are the components of an attitude?

What is self monitoring and why is it important?