ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
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T E N T H
E D I T I O N
What is Personality?
Personality Determinants
 Where does your personality come from?
– Heredity – so we’re born to be “just the way we are”?
– Environment – oh, so it’s the environment instead?
– Situation – or is it the situation that determines our
personality??
So – what determines your personality???
Personality Traits
 Early search:
– One study found 17,953 individual traits
– One study found 171 traits
– One researcher determined there are 16 “primary”
traits
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
– Widely used in industry (little evidence to support it)
– 100 question personality test
– Results used to define a person via:
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Extraverted vs. Introverted
Sensing vs. Intuitive
Thinking vs. Feeling
Perceiving or Judging
The Big Five Model
 Research supports the idea of “five” basic
dimensions:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability
Openness to Experience
Which is a good predictor of job performance? Why?
Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB
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Locus of control
Machiavellianism
Self-esteem
Self-monitoring
Propensity for risk taking
Type A personality
Achieving Personality “Fit”
 The Person-Job Fit (e.g., Holland’s personalityjob fit theory)
 The Person-Organization Fit (find an organization
which matches w/your personality)
Holland’s
Typology of
Personality
and
Congruent
Occupations
What Are Emotions?
Affect
A broad range of emotions
that people experience.
Emotions
Moods
Intense feelings that are
directed at someone or
something.
Feelings that tend to be
less intense than
emotions and that lack a
contextual stimulus.
What Are Emotions? (cont’d)
Emotion Dimensions
 Variety of emotions
– Positive
– Negative
 Intensity of emotions
 Frequency and duration of emotions
– How often emotions are exhibited
– How long emotions are displayed
(Sometimes jobs have emotional labor requirements
which are frequent and last long: positive emotions
displayed for long periods of time. Can you see how
this can be difficult to do?)
Facial Expressions Convey Emotions
External Constraints on Emotions
Organizational
Influences
Cultural
Influences
Individual
Emotions
OB Applications of Understanding Emotions
 Ability and Selection
– Emotions affect employee effectiveness (emotional
intelligence is becoming important)
 Decision Making
– Emotions are an important (e.g., negative emotions
can limit a search towards new alternatives)
 Motivation
– Emotional commitment to work and high motivation
are strongly linked.
 Leadership
– Emotions are important to acceptance of messages
from organizational leaders.
OB Applications of Understanding Emotions
 Interpersonal Conflict
– Conflict in the workplace and individual emotions are
strongly intertwined.
 Deviant Workplace Behaviors
– Negative emotions can lead to employee deviance in
the form of actions that violate established norms and
threaten the organization and its members.
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Productivity failures
Property theft and destruction
Political actions
Personal aggression