Managing Behaviour in Organisations paper 1000 words

Week 3: Personality & Values

MGMT90018 Managing Behaviour in Organisations

Seminar Leader: Adam Barsky

[email protected]

Organisational Mechanisms

Org. Culture & Change (Week 12)

Org. Structure & Networks (Week 11)

Group Mechanisms

Power, Influence, & Leadership (Week 10)

Conflict & Negotiation (Week 9)

Teams & Diversity (Week 8)

Individual Characteristics

Personality & Values (Week 3)

Ethics (Week 1)

Individual Mechanisms

Attitudes, Beliefs, & Perceptions (Week 4)

Motivation & Goal Setting (Week 5)

Well-being & Stress (Week 6)

Decision Making (Week 7)

Individual Outcomes

Work Outcomes (Week 2)

Overview of the Subject

adapted from Colquitt, et al. (2016)

WE ARE HERE!

AGENDA

1. What is personality?

2. What are values?

3. Why does personality & values matter in OB?

4. Personality types, origins and relationships with outcomes

5. Value types, origins and relationships with outcomes

Zoom workshops this week

Personality

What is personality?

Personality

• Personality is a dynamic concept that describes the growth and development of a person’s psychological system

• We most often describe personality in terms of the observable traits that a person exhibits

What indicates personality

• Cross-Situational Consistency • Temporal Stability • Biological Correlates • Cultural invariance

Personality

Barrick, M.R., & Mount, M.K. (2000). Select on conscientiousness and emotional stability. Handbook of principles of organizational behavior, 19-39.

• Barrick & Mount (2000)  An individual’s relatively stable

and enduring pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions

• Robbins & Judge (2016, ch. 5)  The sum of ways in which an

individual reacts to and interacts with others

How do we understand personality?

• Trait theories • Psychodynamic theories • Type theories

Values • Definition: Beliefs about whether a specific mode of

conduct (the way you act) or end state (your end goals) is personally or socially preferable (i.e., what is right and good)

• Value System: A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity

 What is more or less important

 We all have a hierarchy of values

 These values are generally not fluid/changing

Terminal vs. Instrumental Values

• Terminal values  Desirable end-states of existence

 i.e., end goals to be achieved

• Instrumental values  Preferred modes of behavior or means of

achieving terminal values

 i.e., how one moves towards the end goals

Types of Value systems

• Universal Values  Values shared to a greater or lesser degree

across all people.

• Cultural values  Shared beliefs about desirable end states

or modes of conduct in a given culture

 Cultural values provide societies with their own distinctive personalities

Why does personality matter for OB?

• Explains work attitudes and well-being

• Predicts job relevant behaviours

• Predicts “fit”

Person-job fit

 Focus on personality to match individuals with specific jobs

 Managers focus on ability to perform a specific job

Thought Exercise

• For each of the four (4) jobs below, rank order the personality traits from most to least important for someone in that job role.

 Chief Executive (CEO)

 Personal Financial Advisor

 Nuclear Engineer

 News Reporter

Person-Organisation Fit

• People are attracted to and selected by organisations that match their values

• Employees leave organisations that are not compatible with their personality and values

• This match predicts:  Increases in job satisfaction

 Increases in organisational commitment

 Decreases in employee turnover

Where do personality and values come from?

• Nature  Heredity – refers to the extent to which a characteristics is

determined by genetics

 Explanation: molecular structure of genes (i.e. chromosomes) determines personality

 e.g., gender, eye and hair color, and temperament

• Nurture  Your environment can refer to the circumstances in which

you grew up and effects learning and expression.

Personality Typologies

• Early research tried to identify and label enduring personality characteristics  Cheerful, aggressive, submissive, lazy, timid, modest, optimistic, etc.

 These are called personality traits

• While we could come up with thousands of adjectives, most of them tend to cluster around five general factors (see McCrae & Costa, 1997).

• We call these factors the “Big Five”

Big Five

O Openness

C Conscientiousness

E Extraversion

A Agreeableness

N Neuroticism

• Curious • Imaginative • Creative • Complex • Refined • Sophisticated

• Dependable • Organized • Reliable • Ambitious • Hardworking • Persevering

• Talkative • Sociable • Passionate • Assertive • Bold • Dominant

• Kind • Cooperative • Sympathetic • Helpful • Courteous • Warm

• Nervous • Moody • Emotional • Insecure • Jealous • Unstable

NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT • Uninquisitive • Conventional • Conforming • Simple • Unartistic • Traditional

• Careless • Sloppy • Inefficient • Negligent • Lazy • Irresponsible

• Quiet • Shy • Inhibited • Bashful • Reserved • Submissive

• Critical • Antagonistic • Callous • Selfish • Rude • Cold

• Calm • Steady • Relaxed • At east • Secure • Contented

Emotional Stability is the

opposite pole of neuroticism

• Extraversion – comfort level with social relationships

 Adjectives: Gregarious, assertive, sociable  Prioritize status striving; desire to obtain

influence within social structures

• Agreeableness – individual’s propensity to defer to others

 Adjectives: Cooperative, warm, trusting  Prioritize communion striving; desire for

acceptance in personal relationships

Big 5 Traits

• Benefits:

 More likely to emerge as a leader; more charismatic and inspiring; greater ambition

• Costs:

 More impulsive and risky decisions; less likely to listen to followers; may lack persistence and commitment to long-term vision

• What does it affect?

 Higher performance; enhanced leadership; higher job and life satisfaction

Extroversion

T H E P O W E R O F I N T R O V E R T S • S U S A N C A I N

T H E P O W E R O F I N T R O V E R T S • S U S A N C A I N

Where does extroversion come from?

Where does extroversion come from?

Big Five Model of Personality

• Conscientiousness – measure of one’s reliability  Adjectives: Responsible, organized, dependable,

persistent  Prioritize accomplishment striving; desire to

accomplish task-related goals

• Neuroticism (or Emotional Stability) – a person’s ability to withstand stress

 Adjectives: Emotional, moody, nervous  Tendency to experience unpleasant moods

Conscientiousness in Employees

• Conscientious employees are more dedicated, careful, and reliable.

 This is related to increased effort and motivation …. which is related to better job performance.

Conscientiousness in Employees

• Primary through “self-regulatory” processes and “will do” performance factors …  Effort

 Amount of effort exerted (time on task)

 Quality of work  Careful, thorough, and detail-oriented

 Self-efficacy  Develop more positive beliefs about one’s

abilities to complete work tasks

 Goal setting  More likely to set goals at work and remain

committed to the organisation

Big Five Model of Personality

• Openness to experience – a person’s range of interests and fascination with novelty

 Adjectives: Creative, curious, artistically sensitive  Tendency to adapt quickly and flexibility to

change and uncertainty

Example: Openness and Creative Performance

adapted from Colquitt, et al. (2016), ch. 9, Figure 9-4

Cognitive Ability

Openness to Experience

Creative Performance

Creative Thought

Personality and Organisational Behaviour

Exhibit 4.1 from text

Individual Characteristics Individual Mechanisms Individual Outcomes

Extraversion • Better interpersonal skills • Greater social dominance • More emotionally expressive

• Higher performance • Enhanced leadership • Higher job and life

satisfaction

Agreeableness • Better liked • More compliant and

conforming

• Higher performance • Lower levels of

deviant behaviors

Conscientiousness • Greater effort and persistence • More drive and discipline • Better organized and planning

• Higher performance • Enhanced leadership • Greater longevity

Personality and Organisational Behaviour

Individual Characteristics Individual Mechanisms Individual Outcomes

Emotional Stability

• Less negative thinking and fewer negative emotions

• Less hypervigilant

• Higher job and life satisfaction

• Lower stress levels • More adaptable to

change

Openness • Increased learning • More creative • More flexible and autonomous

• Training performance • Enhanced leadership • More adaptable to

change

Emotional Stability and Employees

• Emotionally stable employees are less neurotic.

 This is related to not being stress prone, doubting one’s abilities, and worrying …. which is related to better job performance.

Relationships with Employee Behaviours

Conscientiousness and emotional stability

 Coming to work on time

 Staying with the organization longer

 Interpersonal and organisational citizenship behaviours

 Minimizing group conflict

 Avoiding alcohol and drug abuse, as well as other counterproductive work behaviours

Personality and Job Performance

• Conscientiousness is related to job performance about ρ = .24  442 studies and 79,578 individuals

• Emotional stability is related to job performance about ρ = .15  453 studies and 73,047 individuals

• While these are moderate and small correlations respectively ….  All things equal, employees who are conscientious and emotionally stable perform

better on the job

Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2001). Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium: What do we know and where do we go next? Personality and Performance, 9, 9-30.

What about the “other three”??

• A related principle is that other Big Five traits can be useful, depending on the specific job …

 Openness is related to training and creative performance

 More relevant for training-intensive jobs, or jobs that involve rotations.

 Agreeableness is the best predictor of teamwork and service orientation

 More relevant for interpersonally-oriented and/or team-based work structures

 Extraversion is a good predictor of success in teamwork and management

 More relevant for competitiveness, persuasion, and negotiation

The Situation, Personality, and Behaviour

• Situation strength: indicates that the way personality translates into behavior depends on the strength of the situation.

 The degree to which norms, cues, or standards dictate appropriate behavior.

 Clarity – degree cues about work duties are available and clear

 Consistency – extent cues about work duties are compatible with one another

 Constraints – extent individuals’ ability to make decisions is outside of their control

 Consequences – degree that actions have implications for the organization

• This leads to the activation of specific traits for those in certain job roles

Strong situationWeak situation

Thought Exercise

• For each of the four (4) jobs below, rank order the “Big Five” personality traits from most to least important for someone in that job role.

 Chief Executive (CEO)

 Personal Financial Advisor

 Nuclear Engineer

 News Reporter