Personality, Values, and Attitudes in the Workplace
Brad works for a marketing firm in Kansas City, Missouri. He has worked
for the company for over 15 years and is very talented at his job. He has
recently been promoted and now runs the marketing team for a number of
the company’s largest clients. Brad is a very direct individual, and is
extremely comfortable giving feedback, even unsolicited. During every team
meeting, Brad is quick to shut down ideas and is known for giving harsh,
personal feedback during his teams’ presentations. Although he is one of the
most tenured, no one goes to him for help or advice because they fear he will
use it as an opportunity to point out every professional and personal flaw.
Since Brad was promoted to leading the marketing team, employee
morale and productivity have dropped significantly. Is this a matter of
clashing personalities? Or is Brad too abrasive and brutal in his
communication style and feedback techniques?
Personality traits play a role in every relationship. Individual
personalities help to form an organization’s culture and image. Therefore,
every successful organization relies heavily on the personality traits of its
employees. While everyone has a different personality, there are certain
traits and characteristics that are common amongst individuals.
Understanding these similarities and differences can help you to better
understand your coworkers, your team, and even your supervisors and
bosses.
It is also important to make a connection between personalities and
behavior. Certain personality traits can be used to predict behavior. This is
why smart hiring practices are so important. It is equally, if not more,
important to hire based on behavioral based interview questions and
personality questionnaires as opposed to hiring solely on previous
experience. Being aware of how personality traits influence behavior can be
extremely beneficial to your success in the workplace. This section will deep
dive into the idiosyncrasies of personality traits and how certain ones can
negatively or positively impact an organization.
Recognizing your personality traits is the first step in successfully
achieving your goals. Being able to capitalize on your strengths and also
understanding how to strengthen your weaknesses is the cornerstone of
success. When we use our personality to make decisions best suited for
ourselves, we are more likely to find long-lasting happiness and satisfaction.
Similarly, understanding the personalities of others will help us to form
stronger relationships.
Personality Traits
In some ways, finding someone with differing personality traits can be
beneficial. Relationships involving individuals with opposite personalities
can challenge each person to view situations from a different perspective. In
the workplace, differing personality traits are important to creating a diverse
workplace where creativity and varying ideas can thrive. At the same time, it
is also important to surround yourself with people who have similar core
beliefs, values, and goals. Hiring employees while taking their personality
into consideration can help foster an inclusive and positive work
environment. Thousands of personality traits have been identified over the
years. It would be nearly impossible to find an effective way to identify each
and every one of an individual’s personality traits. To help streamline the
process, multiple types of personality tests are available to help individuals
recognize their strengths, preferences, communication style, among many
other important characteristics. Let’s look into some of the most popular
personality tests used today.
16PF Questionnaire
Trait theorists believe personality can be understood via the approach
that all people have certain traits, or characteristic ways of behaving. Do you
tend to be sociable or shy? Passive or aggressive? Optimistic or pessimistic?
Moody or even-tempered? Early trait theorists tried to describe all human
personality traits. For example, one trait theorist, Gordon Allport (Allport &
Odbert, 1936), found 4,500 words in the English language that could
describe people. He organized these personality traits into three categories:
cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits. A cardinal trait is one that
dominates your entire personality, and hence your life—such as Ebenezer
Scrooge’s greed and Mother Theresa’s altruism. Cardinal traits are not very
common: Few people have personalities dominated by a single trait.
Instead, our personalities typically are composed of multiple traits. Central
traits are those that make up our personalities (such as loyal, kind,
agreeable, friendly, sneaky, wild, and grouchy). Secondary traits are those
that are not quite as obvious or as consistent as central traits. They are
present under specific circumstances and include preferences and
attitudes. For example, one person gets angry when people try to tickle him;
another can only sleep on the left side of the bed; and yet another always
orders her salad dressing on the side. And you—although not normally an
anxious person—feel nervous before making a speech in front of your
English class.
In an effort to make the list of traits more manageable, Raymond Cattell
(1946, 1957) narrowed down the list to about 171 traits. However, saying that
a trait is either present or absent does not accurately reflect a person’s
uniqueness, because all of our personalities are actually made up of the
same traits; we differ only in the degree to which each trait is expressed.
Cattell (1957) identified 16 factors or dimensions of personality: warmth,
reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness,
social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness,
apprehension, openness to change, self reliance, perfectionism, and
tension. He developed a personality assessment based on these 16 factors,
called the 16PF. Instead of a trait being present or absent, each dimension
is scored over a continuum, from high to low. For example, your level of
warmth describes how warm, caring, and nice to others you are. If you score
low on this index, you tend to be more distant and cold. A high score on this
index signifies you are supportive and comforting.
The Five Factor Model
The Five Factor Model, with its five factors referred to as the Big Five
personality factors, is the most popular theory in personality psychology
today and the most accurate approximation of the basic personality
dimensions (Funder, 2001). The five factors are openness to experience,
conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. A helpful
way to remember the factors is by using the mnemonic OCEAN. In the Five
Factor Model, each person possesses each factor, but they occur along a
spectrum. Openness to experience is characterized by imagination,
feelings, actions, and ideas. People who score high on this factor tend to be
curious and have a wide range of interests. Conscientiousness is
characterized by competence, selfdiscipline, thoughtfulness, and
achievement-striving (goal-directed behavior). People who score high on
this factor are hardworking and dependable. Numerous studies have found
a positive correlation between conscientiousness and academic success
(Akomolafe, 2013; Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2008; Conrad & Patry,
2012; Noftle & Robins, 2007; Wagerman & Funder, 2007). Extroversion is
characterized by sociability, assertiveness, excitement-seeking, and
emotional expression. People who score high on this factor are usually
described as outgoing and warm. Not surprisingly, people who score high on
both extroversion and openness are more likely to participate in adventure
and risky sports due to their curious and excitement-seeking nature (Tok,
2011). The fourth factor is agreeableness, which is the tendency to be
pleasant, cooperative, trustworthy, and good-natured. People who score
low on agreeableness tend to be described as rude and uncooperative, yet
one recent study reported that men who scored low on this factor actually
earned more money than men who were considered more agreeable (Judge,
Livingston, & Hurst, 2012). The last of the Big Five factors is neuroticism,
which is the tendency to experience negative emotions. People high on
neuroticism tend to experience emotional instability and are characterized
as angry, impulsive, and hostile. Watson and Clark (1984) found that people
reporting high levels of neuroticism also tend to report feeling anxious and
unhappy. In contrast, people who score low in neuroticism tend to be calm
and even-tempered. The Big Five personality factors each represent a range
between two extremes. In reality, most of us tend to lie somewhere midway
along the continuum of each factor, rather than at polar ends. It’s important
to note that the Big Five factors are relatively stable over our lifespan, with
some tendency for the factors to increase or decrease slightly. Researchers
have found that conscientiousness increases through young adulthood into
middle age, as we become better able to manage our personal relationships
and careers (Donnellan & Lucas, 2008). Agreeableness also increases with
age, peaking between 50 to 70 years (Terracciano, McCrae, Brant, & Costa,
2005). Neuroticism and extroversion tend to decline slightly with age
(Donnellan & Lucas; Terracciano et al.). Additionally, The Big Five factors
have been shown to exist across ethnicities, cultures, and ages, and may
have substantial biological and genetic components (Jang, Livesley, &
Vernon, 1996; Jang et al., 2006; McCrae & Costa, 1997; Schmitt et al., 2007).
The HEXACO Model
Another model of personality traits is the HEXACO model. HEXACO is
an acronym for six broad traits: honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience (Anglim &
O’Connor, 2018).
HEXACO Traits below, provides a brief overview of each trait. This model
is similar to the Big Five, but it posits slightly different versions of some of the
traits, and its proponents argue that one important class of individual
differences was omitted from the FiveFactor Model. The HEXACO adds
Honesty-Humility as a sixth dimension of personality. People high in this trait
are sincere, fair, and modest, whereas those low in the trait are manipulative,
narcissistic, and selfcentered. Thus, trait theorists are agreed that
personality traits are important in understanding behavior, but there are still
debates on the exact number and composition of the traits that are most
important.
Personality tests are used to help companies better understand their
employees or employee candidates. It is important to remember that there
are thousands of different personality traits. Each individual has their own
unique set and combination of personality traits. While each of the
personality tests we discussed in this section are effective in their own right,
there is no exact science to identifying each and every personality trait
present in an individual. In addition, many personality tests are based upon
an individual’s self-assessment and results may differ from day to day.
Personality tests may help to confirm things you already believed to be true
or they may open your eyes to a side of yourself you didn’t realize existed.
Let’s move onto the next section to examine how an individual’s personality
can help to predict their choices and behavior.
Personality and Behavior
As we discussed in the last section, personality traits do not fall under
a one-size-fits-all category. Every individual has their own unique personality
that helps to form their outlook on life and shapes their interactions with
others. Imagine being able to take an individual’s personality fingerprint and
predict how they would act in any given scenario. While seeing into the future
is impossible, using personality traits to predict an individual’s behavior is
on the spectrum of possibilities. Personalities have been studied and
discussed dating back to Ancient Greece and Roman times. Research has
been conducted for years and years to try to determine how to properly
predict behavior using an individual’s personality traits. However, in the
1970s, after years of research and testing, psychologists Daryl Bem and
Walter Mischel had limited success in making consistently successful
predictions (McAndrew, 2018). Their frustrations led them to believe that
situational factors and stressors were more responsible for decisions than
an individual’s personality.
So which is it? Is it personality or the situation that plays a leading role
in influencing a person’s behavior? The short answer is both. Many people
expect a clear-cut answer to the question. However, that is an impossible
task when it comes to predicting behavior. It is important to take into
account the individual’s personality in addition to the situation they find
themselves in. The next section will discuss how situations can influence
behavior, but for the purpose of this section, let’s explore the benefits and
limitations of using personality to predict behavior. Personality traits are all
on a spectrum. The more extreme an individual is on the spectrum, the
easier it is to predict their behavior. Since many personality tests focus on
broad traits (OCEAN for example), there is a wide range for interpretation.
Let’s look at introverts versus extraverts as an example. Everyone falls
somewhere on the introvert vs. extravert scale. Even if you are more of an
extravert than an introvert you may still not be considered a very outgoing
person. Depending on the group of individuals you find yourself with may
also change others’ perception of you. For example, if you are surrounded by
extremely extraverted people, you may appear to be introverted, even though
you consider yourself an extravert. Similar to weight or height, everyone has
a measurement unique to them but it may appear to be higher or lower when
compared to that of others. According to McAndrew (2018), “Research has
shown that the more to one of the extremes a person falls on a trait, the more
consistently the trait will be a factor in his or her behavior.”
It is also important to take into consideration that observing personality
traits in multiple scenarios can be more accurate in predicting behavior.
Trying to make a prediction based on a single interaction does not paint a
completely accurate picture of an individual. Being able to observe the
varying degrees of an individual’s personality can help to better understand
a person and determine the best way to maximize their strengths and
support their weaknesses. So how is predicting behavior helpful in the
workplace? Using personality traits to form workgroups and teams can be
extremely beneficial in the long run. Diversity is important to success. At the
same time, pairing together like-minded individuals can help to promote
efficiency and collaboration. Using personality traits and tests to form teams
can help to bring together a beautifully balanced group. It is important to
keep in mind; however, that observing an individual’s personality multiple
times may provide additional insight into how they operate. It is extremely
important to utilize new found information and observations to rearrange
team dynamics. Personality traits alone cannot successfully predict
behavior. Situations also play an important role in determining how an
individual will act.
Situational Influences on Personality
Certain situations and circumstances can influence a person’s day in a
positive or negative way. Depending on the circumstance, a normally
positive person may become more negative. On the other hand, a
traditionally pessimistic person may appear to be more positive. So how is
this possible? You have experienced both triumphs and tribulations in your
lifetime and whether or not you realized it, they most likely impacted the way
you acted and altered your personality for that period of time. It is human
nature for emotions and personalities to differ depending on what is
happening in our lives. Even if we are not aware of what others may be going
through, it is reasonable to assume that certain situations in the lives of all
individuals impacts their personality. For example, you are out with friends,
and you see your friend Lorenzo, who is the most extroverted person in the
group, crying in the corner. Does this mean Lorenzo is no longer an extravert
but rather an introvert? Or could he be crying because he just heard some
upsetting news? Chances are, the latter option is a more realistic one. While
the news may have changed his personality during that social setting on that
day, it most likely did not alter it permanently.
Let’s look at another example. The coworker you disagree with most,
Kayla, who constantly argues against your ideas, comes into work Monday
morning with a pep in her step. At your team meeting, she completely
supports your proposed project idea and offers to help execute it. Has Kayla
turned a corner and has decided to end the feud between you two? Possibly.
But odds are there is something in her life that has temporarily altered her
personality. What you may not know, is that over the weekend her all time
favorite team won the Super Bowl. Her excitement from the day before
spilled over into Monday, presenting a much version of Kayla that seems to
like you a great deal more.
These are just two small examples of how situations in people’s lives
can alter the way they act. People can also change their personality based
on who they’re around. If the person you’re with makes you uncomfortable,
you’re not likely to be very talkative and offer up good conversation.
However, if you’re on the phone with a friend you haven’t talked to for awhile,
you’re likely to have an animated conversation.
If situations can influence personality and personality can predict
behavior, then situational influences also contribute to predicting behavior.
It also brings into question whether or not personality traits are consistent
since they are easily influenced by situations. In 1968, Walter Mischel
published a book entitled Personality & Assessment. In his book, Mischel
argued that an interactionist approach was best suited when exploring
personality, situations, and behavior. This interactionist approach believes
that both personality and situational circumstances create behavior. In
addition, Mischel explained that personalities tend to differ across a range
of situations (personality at work versus home); however, they keep
consistencies within similar situations (work meetings). This revelation
created an upset in the traditional view of personality by arguing that
personality stability and instability can each exist at the same time.
Values
Values refer to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most
important to them. Values are established throughout one’s life as a result
of the accumulating life experiences and tend to be relatively stable (Lusk &
Oliver, 1974; Rokeach, 1973). The values that are important to people tend
to affect the types of decisions they make, how they perceive their
environment, and their actual behaviors. Moreover, people are more likely to
accept job offers when the company possesses the values people care
about (Judge & Bretz, 1992; Ravlin & Meglino, 1987). Value attainment is one
reason why people stay in a company, and when an organization does not
help them attain their values, they are more likely to decide to leave if they
are dissatisfied with the job itself (George & Jones, 1996).
What are the values people care about? There are many typologies of
values. One of the most established surveys to assess individual values is
the Rokeach Value Survey (Rokeach, 1973). This survey lists 18 terminal and
18 instrumental values in alphabetical order. Terminal values refer to end
states people desire in life, such as leading a prosperous life and a world at
peace. Instrumental values deal with views on acceptable modes of
conduct, such as being honest and ethical, and being ambitious.
According to Rokeach, values are arranged in hierarchical fashion. In
other words, an accurate way of assessing someone’s values is to ask them
to rank the 36 values in order of importance. By comparing these values,
people develop a sense of which value can be sacrificed to achieve the
other, and the individual priority of each value emerges. Where do values
come from? Research indicates that they are shaped early in life and show
stability over the course of a lifetime. Early family experiences are important
influences over the dominant values. People who were raised in families with
low socioeconomic status and those who experienced restrictive parenting
often display conformity values when they are adults, while those who were
raised by parents who were cold toward their children would likely value and
desire security (Kasser, Koestner, & Lekes, 2002). Values of a generation also
change and evolve in response to the historical context that the generation
grows up in. Research comparing the values of different generations
resulted in interesting findings. For example, Generation Xers (those born
between the mid-1960s and early 1980s) are more individualistic and are
interested in working toward organizational goals so long as they coincide
with their personal goals. This group, compared to the baby boomers (born
between the 1940s and 1960s), is also less likely to see work as central to
their life and more likely to desire a quick promotion (Smola & Sutton, 2002).
Values a person holds will affect their employment. For example,
someone who values stimulation highly may seek jobs that involve fast
action and high risk, such as firefighter, police officer, or emergency
medicine. Someone who values achievement highly may be likely to
become an entrepreneur or intrapreneur. And an individual who values
benevolence and universalism may seek work in the nonprofit sector with a
charitable organization or in a “helping profession,” such as nursing or social
work. Like personality, values have implications for Organizing activities,
such as assigning duties to specific jobs or developing the chain of
command; employee values are likely to affect how employees respond to
changes in the characteristics of their jobs. In terms of work behaviors, a
person is more likely to accept a job offer when the company possesses the
values he or she cares about. A firm’s values are often described in the
company’s mission and vision statements, an element of the Planning
function (Judge & Bretz, 1992; Ravlin & Meglino, 1987). Value attainment is
one reason people stay in a company. When a job does not help them attain
their values, they are likely to decide to leave if they are also dissatisfied with
the job (George & Jones, 1996). Therefore, understanding employees at work
requires understanding the value orientations of employees.
We often find ourselves in situations where our values do not coincide
with someone we are working with. For example, if Alison’s main value is
connection, this may come out in a warm communication style with
coworkers and an interest in their personal lives. Imagine Alison works with
Tyler, whose core value is efficiency. Because of Tyler’s focus, he may find it
a waste of time to make small talk with colleagues. When Alison approaches
Tyler and asks about his weekend, she may feel offended or upset when he
brushes her off to ask about the project they are working on together. She
feels like a connection wasn’t made, and he feels like she isn’t efficient.
Understanding our own values as well as the values of others can greatly
help us become better communicators.
Attitudes
Our attitudes are favorable or unfavorable opinions toward people,
things, or situations. Many things affect our attitudes, including the
environment we were brought up in and our individual experiences. Our
personalities and values play a large role in our attitudes as well. For
example, many people may have attitudes toward politics that are similar to
their parents, but their attitudes may change as they gain more experiences.
If someone has a bad experience around the ocean, they may develop a
negative attitude around beach activities. However, assume that person has
a memorable experience seeing sea lions at the beach, for example, then he
or she may change their opinion about the ocean. Likewise, someone may
have loved the ocean, but if they have a scary experience, such as nearly
drowning, they may change their attitude.
The important thing to remember about attitudes is that they can
change over time, but usually some sort of positive experience needs to
occur for our attitudes to change dramatically for the better. We also have
control of our attitude in our thoughts. If we constantly stream negative
thoughts, it is likely we may become a negative person. In a workplace
environment, you can see where attitude is important. Someone’s
personality may be cheerful and upbeat. These are the prized employees
because they help bring positive perspective to the workplace. Likewise,
someone with a negative attitude is usually someone that most people
prefer not to work with. The problem with a negative attitude is that it has a
devastating effect on everyone else. Have you ever felt really happy after a
great day and when you got home, your roommate was in a terrible mood
because of her bad day? In this situation, you can almost feel yourself
deflating! This is why having a positive attitude is a key component to having
good human relations at work and in our personal lives.
Our attitude is ultimately about how we set our expectations; how we
handle the situation when our expectations are not met; and finally, how we
sum up an experience, person, or situation. When we focus on improving our
attitude on a daily basis, we get used to thinking positively and our entire
personality can change. It goes without saying that employers prefer to hire
and promote someone with a positive attitude as opposed to a negative one.
Davis (2019) suggests four ways to develop a more positive attitude:
1. Spending more time thinking about positive thing will help
strengthen the positive neural pathways in your brain. This can help
you generate your own positive thoughts and feelings more easily.
2. Find a silver lining even with things you perceive to be negative. Is
there something you can learn or take away from it? Look for an
alternative perspective that can help you view the situation more
positively.
3. Engaging in random acts of kindness can improve your attitude.
When you help others unprompted and without reward, you can
develop a positive sense of self and the gratitude expressed by those
you help will help create positive feelings.
4. Smile, laugh, and enjoy life more. This one might seem like a struggle
at times, but the more you can appreciate the small things in your
life, the more positive your attitude can become.
When considering our personality, values, and attitudes, we can begin
to get the bigger picture of who we are and how our experiences affect how
we behave at work and in our personal lives. It is a good idea to reflect often
on what aspects of our personality are working well and which we might like
to change. With self-awareness we can make changes that eventually result
in better human relations.
