Chapter 17
Individual personalities
Managers need to understand and mange behaviour of human resources, as they activate other
organisation resources.
Personality
Combination of traits determining how an individual perceives, evaluates and reacts to his/her
environment.
The dynamic organisation within individuals of those psychological systems that determine the
individual’s unique adjustments to his/her environment.
Major factors influencing personality:
Society
Culture
Family
External factors
Internal factors
Genetic hereditary
Personal experiences and attitudes
Workplace Personality Testing
Organisations often use personality testing to identify, select, appoint and promote employees who
are perceived to perform satisfactorily and will “fit in” with the organisation’s culture.
Advantages of testing:
1. Reduce risks
2. Eliminate bias
3. Diminish staff turnover
4. Attract new generations
5. Foster leaders
The Big Five Personality Dimensions
Barrick and Mount identified 5 basic dimensions of personality that underpin most of the variations
of personality.
OCEAN
1. Openness to experience
a. People who have broad interests and are willing to take risks.
2. Conscientiousness
a. A measure of reliability.
3. Extroversion
a. Refers to the tendency to be gregarious, sociable, outgoing, talkative and assertive.
4. Agreeableness
a. Someone who gets along easily with people
5. Neuroticism
, a. An individual’s ability to handle job-related stress.
Concepts about Personality and Work
Four specific personality traits help managers to explain and understand individual behaviour that
link to job performance in organisations:
1. Locus of Control
a. An individual’s generalised perception about the amount of control people have over
their own lives.
i. Externals – behaviour is guided by fate, luck or other circumstances
ii. Internals – behaviour is guided by their personal decisions and efforts
2. Self-monitoring
a. An individual’s level of sensitivity to the expressive behaviour of others and the
ability to adapt appropriately to these situational cues.
3. Holland’s classification of 6 individual personalities according to their appropriate work
environment.
a. Holland proposes that some personalities are appropriate for certain occupations.
b. Categories:
i. Realistic
ii. Investigative
iii. Artistic
iv. Social
v. Enterprising
vi. Conventional
4. Self-efficacy
a. Relates to the belief in one’s capabilities to organise and execute the course of action
required to manage prospective situations.
b. Includes 3 dimensions:
i. Magnitude
1. Complexity and level of task difficulty that individuals believe they
can attain
ii. Strength
1. Whether the belief regarding magnitude is strong or weak
iii. Generality
1. Indicates how generalised across different situations the belief in
capability is
Sources of self-efficacy
1. Mastery experience
a. Performing a task successfully strengthens our sense of self-efficacy and vice versa
2. Social modelling
a. Witnessing other people successfully completing a task or a challenge and then
believing that you can to it too
3. Social persuasion
a. The notion that people can be persuaded to believe they have the skills and
capabilities to succeed
4. Psychological responses
a. Our own emotions and responses to situations also play a role in self-efficacy.
Individual personalities
Managers need to understand and mange behaviour of human resources, as they activate other
organisation resources.
Personality
Combination of traits determining how an individual perceives, evaluates and reacts to his/her
environment.
The dynamic organisation within individuals of those psychological systems that determine the
individual’s unique adjustments to his/her environment.
Major factors influencing personality:
Society
Culture
Family
External factors
Internal factors
Genetic hereditary
Personal experiences and attitudes
Workplace Personality Testing
Organisations often use personality testing to identify, select, appoint and promote employees who
are perceived to perform satisfactorily and will “fit in” with the organisation’s culture.
Advantages of testing:
1. Reduce risks
2. Eliminate bias
3. Diminish staff turnover
4. Attract new generations
5. Foster leaders
The Big Five Personality Dimensions
Barrick and Mount identified 5 basic dimensions of personality that underpin most of the variations
of personality.
OCEAN
1. Openness to experience
a. People who have broad interests and are willing to take risks.
2. Conscientiousness
a. A measure of reliability.
3. Extroversion
a. Refers to the tendency to be gregarious, sociable, outgoing, talkative and assertive.
4. Agreeableness
a. Someone who gets along easily with people
5. Neuroticism
, a. An individual’s ability to handle job-related stress.
Concepts about Personality and Work
Four specific personality traits help managers to explain and understand individual behaviour that
link to job performance in organisations:
1. Locus of Control
a. An individual’s generalised perception about the amount of control people have over
their own lives.
i. Externals – behaviour is guided by fate, luck or other circumstances
ii. Internals – behaviour is guided by their personal decisions and efforts
2. Self-monitoring
a. An individual’s level of sensitivity to the expressive behaviour of others and the
ability to adapt appropriately to these situational cues.
3. Holland’s classification of 6 individual personalities according to their appropriate work
environment.
a. Holland proposes that some personalities are appropriate for certain occupations.
b. Categories:
i. Realistic
ii. Investigative
iii. Artistic
iv. Social
v. Enterprising
vi. Conventional
4. Self-efficacy
a. Relates to the belief in one’s capabilities to organise and execute the course of action
required to manage prospective situations.
b. Includes 3 dimensions:
i. Magnitude
1. Complexity and level of task difficulty that individuals believe they
can attain
ii. Strength
1. Whether the belief regarding magnitude is strong or weak
iii. Generality
1. Indicates how generalised across different situations the belief in
capability is
Sources of self-efficacy
1. Mastery experience
a. Performing a task successfully strengthens our sense of self-efficacy and vice versa
2. Social modelling
a. Witnessing other people successfully completing a task or a challenge and then
believing that you can to it too
3. Social persuasion
a. The notion that people can be persuaded to believe they have the skills and
capabilities to succeed
4. Psychological responses
a. Our own emotions and responses to situations also play a role in self-efficacy.
