Chapter 2 Flashcards
What is Personality?
The relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment and how he or she feels, thinks, and behave
Why do we care?
Personality helps predict behavior - especially for certain jobs
Personality can help match people to the job - reduce mismatches
Approaches to Personaility Research
- dispositional apprach
- situational approach
interactionsit approach
dispositional approach
focuses on individual dispositions and personality.
Individuals possess stable traits or characteristics that influence their attitudes and behaviours.
Individuals are predisposed to behave in certain ways
Situational approach weak
In weak situations, roles are loosely defined, there are few rules and weak reinforcement and punishment contingencies – Personality has the strongest effect in weak situations.
strong situational
In strong situations, the roles, rules, and contingencies are more defined.
You know what to do, instructions are clear
Personality has less of an impact in strong situations
Interactionist approach
in organizational behavior is a function of both dispositions and the situation
To predict and understand organizational behaviour, one must know something about an individual’s personality and the setting in which that person works
Trait activation theory
is traits that lead to certain behaviours only when the situation makes the need for the trait salient
Key concept is fit:
How to Describe Personality
5 major dimensions of personality
- conscientiousness
- agreeable
- neuroticism (emotional stability)
- openness to experience
- extraversion
Conscientiousness
The degree of organization, dependability, thoroughness, and achievement-oriented activities that a person exhibits; a measure of reliability.
conscientiousness high
Perseverance, responsible, organized, diligent, dependable
Conscientiousness low
unreliable, unorganized, unpredictable
Agreeable
The ability to get along with others; degree of courtesy, trust, cooperation, and tolerance that a person exhibits.
agreeable high
Forgiving, good natured, cooperative, warm, trusting
agreeable low
Focused on own needs, less need to be liked by others, irritable, suspicious, inflexible
Neuroticism (emotional stability)
Inability to handle stress; lack of emotional stability (e.g., emotional swings)
Neuroticism (emotional stability) low
Calm, self-confident, secure, content about themselves and their place in the world
Neuroticism (emotional stability) high
: Anxious, insecure, sensitive, angry, depressed
A minimum threshold of emotional stability is necessary for job performance
Opennes to experience
The capacity to entertain new ideas and to change as a result of new information; creative, original, open-minded
Positively related to training proficiency
Opennes to experience low
Cautious, narrow-minded
Opennes to experience low high
urious, imaginative, playful, artistic
Extraversion
The quality of being comfortable with relationships; degree of sociability
Implications of Employees’ Personailites
- person job fit
- person organization fit
Locus of control
refers to individual’s beliefs about the location of factors that control their behaviour
High internal:
stronger links between the effort they put in and the performance level that they achieve, work influences rewards, self-initative, personal actions, free will
High external:
fate, luck, powerful people
Self-monitoring:
Extent to which people observe and regulate how they appear and behave in social settings and relationships
high self monitoring
High: observe the thoughts, actions, and feelings of others
Self-esteem
is the degree to which a person has a positive self-evaluation
Behavioural plasticity theory,
people with low self-esteem are more susceptible to external and social influences than those who have high self-esteem – they are more pliable
Positive affectivity
are people who experience positive emotions and moods like joy and excitement and view the world, including themselves in a positive light, they are cheerful, enthusiastic, livly, sociable, and energetic
Negatively affectivity
are people who experience negative emotions and moods like fear and anxiety and view the world in a negative light. They have an overall negative view of themselves and the world around them, they tend to be distressed, depressed and unhappy
Proactive behaviour
involves challenging the status quo rather than passively adapting to present conditions
Proactive personality
are people who are relatively unconstrained by situational forces and act to change and influence their enviornment
General Self-Efficacy (GSE)
is a general trait that refers to an individual’s belief in their ability to perform successfully in a variety of challenging situations
- motivational trait - reflects peoples belif that they can suceed at a varitey of tasks eaher than how they feel about themselves
Core Self-Evaluations (CSEs)
- are a multidimensional trait and a broad personality concept that consists of several more specific traits
Individuals hold evaluation about themselves and their self-worth or worthiness, competence, and capability
