Chapter 4 Flashcards
Define personality
Personality - the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.
What is a self-report survey and what is a weakness about it?
This is where a company would give an individual a survey which would analyze their personality and beliefs towards certain factors.
A negative point is that individuals may lie in order to impress the management.
Observer-ratings surveys definition
This is a survey, similar to self-report surveys, however, would be carried out by one of the co-workers focusing on an individual. It is common that the answers are similar but it is found that the observer-ratings survey is a bit more accurate.
Define heredity
Heredity - factors determined at conception, one’s biological, physiological and inherent psychological makeup.
Define the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types. It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations. The terms are defined as follows:
- Extraverted (E) versus introverted (I) -> extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive. Introverts are quiet and shy.
- Sensing (S) versus intuitive (N) -> sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They focus on details. Intuitives rely on unconscious processes and look at the big picture.
- Thinking (T) versus feeling (F) -> thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely on their personal values and emotions.
- Judging (J) versus perceiving (P) -> judging types want control and prefer their world to be ordered and structured. Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.
What is a negative about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?
Although it may be able to determine an individuals personality traits, it only tells people about the individual personally and is irrelevant in the workplace as it does not determine any working factors. This is not recommended to managers to use.
Big five model definition
A personality assessment that taps five basic dimensions:
- Extraversion-> A personality dimension where people tend to be sociable and comfortable in social situations. Introverts are the opposite.
- Agreeableness-> this is the level people behave around others. Agreeable- warm, cooperative, and trusting. Disagreeable- inverse.
- Conscientiousness-> this is the level of reliability someone has. High score- more reliable. Low score- less reliable.
-Emotional stability-> the individuals ability to handle stress.
- Openness to experience-> the level of interest to having new experiences. Open people are open to this, the opposite people are the inverse.
Demonstrate how conscientiousness correlates to the workplace.
The main trait that is related to the workplace is conscientiousness. This is correlated to job performance really well. Employees who score higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge. The higher job knowledge then contributes to higher levels of job performance. All 5 traits are related to some aspects of performance and also for life in general.
Describe the correlation of emotional stability and the workplace
People who are emotionally stable are naturally more satisfied in the workplace than the people who aren’t. However, they tend to react worse in a bad mood in comparison to the people who are not mentally stable.
Describe the correlation to agreeable people and the workplace.
Agreeable people only slightly are happier than disagreeable people in the workplace. Agreeable however, tend to achieve lower levels of career success. This is due to them having poor skills at negotiating.
Describe the correlation to openness to experience and the workplace.
People with high openness to experience are more creative in science and in art. Because creativity is important for leadership, they are more likely to be effective leaders. As openness also benefits coping with change, this also puts them in a position to cope with organizational change.
Describe the correlation to extraverts people and the workplace.
They are happier with their jobs and lives as a whole. They also tend to perform better with jobs that require significant interpersonal interaction.
They also tend to be socially dominant and take charge which is more assertive than introverts meaning they are better leaders.
A downside is that they are more impulsive meaning they are more likely to be absent from work and engage in risky behavior.
Describe the correlation to conscientious people in the workplace.
Conscientious live longer than less conscientious people, as they tend to take better care of themselves and engage in fewer risky behavior.
Due to their habits of staying organized, they also do not tend to adapt well to changing contexts as well as others.
Conscientious people are generally performance-oriented. They have more focus on their performance than learning, so this means they do not put their attention on learning. They also are not as creative.
