PERSONALITY

AND
EMOTIONS
(Chapter – 4)
 Personality
 It is the sum total of ways in which an individual
reacts and interacts with others. It is most often
described in terms of measurable traits that a
person exhibits.
 A dynamic concept describing the growth and
development of a person’s whole psychological
system.
 Personality traits are the Personality

enduring characteristics that

describe an individual’s
behavior. Hereditary Environment Situation

Three Ingredients of Personality

 Personality Determinants
Personality is made up of three factors:
 Hereditary. Traits that individual gets from parents/ family
(molecular structure of genes) e.g. physical structure, facial
attractiveness, temperament, energy level, muscle
composition etc. Heredity sets the parameters or outer
limits, but an individual’s full potential will be determined by
how well he or she adjusts to the demands and
requirements of the environment.
 Environmental Factors. Environmental factors that have
influence on personality include culture, values, norms,
early conditioning etc.
 Situational Conditions. Personality does change with
different situations; different aspects of one’s personality
are affected by it (picnic, mosque, work).
 Five Factor Model of Personality
(The Big Five Model)

All personality traits have been included in these five types:

1. Extraversion. A personality dimension describing someone

who is sociable, talkative, and assertive.

2. Agreeableness. A personality dimension that describes

someone who is good-natured, cooperative, and trusting.

3. Conscientiousness. A personality dimension that

describes someone who is responsible, dependable,
persistent, and achievement oriented.

4. Emotional stability. A personality dimension that

characterizes someone as calm, enthusiastic, secure (positive)
versus tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).

Conti..
 Five Factor Model of Personality
(The Big Five Model)

5. Openness to experience. A personality dimension

that characterizes someone in terms of
imaginativeness, artistic (creative) sensitivity, and
intellectualism.
 Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB

Following attributes are the powerful predictors of

behavior in organizations:

 Locus of control – Internals Vs Externals

 Machiavellianism
 Self-esteem
 Self-monitoring
 Propensity for risk taking
 Type A personality
 Type B personality
 Major Personality Attributes
Influencing OB
• Locus of Control. A person’s perception of the source
of his or her fate. The degree to which people believe
they are masters of their own fate.
 Internals. Individuals who believe that they control what
happens to them. Almost all successful sales people are
internals.
 Externals. Individuals who believe that what happens to
them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance.

• Machiavellianism. Degree to which an individual is

pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes
that ends can justify means. Machiavellianism (Mach) is
named after Niccolo Machiavelli (a researcher/writer).
 Major Personality Attributes
Influencing OB
High Machs manipulate more, win more, pursuade
others more as compared to low Machs. They flourish
when faced with following conditions:

 When they interact face to face with others.

 When situation has minimum number of rules and

regulations.
 Major Personality Attributes
Influencing OB
• Self-esteem. It is the individuals’ degree of liking or
disliking of themselves. It is directly related to
expectations for success, having positive self-image
& desire to be appreciated / valued by others.

 People having high self-esteem believe that they

have the ability they need to succeed at work.
Such individuals are more satisfied on work.
 Those having low self-esteem are more
susceptible to external influence and are
dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations
from others.
 Major Personality Attributes
Influencing OB
• Self-monitoring. A personality trait that measures an
individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external,
situational factors.
• Propensity for risk taking. Risk taking ability of managers
varies from individual to individual and depends upon
factors like experience, confidence, empowerment etc. All
managers do take decisions involving varying degree of risk.
• Type A personality. Those who have aggressive
involvement in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more
and more in less time and, if necessary against the opposing
efforts of other things or people.
• Type B personality. Such people are exactly opposite to
Type A. Top positions are attained by this category.
 Characteristics of Personality Types
(A & B)
Type A’s Type B’s
1. Are always moving, walking, 1. Never suffer from a sense of
and eating rapidly time urgency with its
accompanying impatience
2. Feel impatient with the rate at
which most events take place 2. Feel no need to display or
discuss either their
3. Strive to think or do two or
achievements or
more things at once
accomplishments unless such
4. Cannot cope with leisure time exposure is demanded by the
situation
5. Are obsessed with numbers,
measuring their success in 3. Play for fun and relaxation,
terms of how many or how rather than to exhibit their
much of everything they superiority at any cost
acquire
4. Can relax without guilt
 Risk-Taking
 High Risk-taking Managers:
– Make quicker decisions.
– Use less information to make decisions.
– Operate in smaller & more entrepreneurial organizations.
 Low Risk-taking Managers:
– Are slower to make decisions.
– Require more information before making decisions.
– Exist in larger organizations with stable
environments.
 Risk Propensity:
– Aligning managers’ risk-taking propensity to job
requirements should be beneficial to organizations.
 Achieving Personality-Job Fit
Personality-Job Fit Theory:
This theory (by John Holland) identifies six
personality types and proposes that the fit between
personality type and occupational environment
determines satisfaction and turnover:
 Realistic
 Investigative
 Social
 Conventional
 Enterprising
 Artistic
 Holland’s Typology of Personality and Congruent Occupations

Personality Type Personality Congruent

Characteristics Occupation
Realistic: Prefers physical Shy, genuine, persistent, Mechanics, drill press
activities that require skill, stable, conforming, operator, assembly-line
strength & coordination. practical. worker.
Investigative: Prefers activities Analytical, original, Biologists, economists,
that involve thinking, curious, independent. mathematicians, news
organizing and understanding. reporter.
Social: Prefers activities that Sociable, friendly, Social worker, teacher,
involve helping and developing cooperative, counselor, clinical
others. understanding. psychologist.
Conventional: Prefers rules- Conforming, efficient, Accountant, corporate
regulated, orderly and practical, unimaginative, manager, bank teller, file
unambiguous activities. inflexible. clerk.
Enterprising: Prefers verbal Self-confidence, Lawyer, real estate
activities in which there are ambitious, energetic, agent, public relations
opportunities to influence domineering. specialist, small
others & attain power. business manager.
Artistic: Prefers ambiguous Imaginative, disorderly, Painter, musician, writer,
and unsystematic activities that idealistic, emotional, interior decorator.
allow creative expression. impractical.
Relationships among Occupational Personality
Types
 The Person - Organization Fit

 Most important for an organization facing a dynamic

and changing environment, and requiring employees
who are able to readily change tasks and move fluidly
between teams.

 It argues that people leave jobs/ Orgs that are not

compatible with their personalities.

 Matching people to the organizational culture at the

time of hiring should result in higher employee
satisfaction and reduced turnover
 What Are Emotions?
 Emotions are intense feelings that are directed at
someone or something. They are reactions, not a trait.

 Emotions are a natural part of an individual’s makeup

and can’t be ignored in organizational behavior.

 Emotions can’t be divorced from the workplace

because we can’t divorce emotions from employees.

 Managers who understand the role of emotions will

significantly improve their ability to explain and predict
individual behavior. Emotions can be positive
(functional) as well as negative (dysfunctional).
 What Are Emotions?

Affect General
Specific Feelings
Intense A broad range of feelings
about SAI
Feelings that people experience.
about Fee
Structure

Emotions Moods
Intense feelings that are Feelings that tend to be less
directed at someone or intense than emotions and that
lack a contextual stimulus.
something.
 What Are Emotions?

 Affect is a generic term that covers a broad

range of feelings that people experience and
encompasses both emotions and moods:

 Emotions are intense feelings that are

directed at someone or something. They are
reactions, not a trait. Emotions can turn into
moods when we lose focus on the contextual
object.
 Moods are feelings that tend to be less
intense than emotions and which lack a
contextual stimulus. They are not directed at
an object.
 Felt Vs Displayed Emotions
Felt Emotions:
An individual’s actual emotions.

Displayed Emotions:
Emotions that are organizationally
required and considered appropriate
in a given job.

Emotional Labor:
A situation in which an employee
expresses organizationally desired
emotional transactions.
 Emotion Dimensions

 Variety of emotions:
– Positive – functional.
– Negative – dysfunctional.
 Intensity of emotions:
– Personality – extreme happiness or anger.
– Job Requirements – extremely functional or
dysfunctional.
 Frequency and duration of emotions:
– How often emotions are exhibited.
– How long emotions are displayed.
 Emotion Continuum
 Emotions are identified along a continuum from
positive to negative. The closer any two emotions
are to each other on the continuum, the more
likely people are to confuse them.

 Six universal emotions have been identified along

a continuum as happiness, surprise, fear,
sadness, anger, Disgust (hatred):

 The myth of rationality. Organizations have been

specifically designed with the objective of trying
to control emotions. A well-run organization is
one that successfully reduces frustration, fear,
anger, love, hate, joy, grief, and similar feelings.
Facial Expressions Convey Emotions

Neutral Surprise Happiness

Fear Sadness Anger

 Gender and Emotions
 Women:
– Can show greater emotional expression than men.
– Experience emotions more intensely.
– Display emotions more frequently.
– Are more comfortable in expressing emotions.
– Are better at reading others’ emotions.
 Men:
– Believe that displaying emotions is inconsistent with
the male image.
– Are innately less able to read and to identify with
others’ emotions.
– Have less need to seek social approval by showing
positive emotions.
 External Constraints on Emotions

Organizational Cultural
Influences Influences

Individual • Smile is taken as a

Emotions friendly gesture in UK

• Smiling & happy appearance is acceptable for receptionist job.

• Serious appearance is better for research & medical jobs.
 Assignment # 3

Q # 1: Describe Five Big personality model; also

explain why it is important for a manager to
understand personality of his/her subordinates.

Q # 2: Contrast between felt & displayed emotions;

how emotions of employees can be used for
improving performance of the organization?