Personality and Attitudes

Peter Drucker (1974)- Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices

  “An employer has no business with a man’s

personality. It is immoral as well as an illegal intrusion of privacy. It is an abuse of power. Employment is a specific contract calling for a specific performance…an employee owes no “loyalty”, he owes no “love” and no “attitudes”—he owes performance and nothing else.”

Definition: • The unique qualities of an individual and

how those qualities affect understanding of themselves and others

The Role of Heredity and the Brain• External appearance – due to genetics• Internal characteristics – nature vs. nurture

– Twin Studies show that 40% are fixed…60% developable

How would you describe it?

Is it inherited?• Are you more like your mom or dad?

Does it change over time?

Does it change depending on who you are with?

Trait Theory - understand individuals by breaking down behavior patterns into observable traits

Psychodynamic Theory - emphasizes the unconscious determinants of behavior

Humanistic Theory - emphasizes individual growth and improvement

Integrative Approach - describes personality as a composite of an individual’s psychological processes

The Four Perspectives on Personality

Perspective Behavior Springs From Assessment Techniques Evaluation

Psychoanalytic Unconscious conflicts Projective tests aimed at A speculative, hard-to-test between pleasure-seeking revealing unconscious theory with enormous cul-

impulses and social restraints motivations tural impact

Trait Expressing biologically (a)Personality inventories A descriptive approach crit- influenced dispositions, such that assess the strengths icized as sometimes under-

as extraversion or introversion of different traits estimating the variability (b)Peer ratings of behavior of behavior from situation patterns to situation

Humanistic Processing conscious feelings (a)Questionnaire A humane theory that about oneself in the light of assessments reinvigorated contemporary

one’s experiences (b)Empathic interviews interest in the self; criticized as subjective and sometimes naively self-centered and

optimistic

Social-cognitive Reciprocal influences between (a)Questionnaire assessments Art interactive theory that in- people and their situation, of people’s feelings of control tegrates research on learning,

colored by perceptions of (b) Observations of people’s cognition, and social behavior, control behavior in particular criticized as underestimating

situations the importance of emotions and enduring traits

How much of your personality was developed, learned, strengthened over time?

Socialization trains us how to act in relationship to others. Parents are our first teachers.

How much of personality is based on genetics?

30

30

40genetics

trained-permanent

trained-adjustable

Challenging jobs Relevant Training Timely and consistent feedback Mentoring relationships Orientation programs Work group morale

Socialization does have a long run impact, but not on everything.

Thousands of “Traits” Significant Overlap Futile to Study Personality Barrick and Mount Propose the “Big

5” Big 5 now Widely Accepted and Used Other Personality Traits or “Individual

Differences” Still Researched

Extraversion Gregarious, assertive, sociable

Agreeableness Cooperative, warm, agreeable

Conscientiousness Hardworking, organized, dependable

Emotional stability Calm, self-confidant, cool

Openness to experience

Creative, curious, cultured

Sources: P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae, The NEO-PI Personality Inventory (Odessa, Fla.: Psychological Assessment Resources, 1992); J. F. Salgado, “The Five Factor Model of Personality and Job Performance in the European Community,” Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997): 30-43.

Self-Esteem• Your belief as to your competence and your

image• High self-esteem – positive attitudes, feelings,

and satisfaction Locus of Control

Generalized Self Efficacy

Neuroticism (emotional stability)

Core Self Evaluation Traits

Self-EsteemFeelings of Self Worth

Success tendsto increaseself-esteem

Failure tendsto decreaseself-esteem

Locus of ControlInternal External

I control what happens to me!

People and circumstances

control my fate!

Learned HelplessnessLearned Helplessness

Uncontrollablebad events

Perceivedlack of control

Generalizedhelpless behavior

Important IssueImportant Issue• Nursing Homes

• Prisons•Colleges

Generalized Self-Efficacy - beliefs and expectations about one’s ability to accomplish a specific task effectively

Sources of self-efficacy• Prior experiences and prior success• Behavior models (observing success)• Persuasion• Assessment of current physical & emotional

capabilities

Self-MonitoringBehavior based on cues from people & situations

High self monitors• flexible: adjust

behavior according to the situation and the behavior of others

• can appear unpredictable & inconsistent

Low self monitors• act from internal

states rather than from situational cues

• show consistency• less likely to respond

to work group norms or supervisory feedback

Low-self monitors

High-self monitors

Get promoted

Change employers

Make a job-related geographic move

Accomplish tasks, meet other’s expectations, seek out central positions in social networks

Self-promote

Demonstrate higher levels of managerial self-awareness; base behavior on other’s

cues and the situation

Swim with Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

Harvey B. Mackay (2005) “…to connect with celebrities you

need to avoid the “fan syndrome” and instead talk to them about their interests.”

Positive Affect - an individual’s tendency to accentuate the positive aspects of oneself, other people, and the world in general

Negative Affect - an individual’s tendency to accentuate the negative aspects of oneself, other people, and the world in general

A strong situation can

overwhelm the effectsof individual personalitiesby providing strong cues

for appropriate behavior

Strong personalitieswill dominate

in a weaksituation

Projective Test - elicits an individual’s response to abstract stimuli

Behavioral Measures - personality assessments that involve observing an individual’s behavior in a controlled situation

Self-Report Questionnaire - assessment involving an individual’s responses to questions

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - instrument measuring Jung’s theory of individual differences.

Based on Carl Jung’s work• People are fundamentally different• People are fundamentally alike• People have preference combinations for

extraversion/introversion, perception, judgment

Briggs & Myers developed the MBTI to understand individual differences

Preferences Represents

Extraversion Introversion How one re-energizes

Sensing Intuiting How one gathers information

Thinking Feeling How one makes decisions

Judging Perceiving How one orients to the outer world

Big 5, CSET, MBTI Matter in:

• Certain jobs (sales, QA, leadership)• At certain times (e.g., status quo, crisis)• More than performance?

Honesty Theft Absenteeism Turnover Commitment/Satisfaction

Do you feel organizations should hire people based upon their personality characteristics?

What are the issues with this?

When people are hired into a job (e.g., engineering) do you think the personality is attracted to the job, or the job shapes the personality? Why?

“I didn’t used to me this way until I started working here.”

Describe the meaning of attitudes and their emotional, informational, and behavioral components.

Explain the antecedents of work-related attitudes, the functions they perform, and how they are changed.

“Attitudes”• Persistent tendency to feel and behave in a

particular way towards some object Characteristics of Attitudes

• They tend to persist unless something is done to change them.

• They can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favorable to very unfavorable.

• They are directed toward some object about which a person has feelings and beliefs.

Informational/Cognitive

(i.e. beliefs)

Affective(i.e. emotions)

Attitude Behavior

genetics

socialization

observable

learning

Measurable in the brain with fMRI

Job Attitudes and Actual Behavior

• The belief, attitude, intention sequence is presumably followed by actual behavior.

• This traditional model suggests that behaviors (including job performance) are largely influenced by job attitudes. (e.g., absenteeism)

• Recently, this traditional model has been questioned as being too simple and some more comprehensive alternatives have been developed.

Components of Attitudes• Emotional – feelings about an object• Informational – beliefs and information

about the object• Behavioral – tendencies to behave in a

particular manner towards an object (usually behavioral intentions) Only behavioral can be directly observed

Antecedents of Work-Related Attitudes: PA/NA• Positive affect – overall sense of well-being,

engaged, and experience positive attitudes• Negative affect – nervous, tense, anxious,

and distressed

(Continued)

Based in history of Job Satisfaction Formal research began in mid-1930’s

• 1932 I/O textbooks had no mention of job satisfaction or organizational commitment

• By 1972 over 3000 articles published specifically exploring worker attitudes

Why interest developed• Methodological breakthroughsSurvey methods

• Statistical techniques

Most Americans like their jobs overall People are relatively satisfied with the

nature of the work itself:• How interesting it is• Having lots of contact with people

People less happy with rewards• Pay• Benefits• Chances for promotion

Copyright 1999 by Brent Smith, Ph.D.

Determinants of Job SatisfactionDeterminants of Job Satisfaction

Influences on Job Satisfaction• Mental challenge in the work itself• Pay• Promotions• Supervision• Work Group• Working Conditions

Cultural interest• Something most of us believe we are

entitled to or at least desire from our work Functional (practical) reasons

• Link to important organizational outcomes Performance…sometimes Turnover Absenteeism Counterproductive behaviors

Outcomes of Job Satisfaction• Satisfaction and Performance• Satisfaction and Turnover• Satisfaction and Absenteeism• Other Effects and Ways to Enhance

Satisfaction

(Continued)

Is a happy worker a productive worker?

Correlations positive and low to moderate• .16 with overall satisfaction in individual

studies • .30 with overall satisfaction in meta-

analytic studies• .10 with specific facets

Why is the association not larger?

The Meaning of Organizational Commitment• Affective• Continuance• Normative

Organizational Commitment

Organizational Commitment

Overall job satisfaction

.53

Performance (depends on financial need)

.11

Turnover -.28

Conscientiousness .67

Job involvement .50

Organizational Commitment has been related to many different job outcomes

Guidelines to Enhance Organizational Commitment• People-first• Communication Mission• Org. Justice• Create a community• Support employee development

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)

Satisfaction

Commitment

Embeddedness

Multi-dimensional Construct• self-efficacy• accountability• belongingness• self identity• Negatively loaded “territoriality”

 Correlates• Leadership• Empowerment• Performance

Measurement I feel I need to protect my ideas from being

used by others in my organization. I am confident in my ability to contribute to my

organization’s success. I would challenge anyone in my organization if I

thought something was done wrong. I feel I belong in this organization. I feel this organization’s success is my success.

Do we care if employees are satisfied as long as they do their job well?

Describe your current job: what steps could be taken to enhance job satisfaction?

Questions

What is personality?

What are some common personality traits?

Why should knowledge of personality matter to today’s managers?

Would you say it is better to train personality or to select for personality?

Describe Big 5, CSET, MBTI, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment

What are the components of an attitude?

What is self monitoring and why is it important?