1. Personality and Attitudes
Section 4:
Personality and Attitudes

2. Leaders are Readers
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.”

3. The Meaning of Personality
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

4. What is Personality? 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?

5. Personality Theories
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 7 7 7 7

6. Personality- Summary 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

7. Start with Nature, Then Add Nurture
How much of personality is based on genetics?
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.

8. Is Personality Changeable?

9. Socialization Tactics that Change Personality
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.

10. Introduction to Personality Traits
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

11. Big Five Personality Traits
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): 8 8 8

12. Core Self Evaluation Traits
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)

13. Personality Characteristics in Organizations
Self-Esteem
Feelings of Self Worth
Success tends
to increase
self-esteem
Failure tends
to decrease
self-esteem 10 11 11 11

14. Personality Characteristics in Organizations
Locus of Control
Internal
External
People and circumstances control my fate!
I control what
happens to me! 8 9 9 9

15. Outcomes of Personal Control
Learned Helplessness
Uncontrollable
bad events
Perceived
lack of control
Generalized
helpless behavior
Important Issue
Nursing Homes
Prisons
Colleges

16. Personality Characteristics in Organizations
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 9 10 10 10

17. Personality Characteristics in Organizations
Self-Monitoring
Behavior 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 11 12 12 12

18. Make a job-related geographic move
Who Is Most Likely to . . .
Low-self monitors
High-self monitors
Get promoted 
Accomplish tasks, meet other’s expectations, seek out central positions in social networks
Change employers 
Self-promote
Make a job-related geographic move 
Demonstrate higher levels of managerial self-awareness; base behavior on other’s cues and the situation

19. Leaders are Readers 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.”

20. Personality Characteristics in Organizations
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 12 13 13 13

21. Personality Characteristics in Organizations
A strong
situation can
overwhelm the effects
of individual personalities
by providing strong cues
for appropriate
behavior 13 14 14 14

22. Personality Characteristics in Organizations
Strong
personalities
will dominate
in a weak
situation 14 15 15 15

23. How is Personality Measured?
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. 16 16 16

24. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
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 17 17 17

25. MBTI Preferences 18 18

26. Does Personality Matter?
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

27. Discussion Questions
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.”

28. Today’s Learning Objectives
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.

29. The Nature and Dimensions of 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.

30. Attitude Model genetics Informational/ Cognitive (i.e. beliefs)
Behavior
socialization
Affective
(i.e. emotions)
Measurable in
the brain with fMRI
observable
learning

31. 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.

32. The Nature and Dimensions of Attitudes
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

33. The Nature and Dimensions of Attitudes
(Continued)
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

34. History of Job Satisfaction
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 breakthroughs
Survey methods
Statistical techniques

35. How do Americans feel about going to work?
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

36. Determinants of Job Satisfaction
Copyright 1999 by Brent Smith, Ph.D.

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

38. Why all the fuss? Cultural interest Functional (practical) reasons
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

39. Job Satisfaction Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
(Continued)
Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction and Performance
Satisfaction and Turnover
Satisfaction and Absenteeism
Other Effects and Ways to Enhance Satisfaction

40. Job Satisfaction and Performance
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?

41. Organizational Commitment
The Meaning of Organizational Commitment
Affective
Continuance
Normative

42. Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment has been related to many different job outcomes
Organizational Commitment
Overall job satisfaction
.53
Performance (depends on financial need)
.11
Turnover
-.28
Conscientiousness
.67
Job involvement
.50

43. Organizational Commitment
Guidelines to Enhance Organizational Commitment
People-first
Communication Mission
Org. Justice
Create a community
Support employee development
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)

44. Managing Employee Turnover through Attitudes
Satisfaction
Commitment
Embeddedness

45. Psychological Ownership
Multi-dimensional Construct
self-efficacy
accountability
belongingness
self identity
Negatively loaded “territoriality”
 Correlates
Leadership
Empowerment
Performance

46. Psychological Ownership
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.

47. Discussion
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?

48. Questions ?

49. Review 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?