Personality & Identity

1. Personality & Identity Chapter 3: 91-104 Organizational Behavior 261 Gabrielle Durepos

2. Outline • Towards an understanding of Personality • Personality and OB: why we should care • Theories of Personality: • Situational Theories of Personality • Person [trait] Theories of Personality • Interactional Theory of Personality • Examining the concept of ‘fit’: • Supplementary Fit • Complementary Fit • Person-Job Fit • Person-Organization Fit • Person-Workgroup Fit • Conclusions

3. Towards an Understanding of: Personality • Refers to all the mental and behavioral characteristics that make up and define the uniqueness of an individual • Characteristics are called personality traits • Examples include: shy, kind, anxious, trustworthy, outgoing • Personality is shaped by both genetic (nature) and environmental (nurture) influences • Personality traits remain stable over time • This is unlike identity which is fluid • Personality can be said to provide general direction for an individual’s choices and behaviors

4. Towards an Understanding of:Personality • Two Perspectives on Personality: 1) Behavioral • Personality can be ‘observed’ by others • Personality is public, stable, objective and describable • Personality can be used by others to: • Describe your personality traits based on past behavior • Predict your future behavior based on your unique set of personality traits 2) Mental • Personality has internal components which others can not see • Ex: decisions made by individuals are influenced by their personality traits but through observation, we can not tell which personality traits affected the decision

5. Personality and Organizational Behavior:Why we should care • Our unique make up of personality traits affects: • Our behavior in an organization • How well we fit in a workgroup • How well we fit in an organization • How well we fit in a job • Our choice of career • How well we fit in a job & career can affect: • Our performance at work • Our job satisfaction • Our level of stress • Our level of efficiency

6. Theories of Personality • There are many theories of personality • Most are derived from the Psychology literature • Contributors include Freud, Maslow, Skinner, Piaget and etc. • We cover a basic overview • Personality and the nature – nurture debate • Nature • External factors do not shape individual personality • individuals are born with unique sets of personality traits • These personality traits help explain their behavior in organizations • Nurture • External factors contribute to and shape an individuals personality after birth • Individuals develop personality traits based on interpersonal situations • The organization is one site in which individual personality traits are shaped

7. Theories of Personality:Situational Theories of Personality • Falls on the NURTURE side of the continuum • The environment / situation is a key determinant of personality • An individual is not born with an innate set of personality traits • The organization is an example of an environment where personality is shaped • Situational theorists focus on ‘the context’ of the individual to understand: • The causes of an individuals job satisfaction • Job performance • Other work attitudes • Example: Pavlov’s dogs salivating after hearing the bell • Criticisms • Everyone in the same situation will have the same personality? • We know this not to be the case, how do we account for differences?

8. Theories of Personality:Person [trait] Theories of Personality • Falls on the NATURE side of the continuum • An individual is born with an innate, stable set of personality traits • The environment / situation is not a key determinant of personality • Individuals within a same situation / organization will: • Interact and respond differently based on their unique make up of personality traits • Person [trait] theorists focus on identifying an individual’s personality traits: • But do not focus to an individual’s situation • Fit a person to a job: Try and match personality traits of an individual with traits that are required to do a job • To predict future performance, attitudes, stress levels, ability to work with others

9. Theories of Personality:Interactional Theory of Personality • Falls in the middle of the NATURE-NURTURE continuum • An individual’s personality is a result of: • The personality traits they are born with • The situation / environment in which they interact • An ‘interaction’ of specific situations and individual predispositions • Organizations are a result of the people that are in them [nature] • Individuals bring their personalities to work and shape the organization • Individuals do not check their personalities at the door – like their coat • Individuals are influenced by the organization [nurture] • Individuals are shaped by ‘the dominant ways of acting’ that have been engrained in the organization

10. Examining the concept of ‘fit’ • Our interest is in finding a good ‘match’ or ‘fit’ between an individual and a: • Job, Organization, Workgroup, Profession • We ask: • Are potential employees ‘compatible’ with their job, organization, workgroup, profession? • Do they have the right knowledge? qualification? skills? attitudes? • The right ‘fit’ is important as: • ‘Win-Win’ • Employees Win: efficiency, productivity, satisfaction • Organization Wins: productivity, profitability • The lack of ‘fit’ can lead to: • High turnover, high recruiting costs, low productivity, decreased employee morale, decreased employee self-esteem, etc.

11. Examining the concept of ‘fit’: Supplementary Fit • A theory of ‘fit’ from the organizations perspective • Theory states that: • The hired employee has the SAME set of characteristics as those who are currently employed in the organization • Characteristics include: skill sets, work experience, educational background • Supplementary fit forms the basis for vocational choice • People prefer to work in organizations or professions with others who share similar characteristics

12. Examining the concept of ‘fit’: Complementary Fit • A theory of ‘fit’ from the organization’s perspective • Theory states that: • The hired employees has a DIFFERENT set of characteristics than those currently employed • The organization identifies deficiencies in skill sets, knowledge, skills, etc. in their current workgroups • The hired employee ‘complements’ the organization by filling a void

13. Examining the concept of ‘fit’: Person-Job Fit • Employee selection is traditionally based on person-fit • Examines the perspective of ‘fit’ between the individual and some aspect of work • Is the person suitable for a set of interrelated tasks? • Does the person posses the ‘right’ set of personality traits that will enable them to fulfill the set of interrelated tasks needed for the job? • A ‘good’ fit means that a job applicant’s knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA’s) correspond with the job requirements • Job requirements are developed by an organization and listed in a job analysis • A job analysis is an explicit identification of all the requirements needed to fulfill a job or set of interrelated tasks • A job analysis may not mention specific needed personality traits • Person-Job fit is important because: • Acts as a basis for standardizing employment practices • It ensures consistency in recruiting and hiring processes • Criticisms: • Assumes that jobs are stable / unchanging over time • Assumes that a given job will always be needed or relevant

14. Examining the concept of ‘fit’: Person-Organization Fit • Examines the perspective of ‘fit’ between the individual and some aspect of work: • Is the person suitable for a specific organization? • Is the person’s needs, goals and values compatible with the organizations values, goals, culture and reward systems? • A ‘good’ fit between an individual and organization may lead to: • Greater motivation on the individual’s behalf to perform well • The downside of too much person-organization alignment: • discrimination towards those who do not ‘fit’ • narrowed vision, low adaptability to change, less competitiveness • too much agreement, not enough questioning and thus unethical choices • ex: Challenger Space Shuttle disaster

15. Examining the concept of ‘fit’: Person-Workgroup Fit • Examines the perspective of ‘fit’ between the individual and some aspect of work: • Do the personality traits of an individual make them good candidates to work in a given group? • Is the person’s needs, goals, attitudes and values compatible with the workgroup values, goals, work ethic? • Person-Workgroup fit may more important in certain organizations • Organizations whose workflows are organized around self managed work teams • The downside of too much person-workgroup alignment: • discrimination towards those who do not ‘fit’ • narrowed vision, low adaptability to change, less competitiveness • too much agreement, not enough questioning and thus unethical choices

16. Conclusions • Is personality shaped nature or nurture? • What is the implication for the organization? • Does this subject remind you of organizational culture? • What are the similarities? • What are the differences? • Personality is at the individual level = culture at the organizational level? • IF personality is based on nurture – can we CHANGE PERSONALITY of employees to match the CULTURE of the organization? • What are the ethical concerns?