ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

CHAPTER 4

PERSONALITY

Learning Objectives

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

Define Personality and understand the importance of Personality.
Understand the structure of Personality and determinants of
Personality.
Understand the theories of Personality and associated personality
behaviour

Structure
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Definition Of Personality
4.3 Determinants Of Personality
4.4 Personality Structure
4.5 Personality Theories
4.6 Personality And Organization
4.7 Personality And Behavior
4.8 Organizational Implications
4.9 Keywords
4.10 Summary

4.1 Introduction

The term personality is used in several senses. Generally when people say 'he
has a good personality', they are referring to the person's physical
appearance. When someone says, he needs to improve his personality, what
they mean is he needs to be better dressed or be physically well-groomed. At
times we also use the term to denote the position of the person such as 'she
has a powerful personality' or he has a smart personality, meaning he dresses
well and/or he speaks well.

In organizations, personality plays an important role, especially for people who

are at a higher level or who interact with external parties very often. Each
employee portrays the organization's image, i.e. he/she reflect the
organization's 'personality'. Many of us would have seen how a 'wrong' kind of
personality can be disastrous and fatal, causing avoidable worries and
problems in organizations. At times, employees leave an organization
because of conflicts between personalities, most often between people at the
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top. For example, some people encourage and others discourage free and
open communication among team members.

In simple words, personality means how people affect others and how they
understand and view themselves, as well as their pattern of inner and outer
measurable traits and the person-situation interaction. Of course, physical
appearance does have a huge impact on personality as we have seen and also
all the effects of perception enter into these physical aspects of personality.
Personality characteristics also tend to produce differential emotional
reactions to stress. We see different individuals coping differently to the same
type of stress. When exposed to tension producing situations, some people
tend to be problem oriented; others deal with the emotional experience which
the stress arouses in them rather than with the determinants of the experience.
There are also some people who deal with derivative problems, which may
have been created by their efforts to cope with the stress. They may happen to
project hostility on to others and thus make easier guilt-free aggression against
them. The dangers inherent in such a hostile counter attack are obvious.

The word “personality” means “to sound through” in Latin. The word persona
derives from Latin as well and originally meant an actor's mask, through which
the sound of his voice was projected. It is interesting to note that the word
“personality” by derivation should mean, “What an individual only appears to
be, not what he really is.”

Allport's definition of personality is widely accepted. According to him,

“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-
physical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment”.
R. W. White's simplified this and states that “Personality is the organization of
an individual's personal pattern of tendencies.”

Carl Rogers defines personality as, “… is an organized, consistent pattern of

perception of the 'I', around which the individual interacts and has
experiences.”

4.2 Definition Of Personality

People are strongly influenced by events in the surrounding environment
(including presence and behavior of others) and this in turn affects their
behavior. However, people always bring something of their own to the
situation. This 'something', which is unique, is personality.

Salvatore Maddi, a famous personality theorist defined personality as:

“Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine
those commonalities and differences in the psychological behavior (thoughts,
feelings and actions) of people that have continuity in time and that may not be
easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of
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the moment.”

This definition contains three important ideas.

First, the definition does not limit the influence of personality only to certain
behaviors, certain situations or certain people. Rather, personality theory is a
general theory of behavior – an attempt to understand or describe all behaviors
all the time.
Second, the phrase “commonalities and differences” suggests an important
aspect of human beings. In certain respects, every person is like

All other people,

Some other people and
No other person
Thus each employee in an organization is unique and may or may not respond
as others do in a particular situation. This complexity makes managing and
working with people extremely challenging. Therefore, to understand, predict
and control behavior, it is important to study personality. Maddi's definition also
refers to personality as being 'stable' and having continuity in time. If your
entire personality could change suddenly and dramatically, your family and
friends would meet a stranger. Personality development occurs to a certain
extent throughout life, but the greatest changes occur in early childhood.

4.3 Determinants Of Personality

The major determinants of personality of an individual can be studied under

four broad headings
a) Biological
b) Cultural
c) Familial
d) Situation.
Biological Factors
Biological factors may be studied under three heads –
a) The heredity
b) The brain
c) Physical features
a) Heredity
The relative effects of heredity comprise an extremely old argument in
personality theory. Certain characteristics, primarily physical in nature, are
inherited from one's parents, transmitted by genes in the chromosomes
contributed by each parent. Research on animals has showed that physical
and psychological characteristics can be transmitted through heredity. But
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research on human beings is inadequate to support this viewpoint. However,

psychologists and geneticists have accepted the fact that heredity plays an
important role in one's personality. The importance of heredity varies from one
personality trait to another. For instance, heredity is generally more important
in determining a person's temperament than values and ideals.

b) Brain
Another biological factor that influences personality is the role of the brain of an
individual. The psychologists are unable to prove empirically the contribution
of human brain in influencing personality. Preliminary results from the
electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) research gives indication that better
understanding of human personality and behavior might come from the study
of the brain.

C) Physical features
Perhaps the most outstanding factor that contributes to personality is the
physical stature of an individual. An individual's external appearance is proved
to be having a tremendous effect on his personality. For instance the fact that a
person is short or tall, fat or skinny, handsome or ugly, black or whitish will
undoubtedly influence the person's effect on others and in turn, will affect the
self-concept. A person's physical characteristics may be related to his
approach to the social environment, to the expectancies of others, and to their
reactions, to him. These in turn, may have impacts on personality
development. Psychologists contend that the different rates of maturation will
also influence an individual's personality.

Cultural Factors
Culture is traditionally considered as the major determinant of an individual's
personality. The culture largely determines what a person is and what a person
will learn. The culture within which a person is brought up is very important
determinant of behavior of a person. The personality of an individual, to a
marked extent, is determined by the culture in which he is brought up.
According to Mussen “...each culture expects, and trains, its members to
behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group.” In spite of the importance
of the culture on personality, researchers are unable to establish correlation
between these two concepts of personality and culture.

Family and Social Factors

In order to understand the effects of a family on individual's personality, we
have to understand the socialization process and identification process.
1. Socialization Process
The contribution of family and social group in combination with the culture is

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known as socialization. In the words of Mussen “Socialization is the process by

which an individual infant acquires, from the enormously wide range of
behavioral, potentials that are open to him at birth, those behavioral patterns
that are customary and acceptable according to the standards of his family and
social group.” Socialization initially starts with the contact with mother and later
on the other members of the family (father, sisters, and close-relatives) and the
social group play influential role in shaping an individual's personality.

2. Identification process
Identification starts when a person begins to identify himself with some other
members of the family. Normally a child tries to emulate certain actions of his
parents. Identification process can be examined from three angles: (a) it can
be viewed as the similarity of behavior between child and the model, and (b) it
can be looked as the child's motives or desires to be like the model and (c) it
can be viewed as the process
through which the child actually takes on the attributes of the model.
Apart from the socialization and identification processes, the home
environment influences the personality of an individual. There is substantial
empirical evidence to indicate that the overall environment at home created by
parents is critical to personality development.
The Person and the Situation
Although understanding differences in personality is important, behavior
always involves an interaction of the person and the situation. Sometimes the
demands of the situation may be so overwhelming that individual differences
are relatively unimportant. For example, if an office building is burning,
everyone in it will try to flee. However, the fact that all employees behaved the
same way says nothing about the personalities of those individuals. In other
cases, individual differences may explain more about behavior. The relative
importance of situational versus dispositional (personal) determinants of
behavior continues to be debated, but considerable evidence exists for roles
by both.

4.4 Personality Structure

The number of and variety of specific personality traits or dimensions is
bewildering. The term personality trait typically refers to the basic components
of personality. Trait name simply refer to the terms people use to describe each
other. To be useful, these terms need to be organized into small sets of
concepts or descriptions. Five main factors summarize the personality
structure. These Big Five factors, as they often are referred to, describe
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individual's adjustment, sociability, conscientiousness, agreeableness and

intellectual openness. As shown in the figure below, each factor includes a
potentially large number and range of specific traits or dimensions.

Openness - appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas,

imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. Openness to Experience
describes a dimension of personality that distinguishes imaginative, creative
people from down-to-earth, conventional people. Open people are
intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to beauty. They tend to
be, compared to closed people, more aware of their feelings. They therefore
tend to hold unconventional and individualistic beliefs, although their actions
may be conforming (see agreeableness). People with low scores on openness
to experience, tend to have narrow, common interests. They prefer the plain,
straightforward, and obvious over the complex, ambiguous, and subtle. They
may regard the arts and sciences with suspicion, regarding these endeavors
as abstruse or of no practical use. Closed people prefer familiarity over
novelty; they are conservative and resistant to change.

Conscientiousness - a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim

f o r a c h i e v e m e n t ; p l a n n e d r a t h e r t h a n s p o n t a n e o u s b e h a v i o r.
Conscientiousness concerns the way in which we control, regulate, and direct
our impulses. Impulses are not inherently bad; occasionally time constraints
require a snap decision, and acting on our first impulse can be an effective
response. Also, in times of play rather than work, acting spontaneously and
impulsively can be fun. Impulsive individuals can be seen by others as colorful,
fun-to-be-with, and zany. Conscientiousness includes the factor known as
Need for Achievement (Nach). The benefits of high conscientiousness are
obvious. Conscientious individuals avoid trouble and achieve high levels of
success through purposeful planning and persistence. They are also
positively regarded by others as intelligent and reliable. On the negative side,
they can be compulsive perfectionists and workaholics. Furthermore,
extremely conscientious individuals might be regarded as stuffy and boring.
Un-conscientious people may be criticized for their unreliability, lack of
ambition, and failure to stay within the lines, but they will experience many
short-lived pleasures and they will never be called stuffy (i.e. dull, boring,
unimaginative).
Extraversion - energy, positive emotions, and the tendency to seek
stimulation and the company of others. Extraversion (also "extroversion") is
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marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy

being with people, are full of energy, and often experience positive emotions.
They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented individuals who are likely to say
"Yes!" or "Let's go!" to opportunities for excitement. In groups they like to talk,
assert themselves, and draw attention to themselves.
Introverts lack the exuberance, energy, and activity levels of extraverts. They
tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and less dependent on the social world.
Their lack of social involvement should not be interpreted as shyness or
depression; the introvert simply needs less stimulation than an extravert and
more time alone to re-charge their batteries. A simple explanation is that an
extrovert gains energy by associating with others and loses energy when
alone for any period of time. An introvert is the opposite, as they gain energy
from doing individual activities such as watching movies or reading and lose
energy, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, from social activities.

Agreeableness - a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather

than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. Agreeableness reflects
individual differences in concern with cooperation and social harmony. It was
seen that agreeable individual's value getting along with others. They are
therefore considerate, friendly, generous, helpful, and willing to compromise
their interests with others'. Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of
human nature. They believe people are basically honest, decent, and
trustworthy.
Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting along with others.
They are generally unconcerned with others' well-being, and therefore are
unlikely to extend themselves for other people. Sometimes their skepticism
about others' motives causes them to be suspicious, unfriendly, and
uncooperative.
Agreeableness is obviously advantageous for attaining and maintaining
popularity. Agreeable people are better liked than disagreeable people. On the
other hand, agreeableness is not useful in situations that require tough or
absolute objective decisions. Disagreeable people can make excellent
scientists, critics, or soldiers.

Emotional Stability - a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily,

such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability; sometimes called
emotional instability.
Emotional Stability, also known as Neuroticism, refers to the tendency to
experience negative emotions. Those who score high on Neuroticism may
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experience primarily one specific negative feeling such as anxiety, anger, or

depression, but are likely to experience several of these emotions. People
high in Neuroticism are emotionally reactive. They respond emotionally to
events that would not affect most people, and their reactions tend to be more
intense than normal. They are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as
threatening, and minor frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative
emotional reactions tend to persist for unusually long periods of time, which
means they are often in a bad mood. These problems in emotional regulation
can diminish a neurotic's ability to think clearly, make decisions, and cope
effectively with stress. At the other end of the scale, individuals who score low
in Neuroticism are less easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They
tend to be calm, emotionally stable, and free from persistent negative feelings.
Freedom from negative feelings does not mean that low scorers experience a
lot of positive feelings; frequency of positive emotions is a component of the
Extraversion domain. Some scholarly works refer to the Big Five as the Five-
Factor Model. These factors are also referred to as the OCEAN or CANOE
models of personality.

4.5 Personality Theories

Researchers have developed a number of personality theories and no
theory, at the outset, it must be pointed out, is complete in itself. Personality
theories can be grouped under the five heads:
I. Intra-psychic theory;
II. Type theories;
III. Trait theories;
IV. Social Learning theory;
V. Self-theory.
These theories differ markedly in the constructs they propose as forming the
structure of the personality, and also the way they relate these constructs to
behavior. They also differ in the methods they use to assess or measure an
individual's personality. Let us examine these theories.
I. Psychoanalytic Theory of Sigmund Freud
Freud remains the most influential theorist in the areas of personality.
According to Freud the human mind is composed of three elements
I] The preconscious,
ii] The conscious
iii] The unconscious.
The items in the mind that can be recognized only through Freud's association
method are “preconscious”. The “conscious” element is concerned with
thoughts, feelings, and beliefs and desires that we probe during introspection.
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The final component “unconscious” is basically concerned with ideas and

wishes that cannot be learned through introspection but can be determined by
hypnotism, analysis of dreams, and Freudian therapeutic techniques.
According to Freud the “conscious” is guided by a “reasoned reality” principle
and the “unconscious” is guided by the famous “hedonistic principle” of
pleasure. Freud developed an organization of personality consisting of three
structures within the human mind the id, the ego, and the superego. These
parts of the mind are primarily responsible for originating human actions and
reactions and modifications.

Superego

Ego

ID

Fig : level of Consciousness of id, ego & super Ego

Type Theory:
According to type theories, people are grouped into the identifiable
categories. In the type theories people are categorized depending upon
their physical characteristics. The relationship of face or body and
personality characteristics is established. Like a short, plump person
(endomorph) was sociable, relaxed and even tempered, a tall thin
person (endomorph) was said to be restrained, self-conscious, and
fond of solitude, a heavy muscular individual (mesomorph) was
described as noisy, callous and fond of physical activity.

Carl Jung a famous psychologist divided personalities into introverts

and extroverts. These terms are normally associated with individual's
sociability and interpersonal orientation. Extroverts are gregarious,
sociable individuals while introverts are shy, quiet, and retiring. Type
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theories are simple and turns out to be based on the physical

characteristics of the person which determines their personalities, this
theory fails to reveal all complexities of personality.

The id
The term id is a Latinized derivation from Groddeck's das Es. It stands in
direct opposition to the super-ego. It is dominated by the pleasure principle.
The newborn child is regarded as being completely 'Id-ridden', in the sense
that it is a mass of instinctive drives and impulses, and demands immediate
satisfaction. This view equates a new born child with an id-ridden individual -
often humorously - with this analogy: an alimentary tract with no sense of
responsibility at either end

The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, sex and aggressive
impulses. It is amoral and egocentric, ruled by the pleasure-pain principle; it is
without a sense of time; completely illogical; primarily sexual; infantile in its
emotional development; will not take 'no' for an answer. It is regarded as the
reservoir of the libido or "love energy".
A popular interpretation of the id is not that it is "convincing" the mind to ignore
social norms, but rather in itself just does not take social norms into account
when 'thinking' or 'acting'. The id is the primal, or beast-like, part of the brain,
determined to pursue actions that are pleasurable, such as eating or
copulation. The prime motive of the id is self-survival, pursuing whatever
necessary to accomplish that goal.

The id is responsible for our basic drives such as food, sex and aggressive
impulses. It is amoral and egocentric, ruled by the pleasure-pain principle; it is
without a sense of time; completely illogical; primarily sexual; infantile in its
emotional development; will not take 'no' for an answer. It is regarded as the
reservoir of the libido or "love energy".
A popular interpretation of the id is not that it is "convincing" the mind to
ignore social norms, but rather in itself just does not take social norms into
account when 'thinking' or 'acting'. The id is the primal, or beast-like, part of the
brain, determined to pursue actions that are pleasurable, such as eating or
copulation. The prime motive of the id is self-survival, pursuing whatever
necessary to accomplish that goal.

It is the original and the most basic system of human personality. At the base of
the Freudian theory lies the id that is primitive, instinctual and governed by the
principles of greed and pleasure. Id represents a storehouse of all instincts,
containing in its dark depths all wishes, and desires that unconsciously direct
and determines our behavior. Id is largely childish, irrational, never satisfied,
demanding and destructive of others. But id is the foundation upon which all
other parts of personality are erected. Like a newly born baby id has no
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perception of reality. It is primitive, immoral, insistent and rash. Id is the

reservoir of the “psychic energy” which Freud calls “Libido”. According to
Freud id is totally oriented towards increasing pleasure and avoiding pain, and
it strives for immediate satisfaction of desires.

One notable characteristic of id is that it cannot tolerate uncomfortable levels

of tension within it and seeks to release the tension as soon as it develops. The
methods for dealing with tension by id are primary processes and reflex
actions. The former attempts to discharge a tension by forming a mental image
of desirable mean of releasing the tension. But this kind of tension release is
temporary and mental, and would not satisfy the real need. For instance, if a
person is hungry the id deals with the situation by creating a mental image of
desirable and good food that is palatable. The later method (reflex actions) of
tension release is reflected in the behavior of individuals such as blinking of
eyes, raising eyebrows, rubbing the cheeks etc. Id, in fact, is capable of
resolving the tension in reality. Id basically represents an individual's natural
urges and feelings.

Ego
The word ego is taken directly from Latin, where it is the nominative of the first
person singular personal pronoun and is translated as "I myself" to express
emphasis. The Latin term ego is used in English to translate Freud's German
term "Das Ich," which literally means "the I." In modern-day society, ego has
many meanings. It could mean one's self-esteem; an inflated sense of self-
worth; or in philosophical terms, one's self. However, according to the
psychologist Sigmund Freud, the ego is the part of the mind which contains the
consciousness. Originally, Freud had associated the word ego to meaning a
sense of self; however, he later revised it to mean a set of psychic functions
such as judgment, tolerance, reality-testing, control, planning, and defense,
synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory.

As an individual learns to separate the unreality from reality in childhood, the

ego develops. The ego is reality-oriented part of thinking; it is largely practical
and works in an executive capacity. Ego is rational and logical, and in essence,
it is the conscious mediator between the realities of world and the id's
demands. It constantly works to keep a healthy psychological balance
between id's impulsive demands and superego's restrictive guidance. Ego is
rational master. The ego is said to be the executive part of the personality
because it controls the gateway to action, selects the features of the
environment to which it will respond, and decides
what instincts will be satisfied.

The most important characteristic of ego is that it has the ability to distinguish
between mental images and actual sources of tension release, and it responds
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to the real sources of tension reduction. The ego performs this task by;
1) Observing accurately what exists in the outside world (perceiving)
2) R ecording these experiences carefully (remembering) and
3) Modifying the external world in such a way as to satisfy the instinctual
wishes (acting).

Super-ego
Freud's theory states that the super-ego is a symbolic internalization of the
father figure and cultural regulations. The super-ego tends to stand in
opposition to the desires of the id because of their conflicting objectives, and is
aggressive towards the ego. The super-ego acts as the conscience,
maintaining our sense of morality and the prohibition of taboos. Superego
represents noblest thoughts, ideals, feelings that are acquired by a person
from his parents, teachers, friends, religion, organization and colleagues etc.
As a child grows and absorbs parental and cultural attitudes and values, he
develops super-ego. Super-ego is the moralistic segment
of the human personality. The primary concern of super-ego is to determine
whether the action proposed by “ego” is right or wrong so that the individual
acts in accordance with the values and standards of the society. If people
violate the prohibitions of superego they may feel guilty.

The super-ego acts as a censor on the individual and as a censor a too strong
superego is likely to be in constant and pronounced battle with the id. Freud
says that the ego's role is to mediate between the id and super-ego. A
personality becomes disorderly when either the id or super-ego becomes
dominant. At the same time, it should be noted that when too much energy is
consumed by ego in mediating between the id and superego, an individual's
personal development will suffer (or adversely affected). The super-ego, in
some respects, is the antithesis of id. Psychologist Duane Schult notes that id
is pressing for satisfaction, the ego is trying to delay it and the superego urges
morality above all. Freud's human being is therefore described as “basically a
battlefield.”

Psychoanalysis, while acknowledged as having a powerful influence, has

been seriously questioned as a scientific theory. This theory is criticized on
methodological grounds.

Further Freud's theory is criticized because it is largely un-testable since his

constructs are difficult to define and are ambiguous.

ii. Trait Theories

Trait theorists view personality from the standpoint of understanding traits.
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Among trait theorists are included Allport, Cattell and Sheldon. Allport is of the
opinion that each individual possesses a set of traits that are not shared by any
other individuals. He emphasizes the uniqueness of personality. Cattell has
extensively worked on traits in various work settings employing a number of
psychological measures. On the basis of factor analysis he developed factor
concepts such as tender-mindedness, somatic anxiety, dominance etc.

Evaluation of Trait Theories

When compared to type theories, trait theories have some sense. Instead of
making unrealistic attempt to place personalities into discrete, discontinuous
categories, trait theories give recognition to continuity of personalities. But the
trait theories suffer from the following limitations:
I. Traits may be too abstract. For example, the scale of 'measuring' 'anxiety'
may be abstract.
ii. Trait approach focuses on isolated traits without specifying how these traits
are organized within the personality. Without knowing which traits are more
important and how they are related to other traits of an individual, it is not
possible to make adequate description of an individual's personality. Another
fundamental problem (or drawback} of trait theories is that they are essentially
descriptive rather than analytical
iii. Social Learning theory
This theory stresses on the change of behavior through learning from several
sources. Through learning one person acquires values, attitude, skills, fears,
personality traits, and self insight. Therefore a study of the process of learning
throws more light on the understanding human activities. People usually learn
through reinforcement, direct experience and learning by observing others,
also called vicarious learning. The social learning theory of personality regards
situation as an important determinant of behavior. The social learning theory
believes that person's action depends upon the specific characteristics of
situation, the individual understanding of the situation, and past behavior in
similar situations. This theory focuses on the behavior pattern and cognitive
activities in relation to the specific condition that evoke, maintain, or modify
them.
Some personal variables that determine what an individual will do in particular
situation include following.
1) Competencies: Intelligence ability, social skills, and other abilities.
2) Cognitive strategies: Habitual ways of selectively attending to
information and organizing it into meaningful way.
3) Outcome expectations: expectations about the consequences of
different behaviors and the meaning of certain stimuli.
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4) Subjective value outcome: Even if individuals have similar

expectancies, they may choose t behave differently because of
differences in the subjective values of the outcomes they expect. Two
student may expect that certain behavior will please the professor, but for
one this outcome is important, while for the other it is not.
5) Self regulatory systems and plans: Individual difference in self
imposed goals, rules guiding behavior, self imposed rewards for success
or punishment for failure, and ability to plan and execute steps leading to a
goal will lead to differences in behavior.

All of the above variables interact with the conditions of particular situation to
determine what an individual will do in that situation. This theory believes that
situation is no doubt capable of evoking, maintaining or modifying the behavior
patterns of individuals. We are not simply the passive reactors to situational
condition our behavior influences the situation of life as well as being
influenced by them the relationship is reciprocal. By selectively attending what
is happening, we can partly crate the condition that do impinge, changes in
behavior towards others are usually followed by reciprocal changes in the
behaviors of others.
iv. Self Theory
The intra-psychic, physiognomy and trait theories represent the traditional
approaches to understanding the complex human personality. Self-theory
rejects both psychoanalytic and behaviorist conception of human nature as too
mechanistic portraying people as creatures helplessly tossed about by internal
instincts or external stimuli. Carl Rogers and his associates have developed
the self-theory that places emphasis on the individual as an initiating, creating,
influential determinant of behavior within the environmental framework.
a) Self-Concept
The most important concept in Roger's theory is the self. The self consists of all
the perceptions, ideas, values, and characteristics that characterize 'I or Me'. It
includes 'What I am' and 'what I can do'. Rogers defines the self-concept as “an
organized, consistent, conceptual gestalt composed of perceptions of the
characteristics of the I or me and the perceptions of the relationships of I or me
to these perceptions”. Here 'I' refers to the personal self and 'me' refers to the
social self. By far the most influential and eloquent voice in self-concept theory
was that of Carl Rogers (1947) who introduced an entire system of helping built
around the importance of the self. In Rogers' view, the self is the central
ingredient in human personality and personal adjustment. Rogers described
the self as a social product, developing out of interpersonal relationships and
striving for consistency. He maintained that there is a basic human need for

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positive regard both from others and from oneself. He also believed that in
every person there is a tendency towards self-actualization and development
so long as this is permitted and encouraged by an inviting environment
(Purkey & Schmidt, 1987).

Personal self-consists of a person's psychological processes such as

perception, motivation and attitudes etc. that result in a composed whole. On
the other hand the social self is the way an individual appears to others and the
manner this person thinks he appears to others. The perceived self influences
the person's perception of

the world and his behavior. An individual with a strong, positive self-concept is
quite likely to view world quite differently from one whose self-concept is weak.
One important thing to remember here is that self-concept does not
necessarily mean or reflect reality. The essence of this theory is that individuals
normally are active creators and initiators rather than passive reactors to the
pressures of the environment. There is yet another self in Roguery's self-
theory. That is the ideal self. It represents the type of person an individual likes
to be. This concept is similar to Freud's ego ideal. If the ideal self is closer to the
real self, then the individual will be more fulfilled and happy.

The organism
The organism is essentially the locus of all experiences. The totality of
experience is the field known to the person himself and is frequently referred
to as frame of reference. Behavior of an individual is largely determined by this
field and not by the stimulating conditions of events in the external field or
environment.
The individual evaluates every experience in relation to his self-concept. The
experiences may be symbolized or un-symbolized. When they are symbolized
they become part of individual's consciousness. Conversely, when they are
un-symbolized they remain outside the confines of the awareness or
consciousness of an individual. The important thing here is that distorted
symbolization gives rise to inappropriate behavior.

c) The development of Self-Personality

Rogers feels that the fundamental force motivating the human organism is
self- actualization i.e. “a tendency toward fulfillment, toward the maintenance
and enhancement of the organism”. The tendency of self-actualization of both
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the organism and the self is subject to the profound influence of the social
environment. In the childhood itself, when the child's behavior is evaluated
continuously by his parents, he will be in a position to discriminate between
thoughts and actions that are considered 'worthy' and 'unworthy'. He will be
able to exclude the unworthy experiences from his self-concept.
Rogrers maintains that the innate tendency toward self-actualization often:
runs counter to two needs — the need for their regard, and — the need for
positive reward. It is true that the latter need is universal whereas the former
one is the internalization of those actions and values that others approve. The
regard may be conditional and unconditional. Ideally, the more completely the
individual is given positive regard acceptance that is not conditional to specific
behaviors– the more congruence there – the more congruence there will be
between his self-concept and his actual experience, as well as between his
self-concept and ideal self.

Evaluation of the Self-Theory

Self-concept is the result of one's perceptual process. It is a cognitive factor
and maintained through thinking-related activities. The self-theory is
appreciated on the ground that it is organized around the concept of self. It is
the one which says that personality and behavior are largely determined by the
individual whereas, in other theories, the individual is the medium through
which behavior is elicited after having been acted upon by elements over
which he has no control.

In analyzing organizational behavior, it would be beneficial for the manager to

understand the self-concept because this unique concept influences the way
he should apply various reinforcement motivation and leadership techniques
in the process of maintaining the required amount of output. For instance,
monetary rewards for performance, authoritarian leadership style and
motivational strategies when applied to an intelligent, independent, confident,
worker may be ineffective. These techniques may prove to be effective when
are applied to the unintelligent, insecure, indecisive workers.
The various psychological processes may be thought of as the pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle, and personality as the completed puzzle picture. As was
recently noted, “events in the external environment (including the presence
and behavior of others) strongly influence the way people behave at any
particular point in time; yet people always bring something of themselves to the
situation. We often refer to this 'something', which represents the unique
qualities of the individual, as personality.

4.6 Personality And Organization

In organizations, the difference in personalities of individuals are aggregated

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and lost, when they are regarded as having somewhat identical 'patterns of
behavioral tendencies'. Some people in organizations respond most favorably
to rule conscious, conformity demanding, security laden, and most protective
principles. In other words there is a passion for bureaucracy for these people.
On the extreme side some other people prefer autonomy flexibility in
operations and jobs dynamism etc., in the organization. Therefore a good
match between individual personality and organization is essential.
Unfortunately, mismatches between personality and organizational
requirements may also be bound to happen sometimes. For instance,
bureaucratization may be associated with the people characterized by greater
intellectual flexibility, higher valuation of self, direction, greater openness to
new experience and more personally rewarding morale standards etc. Such
mismatch between personality and organization structure may lead to
confusion and chaos, and loss of interest by the members in the organization,
low morale and job satisfaction.

4.7 Personality And Behavior

Personality and behavior of people in the organization are intricately linked.

For example, researchers have extensively investigated the relationships
between the Big Five personality factors and job performance. Their findings
indicate that the employees who are responsible, dependable, persistent and
achievement-oriented perform better than those who lack these traits.

Self-Esteem: In psychology, self-esteem reflects a person’s overall self-

appraisal of his own worth.

Self-esteem encompasses both beliefs (for example, "I am

competent/incompetent”) and emotions ( for example: triumph/despair,
pride/shame). Behavior may reflect self-esteem, in (for example :
assertiveness/timorousness, confidence/caution).
Psychologists usually regard self-esteem as an enduring personality
characteristic (trait self-esteem), though normal, short-term variations (state
self-esteem) occur.
Self-esteem can apply specifically to a particular dimension (for example: "I
believe I am a good writer, and feel proud of that in particular") or have global
extent (for example: "I believe I am a good person, and feel proud of myself in
general").

It is the result of an individual's continuing evaluation of himself and herself. In

other words, people develop, hold and sometimes modify opinions of their own
behavior, abilities, appearance and worth. These general assessments reflect
responses to people and situations, successes and failures and the opinion of
others.
Self-esteem affects behavior in organizations and other social settings in

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several important ways. Self-esteem is related to initial vocational choice. For

example, individuals with high self-esteem take risks in job selection, are
attracted to high status occupations and are more likely to choose
unconventional or non-traditional jobs than are individuals with low self-
esteem. Self-esteem is also related to numerous social and work behaviors.
For example, employees with low self-esteem are more easily influenced by
the opinions of others around than are employees with high self-esteem.
Employees with low self-esteem set lower goals for themselves and are more
susceptible to job adverse job conditions such as stress, conflict, ambiguity,
poor supervision, poor working conditions etc. than employees with high self-
esteem. In a general sense, self-esteem is positively related to achievement
and willingness to expend efforts to accomplish tasks. Clearly, self-esteem is
an important individual difference in terms of effective work behavior.

Locus of Control (LOC): It refers to the extent to which individuals believe

that they can control events affecting them. Locus of control refers to an
individual's generalized expectations concerning where control over
subsequent events resides. In other words, who or what is responsible for
what happens. Individuals who have a high internal LOC (internal) believe
that, their own behavior and actions primarily, but not necessarily totally,
determine many of the events in their lives. On the other hand, individuals who
have a high external LOC (externals) believe that chance, fate or other people
primarily determine what happens to them.

Julian Rotter's original (1966) locus of control formulation classified

generalized beliefs concerning who or what influences things along a bipolar
dimension from internal to external control: "Internal control" is the term used
to describe the belief that control of future outcomes resides primarily in
oneself while "external control" refers to the expectancy that control is outside
of oneself, either in the hands of powerful other people or due to fate/chance.
Since its introduction, the locus of control construct has undergone
considerable elaboration and several context-specific instruments have been
developed. Health researchers in particular have embraced locus of control as
a concept for explaining behavior.

Finding your locus of control

Locus of control, according to Rotter's approach, can be divided into two
separate sources of control: internal and external. People with an internal
locus of control believe that they control their own destiny. They also believe
that their own experiences are controlled by their own skill or efforts. An
example would be "The more I study, the better grades I get" (Gershaw, 1989).
On the other hand, people who tend to have an external locus of control tend to
attribute their experiences to fate, chance, or luck.

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Examples- External locus of control: If a student attributes either their

successes or failures to having a bad day, unfair grading procedures on their
teacher's part, or even God's will, they can be said to have a more external
locus of control. These students might say, "It doesn't matter how hard I study.
The teacher just doesn't like me, so I know I won't get a good grade." These
students generally don't learn from previous experience. Since they attribute
both their successes and failures to luck or chance, they tend to lack
persistence and not have very high levels of expectation.

Development of locus of control

Generally, the development of locus of control stems from family, culture, and
past experiences leading to rewards. Most internals have been shown to come
from families that focused on effort, education, and responsibility. On the other
hand, most externals come from families of a low socioeconomic status where
there is a lack of life control.

Many differences between internals and externals are significant in explaining

aspects of behavior in organizations and other social settings.
Empirical research findings have implied the following differences between
internals and externals:

1. Internals are more likely to work for achievements, to tolerate delays in

rewards and to plan for long-term goals, whereas externals are more likely
to lower their goals. After failing a task, internals re-evaluate future
performances and lower their expectations of success, whereas externals
may raise their expectations. These differences relate to differences in
achievement motivation

2. Internal locus of control is associated with increased ability to delay

gratification. However, at least one study has found this effect does not
apply to all samples. Walls and Miller (cited in Lefcourt, 1976) found an
association between internal locus and delay of gratification in second and
third grade children, but not in adults who were vocational rehabilitation
clients.

3. Internals are better able to resist coercion. This relates to higher outer-
directedness of externals, another factor which Rotter (1966) believed
distinguished the two orientations.

4. Internals are better at tolerating ambiguous situations. There is also a lot of

evidence in clinical research that internality correlates negatively with
anxiety, and that internals may be less prone to depression than externals,
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as well as being less prone to learned helpessness However, this does not
mean that the emotional life of the internal is always more positive than that of
the external, as internals are known to be more guilt-prone than externals.
5. Externals are less willing to take risks, to work on self-improvement and to
better themselves through remedial work than internals.
6. Internals derive greater benefits from social supports.
7. Internals are more likely to prefer games based on skill, while externals
prefer games based on chance or luck.
Goal Orientation:
Another individual difference of importance for behavior in work settings is goal
orientation or the preference for one type of goal versus another. Specifically,
two orientations are considered important in terms of understanding some
aspects of individual job performances. A learning goal orientation is a
predisposition to develop competence by acquiring new skills and mastering
new situations.

A performance goal orientation is a predisposition to demonstrate and validate

competence by seeking favorable judgments from others (e.g., a supervisor)
and avoiding negative judgments.

The implications of these goal orientations for work behavior are dramatic.
A performance goal orientation can lead to a “helpless” response pattern in
behavior. That is, employees with a strong performance goal orientation may
avoid challenges at work and perform poorly when they encounter obstacles
that are difficult to over come. When faced with failure, such individuals are
likely to become unhappy and dissatisfied and seek to withdraw from the
situation in which they find themselves.

By contrast, individuals with a strong learning goal orientation are more likely
to exhibit “mastery-oriented” responses to work challenges.

Employees with a strong learning goal orientation strive to overcome failure

and setbacks by increasing their efforts and seeking new solutions to the
problem. They treat failure as a form of useful feedback, typically maintain their
composure when challenged, and sustain or increase performance even when
they face obstacles that are difficult to overcome.

Although an individual's goal orientation can vary somewhat in different

situations, there is strong evidence that a significant amount of goal orientation
can be considered to be an aspect of individual's personality. A strong learning
goal orientation may be summed up by the slogan often placed by coaches on
the walls of locker rooms: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

MACHIAVELLIANISM
Machiavellianism is primarily the term some social and personality
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psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate

others for personal gain. The concept is named after Renaissance diplomat
and writer Niccolὸ Machiavelli. High Mach tends to take a more detached,
calculating approach in their interaction with other people. They tend to believe
most people are concerned only with their own well-being and to depend too
much on anyone else is foolish. They believe some of the most efficient ways
to achieve a goal are to use deception, rewards, promises, flattery, and even
punishments to manipulate others into doing their bidding.In terms of Big Five
personality traits, Machiavellians tend to be low on agreeableness and
conscientiousness. Low Machs tend to take a more personal, empathic
approach in their interaction with other people. They tend to be more trusting of
others and more honest. They believe humans are essentially good natured.
At the extreme, low Mach are passive, submissive, and highly agreeable.
They also tend to believe that everyone has a good and bad side.

Introversion and Extroversion

In everyday usage, the words introvert and extrovert describe a person's
congeniality : An introvert is shy and retiring, whereas an extrovert is socially
gregarious and outgoing. The terms have similar meanings when used to refer
to personality dimensions. One of the most striking implications of the
introversion-extroversion personality dimension involves task performance in
different environments.

a) Introversion is a tendency to be directed inward and have a greater affinity

for abstract ideas and sensitivity to personal feelings. Introverts are quiet,
introspective, and emotionally unexpressive.

b) Extroversion is an orientation towards the other people, events and objects.

Extroverts are sociable, lively, impulsive, and emotionally expressive.

c) Extroverts are well represented in managerial occupations because the

manager's role often involves working with others and influencing them to
attain organizational goals.

d) The evidence suggests that introverts perform better alone and in a quiet
environment, where as extroverts perform better in an environment with
greater sensory stimulation, such as a noisy office with many people and a
high level of activity.

Although some people exhibit the extremes of introversion and extroversion,

most are only moderately introverted or extroverted, or are even relatively
balanced between the extremes. Introverts and extroverts, appear in all
educational, gender, and occupational groups. Research even suggests that
some extroversion or extreme introversion can interfere with an individual's
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effectiveness in an organization.

Recall our discussion of the sources of personality differences among people

(nature versus nature). Interestingly, many experts consider introversion and
extroversion to be personality dimension with a relatively high genetically
determined component.

Dogmatism and Authoritarianism

Dogmatism refers to the rigidity of a person's beliefs.

The highly dogmatic individual perceives the world as a threatening place,

often regards legitimate authority as absolute, and accepts or rejects other
people on the basis of their agreement with accepted authority or doctrine.

The high-dogmatic (HD) individual is close-minded, and the low-dogmatic

(LD) person is open-minded.

As a result, HDs appear to depend more on authority figures in the

organization for guidance and direction and are more easily influenced by
them.

Some relationship between the degree of dogmatism and group behavior also
seem to exist. For example, HDs typically need more group structure than do
LDs to work effectively with others. Hence the performance of HDs assigned to
task forces and committees may vary somewhat, depending on how the group
goes about its work. A high degree of dogmatism is related to a limited search
for information in decision-making situations, which sometimes leads to poor
managerial performance.

Authoritarianism is closely related to dogmatism but is narrower in

scope.

The authoritarian personality describes someone who adheres to

conventional values, obeys recognized authorities, exhibits a negative view of
society, respects power and toughness, and opposes the expression of
personal feelings.

Some relationship between the degree of dogmatism and group behavior also
seem to exist. For example, HDs typically need more group structure than do
LDs to work effectively with others. Hence the performance of HDs assigned to
task forces and committees may vary somewhat, depending on how the group
goes about its work. A high degree of dogmatism is related to a limited search
for information in decision-making situations, which sometimes leads to poor
managerial performance.

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Authoritarianism is closely related to dogmatism but is narrower in

scope.
The authoritarian personality describes someone who adheres to
conventional values, obeys recognized authorities, exhibits a negative view of
society, respects power and toughness, and opposes the expression of
personal feelings.

In organizations, the authoritarian personality probably is subservient to

authority figures and may even prefer superiors who have a highly directive,
structured leadership style. Both dogmatism and authoritarianism are related
to the intellectual openness factor.

4.8 Organizational Implications

It should be evident by now, that the personality dimensions discussed, and
the specific relationship for each, has important implications for organizational
behavior. However, managers and groups should not try to change or
otherwise directly control employees' personality. Even if such control were
possible, it would be highly unethical. Rather, the challenge for managers and
employees is to understand the crucial role played by personality in explaining
some aspects of human behavior in the workplace. Knowledge of important
individual differences provides managers, employees, and students of
organizational behavior with valuable insights and a framework that they can
use to diagnose events and situations.

4.9 Keywords
Personality, Heredity, Trait, conscious, preconscious, unconscious.

4.10 Summary
Personality is an important cognitively oriented variable in the study of OB.
Personality represents the whole person. It includes perception, learning,
physique and a lot more of a person. Thinkers have tries to explain various
determinants of personality. However, we find that every theory tends to take a
specific view of the major determinants of personality. Personality, however, is
not a static. It has determinants. It is a psycho, physical, socio-environmental
combination that makes personality dynamic.
The major determinants of personality of an individual are biological, cultural,
familial and situation. Different researchers have developed different
personality theories. Some of the popular ones are Intra-psychic theory by
Freud, type theories based on Freud's theory, trait theories, social learning
theory and self-theory.

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A person's personality and behavior depends on self-esteem, locus of control,

goal orientation and extroversion/ introversion.

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