personality

Unit 2
• Perception-Nature &
Importance of Perception, Sub-
processes of Perception
• Factors influencing Perception
at workplace
• Attribution- Attribution theory
• Impression Management-the
process of Impression
management, Employee
impression management
strategies
• Emotions in determining work
behavior
• Personality
• Role of Attitudes
• Values

Perception
1. What is perception?
2. What causes people to have different
perceptions of the same situation?
3. Can people be mistaken in their
perceptions?
4. Does perception really affect outcomes?
2-2

 Describe a situation in which your
perception turned out to be wrong.
 What perceptual errors did you make that
might have caused this to happen?
2-3

Perception
 What Is Perception?
 The process by which individuals organize
and interpret their impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment.
 Why Is It Important?
 Because people’s behaviour is based on their
perception of what reality is, not on reality
itself.
 The world as it is perceived is the world that is
behaviourally important.
2-4

Why We Study Perceptions
 To better understand how people make
acknowledgments about events.
 We don’t see reality. We interpret what
we see and call it reality.
2-5

Factors that Influence Perception
Perception
The Target
• Novelty
• Motion
• Sounds
• Size
• Background
• Proximity
The Perceiver
• Attitudes
• Motives
• Interests
• Experience
• Expectations
The Situation
• Time
•Work setting
• Social setting

Perceptual Errors
 Attribution Theory
 Selective Perception
 Halo Effect
 Contrast Effects
 Projection
 Stereotyping
2-7

Perceptual Errors
 Selective Perception
 People selectively interpret what they see based on their
interests, background, experience, and attitudes.
 Halo Effect
 Drawing a general impression about an individual based on
a single characteristic.
 Contrast Effects
 A person’s evaluation is affected by comparisons with other
individuals recently encountered.
 Projection
 Attributing one’s own characteristics to other people.
 Stereotyping
 Judging someone on the basis of your perception of the group
to which that person belongs.
2-8

Attribution Theory
As humans, we are naturally curious
about the causes of our behavior
and the behavior of others. The
process of assigning causality to
behavior is referred to as attribution.
2-9

 1. Internal Attribution: The process of assigning
the cause of behaviour to some internal
characteristic, rather than to outside forces.
When we explain the behavior of others we
look for enduring internal attributions, such as
personality traits.
 2. External Attribution: The process of assigning
the cause of behaviour to some situation or
event outside a person's control rather than
to some internal characteristic.
2-10

Attribution Theory: Three Determinants
2-11
Let’s look at an example to help understand his particular attribution theory.
Our subject is called Tom. His behavior is laughter. Tom is laughing at a
comedian.
1. Consensus: Everybody in the audience is laughing. Consensus is high. If
only Tom is laughing consensus is low.
2. Distinctiveness: Tom only laughs at this comedian. Distinctiveness is
high. If Tom laughs at everything distinctiveness is low.
3. Consistency: Tom always laughs at this comedian. Consistency is high.
Tom rarely laughs at this comedian consistency is low.

Impression Management
 It is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious attempt to influence the perceptions of
other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information
in social interaction.
 IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT is how to make a favorable impression, how to
perceive others and evaluate others on the basis of
 Dress, make-up, hairstyle,
 Manner and general behavior,
 Body language.
 The process of portraying yourself to others in a manner that creates a desired
impression.
 Impression Management is the goal- directed activity of controlling and regulating
information in order to influence the impressions formed by an audience

Types of Impression Management
Constructive -- helps in the formation of
self identity
Strategic -- helps in the attainment of some
interpersonal goal

Tactics of Impression Management
 Self enhancement:
 It includes efforts to boost one’s physical appearance.
 Efforts to increase their appeal to others.
 Includes using ‘props’ to enhance their appeal.
 Self Presentation
 It depends on situation
 It depends on others’ treatment
 Other enhancement:
 It includes tactics to gain one’s liking such as flattery
 Tactics to induce positive moods and reactions in others.
 Certainty of target person or group.
 Ex. Dressing up according to a certain person’s liking

Impression Management Tactics
Behavioral
Matching
The target of perception matches
his or her behavior to that of the
perceiver.
A subordinate tries to imitate her boss’s
behavior by being modest and soft-spoken
because her boss is modest and soft-spoken.
Self-
Promotion
The target tries to present herself
or himself in as positive a light as
possible.
A worker reminds his boss about his past
accomplishments and associates with co-
workers who are evaluated highly.
Conforming
to Situational
Norms
The target follows agreed-upon
rules for behavior in the
organization.
A worker stays late every night even if she has
completed all of her assignments because
staying late is one of the norms of her
organization.
Appreciating
or Flattering
Others
The target compliments the per-
ceiver. This tactic works best when
flattery is not extreme and when it
involves a dimension important
to the perceiver.
A coworker compliments a manager on his
excellent handling of a troublesome employee.
Being
Consistent
The target’s beliefs and behaviors
are consistent. There is agreement
between the target’s verbal and
nonverbal behaviors.
A subordinate delivering a message to his boss
looks the boss straight in the eye and has a
sincere expression on his face.

TECHNIQUES OF IMPRESSION
MANAGEMENT :-
 Conformity
 Excuses
 Apologies
 Self promotion
 Flattery
 Favors
 Association
Verbal Self-
Presentation
Self-
Descriptions
Association
ExcuseApologies
Praising
Flattery
Favors

Pickering Public Library
IMPRESSION
MANAGEMENT

Impression Management
It is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious attempt to influence the perceptions of other
people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in
social interaction.
IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT is how to make a favorable impression, how to perceive
others and evaluate others on the basis of
 Dress, make-up, hairstyle,
 Manner and general behavior,
 Body language.
The process of portraying yourself to others in a manner that creates a desired impression.
Impression Management is the goal- directed activity of controlling and regulating
information in order to influence the impressions formed by an audience.

Types of Impression
Management
Constructive -- helps in the formation of
self identity
Strategic -- helps in the attainment of some
interpersonal goal

Tactics of Impression
Management
Self enhancement:
 It includes efforts to boost one’s physical
appearance.
 Efforts to increase their appeal to others.
 Includes using ‘props’ to enhance their appeal.
 To the whole world.
 Ex. Social websites.

Self Presentation
It depends on situation
It depends on others’ treatment

Other enhancement:
 It includes tactics to gain one’s liking such as
flattery
 Tactics to induce positive moods and reactions in
others.
 Certainty of target person or group.
 Ex. Dressing up according to a certain person’s
liking

TECHNIQUES OF
IMPRESSION
MANAGEMENT :-
 Conformity
Excuses
Apologies
Self promotion
Flattery
Favors
Association
Opinion Conformity
Verbal Self-
Presentation
Self-
Descriptions
Association
Opinion
Conformity
ExcuseApologies
Acclaiming
Flattery
Favors

Impression Management Tactics
Behavioral
Matching
Behavioral
Matching
perceiver.
perceiver.
Self-
Promotion
Self-
Promotion
possible.
possible.
Conforming
to Situational
Norms
Conforming
to Situational
Norms
organization.
organization.
organization.
organization.
Appreciating
or Flattering
Others
Appreciating
or Flattering
Others
to the perceiver.
to the perceiver.
Being
Consistent
Being
Consistent

THE LAST BEER
A young man had only a limited amount of beer in his fridge. His best friend came round to visit.
During their conversation he told his friend not to drink his last beer. Later he found his friend had
drunk it.
WHAT WOULD AN EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT RESPONSE HAVE BEEN?
•To go and buy some more maybe?
•To ignore it and enjoy his friend's company?
•To have a cup of coffee instead?
•To go down the pub together?
•Any other?
WHAT HAPPENED?
He had low emotional intelligence and did none of these. He shot his friend dead. He is now in prison
serving time for murder. His rage drove him to short-term action which produced long-term negative
consequences.
This is an extreme but clear example of how low emotional intelligence and a poor ability to control
strong emotions in particular, can impact on a person's behaviour, work and life.
Being able to control strong emotions such as rage is the seventh dimension of emotional intelligence.
It is very hard to build trust without being able to control your strong emotions. If you are in business
and want to be successful building trust is imperative.
How good are you at controlling strong emotions?

TWO VIEW POINTS ABOUT EQ
Traditionalists
say that emotions
High performers
say that emotions
Distract us
Increase our
vulnerability
Cloud our judgment
Inhibit free flow of data
Must be controlled
Motivate us
Increase our confidence
Speed our analysis
Build trust
Provide vital feedback
Must be managed
28

8 Basic emotions
• These emotions can combine to create new emotions
• e.g. Happiness + Anticipation = Excitement.
• e.g Anger minus enthusiasm =depression.
• Same event can give multiple emotions at the same time e.g. For a father:
Happiness (of daughter marrying) + Sadness (of daughter leaving because of
marriage)
• Emotions are tied with physiological response e.g. churning in stomach,
perspiration on face, blushing of cheeks etc.
Fear anger
Disgust trust
Surprise anticipation
Happiness sadness

Felt versus Displayed Emotions
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 4–30
Felt Emotions
An individual’s actual emotions.
Displayed Emotions
Emotions that are organizationally
required and considered appropriate
in a given job.

Choosing Emotions: Emotional
Labour
• When an employee expresses organizationally- desired emotions during
interpersonal interactions.
2-31

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your
own emotions and the emotions of others.

The work of the Consortium for Research on
Emotional Intelligence (EI) in Organizations
has identified five key research studies that
support the importance of an individual's
emotional and social skills as important for
success at work.

Study 1 –
Experienced partners in a multinational consulting firm were assessed on the EI
competencies plus three others (Boyatzis, 1999).
Findings:
• Partners who scored above the median on nine or more of the 20 competencies
delivered $1.2 million more profit from their accounts than did other partners.
• 139% incremental gain.
Study 2 –
An analysis of more than 300 top-level executives from 15 global companies
showed that six emotional competencies distinguished stars from the average
(Spencer, 1997).
Findings:
• Distinguishing Emotional Competencies:
o Influence
o Team Leadership
o Organizational Awareness, Self-confidence,
o Achievement Drive o and Leadership

Study 3 –
looked into the productivity of 'top performers' in jobs of medium complexity
(e.g. sales clerks, mechanics) and the most complex jobs (e.g. insurance
salespeople, account managers) (Hunter, Schmidt, & Judiesch, 1990).
Findings:
• Top performers in medium complexity jobs were: o 12 times more productive
than those at the bottom. o 85% more productive than an average performer. •
Top performers in the most complex jobs were: o 127% more productive than
an average performer .
Competency research in over 200 companies and organizations worldwide into
top performers suggests that (Goleman, 1998): • one-third of this difference is
due to technical skill and cognitive ability. • two-thirds is due to emotional
competence • In top leadership positions, over four-fifths of the difference is
due to emotional competence.

Study 5 - in a national insurance company research showed the difference in
policy premium sold (Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group, 1997).
Findings:
• Insurance sales agents who were weak in emotional competencies (i.e. self-
confidence, initiative, and empathy) sold policies with an average premium of
$54,000.
• Insurance sales agents who were very strong in at least five of eight key
emotional competencies sold policies worth $114,000. -
Study 4 - At L'Oreal, research (Spencer & Spencer, 1993; Spencer, McClelland &
Kelner, 1997) showed that sales agents selected on the basis of certain emotional
competencies significantly outsold salespeople selected using the company's old
selection procedure. Findings:
• On an annual basis, salespeople selected on the basis of emotional competence
sold $91,370 more than other salespeople did, for a net revenue increase of
$2,558,360.
• Salespeople selected on the basis of emotional competence also had 63% less
turnover during the first year than those selected in the typical way.

Applications of Understanding
Emotions
• Ability and Selection
– Emotions affect employee effectiveness.
• Decision Making
– Emotions are an important part of the decision-making process in
organizations.
• Motivation
– Emotional commitment to work and high motivation are strongly
linked.
• Leadership
– Emotions are important to acceptance of messages from
organizational leaders.

(cont’d)
• Interpersonal Conflict
– Conflict in the workplace and individual emotions are strongly
intertwined.
• Customer Services
– Emotions affect service quality delivered to customers which, in turn,
affects customer relationships.
• Deviant Workplace Behaviors
– Negative emotions lead to employee deviance (actions that violate
norms and threaten the organization).
• Productivity failures
• Property theft and destruction
• Political actions
• Personal aggression
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 4–39

What Is Personality?
© 2007 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.
Personality
The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and
interacts with others, measurable traits a person exhibits
Personality Traits
Enduring characteristics
that describe an
individual’s behavior
Personality
Determinants
• Heredity
• Environment
• Situation
Personality
Determinants
• Heredity
• Environment
• Situation

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Personality Types
• Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)
• Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)
• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)
• Judging vs. Perceiving (P or J)
Score is a combination of all four
(e.g., ENTJ)
Personality Types
• Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)
• Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)
• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)
• Judging vs. Perceiving (P or J)
Score is a combination of all four
(e.g., ENTJ)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
A personality test that taps four characteristics and
classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types

Meyers-Briggs (cont’d)
A Meyers-Briggs Score
– Can be a valuable too for self-awareness and
career guidance
BUT
– Should not be used as a selection tool because it
has not been related to job performance!

The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions
Extroversion
Sociable, gregarious, and assertive
Agreeableness
Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting
Conscientiousness
Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized
Openness to Experience
Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive
Emotional Stability
Calm, self-confident, secure under stress (positive), versus
nervous, depressed, and insecure under stress (negative)

Measuring Personality
• Self-Report Surveys
• Observer-Rating Surveys
• Projective Measures
– Rorschach Inkblot Test
– Thematic Apperception
Test
Personality Is Measured by:

Major Personality Attributes Influencing behaviour
• Core Self-Evaluation
– Self-Esteem
– Locus of Control
• Machiavellianism
• Narcissism
• Self-Monitoring
• Risk Taking
• Type A vs. Type B Personality
• Proactive Personality

Core Self-Evaluation: Two Main Components
Self-Esteem
Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking themselves
Locus of Control
The degree to which people believe they are masters of
their own fate
•Internals (Internal locus of control)
Individuals who believe that they control what
happens to them
•Externals (External locus of control)
Individuals who believe that what happens to them
is controlled by outside forces such as luck or
chance

Machiavellianism
Conditions Favoring High Machs
• Direct interaction with others
• Minimal rules and regulations
• Emotions distract for others
Conditions Favoring High Machs
• Direct interaction with others
• Minimal rules and regulations
• Emotions distract for others
Machiavellianism (Mach)
Degree to which an individual is pragmatic,
maintains emotional distance, and believes that
ends can justify means

Narcissism
A Narcissistic Person
• Has magnificent sense of self-importance
• Requires excessive admiration
• Has a sense of entitlement
• Is arrogant
• Tends to be rated as less effective

Self-Monitoring
Self-Monitoring
A personality trait that measures an
individual’s ability to adjust his or
her behavior to external, situational
factors
High Self-Monitors
• Receive better performance ratings
• Likely to emerge as leaders
• Show less commitment to their
organizations
High Self-Monitors
• Receive better performance ratings
• Likely to emerge as leaders
• Show less commitment to their
organizations

Risk-Taking
• High Risk-Taking Managers
– Make quicker decisions
– Use less information to make decisions
– Operate in smaller and more entrepreneurial
organizations
• Low Risk-Taking Managers
– Are slower to make decisions
– Require more information before making decisions
– Exist in larger organizations with stable environments
• Risk Propensity
– Aligning managers’ risk-taking propensity to job
requirements should be beneficial to organizations

Personality Types
Type As
1. Are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly
2. Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place
3. Strive to think or do two or more things at once
4. Cannot cope with leisure time
5. Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms
of how many or how much of everything they acquire
Type Bs
1. Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its
accompanying impatience
2. Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or
accomplishments
3. Play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their
superiority at any cost
4. Can relax without guilt

Personality Types
Proactive Personality
Identifies opportunities,
shows initiative, takes
action, and perseveres until
meaningful change occurs
Creates positive change in
the environment,
regardless or even in spite
of constraints or obstacles

Definition: Mode of conduct or end state is personally or socially
preferable (i.e., what is right and good)
• Terminal Values
• Desirable end states
• Instrumental Values
• The ways/means for achieving one’s terminal values
Value System: A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s
values in terms of their intensity
VALUES

• Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation,
and behaviors of individuals and cultures
• Influence our perception of the world around us
• Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong”
• Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others
IMPORTANCE OF VALUES

TYPES OF VALUES—ROKEACH VALUE SURVEY
Terminal Values
Desirable end-states of existence;
the goals that a person would like
to achieve during his or her lifetime
Instrumental Values
Preferable modes of behavior or
means of achieving one’s terminal
values

VALUES IN
THE
ROKEACH
SURVEY
E X H I B I T 4-3
E X H I B I T 4-3
Source: M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human
Values (New York: The Free Press, 1973).

VALUES IN
THE
ROKEACH
SURVEY
(CONT’D)
E X H I B I T 4-3 (cont’d)
E X H I B I T 4-3 (cont’d)
Source: M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human
Values (New York: The Free Press, 1973).

MEAN VALUE
RANKINGS OF
EXECUTIVES, UNION
MEMBERS, AND
ACTIVISTS
E X H I B I T 4-4
E X H I B I T 4-4
Source: Based on W. C. Frederick and J. Weber, “The Values of
Corporate Managers and Their Critics: An Empirical Description and
Normative Implications,” in W. C. Frederick and L. E. Preston (eds.)
Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (Greenwich,
CT: JAI Press, 1990), pp. 123–44.

Power Distance
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Masculinity vs. Femininity
Uncertainty Avoidance
Long-term and Short-term Orientation
Values Across Cultures: Hofstede’s FrameworkValues Across Cultures: Hofstede’s Framework

HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING
CULTURES
Power Distance
The extent to which a society accepts that power
in institutions and organizations is distributed
unequally.
Low distance: Relatively equal power between
those with status/wealth and those without
status/wealth
High distance: Extremely unequal power
distribution between those with status/wealth
and those without status/wealth

HOFSTEDE’S FRAMEWORK
(CONT’D)
Collectivism
A tight social framework in
which people expect others
in groups of which they are a
part to look after them and
protect them
Individualism
The degree to which
people prefer to act as
individuals rather than a
member of groups
vs.

(CONT’D)
Masculinity
The extent to which the
society values work roles
of achievement, power,
and control, and where
assertiveness and mater-
ialism are also valued
Femininity
The extent to which
there is little differ-
entiation between roles
for men and women
vs.

(CONT’D)
Uncertainty Avoidance
The extent to which a society feels threatened by
uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid
them •High Uncertainty Avoidance:
Society does not like
ambiguous situations and tries
to avoid them.
•Low Uncertainty Avoidance:
Society does not mind
ambiguous situations and
embraces them.

(CONT’D)
Long-term Orientation
A national culture attribute
that emphasizes the future,
thrift, and persistence
Short-term Orientation
A national culture attribute
that emphasizes the present
and the here and now
vs.

ACHIEVING PERSON-JOB FIT
Personality Types
• Realistic
• Investigative
• Social
• Conventional
• Enterprising
• Artistic
Personality Types
• Realistic
• Investigative
• Social
• Conventional
• Enterprising
• Artistic
Personality-Job Fit Theory
(Holland)
Identifies six personality
types and proposes that the
fit between personality type
and occupational
environment determines
satisfaction and turnover

HOLLAND’S
TYPOLOGY OF
PERSONALITY
AND
CONGRUENT
OCCUPATIONS
E X H I B I T 4–8
E X H I B I T 4–8

RELATIONSH
IPS AMONG
OCCUPATION
AL
PERSONALIT
Y TYPES
E X H I B I T 4–9
E X H I B I T 4–9
Source: Reprinted by special permission of the publisher, Psychological
Assessment Resources, Inc., from Making Vocational Choices, copyright 1973,
1985, 1992 by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. All rights reserved.

Useful for determining person-organization fit
Survey that forces choices/rankings of one’s personal values
Helpful for identifying most important values to look for in an
organization (in efforts to create a good fit)
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
PROFILE (OCP)

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