Organizational Behavior:

Understanding People at Work

MBA B610
Week 2: Personality & Values

Fall 2024
Professor Meena Andiappan
Agenda
• Personality & Values Interactive Lecture
• Values Exercise
• OBHR innovation presentation
• Break

• Case Study: Body Shop

• Wrap up & next class
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 Managing
Need to deeply understand… Self
• Your strengths and
weaknesses
• How you work best (e.g.,
alone vs. teams)
• Where you belong
• What you can contribute
(KSAs – knowledge, skills,
abilities)

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What is Personality?
• Setof psychological characteristics that
influences the way an individual interacts
with the environment & how he or she
feels, thinks, and behaves
• Relatively stable

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Why does personality matter for OB?

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The people make the place
(Schneider, 1987)
• People select themselves in & out of
organizations
• ASA Framework:
 Attraction: People of similar types are
attracted to particular jobs & co’s
 Selection: Co’s tend to select for & encourage
people with similar types of KSAs
 Attrition: People who find they do not fit a
place tend to leave  people left are even
more similar to each other than those who
were attracted to company

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 Personality = Nature + Nurture
•Influenced by Nature
• Heredity explains ~ 50% of behavioral tendencies &
30% of temperament
• Minnesota studies (1990) – twins raised apart had
same chance of similar personalities as those raised
together
•Influenced by Nurture
• Socialization/culture
• Schooling
• Upbringing
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Your Personality Test
• Many personality tests out there
 E.g., Meyers-Briggs, “Colours”
 Many of these are like
horoscopes in the newspaper –
fun to think about but not valid
 So, why do companies still use
them?

• The“Big 5” personality test is the

most valid, covers fundamental
dimensions of psychology
 We’ll do a short version
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Your Personality Test
For each, rate yourself on a scale of 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree)

1. I see myself as extraverted, enthusiastic.

2. I do not see myself as critical, quarrelsome.
3. I see myself as dependable, self-disciplined.
4. I do not see myself as anxious, easily upset.
5. I see myself as open to new experiences, complex.
6. I do not see myself as reserved, quiet.
7. I see myself as sympathetic, warm.
8. I do not see myself as disorganized, careless.
9. I see myself as calm, emotionally stable.
10.I do not see myself as conventional, uncreative.
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SCORING Your Personality Test

Sum your answers as follows:

Personality Dimension Question #
A. Extraversion: 1, 6
B. Agreeableness: 2, 7
C. Conscientiousness: 3, 8
D. Neuroticism: 4, 9
E. Openness to Experiences: 5, 10

If your score on a dimension is 8 or more, you are more so

of that dimension; if your score is lower, you are less so of
that dimension.
E.g., More or less extraverted; more or less
agreeable…
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“Big Five”
Personality
Traits

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The Big Five: Research
 Which factor is the biggest predictor of
performance?
• Conscientiousness is the strongest (non-
cognitive) predictor of overall job
performance across all occupations (Wilmot
& Ones, 2019).

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Locus of
Control

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Locus of control in practice
• Situation:The fantasy novel that you spent all
your evenings writing last year is a best-seller!!
What is the reason why?
 Internal?
 External?

 Which type (internal or external LOC) is a

better employee?

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Locus of Control: Research
(Ng, Sorensen, & Eby, 2006)

• Internals
are more satisfied with their jobs & more
committed to their org  why?
• Internals achieve higher positions
• Internals perceive less stress, cope with stress
better, experience less burnout, & engage in more
careful career planning

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Narcissism
 Positive & inflated view of oneself (Twenge &
Campbell, 2009)
 “Grandiose sense of self-importance” (Judge,
LePine, & Rich, 2006, p. 762).

Will narcissists be more or less satisfied in their

jobs?
Are CEOs more or less likely than the general
population to be high on narcissism?

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Machiavellianism
 “The ends justify the means”
 Manipulative, always want to
win, difficult to persuade, can
persuade others
 Especially successful when:
 Face-to-face contact, no rules,
when others are distracted by
emotions

 How would you manage a high

Mach?
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Emotions
• Intense
feelings that are directed at someone or
something

• Often in response to a stimulus (i.e., not personality)

• Fleeting

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Key Constructs in Emotions
• Emotional Contagion - the tendency for moods and
emotions to spread between people or throughout a
group.
• Emotional Labour - In some jobs, employees must
exaggerate positive emotions while in others they must
suppress negative emotions.
• Examples? Consequences?
 Frequent need to suppress negative emotions or fake
emotions can lower job satisfaction & increase stress.

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Emotional
Intelligence
(EQ/EI)

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What factors affect job satisfaction?
 Job Satisfaction Facets
• Thework itself - • Working conditions
meaningful, mentally
• Supervision
challenging work
• Co-workers (friendly
• Compensation
or helpful colleagues)
• Recognition
• Organizational policy
• Benefits
• Career opportunities

 Which of these does a manager control?

Summary
• Personality
types & emotional intelligence can
shape people’s strengths in particular jobs
• Understanding yourself (LOC, emotions, etc.) is
critical in job success & career satisfaction
• Biologyis NOT destiny; the role of personality
should not be overstated when predicting
workers’ behaviors

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For Next class

• Topic: Motivation
• OBHR innovation presentation
• Case Study: France Telecom

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What Are Values?

• Values
have to do with what we consider
good and bad.

• Values
are motivational; they signal how
we believe and how we should and should
not behave.

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Values Exercise (Part I)

Step 1 - Divide values into 3 categories:

 Values that are extremely important to you
 Values that are moderately important to you
 Values that are not important to you

Step 2 - Focus on the 5 most important values (important

to “you” not your organization, family, etc.)

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 Core Values List
 ACHIEVEMENT / SUCCESS  HONESTY / INTEGRITY

 AUTONOMY / INDEPENDENCE  HUMOR

 CHALLENGE /COMPETITION  INTELLIGENCE

 COMMUNICATION  KNOWLEDGE / LEARNING

 COURAGE  LOYALTY

 COMPASSION / KINDNESS  MEANING

 CREATIVITY / INNOVATION  OPEN-MINDEDNESS

 DEPENDABILITY  POWER

 DISCIPLINE  PROSPERITY / WEALTH

 EFFECTIVENESS / PRODUCTIVITY  QUALITY

 EQUALITY  RECOGNITION / REPUTATION

 FAMILY  RESPECT

 FLEXIBILITY  RISK TAKING / SECURITY

 FREEDOM  SERVICE

 GROWTH  STRENGTH / TENACITY

 HAPPINESS  TEAMWORK / COLLABORATION

 HEALTH  VARIETY / DIVERSITY

Values Exercise (Part II)
Step 3 - In your groups, select a value that one or more group
member identified as the most important for them in the
previous step

Sept 4 - Take 5 minutes to brainstorm some leadership actions

that would be aligned with that value in terms of objectives,
language, support, measurement, rewards, sanctions

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Exercise Debrief
• How easy was it to come up with actions to demonstrate
commitment to values?
• What was the hardest part? Why?
• What do you think it will take for you to consistently enact
your values?
• Do you have personal examples of alignment and
misalignment with your values and organizational values?

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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• Classifies
people into one of sixteen
personality types
• Four dimensions
 Extraversion / Introversion
 Sensing / Intuiting
 How do you gather information?
 Thinking / Feeling
 How do you like to make decisions?
 Judging / Perceiving
 Are you more decisive or are you more spontaneous?

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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• NOT reliable
 People who re-take assessment may have different
outcomes each time

• NOT valid
 Not an accurate representation of how people behave
 “cut points” are arbitrary

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Group Activity
• Even though Myers-Briggs is not valid or reliable, it is
still widely used in organizations. Why?
 Form a group of 4-6 people, and discuss.
 Come up with at least three reasons
 Be ready to report back to the class.

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