Management Series: Understanding Personality in Organization

 PERSONALITY & VALUES 

Learning outcomes:

1. Describe personality, the way it is measured, and the factors that shape it.
2. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality framework and the Big Five model.
3. Describe the differences between person-job fit and person-organization fit

Personality and values are major shapers of behavior.  In order for managers to predict behavior, they must know the personalities of those who work for them. 

Personality is often defined by characteristics such as outgoing or charming.  However, psychologists define personality as the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. In the context of Organizational Behavior (OB), personality refers to the unique and relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that characterize an individual. It encompasses a wide range of individual differences, including traits, behaviors, attitudes, and emotional responses. Understanding personality is crucial in OB because it plays a significant role in shaping how people interact within organizations, make decisions, and perform their roles.

Characteristics of Personality

1. Individual Differences: Personality recognizes that people are not uniform in their responses to the same situations. Instead, individuals have distinct personality traits and characteristics that influence how they perceive and respond to organizational events and challenges.
2. Stability and Consistency: While personalities can evolve over time, they are generally considered to be relatively stable and enduring. This means that an individual's personality traits and tendencies tend to persist over the long term, making them an important factor in predicting behavior within organizations.

Impact of Personality on Behavior

Personality influences how individuals behave in the workplace. For example, someone with a high level of conscientiousness is likely to be organized, dependable, and detail-oriented, which can affect their work performance and reliability. Conversely, someone with a high level of extroversion may be more inclined to seek social interactions and take on leadership roles.

1. Work-Related Attitudes: Personality also plays a role in shaping an individual's attitudes and perceptions at work. For instance, a person's level of job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and willingness to engage in organizational citizenship behaviors can be influenced by their personality traits.
2. Interpersonal Dynamics: Personality affects how people interact with others in the workplace. It can impact communication styles, conflict resolution approaches, and the ability to work effectively in teams. Understanding the personalities of team members can help managers build more cohesive and productive teams.
3. Leadership and Management: Personality traits can be critical in leadership and management roles. Different leadership styles may be more effective depending on the leader's personality and the personalities of their subordinates. Understanding these dynamics is essential for effective leadership and team management.
4. Person-Job Fit: Organizations often seek to match individuals with the right personality traits to specific job roles. This concept, known as person-job fit, aims to ensure that employees are well-suited to their roles, which can lead to greater job satisfaction and performance.
5. Person-Organization Fit: Beyond person-job fit, personality can also influence how well an individual fits with the overall culture and values of the organization. Ensuring a good person-organization fit can enhance employee engagement and retention.

 

Theories of Personality

• Freudian Theory (Psychodynamic)

This theory, developed by Sigmund Freud, suggests that personality is influenced by unconscious processes and early childhood experiences. In an OB course, students might learn how aspects of psychodynamic theory, such as defense mechanisms and the id, ego, and superego, can help explain workplace behavior. For instance, how unconscious conflicts might manifest in interpersonal dynamics or decision-making within an organization.

• Trait Theory

Trait theory focuses on identifying and categorizing specific traits that describe an individual's personality. The Big Five personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) are often central to this theory. OB courses may discuss how these traits impact work-related behaviors, like how conscientiousness is associated with job performance or how extroversion affects leadership styles.

 

Personality Traits and the Big Five

Personality traits are enduring characteristics that describe an individual's typical patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. They are central to understanding how people differ from one another, and they play a significant role in shaping behavior and interactions within organizations. One widely recognized framework for studying personality traits is the Big Five Model, also known as the Five-Factor Model (FFM). It identifies five broad dimensions of personality:

1. Openness to Experience: This trait reflects a person's willingness to explore new ideas, experiences, and ways of thinking. Individuals high in openness tend to be creative, imaginative, and open-minded. In the workplace, they may be more adaptable to change and more likely to generate innovative solutions to problems.
2. Conscientiousness: Conscientiousness is characterized by traits such as organization, reliability, and self-discipline. Individuals with high conscientiousness are often diligent, punctual, and detail-oriented. They are likely to excel in tasks that require precision and reliability, making them valuable employees.
3. Extroversion: Extroversion relates to the extent to which individuals are outgoing, social, and assertive. Extroverts tend to be talkative, energetic, and enthusiastic in social situations. In organizational settings, they may excel in roles that involve networking, leadership, and public speaking.
4. Agreeableness: Agreeableness measures a person's interpersonal tendencies, including their degree of cooperativeness, empathy, and friendliness. People high in agreeableness are often compassionate, warm, and considerate. They tend to work well in teams and maintain positive working relationships.
5. Neuroticism (Emotional Stability): Neuroticism refers to an individual's emotional stability and resilience to stress. High neuroticism is associated with traits like anxiety, insecurity, and moodiness, whereas low neuroticism reflects emotional stability and a calm demeanor. In the workplace, emotionally stable individuals may cope better with pressure and maintain a more positive attitude.

Applications in Organizational Behavior:

Understanding the Big Five traits and other personality traits is valuable in various aspects of Organizational Behavior:

1. Hiring and Selection: Organizations often use personality assessments to evaluate job applicants. By considering the fit between an individual's personality traits and the requirements of the job, employers can make more informed hiring decisions.
2. Team Dynamics: Recognizing the diverse personalities within a team can help managers build well-balanced teams. Combining individuals with different trait profiles can enhance problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration.
3. Leadership and Management: Effective leadership often depends on understanding and adapting to the personalities of team members. For example, leaders may adjust their communication styles and motivational approaches based on the personalities of their subordinates.
4. Conflict Resolution: Personality traits can influence how individuals respond to conflict. Managers and team leaders can use this knowledge to facilitate constructive conflict resolution and minimize disruptive conflicts.
5. Employee Development: Personalized development plans can be tailored to an individual's personality traits. For instance, employees with high conscientiousness may benefit from structured training programs, while those high in extroversion may thrive in roles that involve client interactions.

The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a widely used self-report questionnaire designed to assess an individual's personality based on the Big Five personality traits. These traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (often abbreviated as OCEAN). The BFI is known for its brevity and efficiency while providing a reliable and valid measure of the Big Five traits, making it a popular tool in both research and applied settings, including personality assessment in organizational contexts. 

• • Try it yourself: http://openpsychometrics.org/tests/IPIP-BFFM/ 

 

Other Methods of Personality Assessment

Self-report questionnaires are the most common tools for assessing personality. Individuals respond to a series of statements or questions that measure various personality traits. Examples of widely used self-report questionnaires include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Big Five Inventory (BFI),

• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely used personality instrument worldwide.  Participants are classified within four scales to determine 1 of 16 possible personality types.  These types are broken down into four dichotomies.  The first is extroverts who tend to be sociable and assertive versus introverts who tend to be quiet and shy.  The second dichotomy is sensing and intuitive.  Sensors are practical and orderly where intuits utilize unconscious processes.  The third dichotomy is thinking and feeling.  Thinking focuses on using reason and logic where feeling utilizes values and emotions.  The final dichotomy is judging and perceiving.  Judgers want orders and structure whereas perceivers are more flexible and spontaneous. These categories, while insightful, are not related to job performance.
• The Holland Hexagon Test: The Holland Occupational Themes is a theory of personality that focuses on career and vocational choice. It groups people on the basis of their suitability for six different categories of occupations. The six types yield the RIASEC acronym, by which the theory is also commonly known.
• Try it yourself: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RIASEC/

The Big Five Model

This model of personality has an impressive body of research that supports it.  The model (particularly one factor, conscientiousness) appears to be positively related to job performance and can be used as an employment selection or screening too.

a. Extraversion. Deals with the comfort level of relationships. 

Like the MBTI, this is contrasted with introversion. Scoring high in this factor means the respondent is more gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet. Extraverts tend to be happy in their jobs but may be impulsive and absent themselves from work to take on some other, more sensational tasks.

b. Agreeableness. Measures deference towards others. 

High scorers are cooperative, warm, and trusting while low scores are cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic. Agreeable workers are less likely to be involved in drugs and excessive drinking.

c. Conscientiousness. Measures reliability. 

High scorers are responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Low scorers are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable. Not surprisingly, this is the key determinant of job performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on the Big Five. However, conscientious people also tend not to take risks and may find organizational change difficult to handle.

d. Emotional Stability (or Neuroticism – its opposite). Measures ability to handle stress

The more stable a person, the better he (or she) can handle stress. People with high emotional stability tend to become, self-confident, and secure. They often have higher life and job satisfaction.  Low emotional stability scorers tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure. Yet, surprisingly, low-scoring people make better and faster decisions when in a bad mood than do stable people.  

e. Openness to Experience. 

Measures the range of interests and fascination with novelty, a proxy for creativity. People who score low on this factor tend to be conventional and enjoy familiar circumstances. High scorers tend to be creative, curious, and artistically sensitive.

People high in this factor deal better with organizational change and are more adaptable

Values

Values represent basic convictions that make judgments about what is the best mode of conduct or end-state of existence. Value systems represent individual values and prioritizes them based on how important the particular value is to the individual and how intense their feelings are about that particularly value.  The way individuals set up their values in order of importance is relatively stable over time and set the foundation for many work outcomes such as attitudes, motivation and behavior.  In addition, values are important in the workplace because they can influence an individual’s perception and cloud their objectivity.  

The RokeachValue Survey was created by Milton Rokeach.  It consists of two sets of values, terminal values and instrumental values. Terminal values describe the desired values/goals a person would like to keep/achieve through their lifetime.  Instrumental values are the preferred modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal values. 

Values vary between groups and can cause trouble when group members hold different values and negotiation is needed.

LINKING AN INDIVIDUAL’S PERSONALITY AND VALUES TO THE WORKPLACE

Managers have become concerned with matching both the personality and the values of an employee with those of the organization.  The hope is to identify workers who are both flexible and committed to the organization.

 

Personality and value studies are important to the field of organizational behavior because they have been linked to workplace outcomes.  The person-job fit theory developed by John Holland has been critical to thinking about how people fit with a specific job.  Holland classified people into six personality types utilizing a vocational preference inventory.  

Through the study of personality it has become clear that there are intrinsic differences in personality between people.  Given that there are a number of different jobs it is logical that people in jobs congruent with their personalities would be more satisfied in their work.

When the personality is matched with the type of occupation then there are stronger positive work outcomes. 

This idea can be further linked to the workplace by looking at person-organization fit.  The employee’s personality needs to fit with the organizational culture.  When employees find organizations that match their values they are more likely to be selected and correspondingly be more satisfied with their work.  The big five personality types are often helpful in matching the individuals with organizational culture.

BlendKit 2017: Reading Reaction: Chapter 02

Reflection on Chapter 2; Blended Interactions

Managing a classroom with face-to-face (F2F) can be different from managing a virtual classroom. It is easy to detect the level of concentration and interest of the participants in F2F session. Therefore, interacting with students can be more straightforward and objective in F2F class. Furthermore,  the interaction become more challenging if the students in the online class are not responsive or lack of participation. Although poor response and lack of participation can also happen in F2F session, the teacher can identify the student and take appropriate action to get their attention.

Therefore, there is a need to understand the various models or approach for blended interaction. The traditional interaction approach of F2F cannot be simply used to manage a blended course. As mentioned in this chapter, educators must focus on connection-forming in learning and their role will be in guiding, directing, and evaluating the activities of learners. The critical success factor of blended interaction is on Techno Expression during course design.

Techno expression is to keep interaction in the front of an educator mind while designing a blended course. Educator should not focus on uploading materials and expect students to read and understand the materials by themselves but to create a threaded discussion for the students to review the materials/syllabus. This can be done in the form of assignment or extended discussion in the F2F session.

In summary, the blended interaction should be complimentary to the F2F interaction for the best learning outcome. I think this is very much referring to the flipped classroom approach in teaching.

Top Students Learning Habits

Do you need to have high IQ to do well in your studies?

Do you need to work very hard to become a top student?

The answers to the above questions: No! It is all about "Self-Discipline" and set priorities to do what you like to do (not necessarily studies).

Watch this Tedx Talk by Douglas Barton on top students learning habits:

CourseNetworking and Uber Malaysia: Free Rides

Something rewarding is coming your way. You may be rewarded with free Uber rides (as per the banner attached below) when you engage with your courses activities on the CourseNetworking. This is so cool! Check out your courses for details. The promotion will begin from 18th November 2015 until 30th November 2015.

Updated: For my students this semester, you can now find the link to this promotion on the TASK menu (visible to those with sufficient Anar seeds). Check with your instructor on the number of Anar seeds required :)

We look forward for more collaboration in the future and get more rewards from our Anar seeds :)

Learning Styles Don't Actually Exist

Finding meaning from what you are learning is more important than having good memory or excellent sensory mode. The fun of learning sets in when you are able to understand the reason for doing so, value the information, make sense of what you are seeing/reading and try to apply it in your own settings.

I find that this TEDx Talks on "Learning styles & the importance of critical self-reflection" by Dr. Tesia Marshik very insightful to us as an educators and all the learners. I now learned that there is no such thing called 'learning styles' and in order for us to learn effectively, we need to find the reasons for you to learn something. Hence, critical self-reflection is important for us to benefits from the learning experience instead of relying on a variety of materials given.

Watch Dr. Marshik TEDx Talks here:

Screenshot from YouTube

Please share your view on this findings :)

Flipped Classroom: Can it create a better learning environment?

Last year, I was introduced to 'Flipped Classroom' by my mentor. It is an interesting teaching and learning method that I find very different from what I have gone through in my education path, as a student and a lecturer.

The flip is to turnaround the method we use in teaching into facilitating or coaching. Instead of students attending a class to learn from the teacher and then go back home to do revision, the students now learn by themselves at home on the topics assigned first. After that, they will attend the face-to-face session for discussion activities or participate in projects. To me, it is similar to the current lecture and tutorial system in many institutions but with a little bit of tweaks.

Flipped classroom tends to transfer the responsibilities of learning to the students where knowledge can now flow directly to them without going through the teacher. Students will now play a more proactive role and self-independent learning in order to be benefit from the tutorial session.

To understand this better, you can watch the below short video on Flipped Classroom.

Share your view on this teaching and learning method. Do you think it is useful for your students (environment)? Why? Please comment :)

How to Prompt Student to Answer a Tutorial Question?

SmartLink is a unique internal tools of the CN that can assist you to design the task page into an interactive learning site for your students. This post will show you how to Prompt Student to Answer a Tutorial Question.

Step#1
When you are editing your task on the CN (refer to creating task), such as the case study example as tutorial activity, create an item such as ">>>Click Here to Answer<<<" after the question.

Step#2
Select/highlight the ">>>Click Here to Answer<<<" and you will find the little CN logo at the panel bar turn blue (activated). Click on it to find the "Internal CN Tools" for you to select an Action.

Look for "Prompt Students to Create a New Post" and select it.

Step#3
Once you have selected the option as above, you will be given an option of Link with Gradebook item. Here, you can award marks for the student when they post an answer to your question. Select "+Add a new Gradebook Item".  

Step#3
Enter the Gradebook Item detail and click "Add Item" and save your task. 

Finally, it is done! You have a link for the students to answer to your question. 

NEXT: How to mark the student's answer on the CN?

How to Create Hyperlink for Students to Visit?

SmartLink is a unique internal tools of the CN that can assist you to design the task page into an interactive learning site for your students. This post will show you how to use the basic feature of the Smartlink.

1. Create links for student to access

Step#1
When you are editing your task on the CN (refer to creating task), such as the case study example as tutorial activity, you can select the item you want the student to click for accessing a site. Then, click at the little blue colour CN logo-button at the editing panel (as below).

Note: you can only activate (in blue) the Smartlink button when have made a selection, highlight of items in your edit task page. If not has been selected/highlighted, the button will be inactive.

Step#2
You can then select an Action of your choice. For this example, we want to 'Insert a Hyperlink for Students to Visit". 

Step#3
Enter the URL of the site you want the student to visit and then save it.

There you go, the item you have highlighted is now ready with hyperlink feature.

Next: How to Prompt Student to Answer the Tutorial Question.

How to Create Tutorial Activity Using Task on The CN

Here, I would like to share some tips on how you can create a tutorial activity using the TASKS function on the CN.

Step #1
On you Course main page, look for the add tasks button at the left-side navigation panel.

Step #2
You can then insert the title, change label colour and set visibility to course members only or to the Global Classmates (Public).

For example, you can create a tutorial based on a case study and insert the instruction and questions.

Once done, 'Save Task' and there you go. A new Task created.

Special Tips:
CN provide some hints on how you can use the Tasks to enhance the course delivery. Find the setting button (as below), and you should see the 'Pedagogical Hints' option. Click on it and find the some idea on how Tasks can be useful.

Next: How to Create Hyperlink for Student to Visit.

How To Create New Course on The CN

For instructor, normally the institution will create and assign new course for you based on your teaching load. However, you can create your own course any time you want. It is very easy to do so.

Step #1
Find the 'Course' at the top of navigation of the page. Click on it and you will see a drop menu as below. Use the '+ Create a Course' option to create new course.

Step #2
Then, you will see a 3-step process of setting up your new course. Fill up the basic settings and click continue.

Here, you are given the option to create a course for public or to selected CN members. Hence, you can opt for pin code or email request as permission to join your course.

Step #3
Next you be come to the Anar Reward System setting. You have a choice to enable or disable the Anar Reward System for your new course. The Anar Reward System is unchecked by default.
Explore the activities that allows you to reward Anar seed to your participant. It can be fun and allows you to convert the seeds into assessment marks if you want to (check with your institution on this).

Step #4
You can click continue if you you do not want to search of similar course and there you go, your new course is ready!

Hope this is easy!

How To Import Tasks From Other Course - For Instructors

With a special request this morning, I will share a very useful tips for instructor who want to import the previous semester course tasks into the new semester. Only 2 steps, easy!!!

Step #1
Go to your new course page and find the Task Setting button and a pop-up menu will show you two options and the pedagogical hints. Choose "Import Tasks" as below.:

Select "Import Tasks"

Step #2
You will then find the Import Tasks option. Select a course that you want to import the tasks/materials from.

Note: You can 'SELECT ALL' to import the entire Course Tasks to your new course or select by specific tasks. I would advise you to "Checked" both the import settings if you want to conduct the same course with all the activities in the new semester. All your previous polls and posts will be imported. If you do not want to import it, you need to unchecked these options.

Done!
There you go, all the tasks will appear in your new course tasks. With some editing, your new course is ready!

Have a great new semester ahead!

Setting up Cover Image and Showcase Icons on CN

Profile page on the CN is like your portfolio page. The purpose of having this page is to allow a CN user to showcase academic achievements and associated professional body or social networks.

To utilise this, you can go to your profile page after you have logged in and find the 'plus' button as the screen shot above. Click on it and you find the the option to add the institutions, their web addresses, the period of association and the logo.

The interesting part of adding the logo is that you can choose to upload the image from your files, or use the Google search feature to get the image of the logo you want to use for showcase.

Next, you can change your background cover image by selecting the "Add Cover Image" option at the right-top section of the profile page as below. You will be prompted with the option to upload the image. When upload is complete, you can then edit the image to fit in the page.

Try it out and create your own ePortfolio today.

Next, I will share some tips for the basic functions of the CN such as Post, Poll and Events

Older Posts:

Setting Up Your Own Profile Page on Course Networking (CN)

Setting Up Your Own Profile Page on Course Networking (CN)

Each CN account owner will get a Profile Page. You can access your profile page by using the link (your CN ID) at the top navigation bar.

Tips #1 - Profile Picture
Once you get into your profile page, the first thing that you can try is to upload your profile picture. Similar to Linkedin, you want to let your network to identify/recognise you and your posting in the future.

Roll over to the profile picture area and you will see the little camera icon. Click on it to prompt the Windows Explorer to search for your picture. 

Tips #2 - Personal Details
There are three sections that you can insert your personal details. First is when you roll-over the area as below, you can click on the edit button to change your name.

At the lower sections, you can roll over (as circled), to write about yourself and some basic information as below. You can provide contact information like email, or use the "Find Me" tile box for your Facebook or Website addresses. The "Social Engagement" shows your connection with others during your interaction on the CN.

All these tile boxes can be customised, either hidden or visible from public, show only to selected group of networks when you click on the little earth button (by default it is visible to the public).

Next, I will show you how to showcase your association and change the cover image.
Older Post: First time login to the Course Networking CN

First time login to the Course Networking CN

Last year, I was introduced by my institution to embark on the use of Course Networking (CN) for e-learning purposes. This is to create an on-line platform for teaching and learning in Higher Education. Since then, I have been a fan of the CN and have been using it as part of my course delivery tools.

Recently, I have conducted a workshop for my colleagues on "CN for Starters". I would like to share some of the basic tips here for you to kick-start your learning journey on the CN. (I will not explain in details what is CN all about but you can find out yourself on their website - as below).

Firstly, you need to have an account. You can sign up yourself or your institution will provide for your an account. If your account are given by an institution, you will see the institution identity on top-left (red circle).

After you have logged in, you will come to the home page. A few navigation that you need to be familiar with. On top navigation bar (pink underline, from left to right) you can see your notification, email, people who choose to follow you, the list of courses you are taking, help page, the link to your CN profile page and setting button. Click on it to explore them and you can click on your institution logo to go back to the Home page any time.

The blue circle area on left-vertical bar will show all your active courses. Well, the interface is very much similar to other social network site such as Facebook and Linkedin. You just need a few attempt to use it to get familiar with it.

That's it for now. Next, I will share with you on how to create your very own profile page on the CN.