Transcript Personality Traits

WEEK 4:
THE MANAGER AS A
PERSON - I
BUSN 107 – 17.10.2012
The Basis for Understanding Behavior:
Individual variables that affect behavior:
 Abilities
and skills
 Personality
 Mood and emotions
 Values and attitudes
 Perceptions
 Demographics: age, gender and etc.
 Background and experience
The Manager as a Person
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Personality traits that affect how managers think,
feel and behave
Moods and emotions that influence all
organizational members
Values and attitudes and their impact on
managerial action
Organizational culture that both created and
influenced by managers
Abilities & Skills

Ability
A
biological or learned trait that permits a person to
do something mental or physical

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Mental abilities => verbal comprehension,
reasoning, associative memory, perceptual speed,
spatial orientation and visualization...
Physical abilities => dynamic strength, flexibility,
body coordination, stamina...
Abilities & Skills

Skills
 Task-related

competencies
Examples: Skill to negotiate a contract, operate
a computer
Personality

Personality
A
stable set of characteristics and tendencies that
determine the ways in which individuals react to and
interacts with others
 Often described it in terms of some measurable traits
a person exhibits

Personality Traits: Enduring tendencies to feel, think,
and act in certain ways
How Does Personality Develop?

Nature (Biological)
 Study
of identical twins
 Genes
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Nurture (Socio-cultural)
 Surrounding
 Experiences
What Personality Traits are Best for
Managers?
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No single trait is right or wrong for being an
effective manager
Effectiveness is determined by a complex interaction
between the characteristics of managers and the
nature of the job and organization in which they are
working
Big Five Personality Traits
Emotional stability
Big Five Personality Traits
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Extraversion
 The
degree to which a person is sociable and
assertive versus reserved, quiet anf timid.
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Extraverted people tend to perform well in management
jobs, do better in training programs and higher levels of
overall job satisfaction
Managers high in extraversion tend to be sociable,
affectionate, outgoing and friendly
Big Five Personality Traits

Emotional Stability (Neuroticism)
 The
ability a person displays in handling stress by
remaining calm, focused, and self-confident, as
opposed to insecure, anxious, unstable and
depressed.

People with high levels of emotional stability tend to
have higher levels of performance and are more
likely to stay with the organization
Big Five Personality Traits
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Agreeableness
 The
degree of working well with others by sharing
trust, warmth, and cooperativeness
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Better team players; get along better with customers,
co-workers and other stakeholder
Managers high in agreeableness are likable,
affectionate and care about others
Big Five Personality Traits
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Conscientiousness
 The
hardworking, diligent, organized, dependable,
and persistent behavior of a person
 Tendency to be careful, punctual and persevering
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Brings high levels of motivation and performance
Managers high in this trait are organized and selfdisciplined
Big Five Personality Traits
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Openness to Experience
 Tendency
to be original, have broad interests,
be open to a wide range of stimuli, be daring and
take risks
 A person’s range of interests in new things

Open people are creative, curious and artistically
sensitive, as opposed to closed-minded
Adjectives Associated with
the Big Five Personality Traits:
TRAIT
WHAT IS RELEVANT?
WHAT DOES IT AFFECT?
Emotional Stability
Less negative thinking and
fewer negative emotions
Higher job & life
satisfaction
Lower stress levels
Extraversion
Better interpersonal skills
Greater social dominance
More emotionally expressive
Higher performance
Enhanced leadership
Higher job & life
satisfaction
Agreeableness
Better liked
More compliant and
comforming
Higher performance
Lower levels of deviant
behavior
Conscientiousness
Greated effort & persistence
More drive and discipline
Better organizing & planning
Higher performance
Greater longetivity
Openness to
Experience
Increased learning
More creative
More flexible & autonomous
Training performance
More adoptable to
change
In-Class Activity (1):
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A Profile of Personality based on Big Five Traits:
 http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/buildyour
managementskills/updatedexercises/quiz_6b1.html
Other Personality Traits
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Internal Locus of Control
Tendency to locate responsibility for one’s fate within
oneself; to see the control of one’s life as coming from
inside
 Own actions and behaviors are major and decisive
determinants of job outcomes
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External locus of control
Tendency to locate responsibility for one’s own fate in
outside forces and to believe that one’s own behavior has
little impact on outcomes
 Believing that one’s life is controlled by external factors
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Other Personality Traits
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Self-Esteem
 The
degree to which people feel good about
themselves and their capabilities
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Self-Efficacy
 The
belief that one can perform adequately in a
particular situation
Other Personality Traits
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Need for Achievement
 The
extent to which an individual has a strong desire to
perform challenging tasks well and to meet personal
standards for excellence
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Need for Affiliation
 The
extent to which an individual is concerned about
establishing and maintaining good interpersonal
relations, being liked, and having other people get
along
What If One Has a “Wrong Personality”?
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There is nothing as “wrong personality”
But we can make effort for improving ourselves in
several dimensions:
 Making
an extra effort to be more conscientious
 Find an organization that suits you (personalityorganization fit)
 All traits have upsides and downsides
 Time is on your side!
Moods & Emotions
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Mood => A less intense feeling or state of mind
that lack a contextual stimulus
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Positive moods: provide excitement, joy and
enthusiasm.
Negative moods: lead to fear, distress, and
nervousness
Moods & Emotions
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Emotion => Intense, relatively short-lived
feelings that are directed to someone or something.
 Difficult
to measure
 Positive and negative emotions
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Six universal emotions:
Anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise, and
disgust
AFFECT:
Broad range of feelings that people experience.
Affect can be experienced in the form of emotions or moods.
EMOTIONS
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Caused by specific event
MOODS
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Very brief in duration
(seconds or minutes)
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Specific and numerous in
nature
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Usually accompanied by
distinct facial expressions
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Action oriented in nature
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Cause is general and unclear
Last longer than emotions (hours or
days)
More general (two main
dimensions: positive and negative
affect)
Generally not indicated by distinct
expressions
Cognitive in nature
Sources of Moods & Emotions:
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Personality
Day of the week and time of the day
Weather
Stress
Social activities
Sleep
Exercise
Age and gender
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
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Emotional Intelligence:
 The
ability to accurately perceive, evaluate, express and
regulate emotional cues and information
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Five components of EQ:
 Self-awareness
 Self-management
 Motivation
 Empathy
 Social skills
When Should Managers Consider Moods
and Emotions?
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Selection
Decision making
Creativity
Motivation
Leadership
Negotiation
Customer service
Deviant workplace behaviors
Safety and injury at work
In-Class Activity (2):
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Assessing Your Emotional Intelligence:
 http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/buildyour
managementskills/updated_flash/topic5a/quiz.html
In-Class Activity (3):
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Keeping your emotions in check:
http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/videos
/POM_V2/Flashvideo/EmotionsinCheck.html
In-Class Activity (3):
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After watching the video, please answer the
following questions:
1. What are emotions and why they are critical to
personal relationships?
2. Why do managers need to be concerned with their
emotions and the emotions of their subordinates?
3. What are some of the strategies a person can use to
keep emotions in check?
Next Class (31 Oct 2012):
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Read from your textbook:
Chapter 3
 Manager as a person
Chapter 5
 Managing diverse employees in a multicultural
environment
Next Class (31 Oct 2012):
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Examine the following articles:
Personality Change
 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2
743415/
A Global Personality?
 http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=
5669803