personality and Locus of control || Organization Behaviour || by Anshika Vasandhani mam || U.I.E.T. kanpur ,CSJM University Kanpur || Unit 3rd

Personality

Definition

Personality is that pattern of characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguishes one person from another and that persists over time and situations. Personality also refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments, and behaviors consistently exhibited over time that strongly influences one's expectations, self-perceptions, values, and attitudes. The word "personality" originates from the Latin word persona, which means mask.

G. W. Allport defined it as “a person’s pattern of habits, attitudes, and traits which determine his adjustment to his environment.” According to Robert E. Park and Earnest W. Burgess, personality is “the sum and organisation of those traits which determine the role of the individual in the group.”

Determinants of Personality

Biological factors:The general biological characteristics of human biological system influence the way in which human beings tend to see external data interpret and respond to them. The study of biological contribution to personality can be divided into three major categories hereditary, brain and physical stacture.

 Hereditary: Hereditary is the transmission of the qualities from the ancestor to descendent through a mechanism primarily lying in the chromosomes of the germ cell. Hereditary predisposes a certain mental, physical and emotional states. It has been established through research that those psychological characteristics can be transmitted through hereditary. However such conclusive proof is not available for human beings.

Brain: The second biological factor is brain, which is supposed to pay a role in personality. The structure of brain determines personality, though no conclusive proof is available so far about the role of brain in personality formation.

Physical Features: The third biological factor determining personality formation is physical characteristics and rate of maturation. An individual external appearance, which is biologically determined, is an important ingredient of personality. Ina narrow sense personality is referred to the physical features of a person. A person’s physical feature has some influence over his personality because he will effect influence on others and in turn will affect his self-concept.

Family and social factors: Family and social groups have most significant impact on personality development. These groups have their impact through socialization and identification process.

Socialization Process: Socialization is process by which the individual infant acquires, from the enormously wide range of behaviour potentialities that are open to him at birth, those behaviour patterns that are customary and are acceptable according to the standards of his family and social group. Socialization process starts with initial contact between mother and her new infant. Later on other members of the family and social group influence the socialization process.

Identification Process: The identification process occurs when a person tries to identify himself with some person to whom he feels ideal in the family. First identification can be viewed as the similarity of behaviour between the child and model. Second identification can be looked in as the child motives or desires to be like the model. Third it can be viewed as the process through which the child actually takes on the attributes of the model.

Home environment: Total home environment is critical factor in personality development. For E.g. children with markedly institutional upbringing or children in cold unstimulating home have much greater potential to be emotionally maladjusted than children raised by parents in warm and loving and stimulating environment.

Family Members: Parents and other family members have a strong influence on the personality development of the child. Parents have more effect on the personality development as compared to other members of the family.

Social Groups: Besides a person’s home environment and family members there are other influences arising from the social placement of the family as the person is exposed to agencies outside the home, particularly the school, friendship and other work groups. Similarly socio economic group also affect personality.

Cultural Factors: Culture is the underlying determinant of human decision making. It generally determines attitude towards independence, aggression competition and co-operation. Each culture expects and trains its members to behave in the way that are acceptable to the group. To a marked degree the child’s cultural group defines the range of experiences and situations he/she is likely to encounter and the values and the personality characteristics that will be reinforced and learned.

Situational factors: Apart from biological, sociological and cultural factors situational factors also determine personality development. Situation exerts an important press on the individual it exercises constraint and may provide push. This aspect is very important for organization behaviour because manager has control over the organizational situation.

Theories of personality

Trait theories-

Gordon Allport's trait theory

Gordon Allport was one of the first modern trait theorists. Allport and Henry Odbert worked through two of the most comprehensive dictionaries of the English language available and extracted around 18,000 personality-describing words. From this list they reduced the number of words to approximately 4,500 personality-describing adjectives which they considered to describe observable and relatively permanent personality traits.
Allport organized these traits into a hierarchy of three levels:

Cardinal traits dominate and shape an individual's behavior, such as Ebenezer Scrooge’s greed or Mother Theresa’s altruism. They stand at the top of the hierarchy and are collectively known as the individual's master control. They are considered to be an individual's ruling passions. Cardinal traits are powerful, but few people have personalities dominated by a single trait. Instead, our personalities are typically composed of multiple traits.

Central traits come next in the hierarchy. These are general characteristics found in varying degrees in every person (such as loyalty, kindness, agreeableness, friendliness, sneakiness, wildness, or grouchiness). They are the basic building blocks that shape most of our behavior.

Secondary traits exist at the bottom of the hierarchy and are not quite as obvious or consistent as central traits. They are plentiful but are only present under specific circumstances; they include things like preferences and attitudes. These secondary traits explain why a person may at times exhibit behaviors that seem incongruent with their usual behaviors. For example, a friendly person gets angry when people try to tickle him; another is not an anxious person but always feels nervous speaking publicly.

Allport hypothesized that internal and external forces influence an individual's behavior and personality, and he referred to these forces as genotypes and phenotypes. Genotypes are internal forces that relate to how a person retains information and uses it to interact with the world. Phenotypes are external forces that relate to the way an individual accepts his or her surroundings and how others influence his or her behavior.

Raymond Cattell: Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire

From Allport's list of about 4,000 traits, Raymond Cattell decreased the number into 1713 because he believed that uncommon traits should be eliminated. In his research, Cattell eventually narrowed down the list into 16 personality traits. He then developed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), an assessment tool commonly utilized today. The 16 personality traits include:

1. Warmth (A)

2. Reasoning (B)

3. Emotional Stability (C)

4. Dominance (E)

5. Liveliness (F)

6. Rule-consciousness (G)

7. Social Boldness (H)

8. Sensitivity (I)

9. Vigilance (L)

10. Abstractedness (M)

11. Privateness (N)

12. Apprehension/Apprehensiveness (O)

13. Openness to change (Q1)

14. Self-reliance (Q2)

15. Perfectionism (Q3)

16. Tension (Q4) 

Big 5 trait theory

Researchers have proposed that there are five basic dimensions of personality, known as the big five. Human resources professionals often use the Big Five personality dimensions to help place employees. That is because these dimensions are considered to be the underlying traits that make up an individual’s overall personality. The five factors have been defined as openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Openness to experience: (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious). Openness reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for novelty and variety a person has. It is also described as the extent to which a person is imaginative or independent, and depicts a personal preference for a variety of activities over a strict routine. High openness can be perceived as unpredictability or lack of focus. Conversely, those with low openness seek to gain fulfillment through perseverance, and are characterized as pragmatic and data-driven—sometimes even perceived to be dogmatic and closed-minded.

Conscientiousness: (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless). A tendency to be organized and dependable, show self-discipline, act dutifully, aim for achievement, and
prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior. High conscientiousness are often perceived as stubborn and obsessive. Low conscientiousness are flexible and spontaneous, but can be perceived as sloppy and unreliable.

Extraversion: (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved). Energy, positive emotions, surgency, assertiveness, sociability and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others, and talkativeness. High extraversion is often perceived as attention-seeking, and domineering. Low extraversion causes a reserved, reflective personality, which can be perceived as aloof or self-absorbed.

Agreeableness: (friendly/compassionate vs. analytical/detached). A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. It is also a measure of one's trusting and helpful nature, and whether a person is generally well-tempered or not. High agreeableness is often seen as naive or submissive. Low agreeableness personalities are often competitive or challenging people, which can be seen as argumentative or untrustworthy.

Neuroticism: (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident). The tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, and vulnerability. Neuroticism also refers to the degree of emotional stability and impulse. A high need for stability manifests as a stable and calm personality, but can be seen as uninspiring and unconcerned. A low need for stability causes a reactive and excitable personality, often very dynamic individuals, but they can be perceived as unstable or insecure.

These dimensions represent broad areas of personality. Research has demonstrated that these groupings of characteristics tend to occur together in many people. For example, individuals who are sociable tend to be talkative. However, these traits do not always occur together. Personality is a complex and varied and each person may display behaviors across several of these dimensions.

Type A Type B personality theory

Type A and Type B personality theory describes two contrasting personality types. In this theory, personalities that are more competitive, outgoing, ambitious, impatient and/or aggressive are labeled Type A, while more relaxed personalities are labeled Type B.

Type A

The theory describes Type A individuals as ambitious, rigidly organized, highly status-conscious, sensitive, impatient, anxious, proactive, and concerned with time management. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics." They push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.
In his 1996 book dealing with extreme Type A behavior, Type A Behavior: Its Diagnosis and Treatment, Friedman suggests that dangerous Type A behavior is expressed through three major symptoms: (1) free-floating hostility, which can be triggered by even minor incidents; (2) time urgency and impatience, which causes irritation and exasperationusually described as being "short-fused"; and (3) a competitive drive, which causes stress and an achievement-driven mentality. The first of these symptoms is believed to be covert and therefore less observable, while the other two are more overt.

Type B

The theory describes Type B individuals as a contrast to those of Type A. Type B personality, by definition, are noted to live at lower stress levels. They typically work steadily, and may enjoy achievement, although they have a greater tendency to disregard physical or mental stress when they do not achieve. When faced with competition, they may focus less on winning or losing than their Type A counterparts, and more on enjoying the game regardless of winning or losing. Type B individuals are sometimes attracted to careers of creativity: writer, counselor, therapist, actor or actress. However, network and computer systems managers, professors, and judges are more likely to be Type B individuals as well. Their personal character may enjoy exploring ideas and concepts. They are often reflective, and think of the "outer and inner world".

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality

According to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality - known as the id, the ego and the superego - work together to create complex human behaviors.

The Id

* The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth.

* This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and includes of the instinctive and primitive behaviors.

*According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality.

The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state anxiety or tension. For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink. The id is very important early in life, because it
ensures that an infant's needs are met. If the infant is hungry or uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are met.
However, immediately satisfying these needs is not always realistic or even possible.

The Ego

* The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality. 

*According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. 

* The ego functions in both the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.

The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases, the id's impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification--the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in the appropriate time and place.

The Superego

*The last component of personality to develop is the superego. 

* The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society - our sense of right and wrong.

* The superego provides guidelines for making judgments. 

* According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five.

The superego acts to perfect and civilize our behavior. It works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon realistic principles. The superego is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the superego. 

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs, is a well known and widely used personality inventory based on the psychological theories of Carl Gustav Jung. It is often used as a tool for discovering and understanding different normal human personalities.

The goal of the MBTI is to allow respondents to further explore and understand their own personalities including their likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, possible career preferences, and compatibility with other people. No one personality type is "best" or "better" than any other one. The questionnaire itself is made up of four different scales:

1. Extraversion (E) - Introversion (I): Extraverts are "outward-turning" and tend to be action-oriented, enjoy more frequent social interaction, and feel energized after spending time with other people. Introverts are "inward-turning" and tend to be thought-oriented, enjoy deep and meaningful social interactions, and feel recharged after spending time alone. We all exhibit extraversion and introversion to some degree, but most of us tend have an overall preference for one or the other.

2. Sensing (S) - Intuition (N): This scale involves looking at how people gather information from the world around them. Just like with extraversion and introversion, all people spend some time sensing and intuiting depending on the situation. According to the MBTI, people tend be dominant in one area or the other. People who prefer sensing tend to pay a great deal of attention to reality, particularly to what they can learn from their own senses. They tend to focus on facts and details and enjoy getting hands-on experience. Those who prefer intuition pay more attention to things like patterns and impressions. They enjoy thinking about possibilities, imagining the future and abstract theories.

3. Thinking (T) - Feeling (F): This scale focuses on how people make decisions based on the information that they gathered from their sensing or intuition functions. People who prefer thinking place a greater emphasis on facts and objective data. They tend to be consistent, logical and impersonal when weighing a decision. Those to prefer feeling are more likely to consider people and emotions when arriving at a conclusion.

4. Judging (J) - Perceiving (P): The final scale involves how people tend to deal with the outside world. Those who lean toward judging prefer structure and firm decisions. People who lean toward perceiving are more open, flexible and adaptable. These two tendencies interact with the other scales. Remember, all people at least spend some time extraverting. The judging-perceiving scale helps describe whether you extravert when you are taking in new information (sensing and intuiting) or when you are making decisions (thinking and feeling). Each type is then listed by its four letter code:

1. ISTJ – Introverted Sensing with Thinking 

2. ISFJ – Introverted Sensing with Feeling 

3. INFJ – Introverted Intuition with Feeling
 4. INTJ – Introverted Intuition with Thinking

5. ISTP – Introverted Thinking with Sensing
6. ISFP – Introverted Feeling with Sensing
7. INFP – Introverted Feeling with Intuition
 8. INTP – Introverted Thinking with Intuition

9. ESTP – Extraverted Sensing with Thinking
10. ESFP – Extraverted Sensing with Feeling
11. ENFP – Extraverted Intuition with Feeling
12. ENTP – Extraverted Intuition with Thinking

13. ESTJ – Extraverted Thinking with Sensing
14. ESFJ – Extraverted Feeling with Sensing
15. ENFJ – Extraverted Feeling with Intuition
16. ENTJ – Extraverted Thinking with Intuition 

According to the Myers & Briggs Foundation, it is important to remember that all types are equal and that every type has value. When working in group situations in school or at work for example, recognizing your own strengths and understanding the strengths of others can be very helpful. When you are working toward completing a project with other members of a group, you might realize that certain members of the group are skilled and talented at performing particular actions. By recognizing these differences, the group can better assign tasks and work together on achieving their goals.

Locus of Control

Control can be defined as the power to determine outcomes by directly influencing actions, people and events. When we look at it that way, we can begin to see that there is no way to control everything in our lives. I'm not saying we cannot control anything, but put in the context of that definition, we have to step back and really analyze what we can and cannot control.

The word 'control' becomes even more interesting when we have the word locus, before it. You see, locus is defined as a position, point or place, or more specifically, a location where something occurs. A person's locus of control may be internal or external.

Internal vs. External Locus of Control

People who base their success on their own work and believe they control their life have an internal locus of control. In contrast, people who attribute their success or failure to outside influences have an external locus of control.

For example, let's say you're a person with an internal locus of control and you get a promotion at work or achieve some other type of success. You will probably attribute that positive end result to the work you put in. In other words, your success was a direct result of your hard work.

If, on the other hand, you have an external locus of control, you might attribute that promotion or success to external or environmental factors, such as luck, fate, timing, other people or some type of divine intervention.

Let's use the same example and say that you were denied a promotion. If your locus of control is internal, you would find a way to blame yourself for the perceived failure. If your locus of control is external, it would be easy, even natural, to blame outside sources beyond your control.

 Those with an internal locus of control: 

* Are more likely to take responsibility for their actions 

* Tend to be less influenced by the opinions of other people  

* Often do better at tasks when they are allowed to work at their own pace

 * Usually have a strong sense of self-efficacy 

* Tend to work hard to achieve the things they want  

* Feel confident in the face of challenges 

* Tend to be physically healthier 

* Report being happier and more independent  

* Often achieve greater success in the workplace 

Those with an external locus of control:

  * Blame outside forces for their circumstances  

* Often credit luck or chance for any successes  

* Don't believe that they can change their situation through their own efforts 

* Frequently feel hopeless or powerless in the face of difficult situations  

* Are more prone to experiencing learned helplessness

 It is also important to note that locus of control is a continuum. No one has a 100 percent external or internal locus of control. Instead, most people lie somewhere on the continuum between the two extremes .

The Benefits and Drawbacks

Individuals who identify with an internal locus of control tend to take more responsibility for their actions, whether those actions or the end results are good or bad. They do not accept outside influence for the outcomes, no matter what that is. If, for example, this person did not get back to work in time from lunch, they would think they should have eaten in the office or not gone to lunch altogether. The results of the action are theirs and theirs alone to bear.

On the other hand, a person who identifies with an external locus of control looks at everything around them as part of the success or failure. In many ways, they believe in the team aspect more than those that focus on the internal locus of control, as they will always praise those around them for a job well done, even if they had nothing to do with it at all. They are team players.

There are drawbacks to both of these viewpoints, though. An internally-focused person will be hard on themselves and constantly analyze what they did wrong. That perspective almost forces these individuals to be hard charging, driven individuals that at times can assume a take-no-prisoners attitude. Conversely, those that have an external focus may come off as someone who just does not accept responsibility. While they are and can be team players, if the result is not a positive one, they will be the first to complain that something outside their personal control attributed to the shortfall.