中国经济管理大学
MBA课堂
《组织行为学》

CHAPTER 3 - PERSONALITY AND EMOTIONS

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
Describe the eight categories in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality framework.
Identify the Big Five personality variables and their relationship to behavior in organizations.
Describe the impact of job typology on the personality/job performance relationship.
Differentiate felt from displayed emotions.
Identify the six universal emotions.
Explain if it is possible for a person to be emotionless.
Describe ways in which emotions influence work-related behavior.

LECTURE OUTLINE
I. PERSONALITY
A. Introduction
1. When we de­scribe people in terms of characteristics such as quiet, passive, loud, and so on, we categorize them in terms of personality traits.
2. An individual’s personality, therefore, is the combination of psychological traits we use to classify that person.

B. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
1. One of the most widely used personality frameworks.
2. Essentially a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations.
3. Individuals are classified as:
a) extroverted or introverted (E or I)
b) sensing or intuitive (S or N)
c) thinking or feel­ing (T or F)
d) perceiving or judging (P or J)
4. These classifications are then com­bined into sixteen personality types.
a) A study that profiled thirteen contem­porary business people who created super-successful firms such as Apple Com­puter, FedEx, Honda Motors, Microsoft, Price Club, and Sony found all thirteen to be intuitive thinkers (NTs).
b) This finding is particularly interesting be­cause intuitive thinkers represent only about five percent of the population.
5. More than two million people a year take the MBTI in the United States alone.
6. There is no hard evidence that the MBTI is a valid measure of personality. But lack of such evidence does not seem to deter organizations from using it.

C. The Big-Five Model
1. An impressive body of research supports that five basic per­sonality dimensions underlie all others.
2. Factors in the Big-Five Model Are:
a) Extroversion—one’s comfort level with relationships.
b) Agreeableness—an individual’s propensity to defer to others.
c) Conscientiousness—a measure of reliability.
d) Emotional stability—dimension measuring a person’s ability to withstand stress.  Positive emotional stability (calm, enthusiastic, secure) as opposed to negative emotional stability  (tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure).
e) Openness to experience—an individual’s range of interests and fascination with novelty.
3. Research on the Big Five found important relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance.
a) A broad spectrum of occupations were examined: professionals (including engineers, architects, accountants, attorneys), police, managers, sales, and semiskilled and skilled employees.
b) Job performance was de­fined in terms of performance ratings, proficiency dur­ing training programs, and personnel data such as salary level.
c) Conscientiousness predicted job performance for all occupa­tional groups.
d) For the other personality dimensions, predictability depended on both the performance criterion and occupational group.

D. Other Key Personality Attributes
1. Six additional personality attributes have been identified that appear to have more direct relevance for explaining and predicting behavior in organizations.
a) Locus of control
b) Machiavellianism
c) Self-esteem
d) Self-monitoring
e) Risk propen­sity
f) Type A personality
2. Locus of Control
a) Some people believe they are masters of their own fate.
b) Other people see themselves as pawns of fate.
c) Locus of control in the first case is internal, those who see their life as being controlled by outsiders are ex­ternals.
(1) Employees who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, more alienated from the work setting, and less involved in their jobs than are internals.
3. Machiavellianism
a) Is named after Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth-century on how to gain and use power.
b) An individual exhibiting strong Machiavellian tendencies is manipulative, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.
(1) “If it works, use it” is consistent with a high-Mach perspective.
c) High Machs are more likely to engage in behavior that is ethically questionable than are low Machs.
d) In jobs that require bargaining skills or where there are substantial rewards for winning, high Machs will be productive.
4. Self-esteem
a) People differ in the degree to which they like or dislike themselves.
b) Research finds that self-esteem is directly related to expectations for success; high self-esteem employees believe that they possess the ability need to succeed at work.
c) Self-esteem (SE) has also been found to affect susceptibility to outside influences; low SEs are more susceptible to external influences than are high SEs.
d) Evidence indicates that high SEs are more satisfied with their jobs than are low SEs.
5. Self-monitoring
a) Some people are much better than others at adjust­ing their behavior to changing situations.
b) High self-monitors are sensitive to external cues and can behave differ­ently in different situations.
(1) They are chameleons able to change to fit the situation and to hide their true selves.
c) On the other hand, low self-monitors are consistent.
(1) They display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation.
d) High self-monitors tend to pay closer attention to the behav­ior of others and are capable of conforming.
e) High self-monitors also tend to be better at playing organizational politics.
6. Risk Propensity
a) Individuals with a high-risk propensity make more rapid decisions and use less information in making their choices than individuals with low risk propensity.
7. Type A Personality
a) Excessively competitive and always seem to be experiencing a chronic sense of  time urgency.
b) Type As are characterized by an incessant strug­gle to achieve more and more in less and less time.
c) They are impatient, cope poorly with leisure time, and create a life of self-imposed deadlines.
(1) In the North Ameri­can culture such characteristics tend to be highly prized and positively associated with ambition and the successful acquisition of material goods.
d) In terms of work behavior Type As are fast workers.
(1) They emphasize quantity over quality.
(2) Type As are rarely creative.

E. Personality and National Culture
1. There are certainly no common personality types for a given country.
2. Yet a country’s culture influences the dominant personality characteristics of its population.
a) Let’s build this case by looking at two personality attributes—locus of control and the Type A personality.
3. Cultures differ in terms of people's relationship to their environment.
a) In North America people be­lieve that they can dominate their environment.
b) People in other societies, such as Middle Eastern countries, believe that life is essentially preordained.
(1) Notice the close parallel to internal and external locus of control.
4. The Prevalence of Type A Personalities
a) There will be more in capitalistic countries, where achievement and material success are highly valued.
(1) It is estimated that about 50 percent of the North American population is Type A.
(2) In cultures such as Sweden and France, where materialism is less revered, we would predict a smaller proportion of Type A personalities.

F. Matching Personalities and Jobs
1. Ef­forts have been made to match personalities with the proper jobs.
2. The most-re­searched personality-job-fit theory is the six-personality-types model.
3. This model states that an employee’s satisfaction with and propensity to leave his or her job de­pend on the degree to which the individual’s personality matches his or her occupational environment.
a) The six major personality types are listed in Exhibit 3-1, along with their compatible occupations.
4. A Vocational Preference Inventory Questionnaire
a) There are 160 occupational titles
b) Respondents indicate which of these occupations they like or dislike, and their answers are used to form personality profiles.
c) Research strongly supports the hexagonal diagram in Exhibit 3-2.
5. The theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest where personality and occupation are in agreement.

II. EMOTIONS
A. Introduction
1. Example of a 42-year-old software tester at a Boston-area Internet consulting firm shooting co-workers.
2. Emotions are an important factor in employee behavior.
3. Until very recently, the topic of emotions had been given lit­tle or no attention within the field of OB.
a) The myth of rationality was one hindrance.
(1) Since the late nineteenth century, organizations have been essentially designed with the objective of trying to control emotions.
(2) It was believed that a well-run organization was one that successfully eliminated frustration, anger, love, hate, joy, grief and similar feelings.
b) The second factor that acted to keep emotions out of OB was the belief that emo­tions of any kind were disruptive.
(1) When emotions were considered, the discussion fo­cused on strong negative emotions—especially anger—that interfered with an em­ployee's ability to do his or her job effectively.
(2) Emotions were rarely viewed as being constructive or able to stimulate performance-enhancing behaviors.

B. What Are Emotions?
1. Clarify three terms that are closely intertwined: affect, emotions, and moods.
2. Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people ex­perience.
a) It’s an umbrella concept that encompasses both emotions and moods.
3. Emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something.
4. Moods are feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and they lack a contextual stimulus.
5. Emotions are reactions to an object, not a trait.
a) They are object specific.
b) Moods, on the other hand, are not directed at an object.
c) Emotions can turn into moods when you lose focus on the contextual object.
6. Emotional labor
a) Most jobs also require emotional labor.
b) This is when an employee expresses or­ganizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions.
c) The concept was originally developed in relation to service jobs.
d) Today, the concept of emotional labor seems rele­vant to almost every job.

C. Felt vs. Displayed Emotions
1. Emotional labor creates dilemmas for employees when their job requires them to exhibit emotions that are incongruous with their actual feelings.
2. Emotions can be separated into felt vs. displayed.
a) Felt emotions are an individual’s actual emotions.
b) In contrast, displayed emotions are those that are organizationally-required and considered ap­propriate in a given job.
(1)  They’re not innate; they’re learned.
3. The key point here is that felt and displayed emotions are often different.
a) Many people have problems working with others simply because they naively assume that the emotions they see others display are what those others actually feel.

D. The Six Universal Emotions
1. Research has identified six universal emotions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise.
a) Exhibit 3-3 illustrates that these six emotions can be conceptualized as exist­ing along a continuum.
b) The closer any two emotions are to each other on this continuum, the more likely people are to confuse them.
2. These six basic emotions surface in the workplace.

E. Gender and Emotions
1. It’s widely assumed that women are more “in touch” with their feelings than men.
a) The evidence does confirm differences between men and women when it comes to emotional reactions and ability to read others.
2. Women show greater emo­tional expression than men.
a) They experience emotions more intensely and they more frequently express both positive and negative emotions, except anger.
b) They have more comfort in expressing emo­tions.
c) They are better at reading nonverbal cues than are men.
3. Three possible answers to explain these differences.
a) The different ways men and women have been social­ized.
b) Women may have more innate ability to read others and present their emotions than do men.
c) Women may have a greater need for social approval and, thus, a higher propensity to show positive emotions like happiness.

F. Emotions and National Culture
1. Cultural norms in the United States dictate that employees in service organizations should smile and act friendly when interacting with customers.
2. But this norm does not apply worldwide.
a) In Israel smiling by supermarket cashiers is seen as a sign of inexperience, so cashiers are encouraged to look somber.
b) In Moslem cultures smiling is frequently taken as a sign of sexual attraction, so women are socialized not to smile at men.
3. This illustrates the need to consider cultural factors as influ­encing what is or is not considered as emotionally appropriate.
a) There tends to be high agreement on what emotions mean within cultures but not between cultures.

G. OB Applications
1. Ability and Selection
a) People who know their own emotions and are good at read­ing others' emotions may be more effective in their jobs.
b) Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an assortment of noncognitive skills, capabilities, and competencies that influence a person's ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures.
c) Its composed of five dimensions:
(1) Self-awareness, or the ability to know what you are feeling.
(2) Self-management, or the ability to manage one's own emotions and impulses.
(3) Self-motivation, or the ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures.
(4) Empathy, or the ability to sense how others are feeling.
(5) Social skills, or the ability to handle the emotions of others.
2. EI may play an important role in job performance.
a) The implications from the initial evidence on EI is that employers should consider it as a factor in selection, especially in jobs that demand a high degree of social interaction.
3. Decision Making
a) Traditional approaches to the study of decision making in organizations have emphasized rationality.
b) It is naive to assume that decision choices aren't influenced by one's feelings at a particular moment.
c) You can improve your understanding of decision making by considering “the heart” as well as “the head.” People use emotions as well as rational and intuitive processes in making decisions.
4. Motivation
a) Like decision making, the dominant approaches to the study of motivation reflect an overrationalized view of individuals.
b) Motivation theories basically propose that individuals are motivated to the extent that their behavior is expected to receive desired outcomes.
c) People's perceptions and calculations of situations are filled with emotional content that significantly influences how much effort they exert.
5. Leadership
a) The ability to lead others is a fundamental quality sought by organi­zations.
b) Almost all effective leaders rely on the expression of feelings to help convey their messages.
c) Corporate executives know that emotional content is critical if employees are to buy into their vision of their company's future and accept change.
(1) By arousing emotions and linking them to an appealing vision, leaders increase the likelihood that managers and employees alike will accept change.
6. Interpersonal Conflict
a) Whenever conflicts arise, you can be fairly certain that emotions are also surfacing.
b) A manager's success in trying to resolve conflicts, in fact, is often largely due to his or her ability to identify the emotional elements in the conflict and to get the conflicting parties to work through their emotions.
7. Deviant Workplace Behaviors
a) Negative emotions can lead to a number of deviant workplace behaviors.
b) Employee deviance, or voluntary actions that violate established norms and threaten the organization, its members, or both, falls into several categories:
(1) Production—leaving early, intentionally working slowly
(2) Property—stealing, sabotage
(3) Political—gossiping, blaming co-workers
(4) Personal aggression—sexual harassment, verbal abuse

III. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS
A. Personality
1. The importance of a manager’s understanding of personality differences probably lies in selection.
2. You are likely to have higher-performing and more-satisfied em­ployees if consideration is given to matching personality types with compatible jobs.
3. In addition managers can expect that individuals with an external locus of control may be less satisfied with their jobs than internals, and also that they may be less willing to accept responsibility for their actions.

B. Emotions
1. Emotions are a natural part of an individual’s make-up.
2. Managers often err by ignoring the emotional elements in OB and assessing individual behavior as if it were completely rational.
3. As one consultant aptly put it, “You can not divorce emotions from the workplace because you can not divorce emotions from people.”
4. Managers who understand the role of emotions will significantly im­prove their ability to explain and predict individual behavior.
5. Emotions affect job performance.
a) They can hinder performance, es­pecially negative emotions.
b) Emotions can also enhance perfor­mance in two ways.
(1) Emotions can increase arousal levels, thus acting as motivators to higher performance.
(2) Emotional labor recognizes that feel­ings can be part of a job’s required behavior. For instance, the ability to effectively manage emotions in leadership and sales positions may be critical to success in those positions.

SUMMARY
The MBTI personality framework is one of the most widely used personality frameworks. It is essentially a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations. The results classify people into sixteen personality types.
An impressive body of research supports that five basic per­sonality dimensions underlie all others. This Big Five Model has five key factors: extroversion—one’s comfort level with relationships; agreeableness—an individual’s propensity to defer to others; conscientiousness—a measure of reliability; emotional stability—dimension measuring a person’s ability to withstand stress. Positive emotional stability (calm, enthusiastic, secure) as opposed to negative emotional stability (tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure); openness to experience—an individual’s range of interests and fascination with novelty.
Six additional personality attributes have been identified that appear to have more direct relevance for explaining and predicting behavior in organizations: locus of control, Machiavellianism, self-esteem, self-monitoring, risk propen­sity, and type A personality.
Research shows that national culture does have some impact on personality. While there are no common personality types for a given country, a country’s culture should influence the dominant personality characteristics of its population.
Ef­forts have been made to match personalities with the proper jobs. The most re­searched personality-job-fit theory is the six-personality-types model. This model states that an employee’s satisfaction with and propensity to leave his or her job de­pend on the degree to which the individual’s personality tches his or her occupational environment. The six major personality types are listed in Exhibit 3-1, along with their compatible occupations.
Until very recently, the topic of emotions had been given lit­tle or no attention within the field of OB. The myth of rationality was one hindrance. The second factor that acted to keep emotions out of OB was the belief that emo­tions of any kind were disruptive. To understand emotions we need to understand three terms that are closely intertwined: affect, emotions, and moods. Emotions are reactions to an object, not a trait. Research has identified six universal emotions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise.
It is widely assumed that women are more “in touch” with their feelings than men. The evidence does confirm differences between men and women when it comes to emotional reactions and ability to read others. Women show greater emo­tional expression than men.
Cultural norms as to the appropriate expression of emotion vary across cultures. There tends to be high agreement on what emotions mean within cultures but not between cultures.
These various findings regarding emotions can be applied in a number of organizational behavioral contexts: selection, decision-making, motivation, leadership, and in managing interpersonal conflict.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Describe the eight categories in the MBTI personality framework.
Answer - The MBTI is essentially a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations. Individuals are classified as: extroverted or introverted (E or I), sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feel­ing (T or F), perceiving or judging (P or J). These classifications are then com­bined into sixteen personality types.

What is the value of the “Big Five” personality model for organizations?
Answer - The Big-Five model has five key factors: extroversion—sociable, talkative, assertive; agreeableness—good-natured, cooperative, and trusting; conscientiousness—responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement oriented; emotional stability—calm, enthusiastic, secure (positive) as opposed to tense, nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative); and openness to experience—imaginative, artistically sensitive, and intellectual. Research on the Big Five found important relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance. Five categories of occupations were examined: professionals (including engineers, architects, accountants, attorneys), police, managers, sales, and semiskilled and skilled employees. Job performance was de­fined in terms of performance ratings, training proficiency (performance dur­ing training programs), and personnel data such as salary level. Conscientiousness predicted job performance for all five occupa­tional groups. For the other personality dimensions, predictability depended on both the performance criterion and occupational group.

Identify and describe the six additional personality attributes that appear to have more direct relevance for explaining and predicting behavior in organizations than other measures.
Answer - Locus of control—Some people believe they are masters of their own fate. Other people see themselves as pawns of fate. Locus of control in the first case is internal, those who see their life as being controlled by outsiders are ex­ternals. Machiavellianism is close to authoritarianism. An individual exhibiting strong Machiavellian tendencies is manipulative, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means. Self-esteem, or the degree to which employees like or dislike themselves. Those with high self-esteem believe that they possess the ability need to succeed at work. Self-esteem (SE) has also been found to affect susceptibility to outside influences. Low SEs are more susceptible to external influences than are high SEs. Evidence indicates that high SEs are more satisfied with their jobs than are low SEs. Self-monitoring: some people are much better than others at adjust­ing their behavior to changing situations. High self-monitors are sensitive to external cues and can behave differ­ently in different situations. On the other hand, low self-monitors are consistent. They display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation. Risk propensity—individuals with high risk propensity make more rapid decisions and use less information in making their choices than individuals with low risk propensity. Type A personality: excessively competitive and always seem to be experiencing a chronic sense of urgency. Type As are characterized by an incessant strug­gle to achieve more and more in less and less time.

What is the relationship of national culture and individual personality?
Answer - Research shows that national culture does have some impact on personality. While there are no common personality types for a given country, a country’s culture should influence the dominant personality characteristics of its population.

What is the value of matching personality with vocation?
Answer - Ef­forts have been made to match personalities with the proper jobs. The most re­searched personality-job-fit theory is the six-personality-types model. This model states that an employee's satisfaction with and propensity to leave his or her job de­pend on the degree to which the individual's personality matches his or her occupational environment. The six major personality types are listed in Exhibit 3-1, along with their compatible occupations.

Differentiate between affect, emotions, and moods.
Answer – Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings that people experience.  It’s an umbrella concept that encompasses both emotions and moods.  Emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something.  Moods are feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions—and they lack a contextual stimulus. They are not directed at an object. 

Describe what is meant by an increasingly important organizational behavior known as emotional labor.
Answer – Emotional labor is when employees express organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions.  The concept of emotional labor originally developed in relation to service jobs.  But today the concept seems relevant to almost every job. 

Differentiate felt from displayed emotions.
Answer - Emotions can be separated into felt vs. displayed. Felt emotions are an individual’s actual emotions. In contrast, displayed emotions are those that are organizationally required and considered ap­propriate in a given job.  They are not innate; they are learned. The key point here is that felt and displayed emotions are often different. Many people have problems working with others simply because they naively assume that the emotions they see others display are what those others actually feel.

Identify the six universal emotions.
Answer - Research has identified six universal emotions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise. Exhibit 3-3 illustrates that these six emotions can be conceptualized as exist­ing along a continuum. The closer any two emotions are to each other on this continuum, the more likely people are to confuse them.

What is the relationship of national culture and the expression of emotions?
Answer - Cultural norms in the United States dictate that employees in service organizations should smile and act friendly when interacting with customers. But this norm does not apply worldwide. In Israel, smiling by supermarket cashiers is seen as a sign of inexperience, so cashiers are encouraged to look somber. This illustrates the need to consider cultural factors as influ­encing what is or is not considered as emotionally appropriate. There tends to be high agreement on what emotions mean within cultures but not between cultures.

Describe ways in which emotions influence work-related behavior.
Answer - There are a number of OB applications of the research on emotions. Selection: people who know their own emotions and are good at read­ing others’ emotions may be more effective in their jobs. Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an assortment of noncognitive skills, ca­pabilities, and competencies that influence a person's ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures. Decision-making: traditional approaches to the study of decision making in organizations have emphasized rationality. You can improve your understanding of decision making by considering the heart as well as the head. People use emotions as well as rational and intuitive processes in making decisions. Motivation: motivation theories basically propose that individuals are motivated to the degree they expect to receive desired outcomes. People’s perceptions and calculations of situations are filled with emotional content that significantly influences how much effort they exert. Leadership: The ability to lead others is a fundamental quality sought by organizations. Effective leaders almost all rely on the expression of feelings to help convey their messages. By arousing emotions and linking them to an appealing vision, leaders increase the likelihood that managers and employees alike will accept change. Interpersonal Conflict: whenever conflicts arise, you can be fairly certain that emotions are also surfacing. A manager’s success in trying to resolve conflicts, in fact, is often largely due to his or her ability to identify the emotional elements in the conflict.

EXERCISES
A. Dyadic Discussion
The purpose of this exercise is to facilitate understanding between male and female students through the discussion of emotions. This can be done in pairs, in a group of four, half women and half men, or in a “fish bowl,” a mixed pair discussing in the center of the class with fellow students watching.
Select the partners.
Individually they should complete the following questions:
When I graduate I will _______________.
When I’m out with my friends having a pizza we talk about _________.
The things that make me happy or joyful are ____________.
Things that make me angry or sad are ___________.
When a professor treats me unfairly I _________.
When my parents are unjustly angry with me I ___________.
When my girlfriend(boyfriend) is upset I _________.
When I’m happy or joyful I _____________.
When I’m sad or angry I ____________.
Once the questions are answered students should come together in their pairs or groups and discuss their answers to the questions.
Once they’ve discussed all the previous questions, using questions h and i. students should discuss how they show these feelings.
The students or observers should note how congruent their previous behavior was with what they said about how they manage feelings of joy, sadness, or anger.
Coming back together as a class, have volunteers share what they learned. Discuss how what they’ve learned, especially in terms of gender, matches or disagrees with course content.

B. Matching Personalities and Jobs

This exercise could be used as a group or individual exercise, and could be used as an in-class activity, or an out-of-class assignment. 

Have each student identify a previously held job, full- or part-time, that he or she truly enjoyed (great job), and a previously held job that he or she truly disliked (crummy job).  When these jobs have been identified, have the student make of a list of the job activities or duties that caused him or her to like the great job, and make a list of the job activities or duties that caused him or her to dislike the crummy job.  Then, using the text information about personalities and personality typologies, have the student identify the matches and mismatches between his or her personality and the great job activities/duties, and the crummy job activities/duties. 

If using this activity as an in-class exercise, the lists could be discussed in a small group manner.  Or, even have students trade lists with a partner, and have the partner “analyze” the job requirement lists in terms of personality match, and act as an “ OB consultant.”