All people are different: they behave, react, feel and think differently. According to Lewin’s (1951) model of people's behavior, where P and E are personality and environment, and B is behavior; people are affected by both internal and environmental factors and their behavior is a result of continual interaction between these factors.
Factors influencing individual behavior
Internal Factors
Environmental Factors
Personality
Family
Abilities
Personal life experiences
Values
Work/organization factors
Perception
Peer-group pressures. Source: Brooks (2009)
Personality theory assumes that personality is consistent – its characteristics are considered to be stable, in other words, personality characteristics are a person’s qualities that do not change over an extended period of time, which means that personality does not take into account such things as mood swings or any disease-related behavior.
Defining “Personality”:
“The relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment” (Johns & Saks, 2011).
“The relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize a person, along with the psychological processes behind those characteristics” (McShane, 2013).
“Personality is the overall profile or combination of traits that characterize the unique nature of a person.” (French et al., 2015).
“Specific characteristics of individuals which may be open or hidden and which may determine either commonality or differences in behavior in an organization” (Brooks, 2009).
“The psychological qualities that influence an individual’s characteristics behavior patterns, in a stable and distinctive manner” (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007).
Determinants of Personality and Trait Theories.
Nature VS Nurture
Personality is considered a driving factor that influences a wide spectrum of individual characteristics. Besides, different theories suggest different approaches to personality, some say that personality is fixed and cannot be influenced by external factors (nomothetic theory) while other theories believe that it is built on environmental experiences while approving that individual does have unique characteristics identified by heredity (idiographic theory).
According to McShane (2013), there are two main determinants of personality – nature, and nurture. Despite the fact that the importance of each is still being studied and debated, most experts nowadays believe that personality is determined by both nature and nurture.
Shapes the personality over years due to gained experiences and influence of the society.
Nature influences the personality of the individual via genetic and biological factors, while nurture stabilizes an individual’s behavior via external forces (influences from society, culture, environment, and family). As an example of nature’s impact on human behavior, particularly in males, it has been identified that men with higher levels of testosterone tend to show more aggressive traits compared to men with lower levels of testosterone. In terms of nurture’s influence, children (mostly boys) who had suffered from domestic abuse are more likely to develop aggressive behavior.
Four key determinants.
Therefore, these two determinants were distributed to four more, which are:
Heredity – hereditary or genetic origins (DNA).
Environment – any social or non-social group that has an impact on a person’s behavior, decisions, and actions.
Situation – day-to-day events.
Locus of Control – the perception of an individual in terms of control of his/her life, including both internal and external forces.
Combination of forces affecting personality.
Environment (Cultural factors; Social factors; Situational factors)
Heredity
Personality Source: McShane (2013)
Self-Analysis.
Instrument 1. Five-Factor Model of Personality – “The Big Five”
This model identifies five main traits of personality, called ‘OCEAN’: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Each of these is not a type of personality but a set of factors that include different traits with common characteristics or so-called elements.
The first instrument, which was used to describe my personality, is a test based on the “Big Five” model:
E – Extroversion
My result: 29/40 – 73%
Average: 51%
This trait identifies a person’s willingness to be around people and get energy from the outside (society). In other words, this trait divides people into two categories – extroverts (prefer being around people) and introverts (prefer being alone).
According to the test, I am highly extroverted, because my score is much higher than average. People, who score high on this factor, are considered to be friendly, easy-going, open to gatherings and small talk, enthusiastic, and excitable. In my opinion, the test result is quite accurate.
How I describe myself in terms of extraversion:
Friendly – I do not face any difficulties while making friends.
Talkative – I find it easy to meet new people and find topics to talk about.
Enthusiastic – more often I will prefer to go out and spend time with my friends, rather than spending time alone. Also, I am often the one who offers and plans gatherings or parties.
Work – between working in a group and doing an individual project I would choose a group activity because I often get tired of being all by myself.
Self-time – when I spend time alone, I would always choose something entertaining like watching comedy shows or series, although sometimes I will spend it doing housework.
A – Agreeableness
My result: 36/40 – 90%
Average: 63%
Agreeableness shows an individual’s concern about people around them, his tendency to adjust, and his willingness to help others (put the needs of others ahead of his own).
As a person with a high level of agreeableness, I often empathize with people around me. I am a good listener and I can easily recognize the moods (thoughts, emotions, feelings) of my surroundings and mirror them in my own mind (feel in the same way). In other words, my own feelings and emotions are usually affected by others. Moreover, I feel good about helping and comforting other people and it feels rewarding to me to cheer up people around, especially the ones close to me. When I feel down myself, I usually expect people to comfort me as well; I prefer dealing with emotional difficulties with someone by my side, rather than facing them alone.
C – Conscientiousness
My result: 28/40 – 70%
Average: 55%
Conscientiousness is about how focused and hardworking an individual is in terms of goal achievement.
The test showed that my level of conscientiousness is higher than average, which means that I am considered a hard-working, reliable, and responsible person. I do agree with this statement, because I prefer to plan my time and not leave things, especially urgent matters, to the last minute. I often get stressed when my plans get interrupted or delayed, especially if it leads to rushing, and it takes time for me to re-adjust. While working on something, I am trying to put all my effort into the process, because I have a high sense of achievement. Due to that fact, I find it hard to work with people who are not organized and do not put the effort into their work.
N – Neuroticism
My result: 17/40 – 42%
Average: 54%
Neuroticism – shows how dramatic response of a person to negative events.
According to the test, my level of neuroticism is almost 10% lower than average. People, who score low on this trait, just like myself, tend to deal with negative emotions easier than the ones who score high. In fact, I consider myself a positive and cheerful person, which allows me to see things from different angles. I am the type of person, who will try to find something good, even in the worst-case scenarios. Also, I believe that everything happens with a purpose, for example, if the flight got delayed due to the weather conditions, I would not focus on being late or out of schedule as much as I would focus on the fact that it is good that it has been discovered before our plane took off and that I will have a safe flight later instead.
O – Openness to Experience
My result: 20/40 – 50%
Average: 58%
Openness is determined by how receptive people are to new ideas or ideas different from their own.
As was proved by the test, I am a down-to-earth person – very realistic and do not daydream a lot. Instead of coming up with new ideas I prefer doing things in a usual, already established way, because most of the time, I would consider the old way (traditional way) the safest. I have a low tendency to explore outside of my own boundaries, even when it goes to my food choices, due to the fact that I do not like things, which I am not sure of or which have not been proven. Basically, I would not take a risk of trying something that might work and choose something that will work.
Instrument 2. Jung’s Personality type Matrix
Jung’s matrix identifies me as an Extravert-Sensor-Feeler-Perceiver (ESFP):
My type of personality is more towards extravert signs, I am expressive and enthusiastic, which makes it easy for me to organize everyone and everything around me and keep them happy at the same time. My actions are based mostly on my intuition and senses, rather than on facts and figures. It is rare to find me thinking or fantasizing about the future or “what might happen”, because I am focused on the present and very action-oriented, which does not leave me any time to think about long-term plans and leads to spontaneous actions. Although, I tend to analyze the decisions carefully, especially from a practical point of view: during the decision-making process I usually prefer necessity over desire. I believe that people like to be around me because I can be caring and sentimental, conventional and practical at the same time – it allows me to avoid conflicts and criticism.
Strengths / Weaknesses
The optimistic approach in life.
Organized.
Energized, especially when surrounded by people.
Concerned about others: loyal relationships (friendship, colleagues).
Analytical: helps to make decisions fair towards everyone.
Have a clear view of things that have to be done (goal achievement).
Flexible in problem-solving.
Tend to easily recognize the potential in everyone and everything.
Have a realistic picture in mind of what I am able, or not able, to achieve.
Able to respond to new ideas (or problems) at the moment.
Too sensitive to others, which makes any decisions related to other people harder to commit.
Impatient when it comes to someone who does not contribute to the teamwork.
Impatient with those, who question my actions instead of following them.
Get easily irritated when someone is not efficient enough during task performance.
Easy to lose focus on the task, when there is a lack of interest.
Not able to receive criticism very well, due to taking it too personally.
Tend to underestimate my own talents and abilities, by taking them for granted or by considering them as something common.
Instrument 3. SPI 27 Factor trait (based on Eysenck’s model)
This test is based on the book called “Know Your Own Personality”. It was written by psychologist Hans J. Eysenck, who contributed a lot of work on personality traits and intelligence. His theory is based on four main traits: Extroversion vs. Introversion and Emotional Stability vs. Neuroticism. This test contains 27 traits, that are related to the mentioned theory.
Since some of the traits provided on the result slip above have been mentioned in the earlier discussion, only a few traits will be taken into consideration:
a) Attention-Seeking
Attention-seekers are those people, who often find themselves at the center of attention and do not feel anxious about it. I am very similar to that because my level of attention-seeking is relatively higher than others. I like to be recognized and have many social connections. During social events or gatherings (even simple parties) I usually get to know, or already know, a lot of people, which usually allows me to take a centre stage at the gathering. Although my attention-seeking is not excessively high, I do not like people who try to please or take advantage of me, I only enjoy being admired by people who truly like being around me. I seek attention that I know is based on honest feelings: I try to avoid being a part of groups, whose members I do not like. In fact, sometimes I prefer to escape from being the center of attraction so that I can relax on my own.
b) Adaptability
The test result suggests that my level of adaptability is fairly high – I am an adaptable individual. I cannot disagree with that, because I am quite good when it comes to dealing with changes. It is not hard for me to adjust to unexpected situations and their consequences, but it is hard for me to always stick to a routine because I tend to crave spontaneity, although I do have a balanced day-to-day plan. As it was mentioned, I easily get bored of the routine and that is what makes it comfortable for me to let changes into my life and even consider it a better choice.
c) Perfectionism
My desire for perfection is slightly higher than average. It manifests itself in many things, such as studying or even cleaning. When I start doing something, whether it is an academic project or a simple cleaning of my workplace, I cannot leave it at a point of “good enough”, I will try to make it close to perfect or at least up to the required standard. That is a reason why it is hard for me to take losing (low marks, non-appreciation, defeats).
d) Sensation-seeking
I am not a person who would go for risky adventures, such as skydiving or motorcycling, because I prefer safety over one-minute joy. That is why I score low when it comes to sensation-seeking. I do like exciting rides and other activities, but at the same time, I know that some things just do not worth a risk. I prefer to follow rules, so when risky opportunities appear I would be more likely to pass because I have a mature understanding of the consequences that may come from risky behavior.
e) Charisma
Charisma itself includes a wide range of factors: sincerity, friendliness, confidence, and “speaking” body language. My type of personality was identified as fairly charismatic. I assume that subconsciously I already know that I am charismatic because sometimes I do not even realize that I use it on daily basis. It helps me to navigate and smooth situations over. That is why I find it easy and almost natural to influence others and easily handle interpersonal relationships, as well as to be the first one to approach people or to speak in front of an audience.
References
Brooks, I. (2009). Organizational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organisation. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Buchanan, D. and Huczynski, A. (2017). Organizational behavior. 6th ed. Harlow: Pearson.
French, R. (2015). Organizational behavior. 2nd ed. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Johns, G. and Saks, A. (2011). Organizational behavior. 8th ed. Toronto: Prentice Hall.
Kinicki, A. (2008). Organizational behavior: core concepts. New York: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
McShane, S. and Von Glinow, M. (2009). Organizational behavior: [essentials]. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
McShane, S., Travaglione, A. and Olekalns, M. (2013). Organizational behavior on the Pacific rim. North Ryde, N.S.W.: McGraw-Hill.
Robbins, S., Judge, T., Millett, B., and Boyle, M. (2014). Organizational behavior. 7th ed. Melbourne: Pearson Australia.