Chapter 5

Personality,
Intelligence,
Attitudes, and
Emotions
Michael A. Hitt
C. Chet Miller
Adrienne Colella
Slides by Ralph R. Braithwaite
5-1

I Know Shes Smart . . . But . . .

1. What are your thoughts on personality
testing for employment?
2. Should personality traits play a significant
role in the hiring process?
3. Did you have to take a personality test before
Bill Byham
being hired by any of your employers?

Answer the questions

Exploring Behavior in Action

5-2

Personality, Intelligence,
Attitudes and Emotions
Herb Kelleher

1. Do you agree or disagree with Herb

Kellehers statement, organizations can
train people to do only so much; there are
individual differences in people that are
not easily influenced?
2. How big a role do personality traits play in
a persons performance at work?

5-3

Knowledge Objectives
1. Define personality and explain the basic nature of
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

personality traits.
Describe the Big Five personality traits, with
particular emphasis on the relationship with job
performance, success on teams, and job satisfaction.
Discuss specific cognitive and motivational concepts
of personality, including locus of control and
achievement motivation.
Define intelligence and describe its role in the
workplace.
Define an attitude and describe how attitudes are
formed and how they can be changed.
Discuss the role of emotions in organizational
behavior.
5-4

Fundamentals of Personality
A stable set of characteristics representing
internal properties of an individual, which are
reflected in behavioral tendencies across a
variety of situations. Three basic beliefs:

Relatively enduring
Albert Al Dunlap
Major determinants of ones behavior
Nicknamed
Chainsaw
Al
wide variety
of
Influence ones behavior across
situations
Not all in agreement. Some believe personalities can
experience changes and we may behave differently
from situation to situation.
5-5

Determinants of Personality
Development
Heredity
Identical twins
Newborns
Genetic effects

Environment
Social exposures
Physiological forces
Socioeconomic factors
5-6

Big Five Personality Traits

Extraversion

Conscientiousness

Personality
Openness to
Experience

Agreeableness

Emotional Stability
Adapted from Exhibit 5-1: The Big Five Personality Traits

5-7

Big Five and HighInvolvement Management

Manager Competencies

ES

Delegating to others

Developing others

(+)

++

(+)

Motivating others

++

(+)

Associate Competencies

ES

Decision-Making Skills

++

Self-Development

++

(-)

Self-Management

(-)

Teamwork

++

Adapted from Exhibit 5-2: The Big Five and High Involvement Management

5-8

Big Five as a Selection Tool

Can be a useful part of a portfolio of tools
Provide useful predictions of future job
performance

Also need to do an in-depth job analysis

Analysis of which traits support specific job
performance

5-9

Cognitive and Motivational

Properties of Personality
Cognitive Properties
Perceptual and thought processes
Affect how one typically processes information

Motivational Properties
Stable differences
Energize and maintain overt behaviors

5-10

Cognitive and Motivational

Properties of Personality
Authoritarianism
Locus of
Control

Self-Monitoring

Cognitive and
Motivational
Concepts
Achievement
Motivation

Approval
Motivation

Adapted from Exhibit 5-3: Cognitive and Motivational Concepts of Personality

5-11

Cognitive Concepts
Locus of Control

Authoritarianism

Self-Monitoring
5-12

Motivational Concepts
Achievement
Motivation
Approval
Motivation

5-13

Cautionary and
Concluding Remarks

Personality characteristics may change

People can adjust to situations
Training can help with personality conflicts
Focus on normal personality characteristics

5-14

I Have Ketchup in My
Veins
Do you know someone like Patricia Harris?
What has helped to make her successful at
McDonalds?

Do you think more people need to have passion for

what they do to be more successful?

What are your thoughts about the statement, Patricia

Harris exemplifies what happens when
an individuals traits, abilities, and
passion line up with the vision of the
organization?
Experiencing
Strategic OB

Patricia Harris

5-15

Intelligence
General mental ability to develop and understand
concepts, particularly those that are more
abstract and complex.

5-16

Verbal
Verbal
Comprehension
Comprehension
Number
Number
Aptitude
Aptitude

Areas of
Intelligence

Memory
Memory
Inductive
Inductive
Reasoning
Reasoning

Perceptual
Perceptual
Speed
Speed
Spatial
Spatial
Visualization
Visualization

Deductive
Deductive
Reasoning
Reasoning
5-17

Intelligence and Success

Military Jobs

Adapted from Exhibit 5-4: Intelligence and Success

Civilian Jobs

5-18

Intelligence and
Intelligence Testing in the
NFL
1. What are your thoughts about the NFL conducting
intelligence tests as well as strengths and agility
tests?
2. The article asks, Can a player be too smart? Do you
agree or disagree? Why?
3. Were you surprised by the scores for each position?
4. Were you surprised by some of the scores for other
types of jobs?
Experiencing
Strategic OB

5-19

Attitudes
A persistent tendency to feel and behave in a
favorable or unfavorable way toward a specific
person, object, or idea.

5-20

Important Conclusions
Reasonably stable
Directed toward some person, object or idea
Relates to ones behavior toward that object
or person

People tend to behave in ways that are

consistent with their feelings

Behaviors are also influenced by

motivational forces and situational factors

5-21

Influence of Attitudes on
Behavior
Object, Person, or
Idea
Attitude Toward Object,
Person, or Idea
Behavior Toward
Object, Person, or Idea
Other Influences

Adapted from Exhibit 5-5: Influence of Attitudes on Behavior

5-22

Essential Elements of Attitudes

Cognitive

Affective

Behavioral
5-23

Formation of Attitudes
Learning

Self-Perceptions

Need for
Consistency

5-24

Formation of Consistent
Attitudes
Accounting

Dan

Dans new
colleague

Formation of a
consistent work attitude
Exhibit 5-6: Formation of Consistent Attitudes

5-25

Important Workplace Attitudes

Job
Satisfaction

Organizational
Commitment

5-26

Job Satisfaction Outcomes

Highly positive effect on intentions to stay in

the job
Modest effect on actually staying in the job
Modestly positive effect on regular attendance
at work
Positive effect on performance (may also be
positively affected by performance)
Moderately strong relationship with motivation
Job
Satisfaction
5-27

Organizational Commitment
Outcomes
Positive effects on intentions to stay in the job
Modest effects on actually staying in the job
and attending work regularly
Significantly related to motivation
Positive effects on job performance

Organizational
Commitment
5-28

Causes

Role ambiguity
Supervision/leadership
Pay and benefits
Job
Nature of the job
Satisfaction
Organization climate
Stress
Perceptions of fair treatment

Organizational
Commitment

5-29

Reasons for Commitment

Normative
Commitment
Affective
Commitment

Continuance
Commitment

5-30

Persuasive Communication
Message
Communicator

Situation
Target

5-31

Qualities For Attitude Change

Communicators overall credibility
Trust of the intentions of the
communicator

Similar interests or goals

Attractiveness of the communicator
Sometimes it is the message

5-32

Fear and Beyond

Fear arousal often produces more attitude
change

Other factors also play a role:

The probability that negative consequences will
occur if no change in behavior is made

The perceived effect of changing behavior

The perceived ability to change behavior

5-33

Cognitive Dissonance
An uneasy feeling produced when a person
behaves in a manner inconsistent with an
existing attitude

Three key conditions for change:

The behavior must be substantially inconsistent
with the attitude

The inconsistent behavior must cause harm or

have a negative consequence for others

The inconsistent behavior must be voluntary and

not forced

5-34

Emotions
Complex subjective reactions that have both a
physical and mental component. Examples
include:
Anger

Happiness

Anxiety

Pride

Contentment

Guilt

5-35

Causal Effects
Social activity
Job satisfaction
Altruism and
Motivation
helping behavior
Organizational
Effective conflict
citizenship
resolution
behavior
Positive Emotional Contagion emotions
Emotionsexperienced by one or a few membersNegative
Influence of a group spread to other members. Emotions
Influence
Aggression against
co-workers
Aggression towards
the organization
Workplace deviance

Job dissatisfaction
Decision-making
Negotiation
outcomes

Adapted from Exhibit 5-7: The Direct Effects of Emotion

5-36

Emotional Labor
The process whereby associates must display
emotions that are contrary to what they are
feeling. Can result in stress, emotional
exhaustion, and burnout.

The manner in which supervisors enforce display

rules can influence the harmful nature of emotional
labor

Strong self-identity associate is less likely to

experience negative effects

Supportive networks help to mitigate the negative

effects of emotional labor
5-37

Emotional Intelligence
The ability to accurately appraise and effectively
regulate ones own and others emotions and use
emotion to motivate, plan, and achieve.
Linked to:

Career success
Leadership effectiveness
Managerial performance
Performance in sales jobs

5-38

Criticisms
Not really intelligence but a set of social
skills and personality traits

Sometimes it is so broadly defined that it is

meaningless

5-39

Characteristics of High EI
Managerial
Advice

Self-awareness
Self-regulation
Motivation or

Empathy
Social skill

drive

Do you think these skills can be trained?

Do you believe developing a strong EI is a
lifelong process?

What are you doing to develop your own

EI?
Daniel Goleman
5-40

The Strategic Lens

1. Specifically, how can you use knowledge of
personality, attitudes, intelligence, and emotions to
make better hiring decisions?
2. If top executives wanted to implement a strategy that
emphasized innovation and new products (or
services), how could they use knowledge of
personality, attitudes, and emotions to affect the
organizations culture in ways to enhance innovation?
3. How could a manager use knowledge about
personality and attitudes to form a high-performance
work team?
5-41

Questions

5-42