Chapter 5: Personality and ValuesPersonalitypersonality The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.heredity Factors determined at conception; one’s biological, physiological, and inherent psychological makeup.personality traits Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types.- Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive. Introverts arequiet and shy.- Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N). Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They focus on details. Intuitives rely on unconscious processes and look at the “big picture.”- Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F). Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely on their personal values and emotions.- Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P). Judging types want control and prefer their world to be ordered and structured.Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.Big Five Model A personality assessment model that taps five basic dimensions: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience.- Extraversion. The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with relationships. Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.- Agreeableness. The agreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.- Conscientiousness. The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of reliability. A highly conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.- Emotional stability. The emotional stability dimension—often labeled by its converse, neuroticism—taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.- Openness to experience. The openness to experience dimension addresses range of interests and fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.core self-evaluation Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capabilities, competence, and worth as a person.Machiavellianism The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means.narcissism The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement.self-monitoring A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors.proactive personality People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and preserve until meaningful change occurs.Valuesvalues Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.value system A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity.terminal values Desirable end-states of existence; the goals a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime.instrumental values Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s terminal values.Boomers ( Baby Boomers ) are a large cohort born after World War II when veterans returned to their families and times were good. Boomers entered the workforce from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. They brought with them a largemeasure of the “hippie ethic” and distrust of authority. But they place a great deal of emphasis on achievement and material success. Pragmatists who believe ends can justify means, they work hard and want to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Boomers see the organizations that employ them merely as vehicles for their careers. Terminal values such as a sense of accomplishment and social recognition rank high with them.The lives of Xers ( Generation Xers ) have been shaped by globalization, two-career parents, MTV, AIDS, and computers. Xers value flexibility, life options, and the achievement of job satisfaction. Family and relationships are very important. Xers are skeptical, particularly of authority. They also enjoy team-oriented work. In search of balance in their lives, Xers are less willing to make personal sacrifices for the sake of their employer than previous generations were. On the RVS, they rate high on true friendship, happiness, and pleasure.The most recent entrants to the workforce, the Millennials (also called Netters, Nexters, Generation Yers, and GenerationNexters ) grew up during prosperous times. They have high expectations and seek meaning in theirwork. Millennials have life goals more oriented toward becoming rich (81 percent) and famous (51 percent) than do Generation Xers (62 percent and 29 percent, respectively), but they also see themselves as socially responsible. At ease with diversity, Millennials are the first generation to take technology for granted. More than other generations, they tend to be questioning, electronically networked, and entrepreneurial. At the same time, some have described Millennials as entitled and needy. They may clash with other generations over work attire and communication. They alsolike feedback. An Ernst & Young survey found that 85 percent of Millennials want “frequent and candid performance feedback,” compared to only half of Boomers.Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplacepersonality-job fit theory A theory (John Holland) that identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines satisfaction and turnover.International ValuesHofstede’s five value dimensions of national culture are power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term vs. short-term orientation.- Power distance. Power distance describes the degree to which people in a