Introduction

Personality factors are extremely important in organizational setting. Often the wrong kind of personality proves disastrous and causes undesirable tensions and worries in the organization. The cost of search tension and worries are enormous when the interpret them from the point of view of employee-employer realtions, peer relations and superior-subordinate realtion. Sometimes the personality difficulties are the root causes of organizational conflicts and often lead to turnover and job satisfaction. A consideration of personality differences of focal persons is important for atleast three reasons. Some people arouse hostility and aggression in their associates, while others invoke sympathy and supportive responses because of their personality features. Likewise, some people encourage and others discourage free and open communication in view of their personality traits as a perceived by their subordinates and associates. The unique ways of responding to day- to-day life situation is at the heart of human behavior. Accordingly, personality embraces all the unique traits and patterns of adjustment of the individual in his relationship with others and his environment. History The word personality has been traced back by etymologists of the latin word per and sonare. The term per sonare means, to sound through. The word personality derives from this two words and originally meant an actors mask, through which the sound of his voice was projected. Later persona was used, to mean not the mask itself but the false appearance, which the mask created. Still later it came to mean the characters in the play (dramatis personae). It is interesting to note that the word personality by derivation should mean, what an individual only appears to be, not what he really is. This meaning is almost the exact opposite of what the word means in modern psychology. About a decade after Allports formulation R.W. Whites simplified it by substituting tendencies for psycho-physical systems. Whites definition states that personality is the organization of an individuals personal pattern of tendencies. Definition Behavior involves a complex set of interactions between the person and the situation. Events in the surrounding environment (including presence and behavior of others) strongly influence the way people behave at any particular time; yet people always bring something of their own to the situation. This something, which is unique, is what personality is. A well-known personality theorists Salvatore maddi proposed the following definition of personality. Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities and differences in the psychological behavior(thoughts, feelings and actions) of people that have continuity in time and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment.

This definition contains three important ideas. First, the definition does not limit the influence of personality only to certain behaviours , certain situations or certain situations or certain people. Rather, personality theory is a general theory of behavior- an attempt to understand or describe all behaviours all the time. Second, the phrase commodities and differences suggests an important aspect of human beings. In certain respects, every person is like All other people Some other people and No other person

Thus each employee in an organization is unique and may or may not respond as others do in a particular situation. This complexity makes managing and working with people extremely challenging. Therefore, to understand predict and control behavior, it is important to study personality. Finally, Maddis definition refers to personality as being stable and having continuity in time. If your entire personality could change suddenly and dramatically, your family and friends would meet a stranger. Personality development occurs to a certain extent throughout life, but the greatest changes occur in early childhood. Determinants of personality The major determinats of personality of an individual can be studied under four broad headings 1. Biological 2. Cultural 3. Social

1. Biological
1. Brain Brain is one of the most important factors of personality determinant. It is generally believed that the father and the child adopt almost the same type of brain stimulation and the later differences are the result of the environment in which the child has been grown up. Electrical Stimulation of the Brain (ESB) and Split Brain Psychology (SBP) and the outcomes of genetic transmissions and are the tools that are used by the management of any organization to mould and amend the employees behavior to a more positive and proper one.

2. Physical Factors One of the most important factors in determining personality is the Physical Characteristics of an individual. It is believed that this factor plays a vital role in determining ones behavior in any organization. Physical features may involve the height of a person (short or tall), his color (white or black), his health status (fat or skinny) and his beauty (handsome or ugly). These factors are involved when interacting with any other person and thus contribute in the personality development in many ways. 3. Heredity Factor: Perhaps, the most surprising and astonishing factor (at least in my eyes) is the Heredity Factor. When I first read about that, I was quite stunned and really gave a bow to nature. The example which I read was really interesting, and I am writing the same extract that I read.

2. Cultural Factors
The culture in which one lives in, that may involve traditional practices, norms, customs, procedures, rules and regulations, precedents and values, all are important determinants of personality. Moreover, the creed, religion and believes are also very important factors of personality determinants. According to Mussen each culture expects, & trains, its member to behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group. Inspite of the importance of the culture on personality, researchers are unable to establish correlation between these two concepts of personality and culture.

3.

Social Factors

Social factors also play a vital role in determining ones personality. The things that revolve and evolve around us on a regular basis determine our personality. The society that we live in, the cultural environment that we face daily, the community we get interacted to, all are included in this factor. Relationships, co-ordination, co-operation, interaction, environment in the family, organizations, workplaces, communities, societies all contribute in way or another as personality determinants.

Personality Theories

Trait Theories
Hans Eysenck was the first psychologist to make this trait or temperament business into something more mathematical: He gave long lists of adjectives to hundreds of thousands of people and used a special statistics called factor analysis to figure out what factors - trait dimensions - carry the most weight. He took the results of this work and created a test called the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Instead of making these traits either-or, like Jung did, he saw them as dimensions. His first trait dimension was, like Jung, extraversion-introversion. But rather than say you were one or the other (an I or an E), he gave you a score on extraversion-introversion: A low score meant you were introverted, a high score extraverted. Of course, this meant you could be halfway inbetween - as in fact most people are! His second trait dimension he called neuroticism. If you scored high on this scale, that meant you tended to be a very nervous, emotional sort of person. While it doesn't mean you are necessarily a neurotic, it does mean you are more likely to develop neurotic problems such as phobias, obsessions, compulsions, and depression than someone who scores low. Low neuroticism is nowadays often called emotional stability. The third dimension is called psychoticism. He added this later in his research, after he had gotten more data from people who were in mental institutions. As the name implies, these are people with tendencies to psychosis, meaning that they are more likely to have problems dealing with reality. Psychotic people sometimes have hallucinations and often have delusions such as odd beliefs about being watched, perhaps by the CIA or even by creatures from other planets.

Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

People learn through observing others behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors. Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. (Bandura). Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences.

Necessary conditions for effective modeling: 1. Attention various factors increase or decrease the amount of attention paid. Includes distinctiveness, affective valence, prevalence, complexity, functional value. Ones characteristics (e.g. sensory capacities, arousal level, perceptual set, past reinforcement) affect attention. 2. Retention remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic coding, mental images, cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal 3. Reproduction reproducing the image. Including physical capabilities, and selfobservation of reproduction. 4. Motivation having a good reason to imitate. Includes motives such as past (i.e. traditional behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and vicarious (seeing and recalling the reinforced model)

Self Theory
The human organism's "phenomenal field" includes all experiences available at a given moment, both conscious and unconscious (Rogers, 1959). As development occurs, a portion of this field becomes differentiated and this becomes the person's "self" (Hall & Lindzey, 1985; Rogers, 1959). The "self" is a central construct in this theory. It develops through interactions with others and involves awareness of being and functioning. The self-concept is "the organized set of characteristics that the individual perceives as peculiar to himself/herself" (Ryckman, 1993, p.106). It is based largely on the social evaluations he/she has experienced. A distinctly psychological form of the actualizing tendency related to this "self" is the "self-actualizing tendency". It involves the actualization of that portion of experience symbolized in the self (Rogers, 1959). It can be seen as a push to experience oneself in a way that is consistent with one's conscious view of what one is (Maddi, 1996). Connected to the development of the self-concept and self-actualization are secondary needs (assumed to likely be learned in childhood): the "need for positive regard from others" and "the need for positive self-regard", an internalized version of the previous. These lead to the favoring of behavior that is consistent with the person's self-concept (Maddi, 1996). Theoretically, an individual may develop optimally and avoid the previously described outcomes if they experience only "unconditional positive regard" and no conditions of worth develop. The needs for positive regard from others and positive self-regard would match organismic evaluation and there would be congruence between self and experience, with full psychological adjustment as a result (Rogers, 1959). This ideal human condition is embodied in the "fully functioning person" who is open to experience able to live existentially, is trusting in his/her own organism, expresses feelings freely, acts independently, is creative and lives a richer life; "the good life" (Rogers, 1961). It should be noted that; "The good life is a process not a state of being. It is a direction, not

a destination (Rogers, 1961, p.186)". For the vast majority of persons who do not have an optimal childhood there is hope for change and development toward psychological maturity via therapy, in which the aim is to dissolve the conditions of worth, achieve a self congruent with experience and restore the organismic valuing process (Rogers, 1959).

In Rogers' view (1959, 1961, 1977) personality change is certainly possible and is further a necessary part of growth. However, he notes that self-acceptance is a prerequisite 961). Rogers originally failed to recognize the importance of "self". When he began his work he had the "settled notion that the "self" was a vague, ambiguous, scientifically meaningless term which had gone out of the psychologist's vocabulary with the departure of the introspectionists" (1959, p.200). However, through his work with clients he came to appreciate the importance of self. The "self" is described as: the organized, consistent, conceptual gestalt composed of perceptions of the characteristics of the "I" or "me" and the perceptions of the relationships of the "I" or "me" to others and to various aspects of life, together with the values attached to these perceptions. This gestalt is a fluid and changing process, available to awareness. By using the term "gestalt", Rogers points to the possibility of change describing it as "a configuration in which the alteration of one minor aspect could possibly alter the whole picture." Rogers' conception of self is rather broad. He does describe a variation of self: the "ideal self" which denotes the self-concept the individual would most like to possess (Rogers, 1959), but other explicit variations are not offered. Similarly, specific concepts related to identity and identity development are missing, although the self image is certainly revisable and undergoes change over the lifespan. Exactly when the differentiation of phenomenal field into self occurs is also not specified. Rogers concept of selfactualization is specifically related to the self and is thus different from Goldstein's use of the term (which matches the actualizing tendency) and also different from Maslow's which appears to incorporate both tendencies in one (Maddi, 1996). The actualizing tendency is fundamental to this theory. Rogers considers it "the most profound truth about man" (1965, p.21). He finds strong biological support for this tendency in many varied organisms. Rogers' conception of an active forward thrust is a huge departure from the beliefs of Freud and others who posit an aim for tension reduction, equilibrium, or homeostasis (Krebs & Blackman, 1988; Maddi, 1996). Rogers (1977) notes that sensory deprivation studies support this concept as the absence of external stimuli leads to a flood of internal stimuli, not equilibrium. While the idea of an actualizing tendency makes sense, Rogers never specifies what some of the inherent capacities that maintain and enhance life might be. Perhaps it is because doing so might violate Rogers' "intuitive sense of human freedom" (Maddi,

1996, p.104). Maddi further suggests that the belief in inherent potentialities may lie in this theory's position as an offshoot of psychotherapy where it is useful for both client and therapist to have a belief in unlimited possibilities. However, applying this idea to all human beings in a theory of personality sets up the logical requirement of precision regarding what the potentialities might be (Maddi, 1996). The inherent potentialities of the actualizing tendency can suffer distorted expression when maladjustment occurs, resulting in behavior destructive to oneself and others. The actualization and self-actualization tendencies can be at cross purposes with each other when alienation from the true self occurs, so there is organismic movement in one direction and conscious struggle in another. Rogers (1977) revised his previous thinking concerning this incongruence, stating that while he earlier saw the rift between self and experience as natural, while unfortunate, he now believes society, (particularly Western culture), culturally conditions, rewards and reinforces behaviors that are "perversions of the unitary actualizing tendency (p.248)." We do not come into the world estranged from ourselves, socialization is behind this alienation. Rogers (1961) finds the human infant to actually be a model of congruence. He/she is seen as completely genuine and integrated, unified in experience, awareness and communication. Distorted perceptions from conditions of worth cause our departure from this integration.

Personality And Orgnization

A. Physique and Personality:

Physical differences i.e. differences in height, weight, complexion, bodily form or defects influence personality of the individual. (a) Height: The child who is short statured may develop a feeling of inferiority if other persons tease him. (b) Weight: Similarly if the person is overweight his playmates, class fellows and friends tease him and he will develop inferiority feelings. (c) Physical defects: Physically handicapped children have no well developed personalities as compared to normal children. For example, blindness or weak eyesight, deafness or dull hearing directly influences the development of personality. (d) Health and Strength: A person who has good health, strength, energy and vigor generally develops emotionally balanced attitude towards life and takes part in various types of competition. On the other hand, the person who is physically inferior develops an unbalanced personality and generally cannot take part in various competitions.

(e) Intelligence: There is definitely some relationship between intelligence and personality. Intelligence is mainly hereditary. Persons who are very intelligent can make better adjustment in home, school and society than those persons who are less intelligent. (f) Sex differences: Boys are generally more assertive, tough minded and vigorous. They have better need to succeed with regard to interest and aptitudes. Boys show interest in machinery and outdoor activities. They prefer adventures. But girls are less vigorous games. They are quieter, and interested in personal appearance. They have better sense of fine art. They are more injured by personal, emotional and social problems. Thus sex differences play a vital role in the development of personality of individual. (g) Nervous System: Nervous system plays a vital role in the development of personality. Mans intellectual ability, motor ability, physical strength and ability to adjust upon the structure and modification of nervous system. Any injury to nervous system will affect the personality of the individual. Nervous system limits ones learning capacity. So it is evident that the development of personality is influenced by the nature of nervous system.

B. Environmental Factors: (a) Geographical environment

and personality: Physical or geographical conditions influence the personality of the individual. People of cold countries are industrious and hard working.
(b)Family Environment: Family atmosphere if disruptive will produce disrupted,

delinquent, backward and maladjusted personalities. The number of members in the family, birth order of the child, emotional climate of the family, outlook of parents, cultural and economic conditions of the family has an important bearing in personality formation.
(c) Family life pattern: Family life, aims ambitions, aspirations and attitudes of

parents; their emotional stability or instability; their overprotection or under protection of children- all these factors are important in personality development of the individual.
(d)Early childhood experiences and personality: Childhood experiences play a

very important role in the development of the individual. Tensions and emotional upsetting of early life influence personality development. Methods of breast feeding and toilet training do play a significant role in the personality development.
(e) Neighborhood: If the people in the neighborhood are cultured and educated then

the child may also grow into a good person.

(f) Friends and companions: Psychologists like Burt and Kretschmer are of the

view that friends and companions greatly affect the personality of the child. Children of labourers go to third rate school and play with half naked children in dirty streets or slums. They live amidst hunger and poverty. This may lead to delinquency. Children of upper class may go to first rate school and their companions also belong to upper class. This may develop in them a superiority feeling for higher social status. C. Psychological Factors Psychological factors play a big role in the functioning of the human behaviour and development of ones personality. a) b) c) d) e) Motives. Acquired interests. Attitudes. Character. Intellectual Capacities.

To conclude we can say that psychological factors are affected by hereditary and environment. Hereditary supplies the raw material, culture supplies the design, while family is the craftsman because it is the parents who carry the culture of the society to the child. Thus hereditary and environment both play very important role in the development of the personality of the individual.

Personality Structure
The number of & variety of specific personality trauts or dimensions is bewildering. The term personality trait typically refers to basic components of personality.Trait name simply refers to the terms people use to describe each other. To be useful, these terms need to be organized into small sets of concepts or decriptions. Five main factors summarize the personality structure. These Big Five factors, as they often are referred to be, describe an individuals adjustment, sociability, conscientiousness, ageeeableness ant intellectual openness. As shown on figure below, each factor includes a potentially large number & range of specific traits or dimensions. Stable, Confident,& Effective Gregarious, energetic, self-dramatizing Adjustment Nervous, self doubting, moody

Sociability

Shy, unassertive, withdrawn

Planfull, neat, dependable

Conscientiousness

Impulsive, careless, Irresponsible Independent, cold, rule

Warm, Tactful, considerate

Agreeblensess

Imaginative, curious, original

Intellectual openness

Dull, unimaginative

The 'big five' factors personality model - OCEAN

'The Big Five' is the commonly used term for the model of personality which describes the five fundamental factors of our personality. For reasons explained below the model is commonly referred to as OCEAN, being an acronym for names often used for the five traits. The alternative acronym CANOE is less commonly used. This summary and explanation has been provided by psychologist and psychometrics expert Paul Sinclair (see Paul's biography below), which is greatly appreciated. The Big Five 'super traits' have been researched and validated by many different psychologists (WT Norman 1963, McCrae & Costa 1987, Brand & Egan 1989, LR Goldman 1990 and P Sinclair 1992) and are at the core of many other personality questionnaires. While Raymond Cattell 'uncovered' 16 traits from his factor analysis (a statistical way of reducing a variety of things down to a smaller number of related clusters) in the development of the 16PF; no one else was able to replicate his work. On the other hand, the Big Five Factors have been replicated in studies across the world and give us a confident summary of our mental building blocks, according to trait theory. This had led to a number of slightly different 'translations' of the Big Five model, although each version essentially deals with the same theory and content. The words describing the characteristics change, but the basic characteristics do not. The 'translations' between the different interpretations are explained later. Trait theory, on which many of our occupational questionnaires are based (for example, Cattell's 16PF and Saville & Holdsworth's 'OPQ' Occupational Personality Questionnaire), states that by the time we are in our early 20s and start work, our personality traits become more stable and reliable. This does not necessarily mean we become more stable or reliable, but that our individual personality traits become more fixed and are thus capable of being reliably measured. For example, loud, confident, creative people tend to remain loud, confident and creative people throughout their careers. Quiet, unassuming, dependable people tend to remain so also. When the first Big Five questionnaire was launched the UK in 1990, people were surprised and a little sceptical about the speed of the personality profiler; it took under 10 minutes to complete. This was because it was only measuring five factors and not sixteen or thirty-two personality factors. Suffice it to say, validation studies were published and presented to the British Psychology Society by the end of the 1990s the Big Five was established as a significant and fundamental personality testing model.

N.B. The pink colour in the tables is used for the Big Five terminology recommended by Paul Sinclair. Aside from this, colour is used (hopefully) to improve presentation only, and does not relate to other personality models on this webpage.

The big five model - five 'bipolar' scales

The bold names in the left column are the recommended names (by Paul Sinclair) for these factors. Other names are used for each of the factors, which might equate to names in the left or right columns. See the OCEAN names below. Extraversion Confidence Detail-conscious Tough-minded Conforming vs vs vs vs vs Introversion Sensitive Unstructured Agreeable Creative

These scales are commonly alternatively represented by the OCEAN acronym and descriptions:

Openness to experience (equates to Creative, opposite Conforming above) Conscientiousness (equates to Detail-conscious above) Extraversion/Introversion (same as above) Agreeableness (equates to Agreeable, opposite Tough-minded above) Neuroticism (equates to Sensitive, opposite Confidence above)

While some psychologists refer to the OCEAN terminology it's not particularly recommended for use where people are likely to be sensitive to the words, notably 'neuroticism'. Other words in the OCEAN scale can also be perceived as judgmental or stigmatised. And while 'Conscientiousness' is technically accurate, using this word tends to influence decision-makers (notably users of psychometric testing systems) towards the characteristic and those displaying it, not least because the other end of the scale would logically be called 'Unconscientious'; better instead to refer to the scale of 'Detail-conscious - Unstructured', which carries no sense of good or bad. It is generally more helpful to use the Big Five terms as detailed in the grid, which tend to present the scales as 'one or the other' rather than 'good or bad'.

For the sake of reference however, here is the correlation between the OCEAN Big Five factor names and the more user-friendly names. See above for the precise description correlations. Recommended Big Five Factor Common 'OCEAN' equivalents terms Extraversion - Introversion Confidence - Sensitive Detail-conscious Unstructured Tough-minded - Agreeable Conforming - Creative Extraversion/Introversion Neuroticism/Stability Conscientiousness Agreeableness Openness to experience

You will find other variations of how people refer to the Big Five Factors. For example The Big Five according to McCrae & Costa (1987) is typically shown as:

Neuroticism (vs Emotional Stability) Extraversion (vs Introversion) Openness to experience (vs Closedness to experiences) Agreeableness (vs Disagreeableness) Conscientiousness (vs Lack of conscientiousness)

The following tables show the typical behaviours within this model. Psychologists and psychometrics practitioners use the term 'Factor' to describe each of these five 'large traits' or scales. In turn, each of the Big Five Factors contains several behaviours, which are clustered under the five main Factor headings. Of course each main Factor can be further broken down into 'sub traits' or 'facets', for example, Extraversion could have sub-traits such as Sociable, Competitive, Energetic and Seeking Recognition. Each factor is named according to the 'high scoring' end of each scale. Low scores logically indicate behaviours at the opposite side of the scale. High scores are not good or bad. Low scores are not good or bad.

The majority of us actually tend to score close to the middle (the 'norm'). The higher a person scores for the behavioral elements shown within each of the five factors, the more (logically) they will exhibit these behaviors, and be less able to sustain the tendencies of the low scorer and vice versa. Again, there is no good or bad. It's simply a measure of what we are.

Usage of the big five factor model The Big Five is a very useful model for assessing non-managerial staff, but it lacks some of the rigour required for assessing people in or destined for managerial and executive roles. The Big Five model gives us an accurate and fast way of assessing the main drivers of someone's personality. But the model by itself is not able to drill down into complex management capabilities or competencies. For this we must refer more to work-related behaviours rather than 'pure' personality. Management performance depends more on the subtle use of discretionary elements of the job, which the Big Five will not measure. The Big Five is a 'broad brush' personality methodology. A different approach is required for management assessment, to gauge the 'components' of people's behaviour and the detailed combinations of working style. Each of the Big Five factors consists of 'sub-traits', for example, 'Agreeable' (at the opposite end of the 'Tough-minded' scale) consists of sub-traits (behavioral elements) such as 'Tactful', 'Diplomatic', 'Team-centred', 'Submissive', 'Warm', 'Friendly, Tolerant' and 'Democratic'. In typical use of the Big Five model and tests, a person's score on the 'Agreeable' scale will be an average of how they match the sub-traits. Showing the detail and variance of the sub-traits scores would entail a vastly more complex and time-consuming analysis. The strengths of the Big Five Factor model lie in its speed and ease of use and this makes it a very useful tool for gaining a rapid overview of a person's key drivers. The Big Five Factor models has been very well validated, and while it has shown correlations with performance in jobs, studies indicate that the correlation with particular jobs does not exceed 0.30, which accounts for no more than 15% of the variables. There is a big difference between measuring job suitability, style, etc., and measuring personality per se. The Big Five model is a modern, widely replicated and validated methodology for understanding, explaining and measuring personality. Various Big Five tests have been developed. The first to be launched in the UK, and one of the most popular, is the RPQ (Rapid Personality Questionnaire), which is available from various suppliers.

Here is a free Big Five mini-test (5 mins. max) on the excellent website of Professor George Boeree (pronounced boo-RAY). This test gives a very quick Big Five profile and is more for understanding the model thank for serious personality assessment, although as a quick simple guide it works well. Bear in mind that the Big Five factor headings Professor Boeree's mini-test vary slightly compared to factor names mentioned above, and correlate as follows (precise correlations in bold). Aside from 'Stability' Boeree uses the OCEAN headings: Recommend terms Big Five Factor Boeree mini-test equivalents Extraversion Stability Conscientiousness Agreeableness Openness

Extraversion - Introversion Confidence - Sensitive Detail-conscious - Unstructured Tough-minded - Agreeable Conforming - Creative

Personality and behaviour

1)

Self esteem
What is Low Self Esteem? Low self esteem comes from a poor self image. Yourself image is based on how you see yourself. Do you think you are a good, reliable, hardworking, honest or friendly person? Do you like what you see when you look in the mirror or do you believe others look better and dress better than you? Low self esteem also depends on other factors like your job. For example, do you value the job you do? Does the job you have help you be happy with who you are? Do the others in your office respect you? Low self esteem feeds your negative thinking and causes you to believe the critcism others make of you. Do you take what others say and not speak up? This can cause you to lose confidence so it is vital to end negative thoughts if you want to build your self esteem.

What is High Self Esteem?

High self esteem is the opposite of the above! If you have a high level of self esteem you will be confident, happy, highly motivated and have the right attitude to succeed. The Importance of Self Esteem Self esteem is crucial and is a cornerstone of a positive attitude towards living. It is very important because it affects how you think, act and even how you relate to other people. It allows you to live life to your potential. Low self esteem means poor confidence and that also causes negative thoughts which means that you are likely to give up easily rather than face challenges. In addition, it has a direct bearing on your happiness and wellbeing.

2)

Locus of control:
It is a theory in personality psychology referring to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Understanding of the concept was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954, and has since become an important aspect of personality studies. One's "locus" (Latin for "place" or "location") can either be internal (meaning the person believes that they control their life) or external (meaning they believe that their environment, some higher power, or other people control their decisions and their life). Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events result primarily from their own behavior and actions. Those with a high external locus of control believe that powerful others, fate, or chance primarily determine events. Those with a high internal locus of control have better control of their behavior, tend to exhibit more political behaviors, and are more likely to attempt to influence other people than those with a high external (or low internal respectively) locus of control. Those with a high internal locus of control are more likely to assume that their efforts will be successful. They are more active in seeking information and knowledge concerning their situation. Internal locus of control 1) Learning the real cause of our feelings 2) Learning what our cognitive choices are 3) Learning to use that new information to our advantage 4) Learning to not take unnecessary responsibility for how others make themselves feel It also involves: 5) Learning and remembering what we do and don't have control over 6) Focusing on and working with what we do have control over instead of what we don't

We don't and can't control what others think, feel, say or do, and everything that happens. We only control, or at least with practice, can learn to control with what WE think, feel, say and do in response. Most people spend too much time, energy and effort trying to control things they can't, like what OTHERS think, feel, say and do. They spend too little time, energy and effort trying to control the things they do have total control over, like what THEY think, feel, say and do. This only causes their lives to feel more out of control. The best way to get a greater sense of control over our own lives is to start focusing on and working with what we have control over; what WE think, feel, say and do, and let others take care of themselves. External Locus of Control: A person with an external locus of control is more likely to believe that his or her fate is determined by chance or outside forces that are beyond their own personal control. This strategy can be healthy sometimes. Like when dealing with failure or disaster, but can also be harmful in that it can lead to feeling of helplessness and loss of personal control.

3)

Goal Orientation
It is a psychological construct that involves the attitudes and behaviors associated with achievement situations. Goal orientation is a mental framework that describes the different motivational approaches that persons embrace to reach goals and is a strong predictor of the individual behavior and performance. These orientations illustrate how people react differently to achievement and failure. Goal orientation has been conceptualized as a dispositional personality characteristic. Organizational researcher first treated goal orientation as a stable individual-difference characteristic. Nevertheless, other theoretical explanation suggested that goal orientation can vary as a function of peoples implicit theory of intelligence, which can be manipulated in experiments. Therefore, goal orientation can exist as both a trait and a state, and ones trait goal orientation has a direct effect on his or her state goal orientation.

4)

Extraversion-Introversion
The trait of extraversion-introversion is a central dimension of human personality theories. Extraversion is "the act, state, or habit of being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self". Extraverts tend to enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious. They take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups. Politics, teaching, sales, managing and brokering are fields that favor extraversion. An extraverted person is likely to enjoy time spent with people and find less reward in time spent alone. They tend to be energized when around other people, and they are more prone to boredom when they are by themselves. Introversion is "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life". Introverts are people whose energy tends to

expand through reflection and dwindle during interaction. Introverts tend to be more reserved and less outspoken in groups. They often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading, writing, using computers, hiking and fishing. The archetypal artist, writer, sculptor, engineer, composer, and inventor are all highly introverted. An introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people, though he or she may enjoy interactions with close friends. Trust is usually an issue of significance: a virtue of utmost importance to an introvert choosing a worthy companion. They prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they participate, especially observed in developing children and adolescents. Introverts are easily overwhelmed by too much stimulation from social gatherings and engagement. They are more analytical before speaking. Introversion is not the same as being shy or being a social outcast. Introverts prefer solitary activities over social ones, whereas shy people (who may be extraverts at heart) avoid social encounters out of fear, and the social outcast has little choice in the matter of his or her solitude.

5)

Dogmatism
Dogmatism refers to the rigidity of a persons beliefs. a) The highly dogmatic individual perceives the world as a threatening place, often regards legitimate authority as absolute, and accepts or rejects other people on the basis of their argument with accepted authority or doctrine. b) The high-dogmatic (HD) individual is close-minded, and the low dogmatic (LD) person is open-minded. c) As a result, HDs appears to depend more on authority figures in the organization for guidance and direction and are more easily influenced by them. Some relationships between the degree of dogmatism and group behavior also seem to exist. For example, HDs typically need more group structure than do LDs to work effectively with others. Hence the performance of HDs assigned to task forces and committees may vary somewhat, depending on how the group goes about its work.

6)

Authoritarianism
a) The authoritarian personality describes someone who adheres to conventional values, obeys recognized authorities, exhibits a negative view of society, respects power and toughness and opposes the expression of personal feelings b) In organizations, the authoritarian personality probably is subservient to authority figures and may even prefer superiors who have directive, structured leadership style. Both dogmatism and authoritarianism are related to the intellectual openness factor

7)

Organizational implications

It should be evident by now that the personality dimensions discussed, and the specific relationship for each, have important implications for organizational behaviour. However, managers and groups should not try the change or otherwise directly control employees personality. Even if such control were possible, it would be highly unethical. Rather, the challenge for managers and employees is to understand the crucial role played by personality in explaining some aspects of human behaviour in the workplace.
8)

The person and the situation

Although understanding differences in personality is important, behaviour always involves an interaction of the person and the situation. Sometimes the demands of the situation may be so overwhelming the individual differences are relatively unimportant. For example, if an office building is burning, everyone in it will try to flee. In other cases, individual differences may explain more about behaviour. The relative importance of situational versus dispositional (person) determinants of behaviour continues to be debated, but considerable evidence exists for roles by both.