IGNOU : M.COM : MCO 1 : UNIT 8 : Q - 2. ‘Personality development takes place in various stages and a host of factors influence the development’ Discuss.

 

Ans. PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Personality attributes of employees are used in understanding the behaviour of employees and design suitable strategies to deal with their behaviour. Some of the traits that influence the behaviour in organisations are described below :

1) Authoritarianism : Authoritarianism is an attribute used to describe the persons having certain negative beliefs about the work and workers. Taking this concept, behaviour of employees in organisation is explained by using the following traits.

• believes in the formal authority.

• compels obedience to the authority.

• adheres to the conventional values and does not give preference to the new ideas.

• conforms to the rules and regulations.

• believes in directing the subordinates than listening to them.

• tries to be rigid and prefers structured environment.

Taking these characteristic traits, a leadership style of superiors was developed, known as authoritarian. Employees possessing the authoritarian attributes will command respect and achieve production targets in the short run.

 

2) Locus of Control : Locus of control is the belief regarding the outcome of their actions. Certain people believe that their skills and abilities influence the outcome of the action. Others believe that some external factors like fate or chance influence their result. According to Robbins, individuals who believe that they control what happens to them are called Internals and individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance are called Externals.

Certain implications of locus of control behaviour of the individuals in organisations are described below:

 

    a) Absenteeism : People having internal locus of control possess a belief that the health is under their control. They inculcate good health habits and take proper care of their health. Thus, they have lower rate of sickness. Therefore, absenteeism is less in these people.

    b) Turnover : With respect to turnover, internals tend to take action and thus might be expected to quit the jobs more readily, but they tend to be more successful on the job and more satisfied.

    c) Decision-Making : People having external locus of control are more oriented towards intuitive decision making. On the other hand, internals consider more information before taking decisions. They are motivated by the achievements. They would like to control the outcome of the decisions.

    d) Motivation: Internals possess achievement motivation than externals that are just satisfied with the available rewards.

    e) Job Satisfaction: People having external locus of control are more dissatisfied on the jobs. This is because of the belief that the outcome is not under their control. In the case of internals, job satisfaction is more due to the belief that outcomes are the results of their actions.

    f) Psychological Commitment: Externals are less involved in the jobs. Internals possess commitment that is more psychological.

     g) Social interactions: People having internal locus of control are more sociable and excited to have social relationships to keep their identification and esteem.

The locus of control influences the job selection also. People having internal locus of control are successful in the sophisticated jobs.

 

3) Machiavellianism : Niccolo Machiavelli has introduced the concept. The term refers to the degree of individual effort to gain control over organisational tasks. According to Robbins, Machiavellianism is the degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means. The characteristics of Machiavellianism personality attributes are:

• They are active to participate in organisational politics.

• They manipulate more, win more and persuade less.

• They are adept at interpersonal game playing, power tactics and identifying influence system in organisations.

• They consider ethics.

 

4) Self-esteem : Self-esteem is a feeling of liking or disliking of one self. It is related to the individual desire for success. A person having a greater desire for success is rated as high self-esteem person. He believes that he possesses required abilities to succeed on the jobs. People with high esteem are risk takers. They tend to choose risky and challenging jobs. They have internal locus of control. They give preference to pride, recognition, flair, success, independence, and are satisfied with higher order needs than simple monetary motivation. On the other hand, people having low self-esteem are influenced by the external factors. They give more respect and importance to the opinions of others. They do not want to face unpleasant situation. Thus, they try to please others.

 

5) Self-monitoring : Self-monitoring is the ability to adapt to the situational demands. Individuals possessing high score on self-monitoring observe the behaviour of others from close angle in order to adjust their behaviour. They like mobility in their career. They are more successful in discharging contradictory roles. Simply they can wear a mask suitable to the situation. Thus, there is high degree of behavioural inconsistency in high self-monitoring people. Therefore, self-monitoring attribute helps managers to understand the personality and behaviour of their subordinates in order to direct, communicate, motivate and regulate them on the jobs.

 

6) Risk taking Attitude: Risk taking is an attitude. Persons differ in the attitude towards assuming the risk. The propensity to take risk influences the decision-making. High-risk takers are likely to take rapid decisions. Risk taking is also related to the job demands. High-risk taking is found in certain caste, religion, nationality and gender. In organisations, risk-taking behaviour is related to the ability of employees to take up challenging tasks and possess high achievement motivation.

 

Therefore, a number of personality attributes influence the behaviour of person in the organisational behaviour.