Personality Theories

Personality Theories.

Personality is the collection of distinctive characteristics, traits, attitudes, actions and feelings which an individual display that differentiates him/her from other individuals. Personality is clearly portrayed when a certain individual is responding to a given situation.

There is no any single definition to define the term personality. Hence, many theorists have carried out many researches and have come up with many theories. Below discussed are few of the personality theories which are much reliable.

Theory	Description
Sociology-psychological Theory	This theory discusses that a certain personality of an individual is determined by the interaction he/she has with the society. This is where the society helps an individual to pursue his goals when that certain individual tries to meet the requirements of the society.
Trait Theory	It states that a certain individual is self-possessed of a set of particular qualities. As per Myers and Briggs there are 16 types of personalities which an individual may display. These 16 types of personalities are formed based on 4 variables. They are as follows, 1.      Extroversion vs Introversion Describes how we are energized and how we get along with others. 2.      Sensing vs Intuition Describes how we yield information. 3.      Thinking vs Feeling Describes how make our decisions. 4.      Judgement vs Perception Describes how we live and organize ourselves. (Ringgenberg, 2004)
Self-Theory	This theory focuses on a set of insights that an individual has for himself and others with aspects of life. There are four main focused factors discussed in this theory. They are as follows, ·         Self-image What an individual think about himself. ·         Ideal self How an individual would like to be. ·         Looking glass-self How others perceive his/her qualities. ·         Real self How others response to your self-image
Psychoanalytic Theory	This is based on the fact that individuals determine their personalities by the unseen forces which controls them via thoughts. As per Sigmund Freud, human behavior is molded via the collaboration between three main components in a human mind. They are as follows, ·         Id Seeks immediate basic physical needs and natural needs. ·         Super Ego Values that an individual develops as he grows. ·         Ego It’s the logical part where both demands of the above two are balanced with reality. (Ackerman, 2018)

Table 01 – Personality Theories 

Perception and Attitude Theories

Perception is the way which an individual regard, understands and interprets something. As per perception theories, people form up their attitudes based on their own perception which is called self-perception. Its states that people tend to develop their attitudes based on their own behaviors.

As per this theory, we take our own actions based on how we understand others behave. And also, our actions are influenced by society most of the time where we do not produce actions in our own will. 

How people perceive each other differs from one person to another. A manager who looks friendly and motivate to one person might not be perceived the same by another person. It is natural for this to occur.

There are many factors that affect a certain person to perceive something in a particular manner. It is discussed as follows,

Factor	Affecting variables
Situation	Workplace Social setting Time
Target	Magnitude Background Strength Uniqueness Proximity Gesture
Perceiver	Attitudes Motives Interests Experiences Expectations

Table 02 – Factors affecting perception

  When an individual perceives something, he/she follows the following process. It is as follows,

Figure 01 – Perception Process 

Practical Applications

Below discussed are few practical situations where the above discussed theories can be applied.

Organization planning to take new recruits

It is very much essential for an organization to plan out when recruiting the right person to the right job at the right time, because if any organization fails to get in the right people, it will be a great loss for them. It would be waste of their time and money

Proper goals should be set when recruiting people. Organizational goals should be in par with the recruitment goals. Goals should include the following key points,

• ·         Attract candidates with higher standards

• ·         Attract skillful people who are currently lacking in your organization

• ·         Get in people who matches with existing organizational culture

So, in order to attain the recruitment goals discussed above, it is essential for an organization to identify the kind of personalities which they are looking into. And that is why some international companies like Ceylon Tobacco Company (PLC) conducts an online cultural test where a candidate should face a cultural test as soon as he/she submits the curriculum vitae for vacant position. If the candidate passes the cultural test, he/she will be called for an interview. By following this mechanism, they are able to attract the people who suits to their culture. 

When a person whose personalities matches with the existing employees, it will be easy for the new comers to get along with others and work efficiently and effectively with other colleagues.

What organizations could do is, even before interviewing candidates for a vacant position, have them to do a test where cultural and personality related questions will be there. By doing so, the management team can select the candidates who thinks the same way as they do. This will help them to short list a large pool of candidates. This will also reduce the risk of employee turnover and absenteeism from work.

When recruiting new employees, a company can have a professional third-party company to carry out a perception process based on the pool of candidates. They can have screening tests with groups of candidates. And thereby they can carry out the perception process. And finally they could provide a list which includes candidates belonging to different types based on their perceptions.

Unions seeing the management is being unfair.

In this case, application of attitude theories matters. A talented management team should be able to identify the key personalities and troublemakers in a union when an issue like this occurs. By identifying people with arrogant attitudes, the managers can approach them directly. They can discuss with them and provide them with more responsible work at the workplace. By doing so, these people will calm themselves down. They will start feeling that the company is thinking about him/her as a useful person in the organization.

Treating everyone at the organization equally will not be fair. Equity should be considered as well. This is because something which is valuable for one person might not be val8auble for another. This is where the relevant managers should be able to identify the different types of personalities and perceptions that people have. By doing so, they will be able to identify what the people at the workplace are expecting from the organization. Thereby the management can take necessary actions to compensate their workers.

 

Example – One employee must be struggling to pay for his mother’s medication, while another employee might be struggling to work due to a physical injury. So, in this case, the management should compensate the first employee so that he can buy medicine for his mother. And for the other employee, the management should give him leave for a few days till he recovers. Giving money for them both will not satisfy them both.

Changing attitudes of their subordinates

When an attitude change is needed among the subordinates, it is very much essential for the management to identify the different personality types in the workplace. based on their personality types, the managers can approach them and change their attitudes. Below discussed are examples for how different types of personalities can be approached.

  

• Extroverts – These types of personalities get along with others easily. They are talkative and have outgoing personality types. So, the managers can approach them without much hassle. They could takeout these types of personalities for a lunch and have a friendly talk. By doing so, they can convey the message that they intend to share.

• Introverts – these types of personalities are backwards when it comes to socializing with others. They prefer to talk with a few people. So, if a manager is trying to approach him/her, they should build up a good rapport with that certain employee. They should build a good trustworthy relationship with the subordinate. And thereby they can influence that certain person to change their attitudes. 

So, based on the two types of personalities discussed above, it is clear that managers should use different approaches to get their subordinates to change themselves as per the organizational need. The same approach cannot be used for all employees. If so, it will end up in failure. It will make the employees feel uncomfortable and threatened which might also result in employee turnover.

References

Ackerman, C., 2018. Psychoanalysis: What is Freuds Psychoanalytic theory/perspective?. [Online]
Available at: www.positivepsychologyprogram.com/psychoanalsis/
[Accessed 30 January 2019].

Ringgenberg, W., 2004. A comparison of the Myers -Briggs Type Indicator tyoe charactersitics and demographics between students enrolled in the DMACC Health Care Administration program and Iowa-licensed nursing home administrators. Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, pp. 6-11.