Personality Theories and Organizational Behavior

This assignment delves into various personality theories, including Social Learning theory, Allport's Trait theory, the Biological theory, and more. It emphasizes how understanding employees' personalities through these lenses can help managers effectively apply organizational behavior theories to various business functions like motivation, creating a positive work environment, and fostering growth. The assignment highlights the competitive advantage modern corporations gain by implementing personality-based organizational theories.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Organisational Behaivour
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Comparison between Different Theoretical Arguments of Personalities
Personality is defined as the combination of traits or characteristics that create a
person’s distinct character; it is the visible aspect of an individual’s character which
impresses others. In other words, personality is referred as a set of emotional qualities or
method of behaving in certain situations that differentiate a person from others (Kim, Hon &
Lee, 2010). This essay will focus on different theoretical arguments provided by experts on
people’s personalities. Many experts have given several personalities theories within
psychology in order to explain different ideas about how a person’s personality develops and
what factors contribute to personality’s development. In recent years, managers’ focus on
analysing and learning about their employees’ personalities since it assists in establishing a
positive working environment. Managers implement organisational behaviour theories in the
corporation which assist them in motivating employees by evaluating their personalities that
assist in increasing their productive performance. This essay will compare and contrast
various theoretical arguments given by an expert on people’s personalities in an organisation.
Further, the essay will evaluate how managers can use this information to establish a positive
working environment in the enterprise and increase employees’ productive performance.
There are several personality types in an organisation which influence the behaviour
of employees; managers focus on influencing workers’ behaviour by assessing their
personality traits and use them to their advantage. One of the most popular theories of
personality is provided by Sigmund Freud called ‘Psychodynamic theory’. This theory
provides that personality is the basic structure of id, ego, and superego. As per Freud, these
factors unconsciously impact personality traits, and they are developed at the early childhood
stage (McWilliams, 2011). The ‘id or Instinctive drives’ part of the brain is completely
unconscious, whereas, ego and superego are both conscious and unconscious parts. The id
includes factors such as food, sex, aggression and others, and they are influenced by early
childhood influences, especially by parents. First five years of children early childhood has a
significant influence on their personality, and it is largely affected by their parents’
behaviour. Similarly, Freud provided that manager is subordinates’ parent figure, and they
can be good or bad depending on how manager perceived the situation. The employees who
idealise their manager are more likely to be sensitive to criticism, therefore, they should be
treated differently during a performance review that other subordinates who did not have any
issue with constructive criticism (McLeod, 2017).
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Unlike Freud’s psychodynamic theory, the ‘Biological theory of personality’ provides
that genetics are responsible for personality traits of people. The biological theory of
personality contradicts Freud’s theory which provides that nurturing influence a person’s
personality such as parenting or early childhood experiences, whereas, the biological theory
provides that natural factors such as genetics influence a person’ personality traits. The study
conducted on heritability suggested that there is a link between personality traits and genetics
(Cuncic, 2017). Hans Eysenck provided that personality has a direct link with biological
processes. For example, employees with introvert personality had high cortical arousal which
assists in leading them to avoid stimulation. However, extrovert employees, on the other
hand, had low cortical arousal that causes them to seek out stimulating experiences (Lewin,
2013). Although, many experts have provided that biological theory did not have any
influence on “Big five personality traits” which include openness, extraversion,
conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness. But, recent studies have suggested that
biological factors might influence this model as well (Selfhout, Burk, Branje, Denissen, Van
Aken & Meeus, 2010). Therefore, this theory provides that managers have to assess their
employees’ personality and assign them jobs accordingly because their personality traits are
natural and it is difficult to influence them by external factors.
The Freud’s psychodynamic theory is a part of “behavioural theories of personality”,
whereas, the biological theory is opposite of behavioural theories. Similarly, there are various
“traits theories” provided by experts which are based on personality qualities analysis. These
theories are used by managers to study employees’ personality in a corporation which assists
in implementing appropriate organisational behaviour theories. Traits are defined as habitual
part of a person’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviour (Ryckman, 2012). These theories
provide that personality factors remain stable over time,f and they are different for each
individual, for example, some employees are extroverts who are good at handling supervision
tasks whereas introvert employees prefer desk jobs. Each person has a unique set of skills
which differentiate it from others, and managers measure these personality characteristics to
implement appropriate organisational behaviour theories. Hans Eysenck is one of the most
famous British psychologists; he provided that there are two key dimensions of a personality,
which includes extroversion and introversion that account for all the other personalities.
Extroversion personality people are loud and outgoing whereas introversion personality
people are quiet and reserved (Eysenck, 2012). This theory is similar to the biological theory
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of personality since it provided that people primarily divided into two categories: extroverts
and introverts.
Just as the biological theory of personality, this theory provides that extrovert
employees have low arousal level whereas introvert workers have high arousal level. Gordon
Allport was among the first ever psychologist who provided personality based trait. His
theory is different from Eysenck theory who divided personality into two key dimensions,
whereas, Allport theory provide that there are more than four thousand words in English
dictionary which define personality traits. He divided traits into three key parts: cardinal,
central and secondary (Chen, Yang, Chen, Tseng & Lee, 2013). Cardinal traits are developed
later in life, and they influence a person’s decision key life decision such as kindness, greed,
narcissism or lust. Central traits are major characteristics of a person’s that leads to creating
their personality such as anxious, intelligent, or shy. Secondary traits are the general
behaviour of a person that only appears in specific situations such as getting nervous while
publically speaking (Ickes & Knowles, 2012). The traits theories assist managers in
implementing appropriate organisational behaviour theory, for example, the manager can
implement ‘Personality-Job Fit theory’ during the recruitment process which assists them in
analysing a job candidate’s traits and assign him post accordingly.
Social Learning Theory of personality given by Alan Bandura is another popular
theory of personality which is used by managers in order to influence their employees’
personalities to increase their performance. Bandura agrees with the classical conditioning
and operant conditioning behaviourist theories, but he further provided new principles which
include mediating process and observational learning. The theory provides that employees
imitate the behaviour qualities of people around them, and they respond to punishment and
reinforcement (McLeod, 2016). Unlike Freud’s psychodynamic theory and Biological theory
of personality, Social learning theory provides that the actions of managers can change the
personality of an employee. Managers can implement policies of reinforcement, punishment
or motivation which assist in changing employees’ personalities and increase their productive
performance (McCleskey, 2014). Freud’s psychodynamic theory and Biological theory of
personality provide that managers cannot change personality, instead, workers should be
assign jobs based on their personality and policies should be made accordingly to achieve
maximum productivity. Whereas, Social learning theory provides that personality of an
employee is influenced by several external factors and managers can implement policies to
influence their productive performance positively.
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In recent years, the role of personality theories has grown substantially in corporations
because each company focuses on gaining a competitive advantage over its customers.
Employees are considered as crucial assets for modern corporations and managers focus on
increasing their productive performance by providing them appropriate incentives (Li, Liang
& Crant, 2010). Managers use personality theories to understand their employees’ attitude
and use such information to implement various organisational behaviour theories. For
example, Freud’s Psychodynamic theory can assist managers in implementing the appropriate
motivational theory in the organisation because it assists them in analysing which employee
will prefer monetary or non-monetary rewards (Korsgaard, Meglino, Lester & Jeong, 2010).
The Social Learning theory provides them managers should implement a positive and
challenging organisational environment which will influence employees to increase their
productive performance.
In conclusion, modern corporations use personality theories which assist managers in
implementing effective organisational behaviour theories which provide them a competitive
advantage. Various experts have given different personality theories based on different key
aspects such as biological, behavioural, or traits. Managers use various personality theories
while performing business activities such as Freud’s Psychodynamic theory, Eysenck
Personality Traits theory, Social Learning theory, Allport Personality Traits theory, the
Biological theory of personality, and many others. These theories provide necessary
employees’ behaviour information to managers that assist them in implementing different
organisational behaviour theories for different business functions such as motivating
employees, establishing a positive working environment or many others. Modern
corporations should effectively implement organisational theories based on employees’
personalities since it provides them a competitive advantage and sustains their future growth.
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References
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Cuncic, A. (2017). What Are the Genetic Causes of Social Anxiety Disorder?. Retrieved from
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Eysenck, H. J. (Ed.). (2012). A model for personality. Berlin: Springer Science & Business
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McLeod, S. (2016). Bandura - Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from
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McLeod, S. (2017). Theory of Personality. Retrieved from
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