57 Personality, Attitudes and Group Dynamics
58 Part A — Personality
58.1 Meaning
Personality is the unique combination of psychological traits and behaviour patterns that makes one individual different from another (robbins2022?). Gordon Allport’s classic definition: “the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought.”
58.2 Determinants of Personality
| Determinant | Working content |
|---|---|
| Heredity | Genes, physical features, intelligence base |
| Environment | Culture, family, peer group, social class |
| Situation | Context — work, sport, social setting |
58.3 Theories of Personality
| Theory | Proponent | Idea |
|---|---|---|
| Trait theory | Allport, Cattell, Eysenck | Personality = stable traits |
| Big Five (OCEAN) | Costa & McCrae | Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism |
| Psychoanalytic | Freud | Id, Ego, Superego; unconscious drivers |
| Humanistic | Maslow, Rogers | Self-actualisation, self-concept |
| Social-cognitive | Bandura | Behaviour shaped by reinforcement and observational learning |
| Type theories | Jung; Friedman & Rosenman | MBTI; Type A vs Type B |
58.4 The Big Five (OCEAN)
| Factor | High score | Low score |
|---|---|---|
| Openness | Curious, imaginative | Conventional, practical |
| Conscientiousness | Organised, dependable | Careless, unreliable |
| Extraversion | Outgoing, social | Reserved, quiet |
| Agreeableness | Cooperative, trusting | Competitive, suspicious |
| Neuroticism | Anxious, moody | Calm, stable |
The Big Five is the most empirically supported model in personality psychology. Conscientiousness is the strongest predictor of job performance across occupations.
58.5 Type A vs Type B
Friedman and Rosenman (1959) classified people as:
| Type A | Type B |
|---|---|
| Time-urgent, competitive | Relaxed, patient |
| Multitasks aggressively | Does one thing at a time |
| Higher heart-disease risk | Lower stress-related risk |
| Likely entrepreneur | Likely team-player |
58.6 Other Important Personality Traits in Workplace
| Trait | Working content |
|---|---|
| Locus of control | Internal (own actions) vs External (luck, others) — Rotter |
| Self-efficacy | Belief in one’s ability to perform — Bandura |
| Self-monitoring | Adjusting behaviour to fit the situation |
| Machiavellianism | Pragmatic, manipulative, emotionally distant |
| Narcissism | Excessive self-importance |
| Risk-taking | Tolerance for uncertainty |
| Proactive personality | Initiates change; identifies opportunities |
59 Part B — Attitudes
59.1 Meaning
An attitude is a learned predisposition to respond favourably or unfavourably to an object, person or event. Attitudes have three components — the ABC of attitudes (robbins2022?):
| Component | Working content | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Affective | Feeling | “I like my job” |
| Behavioural | Action tendency | “I show up on time” |
| Cognitive | Belief | “My job is meaningful” |
59.2 Major Workplace Attitudes
| Attitude | Working content |
|---|---|
| Job satisfaction | General positive feeling about one’s job |
| Job involvement | Degree of identification with the job |
| Organisational commitment | Identification with, and attachment to, the firm |
59.3 Cognitive Dissonance — Festinger (1957)
Leon Festinger’s theory of cognitive dissonance (1957): when a person holds two contradictory cognitions, or behaves contrary to belief, psychological discomfort (dissonance) arises. The person reduces dissonance by changing belief, behaviour or perception.
60 Part C — Group Dynamics
60.1 Meaning of Group
A group is two or more individuals who interact, are interdependent, and have come together to achieve particular objectives (robbins2022?). Kurt Lewin (1947) coined the term group dynamics.
60.2 Types of Groups
| Family | Type |
|---|---|
| Formal | Command, Task, Project, Committee |
| Informal | Friendship, Interest, Reference |
60.3 Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development (1965)
Bruce Tuckman’s classic five-stage model:
| Stage | Working content |
|---|---|
| Forming | Members meet; uncertainty; orientation |
| Storming | Intra-group conflict; resistance to influence |
| Norming | Cohesion develops; norms established |
| Performing | Group functions effectively at task |
| Adjourning | (Added 1977) Group disbands |
60.4 Group Properties
| Property | Working content |
|---|---|
| Roles | Set of expected behaviour patterns |
| Norms | Acceptable standards of behaviour shared by members |
| Status | Position within the group |
| Size | Smaller (5–7) more cohesive; larger more diverse |
| Cohesiveness | Degree of attraction among members |
60.5 Group Decision-Making — Pros and Pitfalls
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| More information and views | Time-consuming |
| More diverse alternatives | Pressure to conform |
| Greater acceptance | Domination by individuals |
| Increased legitimacy | Diffused responsibility |
Two famous group pathologies:
- Groupthink (Irving Janis, 1972) — pressure for consensus suppresses dissent; led to fiascos like the Bay of Pigs invasion.
- Group shift / polarisation — groups shift toward more extreme positions than individual members would take.
60.6 Group-Decision Techniques
| Technique | Working content |
|---|---|
| Brainstorming | Free-flowing idea generation; defer judgement |
| Nominal Group Technique | Silent generation, round-robin recording, voting |
| Delphi Method | Anonymous, iterative expert opinion (RAND Corporation) |
| Electronic meetings | Computer-mediated group decisions |
| Devil’s advocate / Dialectical inquiry | Built-in dissent |
60.7 Teams vs Groups
| Dimension | Group | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Share information | Collective performance |
| Synergy | Neutral | Positive |
| Accountability | Individual | Individual + mutual |
| Skills | Random | Complementary |
Common team types: problem-solving, self-managed, cross-functional, virtual, task force, quality circle.
60.8 Exam-Pattern MCQs
Q1. Which of the following is not a Big Five personality factor?
A. Openness B. Conscientiousness C. Charisma D. Neuroticism
Answer: C. The Big Five (OCEAN) are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. Charisma is not in the model.
Q2. Match each personality theory with its proponent:
| Theory | Proponent | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Big Five | (a) | Bandura |
| (ii) | Psychoanalytic | (b) | Costa and McCrae |
| (iii) | Humanistic | (c) | Freud |
| (iv) | Social-cognitive | (d) | Maslow and Rogers |
A. (i)-(b), (ii)-(c), (iii)-(d), (iv)-(a) B. (i)-(a), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(c), (iv)-(d) C. (i)-(c), (ii)-(d), (iii)-(a), (iv)-(b) D. (i)-(d), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(b), (iv)-(c)
Answer: A.
Q3. “Time-urgent, competitive, multitasks aggressively, higher heart-disease risk.” This describes:
A. Type A personality B. Type B personality C. Introvert D. High-agreeableness type
Answer: A. Friedman and Rosenman’s Type A personality.
Q4. Match the ABC of attitudes:
| Component | Content | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Affective | (a) | Belief |
| (ii) | Behavioural | (b) | Feeling |
| (iii) | Cognitive | (c) | Action tendency |
A. (i)-(b), (ii)-(c), (iii)-(a) B. (i)-(a), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(c) C. (i)-(c), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(b) D. (i)-(c), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(a)
Answer: A.
Q5. Cognitive dissonance theory was proposed by:
A. Bandura B. Festinger C. Maslow D. Skinner
Answer: B. Leon Festinger (1957).
Q6. Arrange Tuckman’s five stages of group development in correct order:
- Norming
- Forming
- Storming
- Performing
- Adjourning
A. (ii), (iii), (i), (iv), (v) B. (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) C. (iii), (i), (iv), (v), (ii) D. (v), (iv), (iii), (ii), (i)
Answer: A. Forming → Storming → Norming → Performing → Adjourning.
Q7. “Pressure for consensus suppresses dissent in highly cohesive groups.” This is:
A. Group polarisation B. Groupthink C. Brainstorming D. Cognitive dissonance
Answer: B. Groupthink — Irving Janis (1972).
Q8. Match each group-decision technique with its content:
| Technique | Content | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Brainstorming | (a) | Anonymous, iterative expert opinion |
| (ii) | Nominal Group Technique | (b) | Free-flowing idea generation; defer judgement |
| (iii) | Delphi Method | (c) | Silent generation, round-robin recording, voting |
A. (i)-(b), (ii)-(c), (iii)-(a) B. (i)-(a), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(c) C. (i)-(c), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(b) D. (i)-(c), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(a)
Answer: A.
- Personality — unique combination of traits and behaviour. Allport’s definition.
- Determinants: Heredity, Environment, Situation.
- Theories: Trait, Big Five (OCEAN), Psychoanalytic (Freud), Humanistic (Maslow/Rogers), Social-cognitive (Bandura), Type (Jung MBTI; Type A/B Friedman-Rosenman).
- OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. Conscientiousness best predictor of job performance.
- Other traits: locus of control (Rotter), self-efficacy (Bandura), self-monitoring, Machiavellianism, narcissism, risk-taking, proactive.
- Attitude ABC: Affective (feeling), Behavioural (action), Cognitive (belief).
- Workplace attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement, organisational commitment.
- Cognitive dissonance — Festinger (1957).
- Group = 2+ individuals interacting interdependently. Group dynamics — Lewin (1947).
- Tuckman (1965, 1977): Forming → Storming → Norming → Performing → Adjourning.
- Group properties: roles, norms, status, size, cohesiveness.
- Pathologies: Groupthink (Janis 1972), Group polarisation.
- Decision techniques: Brainstorming, NGT, Delphi (RAND), Electronic meetings, Devil’s advocate.
- Group (share info) vs Team (collective performance, complementary skills, mutual accountability).