Approaches to Personality Traits and Dimensions

Table of  Contents

Approaches to Personality Traits and Dimensions:-

1.Cattel's 16 Personality Factors:16PF

In initial phase, Cattel found 17953 personal traits. These traits were not pragmatic. Then it was shaped to 171 traits, but these traits were not narrative in nature. These were depthless and lacking narrative energy. He was trying to develop few set of traits by representing all hidden patterns. Then he found sixteen personality factors. These factors are the causes of individual behavior by which we can predict behavior of individual at certain condition. These sixteen factors are such as:-

Low Range

Primary Factor

High Range

1.Reserved

Warmth

Outgoing

2.Less intelligent

Reasoning

More intelligent

3.Affected by feeling

Emotional Stability

Emotionally stable

4.Submissive

Dominance

Dominant

5.Serious

Liveliness

Happy

6.Expedient

Rule Consciousness

Conscientious

7.Timid

Social Boldness

Venturesome

8.Tough minded

Sensitivity

Sensitive

9.Trusting

Vigilance

Suspicious

10.Practical

Abstractedness

Imaginative

11.Forthright

Privateness

shrewd

12. Self-assured

Apprehension

apprehensive

13. Conservative

Openness to change

Experimenting

14.Group dependent

Self Reliance

Self sufficient

15.Uncontrolled

Perfectionism

Controlled

16.Relaxed

Tension

Tense
2.The Big Five Personality traits:-

Researchers have found many personality features and dimensions that distinguish on individual from others.  Recently researchers have found five basic traits that are especially concerned with organizations. These five traits are so valuable which are recently getting more recognition. These are now commonly called "Big Five" personality traits.  These five personality traits are such as:-

(i).Extraversion:-

 It shows the person's ease level with relationship. The person who is talkative, assertive, social, talkative and outgoing is known as extravert. Just opposite is introvert. This type of person is silent, lonely, obedient and graceful in nature. Introvert person searches peaceful place where extrovert enjoy social interactions. Extrovert people are high performer in job than introvert people in organization.

 (ii). Agreeableness:-

It is the capacity of people to accepting others. High agreeableness people are helpful, believing, anger controlled, well behaved, intellectual, caring and understanding in nature. Oppositely, less agreeable people are stubborn, not believing, short tempered and irritable in nature. Less agreeable people are more focused on self interests than else.  High agreeableness people are suitable for organization it is because they can maintain proper working relationships.

 (iii).Conscientiousness:-

It is the level of carefulness, dependability and self discipline of people. High conscientiousness people are focused at limited goals, organized, systematic, through, careful through responsible and self disciplined. Low Conscientious people are focused on many goals, disorganized, careless, and irresponsible, less through, and self- disciplined. High Conscientious people are high performer in organization than low conscientious people.

(iv).Emotional stability:-

It is the capacity of people to manage stress, pressure, temper, happiness and sentiments. People with high emotional stability are self confident, calm, secure and relax in nature. People with low emotional stability are depressed, anxious, indecisive, insecure, mind swings etc in nature. High emotional stability is useful to organization and they manage job stress, pressure and tension in better way.

(v).Openness:-

It refers to the degree of willingness of people to adopt change and learn something. Highly open people are sensitive, flexible, creative and curious. On other hand, low open persons are resistant to change, closed to new ideas and fixed in their ways. Highly open people are high performers than low open people.

3.Personality Profiling Using DISC methodology:-

DISC methodology stands for four personality profiles. They are dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance. This methodology was developed by psychologist William Moulton in 1928. This method is used to anticipate job performance, behavior and actions of employees. This methodology set unique profile of people which helps to decide whether they are fit for doing specific tasks or not. This method has classified people in to four personality profiles according their level of reservedness, people orientation and job orientation.

(i).Dominance(D):-

People with dominitive styles are direct, confident, autonomous, egoistic, strong, problem solving, risk taking, self starting and decisive in nature. They are task oriented. They are more competitive in nature. They are so ambitious to achieve their targets. They enjoy facing challenges. They focus more on doing tasks than analyzing tasks. They express their self opinion and questions confidently. They focus on business more. They are tasks oriented.

(ii).Influence(I):-

People with high influence enjoy helping each other. They are people oriented. They are assured, attractive, enthusiastic, trusting, optimistic, persuasive, talkative, impulsive, emotional and accessible. They enjoy social system and keeping relationships with other. They try to increase their social circle and enjoy spending time with new people. They try to find new ideas and start new project. Their work may bring drastic changes and movements. They enjoy doing multiple tasks at a time. They are inspiring and interactive in nature.

(iii).Steadiness(S):-

People with high steadiness are reserved in nature. They try to find helpful, instant and loyal people in relationships. They are sympathetic, calm and steady in environment to the perspective of other. They are people oriented. They show supportive and steady behavior to others. They focus more on cooperation, sincerity and dependability. They are good listener, team player, possessive, steady, predictable, understanding and friendly in nature. They are reserved and people oriented in nature.

(iv).Compliance(C):-

These people are analytical in nature. They focus more on following procedure, structure, rules and regulations. They suspect anything before complying. They use logic before taking decisions. They may be influenced by sentiments. They analyze and think more before complying anything. They think more about problems before applying solutions so that they are great problem solvers. They are reserved and task oriented. They show cautions are careful behavior. They more focus on rules, regulations, correctness, quality, accuracy, expertise and competency. They are accurate, analytical, conscientious, careful, fact finder, precise, high standards and systematic in nature.

4.Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation Behavior(FIROB):-

FIROB stands for fundamental interpersonal relationship orientation. It can be defined as the method through which a person keeps relationships with others. It is developed to measure the person's behavior towards others and the behavior person expects from others through three dimensions of interpersonal interactions.

It explains interpersonal interactions of people. This approach thinks that people get involved in interpersonal relations to acquire affection, inclusion and control. This approach was invented by William Schutz in 1958. He has developed nine questions with six scales to measure these features of people. These questions measure how group members react to affection, control and inclusion.

(i).Inclusion:- Inclusion is associating a person with others. Inclusion is social interactions, contact and collaboration needs of an individual with others. The person having high inclusion needs seeks belongingness, participation, involvement, distinction, attention, prominence, prestige, interest and recognition.

(ii).Control:- Control is the task of understanding responsibilities, taking decisions and attempting to dominate others by an individual. People with high control needs try to lead, influence others and get influences from others. People with high control needs enjoy taking power, responsibilities, authority, making decisions, persuading, influencing and dominating others. These needs also enforce to keep mutual respect and establishing human relationship with others.

(iii).Affection:-

Affection is intimacy of an individual with others intensively/closely. The intimacy is taken in non-physical and non-sexual sense. It is sentimental ties and attachment with people. It fixes the level of closeness that an individual expects. It consist the needs for openness, support, personal ties, trusting, sharing, closeness, sensitivity, consensus and disclosing behavior to others. The person with high affection needs show warm relationships and he expects same from others. These persons involve in encouraging, keeping confidence and developing friendships with others.

Organization creates scenario of fulfilling these three needs of its members. For example person with high inclusion needs enjoys doing collective works than individual. Person with high control needs takes membership of a group which he wants to control. Person with high affection needs searches the cordial and friendly people.

5.Myers-Briggs Type Indicator:-

It is widely used framework in personality. It asks 100 questions to people about how they feel or act in particular situation. It has four dimensions, sensing, instituting, judging and perceiving. Higher and lower positions in each of dimensions are used to classify people in to sixteen different personality categories. Dimensions of this approach are such as:-

(i).Sensing/Intuition:-

Sensing people like to collect information through their senses. They are an organized structure to achieve factual and preferably quantitative details. Intuitive people collect information unsystematically. They search qualitative evidence.

(ii).Thinking/Feeling:-

Thinking type people consider upon cause-effect relationship and feeling type people consider how their choices affect others.

(iii).Judging / perceiving:-

These Judging type people enjoy the control, decision making and want to solve problems quickly. Perceiving type people are more flexible. They adopt themselves with events.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.Explain the Approaches to Personality Traits and Dimensions.
2.Explain Cattel's 16 Personality Factors.
3.Explain The Big Five Personality traits.
4.Explain the Personality Profiling Using DISC methodology.
5.Explain the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation Behavior(FIROB)
6.Explain the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
7.What are the 4 personality approaches?
8.What are the five personality traits trait approach?
9.What are the six approaches to personality?
10.What are the three approaches used to describe personality?

Conclusion

All approaches related to personality traits are equally valuable. These may contribute to understand personality traits type in organizations. These help managers to understand employee past behavior and predict future orientation, behavior and actions. So, managers can mobilize staff properly.