Page 300 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

Exhibit 9–2 Holland’s Personality-Job Fit CHAPTER 9 • Foundations of Individual Behavior 299

TYPE PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS SAMPLE OCCUPATIONS

Realistic. Prefers physical Shy, genuine, Mechanic, drill press
activities that require skill, persistent, stable, operator, assembly-line
strength, and coordination conforming, practical worker, farmer

Investigative. Prefers Biologist, economist,
activities involving Analytical, original, mathematician, news
thinking, organizing, and curious, independent reporter
understanding

Social. Prefers activities Sociable, friendly, Social worker, teacher,
that involve helping and cooperative, counselor, clinical
developing others understanding psychologist

Conforming,
Conventional. Prefers ef cient, practical, Accountant, corporate
rule-regulated, orderly, and unimaginative, manager, bank teller, le
unambiguous activities inexible clerk

Enterprising. Prefers Self-con dent, Lawyer, real estate
verbal activities that offer ambitious, energetic, agent, public relations
opportunities to inuence domineering specialist, small business
others and attain power manager

Artistic. Prefers Imaginative,
ambiguous and unsystematic disorderly, Painter, musician, writer,
activities that allow creative idealistic, emotional, interior decorator
expression impractical

Source: Robbins, Stephen P., Coulter, Mary, Management, 13th Ed., © 2016, p. 444. Reprinted and
electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., New York, NY.
intrinsic differences in personality among individuals; (2) there are different types of jobs;
and (3) people in job environments compatible with their personality types should be more
satisfied and less likely to resign voluntarily than people in incongruent jobs.

Do Personality Attributes Differ Across Cultures?

Do personality frameworks, like the Big Five model, transfer across cultures? Are dimensions
like locus of control relevant in all cultures? Let’s try to answer these questions.
The five personality factors studied in the Big Five model appear in almost all cross-
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cultural studies. A wide variety of diverse cultures, such as China, Israel, germany,
Japan, Spain, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, and the United States, have been the setting
for these studies. Differences are found in the emphasis on dimensions. The Chinese,
for example, use the category of conscientiousness more often and use the category of
agreeableness less often than do Americans. But a surprisingly high amount of agreement
is found, especially among individuals from developed countries. As a case in point, a
comprehensive review of studies covering people from the European Community found
that conscientiousness was a valid predictor of performance across jobs and occupational
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groups. U.S. studies found the same results.
We know that there are certainly no common personality types for a given country. You
can, for instance, find high risk takers and low risk takers in almost any culture. Yet a country’s
culture influences the dominant personality characteristics of its people. We can see this effect
of national culture by looking at one of the personality traits we just discussed: locus of control.
National cultures differ in terms of the degree to which people believe they control
their environment. For instance, North Americans believe that they can dominate their