Personality

Personality refers to the way in which a person views and understands himself, and the way in which he interacts with people and reacts to situations. An individual's personality is influenced by factors like heredity, external environment, and person-situation interaction. Some of the personality attributes that have an impact on an individual's behavior are the locus of control, Machiavellianism, self-esteem, self-monitoring, propensity to risk-taking, and Type A personality. The locus of control refers to the degree to which people believe that they can determine their own fate. People high on the locus of control (called internals) tend to move up the career ladder quickly. Individuals who have a Type A personality are continuously involved in the struggle to achieve more in less time in the face of opposition from other people. But because of their emphasis on quantity than quality and their poor decision-making skills, they often do not make good managers. Type B people lay more emphasis on quality of outcome rather than quantity and have good analytical skills. They therefore make good managers.

Many personality theorists have tried to explain the development of human personality. According to Daniel Levinson, an individual's life can be divided into adult, mid-life and late adult stages. The personality of an individual, Levinson argues, develops to some extent at each stage of his lifecycle. Another theorist, Hall, suggested that the personality development of an employee takes place in four stages: exploration, establishment, maintenance and decline.

Self-concept (in personality theory) refers to the attempts made by people to understand themselves. Self-esteem is the self-perceived competence and self-image of people. People with high self-esteem do well in managerial positions. Self-efficacy refers to the self-perceptions of a person regarding his ability to cope with situations as they arise. Individuals with high self-efficacy can quickly cope with the demands of tough jobs (such as sales jobs).