1st Edition

Personality and Organizations

Edited By Benjamin Schneider, D. Brent Smith Copyright 2004
    464 Pages
    by Psychology Press

    464 Pages
    by Psychology Press

    Personality has always been a predictor of performance. This book of original chapters is designed to fulfill a need for a contemporary treatment of human personality in work organizations. Bringing together top scholars in the field, this book provides a comprehensive study of the role of personality in organizational life. Utilizing a personality perspective, scholars review the role of personality in groups, job satisfaction, leadership, stress, motivation, organizational climate and culture, and vocational interests. In addition, the book looks at more classical topics in personality at work, including the measurement of personality, personality-performance linkages, faking, and person-organization fit.

    Complete in both conceptual material and reviews of the literature across the variety of domains in which personality plays a role at work, this handbook borrows the idea that personality plays out in many ways in organizations and not just a correlate of task performance. The editors believe that this book supports this belief--that personality in its many conceptualizations is a useful lens through which to shed understanding on the broadest array of contemporary topics in industrial/organizational psychology and organizational behavior. Graduate students and researchers interested in the contributions of personality to almost any topic in which they may have interest will find it valuable.

    Contents: A. Brief, J. Walsh, Series Forward. Preface. Part I: Introducing Personality at Work. R. Hogan, Personality Psychology for Organizational Researchers. A. Furnham, Personality and Organisation: A European Perspective on Personality Assessment in Organisations. Part II: Persistent Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Personality Assessment. G.L. Stewart, M.R. Barrick, Four Lessons Learned From the Person-Situation Debate: A Review and Research Agenda. T.A. Judge, A. Kristof-Brown, Personality, Interactional Psychology, and Person-Organization Fit. D.B. Smith, C. Robie, The Implications of Impression Management for Personality Research in Organisations. Part III: The Role of Personality in Work and Well-Being. W.B. Walsh, Vocational Psychology and Personality. B.M. Staw, The Dispositional Approach to Job Attitudes: An Empirical and Conceptual Review. J.M. George, A.P. Brief, Personality and Work-Related Distress. Part IV: The Role of Personality in Understanding Micro Organizational Processes. L.R. James, J.R. Rentsch, J-U-S-T-I-F-Y to Explain the Reasons Why: A Conditional Reasoning Approach to Understanding Motivated Behavior. W.D. Spangler, R.J. House, R. Palrecha, Personality and Leadership. D.W. Organ, J.B. Paine, Personality and Citizenship Behavior in Organizations. Part V: The Role of Personality in Understanding Meso Organizational Processes. L.M. Moynihan, R.S. Peterson, The Role of Personality in Group Processes. B. Schneider, D.B. Smith, Personality and Organizational Culture. C. Argyris, Reflections on Personality and Organization. Part VI: Conclusions. D.B. Smith, B. Schneider, Where We've Been and Where We're Going: Some Conclusions Regarding Personality and Organizations.

    Biography

    Benjamin Schneider, D. Brent Smith

    "This important and stimulating book deepens understanding of two areas of knowledge and their connection. Highly recommended."

    CHOICE

    "Overall, the book has a number of strengths. First, the editors provide a well-organized structure for the book and explain their objectives clearly. More important, the inclusion of fifteen chapters by different subject matter experts allows the book to meet the editors' objective of summarizing, critiquing, and integrating twenty-five years of research and theory....The author index is thorough, and the subject index is extremely detailed and useful."
    Academy of Management Review

    "...the quality of writing is uniformly very good across the chapters....most of the chapters are well written, interesting, provocative, and fun to read. This book may be of interest to a broader audience than the publisher's advertisement suggests....this volume would appeal to many who have an interest in any of these topics."
    Personnel Psychology

    "To be sure, anyone who sets foot in organizations know that 'people matter', but our scholarly attention was diverted...Schneider and Smith have done us all a great service. The pulled together a terrific collection of original essays to inform us about what has been happening in personality psychology over these twenty-five years, and to show us how it all matters to life in organizations."
    James P. Walsh
    University of Michigan

    "This definitive book--written in a straightforward manner by preeminent behavioral scientists--explains cogently why understanding personality variables is critical for understanding the performance of the individual as well as the performance of the employing organization."
    Gary Latham
    Secretary of State Professor of Organizational Effectiveness, Rotman School of M