Personality development has been viewed in several perspectives. Of early theorists, the perspectives of Freud, Erikson, and James represent the full spectrum on personality change, from very little (Freud) to potentially very much (Erikson). James proposed that personality develops to a point,and then is effectively ‘set like plaster’ by the age of thirty, which was later supported by the five-factor theorists.
Contextualist perspectives predict plasticity: Change is complex and ongoing, owing to the many factors that can affect personality traits. This study was designed to test which perspective is appropriate for executives in Indian organizations. The research was conducted on 210 front-level Indian managers. The results reveal that the executives exhibited a gradual change in the scores on personality traits throughout their career stages (trial, establishment and maintenance stage). The mean
differences in score for personality traits between trial stage and establishment stage were significant,although the mean difference between establishment stage and maintenance stage was found to betrivial.