Organizational researchers continually strive to establish models and patterns to predict the behavior of employees within the organizational context. Human behavior is inherently unpredictable; but by understanding the interactions among tasks, organization structure, the external environment, and individual personality traits, we may, to some extent, be able to calculate the actions of individuals (Fretwell, et al., 2013). There are many different aspects of personality that can be evaluated and many different assessment tools that can be used to classify different aspects of individuals’ personalities (Fretwell, et al., 2013).
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeable and Openness to experience are the Big Five personality traits which considered as independent personality traits and there is a relationship between Big Five personality traits and job performance with a mediating role of multidimensional organizational commitment (Ahmad, Ather, & Hussain, 2014).
Figure 1.0 – Big Five Personality Factors
Source:
I worked for a leading company in the IT industry. By using Myers – Brigger’s big five personality model, the following is analyzed on one of the managers who is refered to as X.
Agreeableness: According to Greenberg and Baron (2010) stated agreeableness is a propensity to be concerned and empathetic toward others. X tends to be rude, unforgiving, unsympathetic, impersonal, critical, and more out-come driven. Moreover, all the time X is in irritable mood and blasting team members in front of all the people.
Extraversion: An inclination to search for encouragement and to enjoy the company of other people (Greenberg & Baron, 2010). In this case, X is not much fun loving and unfriendly with staff members. Hence, X is sociable, talkative, and outwardly busy with daily work since she is handling both technical and administration work in the organization. Also, X does not have a friend in the company who can have informal discussions.
Neuroticism: Greenberg and Baron (2010) asserted it as the tendency to experience the distasteful emotions straightforwardly. X is worrying about one thing and dealing with wider range of emotions. That means, habitually X swings emotions and difficult to predict it in advance. X is very poor in terms of relaxation and directly express nervousness to the audience and rarely, we are able to recognize a smile on the face.
Conscientiousness: It is the likelihood to show self-control, competencies, and achievements (Greenberg & Baron, 2010). X tend to be disorganized, untrustworthy, and negligent with technical and administration work.
Openness to Experience: Greenberg and Baron (2010) explained openness to experience is a possibility to enjoy new capabilities and ideas. X is creative and curious person in relation with updated content. X acts as a risk taker.
Consistent with Big Five dimensions, result of the test exerts a mix of personality dimensions and characters are more towards the undesirable and pessimistic side most of the times. Hence these differences create conflicts in the business which are affecting the overall business performance.
This particular employee has a unique personality which is defined through various factors and his/her personal experiences. It is important for business leaders/managers to clearly understand and embrace these differences in personalities and treat them accordingly. Treating employees equally using the same approach will not be effective anymore. Therefore, business managers should measure employee personalities using various tools such as MBTI and implement different approaches to different employees accordingly. The Myers-Briggs Type indicator (MBTI) was developed by the mother-daughter team of Katherine C. Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers. Video 1.0 shows different personality types and differences between introverts and extroverts.
Video 1.0: Personality types (Extraverts/ Introverts)
(Source: Kummerow, 2017)
To conclude the analysis, with reference to this scenario, employees have unique personalities which is defined through various factors and their personal experiences. By exerting appropriate cultural change, organisations can reform the individual values, attitudes to ensure that the approaches are different based on different personality types. In order to do that, organisations should measure employee personalities using tools such as MBTI and customize their approaches of managing people accordingly.
Further, it is important that the business leaders further study and develop strategies to effectively manage and embrace diversity within organisations.
References
Ahmad, J., Ather, M. R., & Hussain, M. (2014). IMPACT OF BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS ON JOB PERFORMANCE. MANAGEMENT, KNOWLEDGE, AND LERNING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (pp. 571-577). SLOVENIA : Make Learn.
Bartel, A. P., Freeman, R. B., Ichniowski, C., & Kleiner, M. M. (2011). Can a workplace have an attitude problem? Workplace effects on employee attitudes and organizational performance. Labour Economics , 411-423.
Brownfield, K. M., n.d. The Relationship between the Myers-Briggs Personality Types and Learning Styles. s.l.:THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC).
Fretwell, C. E., Lewis, C. C. & Hannay, M., 2013. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, A/B Personality Types, and Locus of Control: Where Do They Intersect?. American Journal of Management, 13(3), pp. 57 - 66.
Goldberg, L. R., 1990. An alternative “description of personality”: The big-five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Volume 59, pp. 1216 - 1229.
Greebberg, J., & Baron , R. A. (2010). Behavior in Organization. United States of America: Pearson
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Ojokuku, R. M., Odetayo, T. A., & Sajuyigbe, A. S. (2012). Impact of Leadership Style on Organizational Performance: A Case Study of Nigerian Banks. American Journal of Business and Management , 01 (04), 202-207.
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I do agree with you Chamara, From the management perspective, information about an employee’s personality can provide valuable information about what is the best method of communicating with employees and what types of jobs and tasks are most suitable for the employees. However, personality may also be key indicators of other facets of an employee’s life, including innovativeness (Eastman et al., 2001).
ReplyDeleteYes. Few people may excel in on kind of activity while others may perform the same job miserably. This is not due to the inefficient way of performing that particular job, which can be one of the reasons but, it is mainly due to their personality. Because s/he is simply not suited for that job. Thus right person for the right job is vital(Rehman et al., 2012).
DeleteI agree with you Chamara, personality is a vital factor in human resource management. Personality should be taken into consideration when recruiting and selecting employees. Sophisticated selection methods such as psychometric test can be utilized to select the employees with desired personality. Ability and personality tests are the most popular forms of psychological testing for selection purposes (Keenan 1995; Ryan & Sacket 1987, 1992; Taylor, et.al, 2002; Salgado & De Fruyt 2005; Carless 2007). According to HR research experts, knowledge about the predictive value of ability and personality are two of five fundamental findings that all practicing managers should know (Rynes et al. 2007). Waters & Sackett (2006) showed that the traditional linear approach to scoring the big five personality outperformed configure scoring when predicting organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive behavior.
ReplyDeleteYes. However, the fact remains that in applied organizational and assessment settings the MBTI is extremely popular, as evidenced by the volume of research studies that have been devoted to it as well as the diversity of applied organizational functions to which it has been applied, which range from relatively uncontroversial uses such as career-counseling, self-development, and team-building through highly litigious tasks such as employee selection and placement (Bess et al.,2003)
DeleteAgreed, Each of the Big Five has been shown to predict a number of important life outcomes. For example, extraversion consistently predicts social outcomes. Highly extraverted individuals tend to have more friends and dating partners, and are seen by their peers as having higher social status. They generally prefer and perform better in social and enterprising occupations, and are more likely to adopt community leadership roles. Psychologically, extraverts tend to experience greater subjective well-being than introverts, especially in terms of the frequency and intensity of positive emotions(Soto, 2018).
ReplyDeleteYes Indeewari. Allchin, Engler, & Dzurec (2006) state that “Extraverts find energy in the environment, particularly through their interactions with others. They tend to be expressive and outgoing, often speaking before they think about the words they are saying”
DeleteI agree with you Chamara, Ozer & Benet (2006) suggests that personality of individuals affect the performance of the organization. This is because how the individuals solve problems, how they perform to achieve the goals directly impact the outcomes of the organization which in turn affects the organizational performance (Youshan and Hassan, 2015).
ReplyDeleteYes Arjun. According to Barrick (2001), personality dimensions are most likely to affect job performance in situations where autonomy is high.
DeleteExactly, Another important aspect of the Big Five Model is its approach to measuring personality. It focuses on conceptualizing traits as a spectrum rather than black-and-white categories. It recognizes the most individuals are not on the polar ends of the spectrum but rather somewhere between. Conscientiousness describes a person’s ability to regulate their impulse control in order to engage in goal-directed behaviors (Lim, 2020).
ReplyDeleteYes Treva. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a tool identified as the world's most popular personality assessment tool and foundation for individual development. It is applied to evaluate the psychological preferences of different people which help them to identify their strengths and preferences, interests and happiness to make right decisions ( Stilwell et al.,2000). MBTI was inspired by the work of a Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Gastav Jung, who proposed psychological types theories that described how people are innately different, both in terms of how they perceive and take in information and how they make decisions (Zehra et al.,2000).
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