Personality and Employee Performance - Essay Example

Personality and Employee Performance al Affiliation Introduction Researchers have established that there is a direct relationship between employees’ personalities and how they will perform in the job they are doing. It is well known that different individuals will bring many differences to work. This is because of their various personalities and also because of their attitudes and what they believe in which forms the basis of their beliefs. In any organization, team work is one of the keys to success and so the different people will be supposed to be incorporated in one environment and work with a single motive of ensuring that the organization attains and achieves its goals. While hiring people the human resource personnel have the belief that the employees will have certain skills, abilities and personalities that will make sure that they add positively to the performance of the organization they are being hired into. The concept of personality and its effect on employee performance comes in management of the workforce and in synchronizing the different workers to make them work in harmony for the better goal of delivering the expected goals in the organization. In this work we shall look at how the employee’s personality can be used to predict their performance. For instance, in any organization, the managers or the supervisors are mandated to oversee the other employees and see unto it that what is supposed of them is being done in the correct way. An employee’s personality can hinder the supervisor from interacting well with her if maybe he/she is temperamental and usually takes the advice given personally. This way it will prove very hard to incorporate such a person in the team of employees that is deliberating in achieving the goals of the organization. This paper will address that in details and look at various cases and ways that can be used to harmonize different personalities and make all the employees productive in an organization. Impacts of an Employees Personality on Performance The personality of a person may have an impact on his/her performance according to the work h/she is doing and the amount of interaction that is required in the specified job. While hiring employees, human resource personnel usually conduct interviews to assess the candidates’ personalities and traits together with their beliefs and attitudes and then allocate them the duties in departments that they feel they will deliver best and feel best working. For instance, while looking for a person to hold the position of a salesperson in a given organization, the best candidate should be the one who exposes high levels of extraversion. This is because the job requires much social interaction and the person who lands the coveted position should be able to interact well with all the clients and convince them beyond any reasonable doubt that the goods or services that he/she is promoting are the best. This way the sales in the given sector shall surge positively and boost its performance. If the person given such a job does not possess such traits in their personality then it means that a great deal of what they shall do will be out of proportion and they will struggle a lot to ensure that they deliver as per the requirements. In such a position, the employee’s personality will be so important in determining his/her performance. In a scenario where the same is not required, the personality of the person to be employed may not prove to be so important and so any person who is qualified enough maybe ideal to take the position. Managers and the resource personnel will therefore allocate the people according to the positions that they are able to deliver the best to avoid collisions where an employee I allocated to a position where he/she is incapable of handling. The next chapter will look at the 5-factor model of personality factors that will help in understanding the factors that are involved while considering personality as a way of predicting the performance of an employee. Employees’ Personality Traits In order to understand the topic better, this section will look at the various personality traits that determines the person’s interaction with the team that he/she is working with at the place of work. The 5-Factor Model of Personality Factors This is an important model that was projected to explain the different personality traits that are involved while addressing the issue of human personality and its relevance in any job condition. The five factors are further split into their respective sub-factors or the traits that are involved in each of them. a. Emotional Stability This is a factor that is explained or understood in the way the person is able to handle himself or herself when they encounter a situation that is emotional. At such a state, the person is emotionally disoriented and so they may engage in doing or saying things that are destructive. In this state an employee may be anxious, depressed, and angry or may be emotionally disoriented to a point where they exhibit total breakdown emotionally. In a workplace set up, an employee is supposed to be able to handle his/her emotional hikes in a mature way and so if the person proves that they can be either aggressive or abusive when emotional then it can negatively impact on their job performance and the working of other employees in the organization. In a set up where the employee is encountering with the customers it is recommended that he/she should always shelve the emotions whenever dealing with the customers. There is that business quote that says ‘a customer is always right’. Therefore no matter how ignorant a customer may prove to be it will be important to address them in a manner that will leave them contented with the service they get at that given place (Research Lab, n.d). During an interview or through the interaction with an employee who shows such traits in his/her personality one can know how they will perform when exposed to various job conditions. It will therefore be very important to address the issues to someone’s personality before allocating them to a certain job as they may find it hard to handle themselves if their personality states otherwise. Therefore, for people who are quite temperamental or those who find it rather hard to control their emotions it would not be prudent to allocate them to areas where they are likely to deal with nagging customers. This will reduces situations where they may get emotionally disoriented and end up addressing customers in a rude manner which can end up scandalous and with loss of the customer and a depletion in sales. It is advisable for such customers to seek psychological counselling to try and address their conditions (Mkoji, & Sikalieh, 2012) b. Extroversion This is a factor that determines how an employee is sociable, whether they are talkative, and whether they are ambitious enough to express their feelings and emotions without fearing or favouring (Rothman, & Coetzer, 2003) This is important as in many business and job setups the employee will have to interact with other team members and/or the customers who are in the organization. In allocating of duties, it is therefore important for the respective seniors doing it to know the person’s personality in this dimension so that they can predict where they will fit best in the organization. Most sociable people make feel free to express themselves while with them and they also have the rare advantage of being able to convince people to subscribe to their ideologies or their line of thought. Knowing such a trait will definitely help in predicting how the employee shall perform if subjected to the various work conditions that may be prevailing (Davoodi, Ghafari, & Allameh, 2012). Employees take their time to understand each other’s traits and this is one of the factors that is considered while forming friends and teams in a given organization. Some employees are rather reserved and they rarely interact with other in the workplace. This should not be mistaken for hating as some just find it good to concentrate on their work and avoid much talk that is common among the other team players. Supervisors, for instance, and others who are supposed to always engage with the employees and sometimes the customers should be a person whose personality allows him/her to feel free with all people (Research Lab, n.d).. He/she should be able to convince all the employees to a point that they feel they are part of the organization as that is an important step while achieving the goals set in any given organization (Echchakoui, 2012). It is wrong to confuse between anti-social people and the ones who are not sociable. The anti-social group will give other people a hard time while interacting with them and so not pose as the best people to relate with. On the other hand the less sociable may not impact any negative on other people. They could just be there and fail to participate in the talk that is going on. They are less talkative though that does not determine their level of ambition. c. Openness to Change and Experience Employers try to employ people who are all rounded and who are so positive in accepting change and responding to it. Dynamism is defined as the degree of responsiveness towards change. This goes further to understand how a person will react towards new experiences in life. Dynamic people are naturally intellectually curious and they are fast to welcome new ideas into their scope of thinking. This is a positive trait and it helps the person to be well acquitted with the basic knowledge in many fields and also in understanding how other people think. Dynamic people are fast to rise up the ranks of promotion as they do not cow away from accepting new responsibilities and challenges that are common in any given work set up. d. Agreeableness An employee can possess the following traits which can make him/her to be classified as agreeable. These include courteous, flexible, good natured and trusting. Such characters are adored by many people in the work place or any other given environment. They seem to understand how situations are going on well and though they may fail to be sociable they have their way of convincing people or becoming their favourite. If this is an employees’ trait, it will be possible to predict how they shall perform in the workplace. This trait is cultured by the person’s beliefs and the environment and the people he/she has interacted with in the past (Pychyl, 2010). The employees who possess this trait are also easily promoted as they have a way of dealing with the juniors and making their points understood in an outstanding way. It is important to note that an employee could possess a number of the personalities discussed in this section and that can serve as an added advantage to their performance. For example, take an employee who possesses both agreeableness and is sociable. Such a person will have a very good time while working in the organization and he will be a great asset to the organization (William, 2000). e. Conscientiousness This is a character that comes to be portrayed after an employee has been bestowed with a number of responsibilities. It is good to show whether that person is dependable on, whether he/she is a good schemer and whether they are organized. If a person possesses this trait then we can easily predict how they will perform if given any responsibility. Such people will prove to be responsible and they can ensure that the goals set are achieved with increased efficacy and ease (Klang, 2012). This trait is not just acquired through learning but it is also a product of the person’s ambitions and upbringing. Some people are just shy of responsibilities and so they would prefer not being given the responsibilities say of handling other employees. Others are used to it and they will welcome any added responsibility without fear. Conclusion From the traits discussed above it is evident that knowing a person’s personality will help in predicting how they will perform in a given environment. According to Amit, the different personalities have been discussed in detail and how they can help in predicting the persons’ performance in their work (n.d). The interviewers and human resource personnel usually try to establish the person’s personality before allocating them any task so that they can know where such a person will perform best (Sinha, 2010). This shows that using the traits they can be able to establish the environment that the person will fit best. However, according to Williams, 2013 these tets done are not always correct and they may not produce correct prediction. References Amit, K. (n.d). Personality and Team Performance: The Importance of Personality Composition and Work Tasks. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Davoodi, R. M. S., Ghafari, M. & Allameh, M. S. (2012). Studying Impact of Personality Traits on Job Performance (The Case of University of Isfahan’s Personnel). Isfahan: University of Isfahan. Echchakoui, S. (2013). Personality Traits and Personality: The Mediating Role of Adaptive Behaviour in Call Centres. Quebec: University of Quebec. http://www.saylor.org/courses/bus208/. Personality, Attitudes and Work Behaviours. N.d. Klang, A. (2012). The Relationship between Personality and Job Performance in Sales. A Replication of Past Research and an Extension to a Swedish Context. Stockholm: University of Stockholm Publisher. Mkoji, D. & Sikalieh, D. (September 2012). The Influence of Personal Dimensions on Organizational Performance. Nairobi: USIU Press. Vol. 2(17). Pychyl, A. T. (2010). A New Study on Maximizing Work Performance. Ottawa: Carleton University. Available at. Research Lab (IWPRO21).(n.d). Do Individual’s Personality Traits Affect their Performance? Available at. Rothman, S. & Coetzer, E. P. (2003). The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Job Performance. Vol. 29(1). N.p. Sinha, K. (2010). How Much Does Personality Influence Job Personality? Rochester: Rochester Institute of Technology. Available at. Williams, W. (November 10, 2000). Understanding Personality and Job Performance. Available at. Williams, W. (July 2, 2013). Personality Tests? They Rarely Predict an Employee’s Job Performance. Available at. Read More