Organizational Behaviour Assessment - Literature review Example

Organizational Behaviour Assessment Information Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State Date Organizational Behaviour Assessment Information Today’s businesses are faced with mounting pressure to increase productivity, which is founded and determined by personal employee performance. When seeking to increase productivity at the personal and organizational level, managers should consider individual attributes as a significant determinant of performance. Individual attributes can develop positive performance as well as lead to negative impacts within the organization. The following essay aims at exploring the issues associated with individual attributes and their effects on job performance. It will focus on common individual attributes within the workplace, the positive and negative impacts of such attributes on job performance as well as how a manager could apply this understanding to enhance the organization’s performance. Individual attributes are behaviors or characteristics that differentiate one person from another. Each individual has a different set of characteristics or behaviors that are unique to those of others. These traits or characteristics have been found to have a relationship especially in predicting job performance in the workplace. According to Robbins, Judge, Millett & Boyle (2013) individual attributes are likely to last for long specifically throughout an employee’s career life. Numerous theories are used to explain individual attributes and their relations to job performance. Nonetheless, the most common and recognized theory is the Big Five Model. Barrick & Mount (2008, p. 134) argued that individual attributes or personality could be explained in terms of five elements. The five elements of personal attributes include character, intellect, temper, disposition, and temperament. The growing research in organizations and organizational behavior has developed a comprehensive set of elements that help to explain personal attributes. In this case, the big five model is based on neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, consciousness, and agreeableness. Through the five elements, different employee or individual attributes, traits, or behaviors can be explained. The five elements are also the sources of common personal attributes within the workplace. For instance, extravert employees are confident, energetic, and mostly satisfied with their jobs. Again, employees who are always stressed unconfident, uncertain, and nervous fall under neuroticism. Furthermore, innovative employees tend to fall in the openness to experience. Agreeableness also encompasses individual attributes such as self-interest, self-sacrifice, and being helpful. All these elements tend to illustrate numerous characteristics, traits, or behaviors found in the workplace. Through the five elements of individual attributes, each element or characteristic has its impact or effects on job performance. Each individual attribute an employee illustrates may have a positive or negative effect on job performance. Job performance is used in modern organizations to highlight transformation of efforts into outputs in order to accomplish some certain results or goals. This means that being confident or stressed can be linked to one’s productivity or ability to perform effectively (Hogan & Holland 2003, p. 144). Different traits or individual attributes have numerous impacts on an individual’s job performance. Nonetheless, the variances in job performance are based on individual attributes. To understand the co-relation of individual attributes and job performance, it is important to understand each element of personal attributes. In the extraversion element group, employees tend to illustrate behaviors that include being expressive, companionable, confident, and determined. Moreover, extraverts can also be communicative, positive, spontaneous, energetic and enthusiastic. Such individuals long for social acknowledgment, admiration, and control. Moreover, extravert individuals are linked to emotional commitment. Furthermore, extravert employees are positively linked to professions that necessitate training proficiency, social interactions, and leadership competencies. According to Sitser, Van der Linden & Born (2013, p.45) people who illustrate extraversion can easily practice affirmative emotions that can cause job satisfaction. Extraversion elements are positively associated with job performance. People who are confident and positive tend to be more productive based on their increased emotional stability. Through traits such as confidence, enthusiastic, positive, and energetic, such individuals illustrate gratification in both career and life goals. According to Sitser, Van der Linden & Born (2013, p. 67) extraverts are also effective evaluators when it comes to job performance for other employees. Based on the firm emotional intelligence, extraverts are able to illustrate increased self-motivation or drive. Self-motivation is a key component in ensuring positive job performance. When individual are motivated from within, they tend to be more productive, therefore enhancing achieving effective performance. Overall, people who are confident or extraverts have a positive impact on job performance. Neuroticism is negatively associated to job performance. Neurotics tend to illustrate suffering as well as being emotionally uneven and insecure. Neurotic individuals tend to be less happy that in turn means it affects their ability to perform effectively in the workplace (Hogan & Holland 2003, p. 43). Characteristics or behaviors illustrated by neurotics include fearful, stressed, nervous, doubtful, uncertain, unconfident, and embarrassed. The numerous types of traits found in neurotics leads to increased lack of confidence, low self-esteem and no faith and belief in others. Based on these attributes, most neurotics are not satisfied with their jobs. Moreover, these attributes also tend to negatively influence job performance (Judge & Ilies R 2002, p. 22). People who are neurotic tend to dwell on negative issues within the workplace. They have no confidence or the self-awareness to be motivated towards achieving certain goals, completing certain tasks, and enhancing their performance. Due to a reduced level of self-image, neurotic individuals do not do well in socializing or communication (Judge & Ilies R 2002, p. 26). The result is reduced participation in team work, lack of problem-solving skills as well as poor leadership competencies. Such individual are linked to persistence commitment, which is negatively related to job performance. Employers are always looking out not to hire or retain neurotic individuals who result in reduced job performance, thus affecting organizational as well as team performance. Conscientiousness is a personality element associated with consistent and significant predictions of job performance. Individual with conscientious attributes tend to be vigilant, responsible, diligent, determined, and systemized. According to Chiaburu, et al. (2011, p.89) high conscientious characters are reliable, logical, and risk avoiders. The combination of such elements and behaviors tends to focus on achieving success effectively, which is a positive element in job performance. Huang, et al. (2014, p. 123) argues that conscientious individuals are effective in terms of their performance. Such individuals seek an environment where they have higher chances of success and achievement. In most cases, conscientious individuals are likely to develop long-standing work relationships. Conscientious individuals also tend to illustrate valued performance behaviors such as leadership and organizational citizenship. Nonetheless, conscientious people can tend to become procrastinated in terms of performance. Overall, conscientious individuals are highly linked to positive job performance compared to the other elements of personality. Agreeableness as an element of personality includes behaviors such as gentle, self-sacrifice, emotional support, and nurturance (Hurtz & Donovan 2000, p. 88). Agreeable traits also include being flexible, polite, supportive, kind, merciful, sincere, truthful, and open-minded among others. In terms of job performance agreeable have the ability to develop working relations as well as adapt to change more easily. Most employees are not supportive of change and take time to transition from previous cultures, processes, as well as settings (Hurtz & Donovan 2000, p. 89). Modern organizations are constantly changing, which means that adaptability and flexibility are important attributes for employees. Agreeable individuals may also be high-performers based on their self-determination, which enables them adapt and understand their surroundings. Nonetheless, agreeable attributes are not always effective in all occupations. This is because certain professions require a certain level of disagreeableness or toughness. Areas that require leadership skills for effective performance cannot co-relate with agreeable personalities. Nonetheless, team-based work can illustrate increased performance for individuals with agreeable personalities. Overall, the effect of agreeable attributes on job performance is weak, but positive in terms of adaptability flexibility within the workplace. Last but not least, another common individual attribute within the workplace can be explained through openness to experience. Openness to experience relates to both innovativeness as well as technicalities. Individual who are open tend to illustrate curiosity, creativity, cultivation, open-minded, as well as diversity. According to Griffin & Hesketh (2004, p.78) openness to experience is sometimes referred as a ‘double-edged sword’ since; it has the ability to encourage intense positive feeling as well as deep negative feelings. The double-effect makes this individual attribute weak in terms of influencing job performance. This is because it can have both positive and negative impacts on job performance. In terms of positive impacts, people who are open can be innovative in terms of how they perform their duties, therefore increased performance. When it comes to training and experience, open individuals tend to be optimistic, thus leading to high job performance. Nonetheless, Griffin & Hesketh (2004, p. 54) argues that openness to experience is debatable and ambiguous based on its other side. In this case, openness to experience can be negative if innovative ideas do not work or are not accepted by the others. Nonetheless, the larger part of openness to experience is positively associated to job performance. Additionally, the scope of individual attributes is not limited to the five elements. It also extends to issues such as time management, anxiety, and self-efficacy. Nevertheless, these attributes tend to complement each other in terms of the five basic personality types. Overall, extraversion and conscientiousness have strong and positive relationships to job performance. However, neuroticism is weak and negatively associated to job performance. Lastly, open to experience and agreeableness illustrate weak as well as both positive and negative impacts to job performance. Nonetheless, the understanding of individual attributes influences on job performance is based on a body of research. Through this research managers can develop measures to enhance organizational performance. Based on the above understanding of individual attributes and their influence on job performance, it is clear that motivation is a driver in terms of positive job performance. Different individual attributes rely on motivation through self-determination, confidence, as well as being open-minded. A manager should focus on encouraging increased motivation within the workplace to ensure organizational performance. Individual who are open-minded can get motivation through both tangible and non-tangible rewards (Robbins, et al. 2013, p. 66). For instance, innovation within an organization can be rewarded through awards or recognition as well as pay rise and promotions. Again, a manager should also seek to encourage or develop an environment that is conducive for each individual’s attributes. In this case, the manager requires knowing and understanding each employee’s individual attributes. As illustrated earlier, conscientiousness personalities seek environments where they are likely to succeed and accomplish their goals. Therefore, a manager should develop or encourage an environment that attracts attributes associated with positive job performance. In this case, this can include ensuring effective work-life balance or effective recognition and rewards. Additionally, a manager can enhance organizational performance by nurturing employees to change their attitudes as well as personalities. For the neurotic personalities, establishing mentoring, training, as well as coaching initiatives may be effective. People with low self-image as well reduced happiness may experience life-changing insights through mentors, role models, as well as increased encouragement. Training, mentoring, and coaching should not be based on a continuous basis where employees receive constant encouragement as well as guidance (Robbins, et al. 2013, p. 56). Through such initiatives, employees are likely to turn around their beliefs and eventually their personalities. Another important recommendation for a manager is developing a strong organizational culture with effective organizational commitment (Robbins, et al. 2013, p. 68). Organizational commitment has been found to have influence on most behaviors within the organization. In addition, employees associate with an organization based on its commitment towards their needs. Employees are likely to be frustrated, confident, or unsatisfied among others based on organizational commitment. Furthermore, the organizational beliefs, values, and expressive symbols should also be accommodative to meet the needs of different individual attributes. Overall, a manager should dwell on encouraging a workplace environment that complements individual attributes associated with positive job performance. In conclusion, the essay has focused on individual attributes and their effects on job performance. Today’s businesses are faced with mounting pressure to increase productivity, which is founded and determined by personal employee performance. When seeking to increase productivity at the personal and organizational level, managers should consider individual attributes as a significant determinant of performance. . In this case, individual attributes are based on the big five model of personalities. Overall, extraversion and conscientiousness have strong and positive relationships to job performance. However, neuroticism is weak and negatively associated to job performance. Lastly, open to experience and agreeableness illustrate weak as well as both positive and negative impacts to job performance. A manager should focus on motivation, organizational commitment, organizational culture, mentoring, training, and coaching to enhance organizational performance. References Robbins, S, Judge, TA, Millett, B, & Boyle, M 2013, Organisational behavior, Pearson Higher Education AU. Sitser, T, Van der Linden, D, & Born, MP 2013, 'Predicting Sales Performance Criteria With Personality Measures: The Use of the General Factor of Personality, the Big Five and Narrow Traits', Human Performance, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 126-149. Chiaburu, DS, Oh, I, Berry, CM, Li, N, & Gardner, RG 2011, 'The five-factor model of personality traits and organizational citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 96, no. 6, pp. 1140-1166. Barrick, MR, & Mount, MK 2008, 'The big five personality dimensions and job performance : a meta-analysis', in Selection methods and performance outcomes I, pp. 179-202. Griffin, B, & Hesketh, B 2004, 'Why Openness to Experience is not a Good Predictor of Job Performance', International Journal of Selection & Assessment, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 243-251. Hurtz, GM, & Donovan, JJ 2000, 'Personality and Job Performance: The Five Revisited', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 85, no. 6, pp. 869-879. Available from: 10.1037//0021-9010.85.6.869. Hogan, J, & Holland, B 2003, 'Using Theory to Evaluate Personality and Job-Performance Relations: A Socioanalytic Perspective', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 100-112. Huang, JL, Ryan, AM, Zabel, KL, & Palmer, A 2014, 'Personality and adaptive performance at work: A meta-analytic investigation', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 99, no. 1, pp. 162-179. Judge, TA, & Ilies, R 2002, 'Relationship of Personality to Performance Motivation: A Meta-Analytic Review', Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 87, no. 4, pp. 797-807. Read More