According to research conducted by Zunker (2005, p. 132), personality traits have two different approaches that define them. These include the nomothetic method and the idiographic one. However, the nomothetic method believes that individuals inherit their personality traits and there is no way the surrounding environment can affect them. However, the idiographic approach to personality differs with the nomothetic one because it draws focus on entire personalities of people. For example, it specializes on factors such as richness and complexity that are imperative in understanding the deeper details of an individual. Ferguson (2009, p. 132) also asserted that there are different factors that affect the personalities of people, which entail the physical, social, cultural and the biological environment. For example, the physical environment encompasses the surroundings that an individual lives in, which plays a significant role in the personality of an individual. The social environment, which encompasses the society that raised an individual, also plays an imperative role in his or her personalities.
On the contrary, job performance calls for employees to perform all the responsibilities targeted by an organization in order to increase profits. Therefore, knowledge, quality skills and good attitude are imperative in job performance. Many organizations around the globe apply different methods including performance appraisal so that they can ensure good performance by employees. Concurrently, Stewart (1999, p. 950) claimed that many organizations have claimed that personality plays a significant role in the selection of employees. This is because organizations believe that personality factors are imperative in every organizational setting because different researches have indicated that bad personality turns out to be disastrous, thus causing tension and negative results in an organization (Hurtz& Donovan, 2000, p. 865).
In addition, Furnham (2008, p. 24) claims that employee performance is important because it acts as goal setter to the employees, thus encouraging their participation in different departments in an organization. As a result, it ends up acting as a source of motivation, thus promoting performances at work place and this enhances profits in an organization. Interestingly, researchers have been conducting different studies on the relationship between personality and employee performances and it revealed that the two factors have a small correlation. This is possible because many organizations are using personality assessment in determining the performances of their employees. In the assessment process, the employers apply the big five framework, which support them in selecting employees, since they analyze their personalities. The big five factors entail consciousness, openness, agreeableness, extroversion and neuroticism. Many organizations claim that out of the big five, the most common one applicable by most companies is consciousness, because they believe that individual showing conscious behaviors have high capabilities of enhancing good performances.
Remarkably, different researches have indicated that there is a good relationship between the assessment of big five framework and job performance in organizations. Additionally, the assessment has indicated that neuroticism lowers the rate at which employees perform their tasks because it makes employees to become prone to negativity thus lowering the rate of job performance together with the level of satisfaction at work place. Furthermore, Hogan (2007, p. 42) claims that extraversion is also among the big five framework and it supports the mingling of employees and encourages positive attitude towards their job, thus individuals with such personality have high chances of increasing job performances as well as satisfaction. Companies also claim that agreeable is an important personality in detecting good performances among employees because different researches have revealed that employees with such traits get along with other people easily. Therefore, this implies that such individuals will be able to collaborate with others at work place thus enhancing teamwork, which is imperative in increased performance.
On the contrary, Barrick, Stewart &Piotrowski (2002, p. 45) claimed that even though openness and agreeableness encourages good performances at work place, they are capable of lowering the rate of performance because employees who tend to be open have high capabilities of skipping to report to work thus lowering performance. It is also true that if bad people surround good-natured people, the god natured employees can decide on stopping to work hard in so that they can impress other employees, thus lowering performances in an organization. Furthermore, there are some variables that affect the big five framework, which plays significant role in the personality of individuals. These factors include working hard for communion, which directs the manner in which employees get along with each other in an organization. Secondly, there is accomplishment, which represents the roles and responsibilities that every employees in an organization is expected to undertake. Finally, there is status, which refers to the ways in which every employee wants to be ahead of each other. Interestingly, even though the three factors affect the big five frameworks, they highly contribute towards increased performance at work place.
Moreover, other organizations conduct personality assessment, which plays an important role in predicting the performance of their employees. According to Barrick, Mount & Strauss (1993, p. 720), there are different methods that organizations apply while measuring employee performance. The most common method is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which highly depends on Jung’s theory. Notably, many organizations use this type of assessment especially in decision-making and problem solving matters. Additionally, TAT is also another personality method and most employers use it when assessing jobs that can pose high stress to employees and during psychological research. The method also enhances performance in an organization because it measures the benefits that come with achievements shown by different employees. Some companies conduct projective tests while recruiting employees, which assist them in understanding the personality traits of employee individuals before selecting them. Concurrently, cliff claimed that personality assessment is not a guarantee that employees will enhance good performance because there are some employees who can decide to act so that they can secure their jobs when their true personalities are very different. Therefore, this implies that organizations should consider incorporating other assessments such as mental test and aptitude alongside the personality trait assessment while selecting employees for jobs.
According to cliff, there is a relationship between personality trait and job performance even though it relies on the cognitive ability of an individual. For example, people showing high chances of achievements as well as cognitive abilities, such individuals have high probabilities of enhancing their performances while at work. Organizations should further not that the personality of an individual only determines the performance of employees to a small rate hence not being a reliable tool to consider while recruiting employees. Different researches have claimed that organizations, which use the personality assessment in recruiting their employees, are at an advantage of selecting the best employees to fit in the wanted positions, thus increasing the total profits that the company makes. However, this is also beneficial to employees since the positions that they occupy match that personalities, their level of motivation will be high, thus supporting positive behaviors and this will turn out to be beneficial to the company.
In addition, personality trait is also imperative in telling the manner in which individuals will conduct their tasks and responsibilities at work place. For example, organizations that conduct personality assessment will have high chances of selecting high productive employees who will cheerfully enhance teamwork and show much commitments to theirs tasks. Organizations should also keep in mind that the personalities of employees affect the manner in which they will attend to their work, hence being keen on personalities while recruiting employees in order to choose potential applicants. Personality assessment also enables the employer to select an applicant that can continue being productive even after changing the normal tasks and responsibilities.
How do personality traits translate into individual's professional careers?
According to Motowidlo& Van Scotter (1994, p. 478), it is possible to translate the personality trait of an individual positively to his or her professional career. This is because there is a high relationship between the big five traits and the success of an individual within the given career. The facets available in within the big five framework such as consciousness and extraversion plays a significant role in the successfulness of the career of an individual. For example, different research have indicated that organized and well behaved individuals most of the time end up choosing careers that match their personalities such as hotel management, bank attendants and managers among others. On the other side, traits such as agreeableness are most likely to choose professional career relating to attending to customers in an organization. This is because organizations believe that individuals with such personality can most likely turn out to be helpful, trustful and be good in nature, which highly relates to their success in a career. Additionally, the personality trait of being open can enhance an individual in choosing a professional career relation to working in a bank, business or customer services, because such a person happens to be creative and the mentioned professionals call for a creative individual. It is also true to say that personality traits play a major role in selection of professional careers. For example, individuals possessing extraversion traits turn out to be very social, which implies that such individuals can perform well in professionals that require leadership. Therefore, there are high possibilities of such individuals working in the management of events, conducting sales jobs, becoming county leaders and working with insurance companies among others (Judge, Higgins, Thoresen&Barrick, 1999, p. 632).
Additionally, it is also possible that personality traits have a high relationship with the professional careers of individuals because according to Spector (2006, p. 74), many organizations have claimed that most employees chose their careers with great focus on their interest, values as well as desires. Moreover, there is evidence that the rate at which individuals succeed in career depends on the rate of their job satisfaction together with the income that they receive and status that those jobs give them. This is because different researches have indicated that personality traits such as consciousness and extraversion have a high relationship with the success of income and status in the career. On the contrary, personality traits such as neuroticism has a high relationship with negativity hence implying that it will lower the rate of performances hence not supportive while choosing professional careers. Concurrently, Lapierre& Hackett (2007, p. 540) claim that there is a theory, which claims that individuals with smart personalities have high chances of getting good professional careers hence obtaining higher salaries, and this is likely to increase their rate of job satisfaction.
Remarkably, there is a high relationship between the successfulness in career and demographic factors together with the level of education an individual possesses, type of training and the prior experience in the same field. It is imperative for organizations to understand that in order to enhance career success among its employees, it must ensure that they recruit employees that perform well, and show good organizational behaviors. Therefore, these should entail organizations working hard to ensure that they are competitive in the ever-growing market and recruit hard working employees ready to increase performance in an organization. Importantly, individuals should also draw a lot of their attention on their principles, skills, abilities, interests together with their personality, which will help them in identifying the appropriate professional career path to take in life. However, there is a theorist called John Holland, who described the relationship between personality traits and professional careers among individuals. For example, the theorist claimed that there is the realistic personality, which dominates of the persistent and realistic individuals. Interestingly, such individuals are likely to specialize in careers such as being photographers and plumbers among others. Secondly, there are some people with the investigative personality traits and such people are likely to specialize in careers such as being engineers, specialists in information technology and mechanics among others. Thirdly, the theorists stated that there are some individuals with social personality traits and such people have high interests in interacting with people making them to prefer undertaking careers such as social workers and community leaders among others (Singh, 2007, p. 54).
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