How Individual Differences in Personality Affect Team Dynamics
Introduction
Business organizations often find themselves hiring individuals from diverse ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds due to advantages associated with diversities. Teamwork is one of the managerial strategies that have benefited most organizations in terms of profitability and efficiency (Jehn, 1997p 238). However, differences in individual personality may affect the performance of the teams in undesired ways if strategic approaches are not implemented to deal with these differences. One of the aspects of the team that is significantly affected by personality differences is the team dynamics. These dynamics entail psychological and unconscious forces that affect the directions of the performance and behavior of the team (Jehn, 1997p 238). This essay will discuss various ways to which individual differences in personality can affect team dynamics.
How individual differences in personality affect team dynamics
Business organizations often encounter situations that involve complex problems. These problems require the efforts of a cross-functional team in order to be solved efficiently. The team comprises of individuals with diverse personality and autonomy. As such, the dynamics of the team are significantly hampered. The solution to organization’s problems requires the collaborative efforts of the team. However, Levi (2010) found that the diversity in qualities and characteristics tend to affect the quality the decision as well as the entire decision- making process. In his study, Levi revealed that differences in personality results in different perceptions of a particular organizational issue or a direction set for the team. Some team members tend to be more dominant while others are dormant. The dominant members tend to dominate situations that require harmonious comments from each member, resulting in a decision that is not unanimous. On the other hand, the dormant ones are less engaged in the decisions of the team, resulting in poor quality decisions. This may significantly undermine successful implementation of team’s objectives and projects of the organization. Different individuals in the team may raise disagreements and discontentment as they try to defend their positions in relation to a certain issue (Bradley and Hebert, 1997). As a result, the direction taken by the team is significantly affected. Thus, varying perceptions of an issue due to personality differences tend to affect the behavior of the entire team in relation to the quality of decisions in the organization.
Each team member has a particular role, which is synchronized with roles of other team members to determine the direction of the entire team. Additionally, each member is accountable for his or her part and the performance of the whole team. Differences in personality among individuals may lead to positive or negative dynamics of the team (De Dreu, Bechtoldt, and Nijstad,2006). Positive dynamics contribute to improved team’s performance while negative dynamics lead to deterioration in the performance of the team (Anderson, Spataro, and Flynn, 2008 p 702). Some team members tend to be more inclined to their cultural affiliations and are highly hesitant to accommodate others. They view their cultural beliefs as the best while they undermine those of others (performance while negative dynamics lead to deterioration in the performance of the team (Anderson, Spataro, and Flynn, 2008 p 702). As such, any team’s activity that requires cultural neutrality is significantly affected. The performance of the team depends to large extent on how the team members agree on issues (Bradley and Hebert, 1997). Some individuals tend to develop a notion that they are more professional than others due to their academic qualifications or work experience. This makes them feel that the contributions of those they perceive to be less qualified are less significant. This often leads to conflicts and delay of activities of the team, resulting in poor performance. However, harmonization of personality differences promotes positive dynamics that improve the performance of the team and positive behavioral modifications.
Jehn (1997) found that differences in personality among team members tend to affect how various individuals perceive work. Team members may enjoy work or fail to enjoy their working life depending on their perceptions toward work. Different work perceptions result from the individual personality (Bernerth et al., 2008). Some individuals have deference while others have blocking personality. Team members with excessive deference personality always agree with the authority. As such, they hold others back from airing their views. Individuals with blocking characters tend to disrupt information flow to the team. Consequently, the working environment becomes hostile to some team members and they develop negative perceptions toward work. Some team members tend to have an aggressive personality. They always make inappropriate arguments or disagree with others. Additionally, individuals with aggressive personality tend to criticize others’ ideas without making relevant contributions. This discourages some team members from participating actively in the activities of the teams, resulting in negative teams’ dynamics (Bernerth et al., 2008).
In conclusion, dynamisms in teams are significantly determined by qualities and characters of team members. Individual differences often lead to delays in the execution of the roles of the teams and disrupt efficiency of the entire organization. Personality differences also influence the quality of decisions made and the behavior of the team. Conflicts and disagreements among team members due to their personality differences may result in some individuals developing negative perceptions towards work and lowering of their working morale.among the team members. This may lead to the failure of the team to explore the alternative solutions to complex organizational problems fully. However, various strategies to overcome the challenges caused by these personality differences may be implemented to help organizations in dealing with individual personality differences.
Bibliography
Anderson, C., Spataro, S.E. and Flynn, F.J., 2008. Personality and organizational culture as determinants of influence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(3), pp. 702–710
Bernerth, J.B., Armenakis, A.A., Feild, H.S., Giles, W.F. and Walker, H.J., 2008. The influence of personality differences between subordinates and supervisors on perceptions of LMX an empirical investigation. Group & Organization Management, 33(2), pp.216-240.
Bradley, J.H. and Hebert, F.J., 1997. The effect of personality type on team performance. Journal of Management Development, 16(5), pp.337-353.
De Dreu, C.K., Bechtoldt, M.N. and Nijstad, B.A., 2006. Team personality diversity, group creativity, and innovativeness in organizational teams.
Jehn, K.A., 1997. Managing workteam diversity, conflict, and productivity: a new form of organizing in the twenty-first century workplace. U. Pa. J. Lab. & Emp. L., 1, p.473.
Levi, D. 2010. Group dynamics for teams. 3rd edn. Los Angeles: Sage Publications (CA)
