Personality Is a Key Factor in Determining How Well and Employee Will Perform Their Job - Literature review Example

Personality is a Key Factor in determining how well and Employee will Perform Their Job Name: Institution: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Personality and Job Performance 3 Big Five Personality Traits 4 Openness 5 Extraversion 5 Conscientiousness 6 Agreeableness 7 Neuroticism 8 Impact of Big Five Personality on Employee Performance 9 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction Personality comprises of behavioral patterns, thoughts and relatively stable feelings of a person (Larson et. al., 2013). People are different and therefore they possess unique personality that differentiates one person from the other (Larson et. al., 2013). Understanding someone’s personality help people in management to manage people well and help in placing people into various jobs (Luthans et. al, 2008). Employee performance plays an important role in the success of any organization. For an organization to emerge successful in a competitive work environment, it must understand the employee perception towards the tasks assigned and how it affects their level of performance (Kohoe, &, Wright, 2013). According to Davis, &, Damary (2012), employee’s personality influences his behavior, motivation and cognition. Personality and Job Performance Personality comprises of behavioral patterns, thoughts and relatively stable feelings of a person (Luthans et. al, 2008). A good employee performance is important to both the employee and the organization since the organization growth and development depends on the employee’s commitment innovative and creativity (Larson et. al., 2013). Job performance entails accomplishment of responsibilities or task assigned and contribution to the organization objectives including attitude, actions, behavior and way of performance towards completion of the responsibility or work assigned. High performance is attributed to good attitude, personality and behavior at work place (Kohoe, &, Wright, 2013). According to Larson et. al., (2013), the ability of an employee affects the level of his job performance. He also argued that employee performance is because of factors such as personality, abilities, experience, knowledge and skills. Most researchers agree that employee performance is affected by big five factors of personality. Kohoe, &, Wright, (2013) also argue that personality ha a specific role in the level of employee performance. Big Five Personality Traits Five major personality traits explain much variation in personalities of various persons. These personality traits include openness, extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism and agreeableness (Davis, &, Damary, 2012). Most researchers have found out that personality has a positive correlation with employee performance. (Larson et al. 2013). The table below shows the traits and their respective descriptions. Trait Description Openness Creative, original, curious, open-minded, intellectual and imaginative Conscientiousness Punctual, organized, achievement oriented, dependable and systematic Extraversion Sociable, outgoing and talkative Agreeableness Sensitive, affable, trusting, warm, kind and tolerant Neuroticism Temperamental, moody, irritable and anxious Openness Openness comprises of traits such as willingness to take risks, imaginative, creativity, variety seekers, and innovativeness, broad-mindedness curious and intelligent (Luthans et. al, 2008). Individuals with high level of openness tend to excel in tasks that entail learning new ideas and require flexibility. People who portray openness tend to perform well in training settings and highly driven to learn new techniques (Larson et. al., 2013). People with this trait are advantaged when they move from one organization to the other since their open mindedness enables them to acquire information about their new environment of work (Kohoe, &, Wright, 2013). This enables them to adjust quickly to their new job and to build relationships with their new staff members. They are also very creative especially when given relevant support (Luthans et. al, 2008). Larson et. al. (2013), people who are open quickly adapt to changes and group working under unforeseen changes tend to do well when majority of people in the group comprises of open people. Open people are very imaginative and prefer to work on their projects without the support of other people, for instance the musicians, designers and painters (Kohoe, &, Wright, 2013). Individuals who score high on this trait mostly experience deeper emotional states, that is, they experience both unhappiness and happiness to a high extent (Larson et. al., 2013). Open people does not prefer fixed routines and are positive towards their life experience and own ideas. They usually do well in unstructured and ambiguous tasks (Davis, &, Damary, 2012). Extraversion Extraversion represents people who are very sociable, talkative and outgoing (Larson, 2013). They direct their energy and intensity in the social world. Some of the established research has found out that extroverts do well in jobs entailing sales (Chen, 2013). These types of people demonstrate inspirational leadership skills and are effective in management roles. Extroverts perform well in job interviews and are effective in social situations (Chen, 2013). They perform well in interviews since they take advantage of their social nature to prepare or inquire more about the nature of job. They also easily adjust to their new jobs since they are at ease to inquire information about the nature of their new task (Larson et. al., 2013). This enables to get feedback from members of the organization hence able to build relationship and fit easily. Extroverts are also seen to be always happy at their new job, something that can be attributed to their nature to interact with others easily and build a strong relationship and the ability to adjust to new places (Larson et. al., 2013). Jobs that deprive extroverts of social activities discourage them hence they usually perform poorly on such jobs. Furthermore they are not considered model employees, for instance they can be absent from job in order to attend to social activities of their friends or other people (Medlin, 2010). Conscientiousness Conscientiousness comprises of traits such as dependable, achievement-oriented, punctuality, systematic and organized (Luthans et. al, 2008). Conscientiousness predicts how performance of person cuts across various jobs and occupations. Most recruiters in various industries tend to consider conscientiousness people during interviews (Larson et. al., 2013). This 0group of people also does well during interviews since they are usually composed and able to answer most interview questions. Conscientious people when hired usually perform well in their various task assigned (Kohoe, &, Wright, 2013). Moreover, they show high level of safety performance at work, low levels of turnover, high levels of self-motivation and lower levels of absenteeism (Larson et. al., 2013). They are also motivated to start operating their own business that usually performs well in the end. Even though they usually do not see the bigger picture of the task assigned, they are usually pay attention to more details (Larson et. al., 2013). Conscientiousness taken as the combination of dependability and achievement, impact greatly on the behavior of an individual especially such people has extraordinary autonomy (Luthans et. al, 2008). Most researchers who studied the relationship between the conscientiousness and job performance found that there exists a positive relationship between the two. According to Kohoe, &, Wright (2013), they also found out that employees with this trait usually ask themselves several questions before quitting from their current role, for instance if they have responsibility in the organization that they will not be able to achieve if they stop commitment (Davis, &, Damary, 2012). If their conscientious is, so high they will not be able to quit and will stick to accomplish their contractual obligations. Agreeableness Agreeableness refers to the level that an employee or a person is sensitive, affable, trusting, warm, tolerant, cooperative and kind (Davis, &, Damary, 2012). These people are likeable and easily get along with any kind of people (Larson et. al., 2013). Agreeable people also help their fellow to perform different tasks in the organization, however this good behavior do not depend on their mood (Larson et. al., 2013). Even if they are treated unfairly, they never revenge an attribute that show their ability to show empathy and be able to give such people benefit of doubt. Agreeable people create a fair environment to others, a trait that can enable them to excel in leadership positions (Luthans et. al, 2008). They also do not easily quit their jobs even if they have conflict with their bosses since they never retaliate. However, agreeable people are less likely to engage in change-oriented or constructive communication with others (Luthans et. al, 2008). According to Alkahatan et al. (2011), they usually cover this since they are able to create an environment that is fair to other colleagues, making it possible to acquire information from them. Agreeable people tend to have higher job and life satisfaction since they are usually happy and usually love to have very close interrelationship (Davis, &, Damary, 2012). Agreeable people also perform well in jobs that require teamwork and team leader can use such tasks to predict their performance. Neuroticism People with neurotic trait are usually temperamental, moody, irritable and anxious (Luthans et. al, 2008). Neuroticism is the only trait among the big five dimension where it is undesirable when an individual scores highly. Neurotic people tend to be depressed, experience stress, and have problems adjusting their emotions, angry and fearful (Kohoe, &, Wright, 2013). People who usually score high on this trait usually have various work related problems in their organizations, for instance, they find it difficult to form and maintain relationships at the work place. Other people also do not go to them for friendship or any kind of advice (Larson et. al., 2013). They are usually unhappy at their work place and show signs of quitting even though they end up not quitting. An individual who scores high on neuroticism have minimal chances of succeeding on his career due to his negative attitude towards others (Larson et. al., 2013). Furthermore, if they achieve high-ranking positions they will usually create an unfair working environment to other colleagues. On the other hand, individuals who score low on neuroticism tend to be more successful and relate well with others in the organization (Luthans et. al, 2008). Such people usually tend to love and perform their job with passion. They also show commitment to the organization they work for and will show no signs of quitting (Davis, &, Dammy, 2012). In addition, people who score low in neuroticism usually appreciate the work environment and rarely complain but identify various opportunities in the organization. According to Medlin (2010), they are also kind of people who are able to identify jobs that make them happy, organizations that make them happy, and be able to build good working relationships. They mainly major on activities that increase their commitment and increase their satisfaction in the organization (Kohoe, &, wright, 2013). Impact of Big Five Personality on Employee Performance Over the past years, big five-personality model has been used to study the impact of employee behavior and personality on his performance (Larson et. al., 2013). Several researchers have found a positive relationship between the big five personality and employee performance. Analysis of the past review show that each of the big five personality has great impact on the performance and job satisfaction of an employee (Luthans et. al, 2008). A research conducted by Sorwar, &, Aburge, (2013) found out that agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness are positively correlated with employee performance whereas neuroticism show a negative correlation with the level of employee performance (Larson et. al., 2013). Openness to various experiences at job places also has a positive correlation with employee performance. Another study conducted by Davis, &, Damary, (2012), which related three factors including core self-evaluations, big five personality traits and negative and positive affectivity to employee performance shown that there exists a positive relationship between the three factors and the level of employee performance. A study conducted by Larson et. al., (2013) indicated that the five personality traits plays a role in the way employees are promoted, rewarded and maintain relationships in an organization. The study indicated that rewards, promotion and maintenance of relationships have influence on individual’s behavioral and affective aspects. A case study for the sales team in Ford-Right Company Limited indicated that personality factors are the determinants of customer satisfaction and employee performance (Chen, 2013). Individuals who are extraverts tend to be confident and competent and this has a positive relationship with their performance in the field of sales (Chen, 2013). Personality of employee influences his attitude towards work or responsibility assigned (Sarwar, &, Abugre, 2013). An employee’s attitude towards his colleagues influences how he works and whether he is able to help others in their projects. Therefore, an individual’s attitude may influence spirit of teamwork in an organization (Sarwar, &, Abugre, 2013). It will also help to ascertain whether such attitude will lead to an employee quitting his job. Conclusion Recruiting and having best performing employees in an organization is the main concern of human resource department. This study has reviewed how big five personality traits affect performance of employees in various organizations. From the literature reviewed it is evident that personality is a factor that affect level of employee performance. Several researchers have found a positive relationship between the big five personality and employee performance. Analysis of the past review show that each of the big five personality has great impact on the performance and job satisfaction of an employee. A research conducted by (Larson et al., (2013)) found out that agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness are positively correlated with employee performance whereas neuroticism shows a negative correlation with the level of employee performance. According to Larson et al. (2013), openness to various experiences at job places also has a positive correlation with employee performance. Based on the available literature it is clear that recruiting agreeable, conscientious, open and extravert people in an organization is very important since they help in improving performance. Therefore, it is important that human resource management consider such personality traits during the recruitment process in order to have the best personnel in an organization. References Alkahtani, A. H., Abu-Jarad, I., Sulaiman, M., Nikbin, D. (2011). The Impact of Personality and Leadership Styles on Leading Change Capability of Malaysian Managers. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research Vol.1 No.2, pp.70-99 Arthur, W., Bell, S. T., Villado, A. J., & Doverspike, D. (2006). The use of person-organization fit in employment decision making: An assessment of its criterion-related validity.Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 786–801. Chen, Z. H. (2013). 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