Establishing Effective Leadership Development In An Organization: Personality And Job Performance

Relationship between Personality and Job Performance

Describe about the Establishing Effective Leadership Development in an Organization.

Personality has been the central point in establishing effective leadership development in an organization. Buss, (2009, p. 360) argues that there is a strong relationship between personality and job performance within an organization. Personality refers to the psychological attributes that contribute to people’s distinctive feelings, thoughts, and patterns of behavior within the workplace. Job performance portrays how productive employees their mandates, the initiative they take as well as the resourcefulness they represent in solving problems. With increased competition in the business world, organizations need to hire high-performing employees, and this necessitates the management to have an understanding of who may perform better towards competing efficiently. Buss, (2009, p. 365) states that personality traits exhibited by the personnel guide the managers in this entire process. This essay explains the relationship between personality and job performance, and how organizational behavior scholars and practitioners should apply this knowledge in achieving organizational success.

Awais Bhatti, et al., (2014, p. 80) states that the five-factor model of personality traits namely neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness play a significant role in affecting job performance within an organization. Group behavior scholars argue that job performance remains to be controversial, and this necessitates a further study regarding the integration existing between individual characters and approaches to job performance. Based on the five factor model of personality dimensions, character plays a crucial role in job performance. While each character trait suits a particular business culture, their integration under different circumstances within the workplace enable a business to thrive efficiently when it comes to realizing the set goals. According to Belle, (2013, p. 144), a clear understanding of the relationship between these two aspects and their applicability under different environments helps OB scholars and leaders to influence the employee’s performance and behavior.

The recent research on organizational performance shows that personality traits predict the behavioral outcomes in the workplace. Personality supersedes the effect of cognitive abilities when it comes to efficient job performance (Awais Bhatti, et al., 2014, p. 96). Concerning the five-factor model and job performance factors, a clear explanation of the relationship between personality and job performance as applied by organization behavior scholars and leaders will get expressed.

According to Askarian and Eslami, (2013, p. 322), neuroticism correlates negatively with managerial approaches of job performance within an organization. As opposed to emotional stability, neuroticism singles those employees who show shyness, anger, feel insecure, are depressed, anxious, and always vulnerable while in the workplace. The OB scholars and leaders should seek to understand the nature of their personnel, especially in the recruitment process. As per Le, et al., (2011, p. 113), emotional instability creates an impulse and pressure on the part of employees in a manner that they cannot cooperate with organizational objectives since they are unable to cope with stress. The shy, insecure, and vulnerable individuals act as a drawback for an organization when it comes to achieving the set objectives. The OB scholars and leaders should ensure that all participants within their organization remain confident, happy, and cooperative with one another. Failure to which, this will result in continued failure for the team.

Neuroticism

Business managers must have the ability to differentiate between the emotionally stable and unstable employees. Under neuroticism, self-consciousness remains to be the most valuable, valid and recognized estimator of job performance across all occupations and work tasks in different organizations (Le, et al., 2011, p. 113). However, emotional stability among the part of the employee creates an excellent climate for commitment. The organization behavior scholars and practitioners should have a clear understanding of the effect of anxiety, anger, and depression in establishing a good rapport for business excellence. Of great importance, OB scholars and leaders should understand that neurotic employees perform worse if compared with less obsessive workers. Therefore, organizations should recruit personnel who are emotionally stable since they always feel secure and show calmness while carrying out their mandates within the workplace.

Extroversion entails the quantity and intensity of recommended interpersonal relationships within the workplace, approaches to organizational operations, need for stimulation, and capacity to impart happiness within the industry. The OB scholars must understand that extroversion correlates positively with leadership ratings for job performance in the context of organization’s general tasks. In particular, Leutner, et al., (2014, p. 60) argues that extrovertive people tend to be sociable, optimistic, loving, affectionate, charismatic, active, and talkative to one another while in a similar setting or environment. About these attributes, business leaders should come up with policies that seek to recruit only those individuals who value interaction with every other person in the workplace. Further, extroversion predicts managerial performance under the circumstance that the OB scholars need to rate task performance amongst the employees. Managers should apply this trait by evaluating all staff job performance so as to adequately reward them in agreement with their value of the input to the job performance.

Organizations should make it mandatory for employees to show warmth, activeness, assertiveness, excitement, and positive emotions when carrying out their tasks in the workplace. Since the extroverted personnel have a higher ability to excel in the workplace, the OB scholars and leaders should require all employees to socialize and be highly interactive with one another in the process of job performance. Barrick, et al., (2013, p. 136) makes it clear that assertiveness and activeness impacts are positively when it comes to rating the job performance levels of the employees. Employees who grade higher in activity effectiveness are considered valid than the relaxed and high tempered personnel who always score low in job performance. Effective job performance improves the overall firm’s productivity and profitability. Further, when recruiting new staff, the management should be keen in considering whether the candidates possess these characteristics since they remain to be the most reliable indicators of satisfactory performance in all organizational departments.

Extroversion

The organization behavior scholars and leaders should seek to appreciate the art, adventure, ideas, and qualities of the existing staff for the team. Openness to experience includes aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to the inner feelings, intellectual curiosity, active imagination, and independence of judgment. Effective integration of these traits amongst the employees hired by an organization impacts significantly towards improving performance and productivity of a company (Belle, 2013, p. 153). Personnel who express the ability of openness when addressing the senior managers, communicating with the firm’s clients, and while interacting with workmates always tend to score higher in job performance. Further, the OB and leaders should understand that openness to experience relates to success in consulting, training, and development when imparting changes within organizational processes. The most open employees should get consulted by the top managers within an organization so as to make the right decisions for efficient job performance.

Openness to experience is a valid predictor of job performance, and this should be an excellent rationale for OB scholars and leaders to apply within an organization’s processes. However, it is important for business practitioners to understand that different jobs have different requirements. Mostly, the personnel who are independent in judgment portray attentiveness to inner feelings and tend to feel for the others who always seek for consultation from them in areas where they are not confident and independent (Korschun, et al., 2014, p. 22). The management should, however, establish a job environment that entertains professional code of ethics within the workplace. Behavior conservativeness necessitates the OB scholars and leaders to prefer emotional responses amongst the part of employees since this provides them with feedback on their approaches to making the work environment suitable for each and every employee. Furthermore, the OB scholars and managers should understand that successful workforce significantly scores low on openness as compared with the unsuccessful personnel.

The ability to be cooperative and compassionate with one another in the working environment plays a significant role in effective job performance. The organizational behavior scholars and practitioners show sympathy to the team members, are eager to help them, and always believe that every player in the company is helpful in ensuring the success of the set goals. The leaders should create a working environment which values the input of each and every member of the organization. With proper cooperation amongst the workers themselves and supervisor-subordinate relationship, job performance is achieved in the most optimal manner possible (Askarian & Eslami, 2013, p. 322). Managers should encourage all employees to help one another in carrying out their tasks as well as valuing the input of every participant in decision making. It is also essential for the OB scholars to diverse their attention from the top executive positions within an organization at the lower organizational levels so as to understand the needs of the subordinate officers within their organization. Further, establishing a line of communication that recommends the subordinates to express their opinions on the organizational progress and raise complaints to the top management is essential for the OB scholars and leaders if they need to achieve success in job performance.

Openness to Experience

The cooperative nature of friendly personnel leads to business success in occupations where teamwork and customer service are vital. Further, agreeableness relates to effectiveness in the training process amongst the part of employees within the organization. Contrastingly, the rude employees tend to be selfish, skeptical of other participants intentions, and competitive rather than cooperative (Belle, 2013, p. 148). This cynical nature of disagreeableness predicts poor job performance within an organization. The organizational behavior and leaders should apply this knowledge by dealing away with employees who tend to create pressure on others since this hinders efficient job performance. Managers must recognize that agreeableness significantly predicts job performance and thus only the cooperative and empathetic individuals should secure positions in the job recruitment process in case a need arises. The employment of friendly people enables the firm to compete effectively as well as increasing a company’s overall productivity in the business sector.

Business success depends on the nature of employees and managers who belong to the concerned organization. To improve job performance, there is a need for achievement, self-discipline, and planned behavior amongst the part of employees and practitioners.  Barrick, et al., (2013, p. 150) postulates that self-discipline necessitates self-control in the deserved direction, active resource planning, organizing and carrying out the mandated responsibilities of an individual. First and foremost, the OB scholars and leaders must always act to their duties with confidence so that they may be able to issue orders and coordinate the operations of the subordinates (Leutner, et al., 2014, p. 63). A conscientiousness leader remains focused, purposeful, and determined to achieve. Provided the plans of an OB scholar remain organized, then job performance of the team members will get organized and motivated towards the positive direction. In the current business world, effective planning, organizing, and coordination of roles play a significant role in efficient job performance, and this calls for managers to consider these traits actively.

According to Buss, (2009, p. 362), conscientiousness creates a positive correlation with supervisory ratings of job performance within an organization. With self-confidence and self-discipline, an individual acts to the highest of his or her ability in ensuring completion of all the started tasks despite boredom and other distraction. However, various employees score low in job performance not because they do not have self-discipline, but because they lack the idea of applying the trait in a work environment. The managers, therefore, should understand this barrier and take the necessary steps of curbing this since it leads to poor job performance. Employees need to get trained of how to correlate their day to day public self-control mechanisms with the workplace environment so as to improve job performance (Awais Bhatti, et al., 2014, p. 93). Further, conscientiousness and integrity go hand in hand and influence job performance amongst the part of employees in the business setting. To improve job performance, the OB scholars and leaders should set autonomous goals and make them known to all the personnel.

Conclusion

Personality factors play a significant role in enhancing efficient job performance. There are grounds for optimism the application of standard character traits predicts job performance measures of employees. Individuals who show high levels of extraversion, and conscientiousness, and people who score low under neutophism perform better in organizational effectiveness. The human resource management of any company should consider the traits of self-discipline, competence, integrity, and tolerance when recruiting employees in different departments for an organization. The utilization of personality trait analysis in personnel recruitment provides valuable information to the OB scholars and leaders regarding any employment decision. Therefore, the group behavior scholars and leaders should actually study the effects of personality traits differences on job performance. With a clear understanding of organizational perspective and personality traits testing tools, the management may be able to distinguish the potential staff that the firm may use to achieve the highest level of job performance.

References

Askarian, N. & Eslami, H., 2013. The relationship between personality traits and job performance (Case study: Employees of the ministry of education Kerman). Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 5(8), p. 322.

Awais Bhatti, M., Mohamed Battour, M., Rageh Ismail, A. & Pandiyan Sundram, V., 2014. Effects of personality traits (big five) on expatriates adjustment and job performance. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, 33(1), pp. 73-96.

Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. & Li, N., 2013. The theory of purposeful work behavior: The role of personality, higher-order goals, and job characteristivs. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), pp. 132-153.

Belle, N., 2013. Experiemental evidence on the relationship between public service motivation and job performance. Public Administration Review, 73(1), pp. 143-153.

Buss, D. M., 2009. How can evolutionary psychology successfully explain personality and individual differences. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(4), pp. 359-366.

Korschun, D., Bhattacharya, C. B. & Swain, S. D., 2014. Corporate scocial responsibility, customer orientation, and job performance of frontline employees. Journal of Marketing, 78(3), pp. 20-37.

Le, H. et al., 2011. Too much of good thing: Curvilinear relationships between personality traits and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(1), p. 113.

Leutner, F., Ahmetoglu, G., Akhtar, R. & Chamorro-Premuzic, T., 2014. The relationship between the entrepreneurial personality and the Big Five personality traits. Personality and individual differences, 63(6), pp. 58-63.