Good Research Paper On Personality And Job Performance

Introduction and Brief Literature Review

The term personality refers to individual traits that are enduring and do reveal themselves in patterns that are particular under different conditions while performance is the completion of certain obligation (Furnham,& Fudge, 2008). Individual personalities do affect their performance thus determining how various individuals react at work. According to Shala Munroe, who did a research on how personalities affect people’s work behavior, he argues that not every personality is best situated for all the job positions one might be placed. He concludes that managements should do thorough analysis and recognize various traits which will enable them put employees in positions that will pair well with their personalities.
Sebastian Bailey, who did a research on whether personalities can predict performances, argues that individual’s personality is composed of five main factors that affect the manner in which people behave (Kusluvan, 2003). He argues that these factors do determine the reasons why we aspire to achieve certain goals. Either, the influence these factors have on an individual’s behavior impacts on the level of their success at work place. Personality is found to further affect people’s mood at work place which will affect the manner in which individuals react towards their fellow work mates. It also affects interpersonal relations and the researcher concludes that the happier the employees are the better they perform their duties.
According to these two research studies carried out one gets the idea that individuals’ personality has an impact on the level of their contribution at work place. The two research studies concentrated more on whether personalities could affect employee’s performance. This leaves a gap in both the research studies carried out as they do not give information on the degree to which personalities affect the individual performances at work place. With such gaps present in the two research studies, the challenge of determining the overall effect on productivity. Such a scenario will leave most management teams with the dilemma of deducing the corrective measures to take in a bid to correct the anomaly as the impact is not directly related to the level of productivity.

Statement of the Problem

The question of whether personality affects performance has been discussed from previous studies with findings showing that there exist a relationship between employee personality and their performance (Goldber et al, 2005). Even the degree of the relationship has not been discussed into details; this research studies endeavors to discuss the gaps that are present in the previous research studies.
The problem statement to this research work, therefore, is to identify whether there exist a relationship between individual personality and their performance. It also seeks to establish the extent to which the relationship exists. The problem statement will assist in determining the effects of employee personality on the individual performance. This will go further in establishing the effect that the two have on the overall performance of organization and their productivity that will eventually assist management team take corrective measures towards rectifying the same.

Hypothesis

The null hypothesis in this research study emerges from the problem statement which essentially tries to find out if there exists a relationship between individual’s personality and their performances. The null hypothesis to be tested in this research study, therefore, reads ‘Individual personality has a direct impact on their performance at work place’. The findings within this research study are aimed at strengthening the claim in the null hypothesis.

Methodology

The research study will heavily rely on qualitative method of research study and partly on quantitative method 9Nyhus & Pons, 2005). Qualitative research study will be relied on heavily as less statistical analysis will be done within this research study. The qualitative method of research study will allow the researcher to relate the research study of other scholars with this research work as well as study the previous field studies that had already been carried out. Quantitative method will only be used when necessary to present statistical analysis of the data collected.

Results

The results presented in this research study originated from the 78 respondents that formed part of the study group. Each respondent was given a questionnaire to fill with the results from the questionnaires being analyzed and represented in a tabular form. Further analysis reveal that the results reveal similar trends when compared with those of previous research studies. When analyzed based on the five factors determining individual behavior, the results reveal further that on average the figures tend to concentrate within the same range allocated to all factors as indicated in the table below.

Discussion & Conclusions

The study findings reveal a trend that is similar to those of the previous research studies carried out earlier. The research findings are closer to those carried out by Sebastian, who categorized individual behavior into five main factors that greatly affects individual’s behavior and eventually the manner in which they are likely to respond to various work environments. From the table presented earlier in the results section, when the employees’ behavior depicts agreeable traits as factors, larger mean grade is realized with the deviation being lower when openness is portrayed by the employees within any organization.
The results further reveal interesting factors concerning individual behavior. Those considered to be outgoing are found to work best in positions that give them more opportunity to interact with other people (Salgado, 1997). The research indicates that such individuals can provide better customer service and when they put in positions that deny them access to other people they end up performing dismally. Either, when it comes to work ethics, the employees who give their jobs higher priority end up developing higher job ethics making them work better with minimal supervision.
Personality also affects the employees’ attentiveness to fine details at workplace. When employees concentrate on the bigger picture of the organization, they tend to develop tendencies that make them focus on their course. They are capable of developing plans that will see the company stay focused on its long-term objectives. Non-attentiveness makes employees lose focus. Personality can also help employees become self-motivated. For the employees to be self-motivated, they have to identify the source of their motivation that could be a reward or the satisfaction one gets from completing certain tasks.
In conclusion, therefore, the null hypothesis that stated that there exist a relationship between individual personality and their performance has been confirmed as summarize in the table. The degree to which the personality affects their performance is illustrated using the behavior factors of which the most desirable behavior within organizations that is agreeable leads to higher performances by employees eventually increases the productivity of the organization.

References

Furnham, A & Fudge, C. (2008). The Five Factor Model Of Personality And Sales Performance. Journal Of Individual Difference,29(1),P.11-16.
Goldberg, L.R, Johnson, J. A, Eber, H, W, Hogan, R, Ashton, M. C. Cloniger, C,R Et Al. (2005). The International Personality Item Pool And The Future Of Public-Domain Personality Measures. Journal Of Research In Personality.40.84-96.
Nyhus, E.K & Pons, E. (2005). The Effects Of Personality On Earning. Journal Of Economic Psychology,26.P.363-384
Salgado, J.F. (1997). The Five Factors Model Of Personality And Job Performance In The European Community. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 82, P.30-43.
Kusluvan, S. (2003). Managing Employee Attitudes And Behaviors In The Tourism And Hospitality Industry. New York: Nova Science Publishers.