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Good afternoon class!
As discussed in Tuesday’s lecture, one’s personality can be broken into five major categories. These categories include Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness, Neuroticism, and agreeableness. For different industries, different mixes of employee personalities can provide the optimal conditions for the success and growth of the company. Emphasized in Tuesday’s class, each individual will have a differing levels of the big five personality traits, with each person having individual strengths that can be utilized to benefit the company.
As an example, one could argue that it quintessential for anyone to be successful in a sales role that the individual be extroverted, meaning that they are comfortable in social situations, and more importantly in terms of sales, do not give up when a potential client tells them “no”. One LinkedIn article claims that the extroverted person is more geared towards roles that involve sales, networking, marketing, and any face-to-face interactions (Introverts vs. Extroverts: Who’s really better at sales?). The same article, however, makes a specific point to not underestimate the strengths of the other big five personality traits as well. Someone who is very conscientious, meaning they always try to get ahead of their work and know what the crucial tasks are that need to be done, can be great for an organization as well. These individuals work hard at the tasks before them and will continuously try and conquer the challenges work brings. Furthermore, it can be very useful for a company to employ people high in openness as well. Those who are high in openness tend to be more creative and bring new, revolutionary ideas to the table. One article on the success of start-up companies claims that being high in openness is a major telling factor for successful entrepreneurs (The secret personality traits of top entrepreneurs). Moreover, employees who are high in agreeableness can best serve the company in human resource or customer service functions. People who are agreeable tend to put the needs of others before themselves, and can be very useful at diffusing or managing customer/employee disputes. Likewise, people who lean towards the neurotic side, being sensitivity to negative emotion, also have a strong need to provide for others, making them great candidates for teamwork and functions such as customer service.
Altogether, an organization needs a healthy mix of all these personality traits to be successful. Let’s say that we are apart of a pharmaceutical company that is trying to create a new drug. Our extroverted employees would be best suited in selling, promoting, and marketing the new drug, whereas the open and conscientious employees would be great at researching and developing new ideas for the drug, and our agreeable and neurotic employees could serve very well in handling functions such as human resources and customer service. If you were to take any of these areas away, the company would not succeed, showing the importance of every personality trait that the employees have to offer.
Now if a business wanted to curtail their hiring process to ensure that they attract specific personality types to their company, they could do so by making mock scenarios or using work method assessments during their recruitment process. For example, a car dealership attracting new salesmen could test the social ability of potential candidates by having them speak with customers or using mock scenarios, or “sell me this pen” tactics. Likewise, the business could do the same to test the personalities of every employee and position them within the company to serve the needs of the business best.
Thanks for reading,
Patrick Brand
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Hello Class & Dr. Lou!
In our last class, we spoke about The Big Five behavioral & social traits to make up their personality in the workplace. The following five are Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, and openness to experience. While all of these are strong aspects to carry, I believe that a Proactive Personality would be most beneficial to have in the foundation of your organizational culture. Having a proactive personality means taking leadership and potentially influencing others to act on the same matter to create an engaged & motivated environment. While researching, I found a good definition that I think would help the class when referring to this personality type, “They make things happen and are generally good and maneuvering situations (and people) towards their desired outcome.” The take on ‘people’ is what stands out to me as this can be part of what is broken down by the different functions. In this case, leadership influences others to spread motivation among peers to get that job done & done right.
As from the lecture notes, “…a disposition that identifies the extent to which individuals act to influence their environments.” Everyone is different within the depth of their personality, so naturally some people will take the leadership role & others will follow their lead. As Dr. Lou emphasized in class having a balance of both is important to maintain a productive work environment! Organizational culture needs that balance of some who can take the lead & and others who work best by following someone’s lead to get them started.
To make sure that this specific personality trait is in the work culture & environment it is best to keep an open door to allow for creative thoughts & independence to grow amongst the employees. Giving them the freedom to promote creativity will enable them to think & plan ahead for work projects/collaborations along with influencing others to do the same. Proactive employees are going to be curious & confident which are very positive personality traits to carry, especially as the employee of a company. Employees often feel respected by their manager with given freedom in the workplace as well to broaden their skills & independent problem-solving.
Thank you for reading,
Kaity Profaca