Case Study: The Impact of Personality on Team Dynamics
The Impact of Personality in the Workplace
Personality is a set of enduring traits, characteristics, and patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish individuals from one another. Personality is relatively stable over time and across situations, and it shapes how individuals perceive and interact with the world around them[4].
Several aspects of this definition should be noted. First, personality is best understood as a constellation of interacting characteristics; it is necessary to look at the whole person when attempting to understand the phenomenon and its effects on subsequent behavior. Second, various dimensions of personality are relatively stable over time. Although changes—especially evolutionary ones—can occur, we seldom see significant changes in the personality of a normal individual. And third, the study of personality emphasizes both similarities and differences across people.
Influences on Personality Development
Five major categories of determinants of personal traits may be identified: physiological, cultural, family and social group, role, and situational determinants.
Physiological Determinants
Physiological determinants include factors such as stature, health, and sex that often act as constraints on personal growth and development. For instance, tall people often tend to become more domineering and self-confident than shorter people. Traditional sex-role stereotyping has served to channel males and females into different developmental patterns. For example, males have been trained to be more assertive and females more passive.
Cultural Determinants
Because of the central role of culture in the survival of a society, there is great emphasis on instilling cultural norms and values in children growing up. For instance, in capitalist societies, where individual responsibility is highly prized, emphasis is placed on developing achievement-oriented, independent, self-reliant people, whereas in socialistic societies, emphasis is placed on developing cooperative, group-oriented individuals who place the welfare of the whole society ahead of individual needs. Cultural determinants affect personality traits. As Mussen notes, “The child’s cultural group defines the range of experiments and situations he is likely to encounter and the values and personality characteristics that will be reinforced and hence learned.”[5]
Family and Social Group Determinants
Perhaps the most important influences on personal development are family and social group determinants. For instance, it has been found that children who grow up in democratic homes tend to be more stable, less argumentative, more socially successful, and more sensitive to praise or blame than those who grow up in authoritarian homes. One’s immediate family and peers contribute significantly to the socialization process, influencing how individuals think and behave through an intricate system of rewards and penalties.
Role Determinants
People are assigned various roles very early in life because of factors such as sex, socioeconomic background, and race. As one grows older, other factors, such as age and occupation, influence the roles we are expected to play. Such role determinants often limit our personal growth and development as individuals and significantly control acceptable behavior patterns.
Situational Determinants
Finally, personal development can be influenced by situational determinants. These are factors that are often unpredictable, such as a divorce or death in the family. For instance, James Abegglen studied 20 successful male executives who had risen from lower-class childhoods and discovered that in three-fourths of the cases these executives had experienced some form of severe separation trauma from their fathers. Their fathers (and role models) had either died, been seriously ill, or had serious financial setbacks. Abegglen hypothesized that the sons’ negative identification with their fathers’ plights represented a major motivational force for achievement and success.[6]
Personality Assessments
A personality assessment is a tool or test that is used to measure and evaluate an individual’s personality traits, characteristics, and patterns of behavior. Our personality differentiates us from other people, and understanding someone’s personality gives us clues about how that person is likely to act and feel in a variety of situations. In order to effectively manage organizational behaviour, an understanding of different employees’ personalities is helpful. Having this knowledge is also useful for placing people in jobs and organizations.
If personality is stable, does this mean that it does not change? You probably remember how you have changed and evolved as a result of your own life experiences, the attention you received in early childhood, the style of parenting you were exposed to, successes and failures you had in high school, and other life events. In fact, our personality changes over long periods of time. For example, we tend to become more socially dominant, more conscientious (organized and dependable), and more emotionally stable between the ages of 20 and 40, whereas openness to new experiences may begin to decline during this same time[7]. In other words, even though we treat personality as relatively stable, changes occur.
Personality assessments can take many different forms, ranging from self-report questionnaires to behavioral observations to projective techniques. Self-report questionnaires are the most common type of personality assessment and involve individuals answering a series of questions about their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
There are many different types of personality assessments, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Some assessments are designed to measure specific personality traits, such as the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism), while others, like Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) are more comprehensive and categorize individuals into one of 16 personality types.
It’s important to note that personality assessments are not perfect and should be used in conjunction with other sources of information. That being said, they are important for several reasons:
- Self-awareness ~ Personality assessments can provide individuals with insights into their own personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses. This can lead to greater self-awareness and help individuals understand how they interact with others.
- Career Development ~ Personality assessments can help individuals identify careers that align with their personality traits and strengths. This can lead to greater job satisfaction and career success.
- Relationship Building ~ Understanding one’s own personality traits and those of others can lead to more effective communication and relationship building, both in the workplace and in personal relationships.
- Personal Growth ~ Personality assessments can provide a starting point for personal growth and development. By identifying areas for improvement, individuals can work on developing new skills and strategies for interacting with others.
- Team Building ~ Completing personality assessments can be useful in team building by helping team members understand each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles. This can lead to more effective collaboration and higher levels of productivity.
- Customer Service ~ Understanding personality traits can be useful in customer service, as employees who are skilled at adapting their communication style to match the personality of the customer may be more successful in resolving issues and providing a positive customer experience.
Overall, completing personality assessments can be an important step in personal and professional development. By gaining insights into one’s own personality and those of others, individuals can develop new skills and strategies for interacting with others, which can lead to greater success and satisfaction in all areas of life.
Big Five Personality Traits
In every language, there are many words describing a person’s personality. In fact, in the English language, more than 15,000 words describing personality have been identified. When researchers analyzed the terms describing personality characteristics, they realized that there were many words that were pointing to each dimension of personality. When these words were grouped, five dimensions seemed to emerge that explain a lot of the variation in our personalities[8]. Keep in mind that these five are not necessarily the only traits out there. There are other, specific traits that represent dimensions not captured by the Big Five. Still, understanding the main five traits gives us a good start for describing personality.
| Trait | Description |
|---|---|
| Openness | Being curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas. |
| Conscientiousness | Being organized, systematic, punctual, achievement-oriented, and dependable. |
| Extraversion | Being outgoing, talkative, sociable, and enjoying social situations. |
| Agreeableness | Being affable, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm. |
| Neuroticism | Being anxious, irritable, temperamental, and moody. |
Figure 2.1: Big Five Personality Traits
Where do you score on each of the Big Five Personality Traits?
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Aside from the Big Five personality traits, perhaps the most well-known and most often used personality assessment is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Unlike the Big Five, which assesses traits, MBTI measures types. Assessments of the Big Five do not classify people as neurotic or extrovert: It is all a matter of degrees. MBTI on the other hand classifies people as one of 16 types[9]. In MBTI, people are grouped using four dimensions. Based on how a person is classified on these four dimensions, it is possible to talk about 16 unique personality types, such as ESTJ and ISTP.
MBTI has become immensely popular, and according to one estimate; around 2.5 million people take the test annually. The survey is criticized because it relies on types as opposed to traits, but organizations who use the survey find it very useful for training and team-building purposes. More than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies used Myers-Briggs tests in some form. One distinguishing characteristic of this test is that it is explicitly designed for learning, not for employee selection purposes. In fact, the Myers & Briggs Foundation has strict guidelines against the use of the test for employee selection. Instead, the test is used to provide mutual understanding within the team and to gain a better understanding of the working styles of team members.[10]
| EI | Extraversion: Those who derive their energy from other people and objects. | Introversion: Those who derive their energy from inside themselves. |
| SN | Sensing: Those who rely on their five senses to perceive the external environment. | Intuition: Those who rely on their intuition and hunches to perceive the external environment. |
| TF | Thinking: Those who use their logic to arrive at solutions. | Feeling: Those who use their values and ideas about what is right and wrong to arrive at solutions. |
| JP | Judgment: Those who are organized, systematic, and would like to have clarity and closure. | Perception: Those who are curious, open-minded, and prefer to have some ambiguity. |
Figure 2.2: Summary of MBTI Types
Where do you score on each of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators?
The Application of Personality in the Workplace
Personality can be assessed using various methods, including self-report questionnaires, behavioral observations, and projective techniques. The study of personality is a central area of research in psychology and has practical applications in fields such as business, education, and mental health.
In business, personality has many applications, including:
- Hiring ~ Personality assessments can be used in the hiring process to identify candidates whose personality traits align with the company’s culture and values. This can help increase employee retention, and job satisfaction, and reduce turnover.
- Team Building ~ Understanding personality traits can help managers build more effective teams by considering factors such as team dynamics, communication styles, and individual strengths and weaknesses. This can lead to more successful collaborations and higher levels of productivity.
- Leadership ~ Leaders who understand their own personality traits and those of their team members can use this knowledge to adapt their leadership style to better communicate with and motivate their team members.
- Conflict Resolution ~ Conflicts can arise in any workplace, and understanding personality traits can help managers and employees to better understand each other’s perspectives and work together to find solutions.
- Training and Development ~ Personality assessments can help identify areas for professional development and training. For example, an assessment can reveal an employee’s strengths and weaknesses and provide insights into how to improve performance.
- Customer Service ~ Understanding personality traits can be useful in customer service, as employees who are skilled at adapting their communication style to match the personality of the customer may be more successful in resolving issues and providing a positive customer experience.
