A Source of Competitive Advantage over Other Organizations in the Industry - Case Study Example

HRM SUMMARATIVE ESSAY: PERSONALITY TRAITS AND JOB PERFORMANCE By number and of INTRODUCTION: The continuous advancements and changes in the overall scenario of the world has resulted in increasing the challenges and competition in every other industry. This in turn has resulted in placing extra pressure on the organizations to be able to come up with effective and efficient strategies in order to remain competitive in the industry and reap high profits. Almost every other organization strives to use the available resources optimally in order to achieve the overall goals and targets. Human resource of any organization has been one of the most important assets of the organization. Hence, organizations are taking every possible step in order to utilize their human resource in efficient and effective manner and ensure that all employees give high job performance in order to fulfill the overall objectives. Human resource is being used by the organizations as a source of competitive advantage over other organizations in the industry. This has resulted in making the human resource of the organizations as strategic partner. Owing to the importance of the human resource and their role in the success of the organizations, top management has been placed by increased responsibility of recruiting appropriate persons for the jobs. Apart from this organizations are searching for different factors and elements which directly influence the job performance of the employees. In this way organizations can work on this elements in order to improve the job performance. As the overall performance of the organization is directly dependent on the individual job performance of the employees. It is believed that the personality traits and characteristics have direct influence on the job performance of the individuals (Tett, Jackson, & Rothstein, 1991). In this report an attempt has been made to analyze the effect of the personality traits and characteristics on the job performance of the employees. Apart from this, the extent to which the personality traits can predict the job performance will be explored along with the role of the personality traits in the professional careers of the individuals. FACTORS AFFECTING JOB PERFORMANCE Organizations pay special attention to improve the job performance of an individual and management take steps to improve the job performance and make them work at the optimal level (Barrick, Mount, & Strauss, 1993). There are several factors besides the personality traits of an individual that affect the job performance of an individual and these factors have been described below: Efforts: One of the main factors that affect the job performance of an individual is the efforts put by an individual. The amount of efforts put in by an individual can vary from one person to another and if efforts of the individual are put in the right direction then it could lead to better job performance. Motivation of an individual is an important factor that influences the efforts of the person and providing incentives is one of the major factors that influence motivation of the person. Organizations motivate individual by giving them different kinds of incentives. Environmental factors Environmental factor also influences the job performance and productivity of an individual. Environmental factors can be further divided into several factors that influence the performance and these factors are as follows: Management and other staff of the organization The management or the supervisor who is guiding the individual can influence the performance of the individual. In addition to this, the co-workers in the organization and their behavior also affect the job performance. Accountability and Credit of Work Job performance of an individual can be improved if he is given the credit for the work he completes and if someone else takes the credit for the work, then it could hurt the job performance and productivity of an individual. Similarly, if an individual is not accountable for the work he does, then it could also hurt the performance. Organizational Culture and Policies Organizational culture or the policies of the organization may restrict an individual to give the optimum performance. Work Related Factors The quality or performance of the job can be hurt with several work related factors like if the task has to be completed with little time to complete then the performance of an individual will not be at the optimum level. Also if an individual is not provided with sufficient resources to complete the job, then it can also affect the job performance. Working Condition It is important for organizations to provide satisfactory working conditions to the employees in order to get the optimal level of job performance from the individual. Improper working condition can lead to unsatisfactory results and thus the job performance of the individual can be hurt. PERSONALITY AND JOB PERFORMANCE: According to some of the human resource analysts, the personality traits of the individuals have direct impact or influence on the job performance of the employees. In order to understand the relationship between personality and job performance, it is first important to comprehend what is the meaning of personality and job performance. Personality is the mixture or combination of different feelings, behaviors, and thoughts of an individual. Almost every other person has different personality which differentiates everybody. It is perceived that the personality of the people reflects their behaviors and activities in different situations and contexts. There are different words for describing the characteristics and traits of the personality. Analysts have come up with five broad dimensions in order to describe the different traits of the personality. These five dimensions of the personality traits are (Barrick & Mount, 1991): 1. Openness 2. Conscientiousness 3. Extraversion 4. Agreeableness 5. Neuroticism Apart from these five broad dimensions there are several other personality traits and dimensions, for example: self-monitoring, proactive personality, self-esteem, self-efficacy, etc. On the other hand the job performance is the most commonly phenomenon used in the organization behavior, yet it is not properly defined. The basic meaning of the term ‘job performance’ is the level and quality of output provided by the employee while performing the responsibilities and duties on the job. There are several factors which directly affect the level of the job performance. Personality of the employees, is one of the factors which influence the job performance. However, it is important to evaluate how much the personality traits reflect the job performance (Barrick, Stewart, & Piotrowski, 2002). According to different human resource analysts, there is difference in the attitudes, behaviors, and personalities of the individuals which directly influence their decisions related to careers. These personality traits and characteristics influence the level of job and career satisfaction, which in turn influence the overall job performance of the employees. Different organizations are of the perspective that the personality is one of the factors which predicts the work behavior of the employees. For this reason, organizations make sure to hire such personnel whose personality is according to the job requirements. Hence, high importance is given to the process of assessing the personality of the candidate in job interviews in order to ensure that the fine an appropriate match and candidate (Hurtz & Donovan, 2000). IS IT POSSIBLE FOR PERSONALITY TO PREDICT JOB PERFORMANCE: It is important to explore and analyze that whether personality can predict the job performance of the employees or not. Several researches have been conducted in this regard, in order to evaluate the role of the personality in predicting the performance of the employee on the job. There are contrasting reviews in this regard. According to some experts, the personality traits and characteristics can predict the job performance and satisfaction level of the employees. However, there are research studies which conclude that there is not strong relationship between the personality traits and the job performance. The behavior or personality of the individuals is not valid and enough to predict or indicate the level of satisfaction and success of the individuals in any specific job. Thus, it is not possible to predict the job performance of the individuals by only judging and evaluating their personality traits and behaviors (Judge, Higgins, Thoresen, & Barrick, 1999). There are several other factors and elements which are directly influence the job performance of the employees. In order to better understand and comprehend the level of job satisfaction and performance it is important to also incorporate other factors in the process of accessing the impact of the personality traits on the job performance. The personality traits motivate and encourage individuals to behave in a certain way in a specific situation. Hence it is not valid to say that the individual with a specific personality will deliver high or low performance on job without incorporating the situation and other factors (Lapierre & Hackett, 2007). Apart from this it will be beneficial to use such tools and methods for assessing the personality traits of the candidates, which are specially designed for the job assessments and are related with the with overall job requirements and duties. As, according to different research studies the big five dimensions of the personality traits i.e. conscientiousness, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and neuroticism along with other personality traits like assertiveness, human managerial relations orientation, self efficacy, and customer service orientation are directly related with the career satisfaction in some cases and in other cases have no direct relations (Motowidlo & Van Scotter, 1994). ROLE OF PERSONALITY TRAITS IN THE PROFESSIONAL CAREERS OF INDIVIDUALS: Although there has been contrasting views and opinions about the question that whether personality traits can predict the job performance or not, but still there is some role of the personality traits in the profession careers of the individuals. The personality traits and characteristics of the individuals influence their job attitudes. The influence of the personality traits with job performance is weak, but the relationship of personality traits and job attitudes is strong (Spector, 2006). Individuals with different personalities behave in different manner in specific situations and conditions and have different perceptions about that particular situation and condition. This in turn define the attitudes of the individuals. Similarly, in the organizations employees have different personalities and behaviors, and thus have different job attitudes (Stewart, 1999). It is important to understand that how personality traits translate into the professional careers of the individuals. Different personality traits results in encouraging the employees in relating with the job responsibilities and duties in different ways, which in turn influence the level of involvement and satisfaction with the job. This level of involvement and satisfaction with the job results in increasing the job performance of the employees and in turn facilitate in the process of growing professional careers of these employees (Barrick, Mount, & Judge, 2001). However, it is significant to identify other factors and element which influence the relationship between the personality traits and the job satisfaction and performance. Understanding the personality traits of the employees, enables the organization to come up with strategies in order to encourage them to give high job performance. But at the same time the management of the organization should consider other intervening variables and factors while devising different strategies for increasing the job performance of the employees (Spector, 2006). CONCLUSION: There have been several research projects conducted in order to find the answer to the question that is it possible for the personality traits to predict the job performance. Different analysts and researchers have contradicting results and views about the influence of the personality traits on the job performance. There is some relationship between the job performance and personality of the employees but this relationship is very weak. There are several intervening variables which directly influence this relationship among the personality of the employees and the job performances. The personality traits directly shapes the job attitudes of the employees which indirectly influence the job performance. Organizations should understand this phenomenon in order to be able to increase the job satisfaction and performance of the employees. Which in turn will increase the performance and profitability of the organization. Several organizations and companies, either big or small, are using different personality assessment and testing methods in order to select the appropriate candidate for the job. These organizations should make sure that these assessment methods and tests are valid by relating them directly with the job duties and responsibilities. It is important for the organizations to acknowledge and incorporate other important factors and elements in the process of evaluating and assessing the employees and potential candidates. In this way organizations will be able to use the human resource as a source of competitive edge and strategic partner in the process of accomplishing the mission and vision of the organizations. List of References Barrick, MR, & Mount, MK 1991, ‘The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Job Performance: A Meta-Analysis’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 1-26. Barrick, MR, Mount, MK, & Judge, TA 2001, ‘Personality and Performance at the Beginning of the New Millennium: What Do We Know and Where Do we Go Next?’, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 9-30. Barrick, MR, Mount, MK, & Strauss, JP 1993, ‘Conscientiousness and performance of sales representatives: test of the mediating effects of goal setting’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 78, no. 5, pp. 715-722.  Barrick, MR, Stewart, GL, & Piotrowski, M 2002, ‘Personality and job performance: test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 87, no. 1, pp. 43-51.  Hurtz, GM, & Donovan, JJ 2000, ‘Personality and job performance: the big five revisited’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 85, no. 6, pp. 869-879.  Judge, TA, Higgins, CA, Thoresen, CJ, & Barrick, MR 1999, ‘The big five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 52, pp. 621-652.  Lapierre, LM, & Hackett, RD 2007, ‘Trait conscientiousness, leader-member exchange, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour: a test of an integrative model’, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, vol. 80, pp. 539-554.  Motowidlo, SJ, & Van Scotter, JR 1994, ‘Evidence that task performance should be distinguished from contextual performance’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 79, no. 4, pp. 475-480.  Spector, PE 2006, Industrial and organizational psychology: research and practice, 4th edn. John Wiley & Sons, NJ. Stewart, GL 1999, ‘Trait bandwidth and stages of job performance: assessing differential effects for conscientiousness and its subtraits’, Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 84, no. 6, pp. 959-968. Tett, RP, Jackson, DN, & Rothstein, M 1991, ‘Personality Measures as Predicators of Job Performance: A Meta-Analytic Review’, Personnel Psychology, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 703-742. Read More