Introduction
Throughout the last century, the study of the relationship between personality and job performance has been a popular issue in industrial psychology. Job performance has been defined as a multidimensional contract indicating how an employee can complete work-related duties while demonstrating resourcefulness, initiative, and problem-solving abilities. Furthermore, it reveals how well they can use the existing resources to fulfill the job at hand. For many years, psychologists have studied the relationship between cognitive ability and brainpower and job success. Most research concluded that brighter persons were more likely to perform and succeed in a certain job occupation. However, it is noted that intelligence is not the only determinant. The studies also revealed that personality played a major role in determining one's job performance. This is what was then referred to as the ‘Big Five' personality traits. This paper seeks to point out my personality traits among the ‘Big Five' and therefore establish my job performance.
Background
I used a personality scale to establish my score in relation to my exhibition of behavior or traits. The results were; 3 points for extraversion, 4 points for agreeableness, 10 points for conscientiousness, 5 points for emotional stability, and 10 points for openness to experience: the scale of the score was a 1-10. Below are my strengths and weaknesses according to the score:
Strengths
As indicated above, I registered the highest score on conscientiousness. Conscientiousness refers to traits whereby an individual exhibits; effective planning, organization, and strategy. According to Ceschi et al. (2016), this trait is also associated with characteristics such as the punctuality, discipline, and general competence. From these descriptions, I find the results of the score to be accurate. I have always been punctual and diligent and I have never been accused of sluggishness or under-performance. I also consider myself to be achievement oriented. According to Wihler et al. (2017), there are some negative characteristics that can result from a conscientious worker. These are fastidiousness, workaholic behavior, and compulsive neatness. People who register low scores on this trait may not necessarily lack principals or morals but they tend to apply them less. Given the six dimension of performance that includes dutifulness, order, competence, self-discipline, achievement-striving, and deliberation means that a conscientious individual like me can perform well in work-related tasks. Individuals who are goal oriented, dependable, persistent, and organized are known to be high performers. In contrast, workers who register low scores are often carelessness, irresponsibility, impulsiveness, and low achievement striving. Various research findings have found that conscientiousness is the personality dimension that correlates the strongest with overall job performance across all occupations as compared to other traits.
I also scored the maximum score in the trait of openness to experience. This is a trait that refers to how an individual can exhibit creativity, curiosity to experience new things, and imaginative thinking. Moreover, people scoring highly in this trait are known to portray positive attitudes towards experiences in life and to their own ideas. On the other hand, low scorers are known to prefer fixed routines to new ones. According to Van Aarde et al. (2017), this trait also relates to an individual's emotional processes. In this regards, high scorers may experience a range of emotions that may be considered deeper compared to the low scorers. This score is accurate since even though I am open-minded, I am easily bothered by things that do not sit well with me.
Weaknesses
Unfortunately, I also registered low scores in three of the traits namely agreeableness, extroversion, and emotional stability. As mentioned above, I am a quite sensitive person and therefore can be compromised by emotions. In regards to extroversion, it refers to the quantity and intensity of energy that is spent or directed outwards into the social world. It also refers to the intensity and quantity of activity, preferred interpersonal interactions, capacity for joy, and the need for stimulation. Individuals who are low in extroversion are largely shy and therefore tend to prefer solitude to spending time with others or being in eventful scenes. On the other hand, people with high extroversion can be considered talkative active, sociable, optimistic, fun, person oriented.
Agreeableness refers to the ability of an individual to be helpful, trustful, soft-hearted, forgiving, and compassionate. Given that I am an introvert, I face a hard time relating to other people's feelings. According to studies, with low scores on this trait are pessimistic, egocentric, distrustful, and lack the desire to cooperate with others. However, this is not the case with me. The reason I scored a low mark in this trait is that I prefer to work alone can thereby become more productive. I do not regard myself distrustful, pessimistic, or egocentric. I only believe I am more efficient and effective working alone.
As pointed out above, I am quite sensitive emotionally. A low score, in this case, means that an individual is anxious, impulsive, self-conscious, vulnerable, and hostile. Emotional stability has also been associated with neuroticism whereby individuals exhibit similar characteristics. According to Wihler et al. (2017), emotional stability predicts job performance as it is considered the most reliable and predictor of job performance in various job occupations.
Findings and Conclusion
According to these findings, I may have some issues with my personality that I need to resolve. The scores on my personality traits reveal that may job performance could be affected by some traits. Even though I score the highest scores in both conscientiousness and openness to experience I still need to improve the rest of the traits. Emotional stability seems to resonate as the major concern. In most work organizations, teamwork is known to be an instrumental factor. Therefore, I need to work on my emotions to ensure that I can be able to relate effectively with my workmates. Working on my emotional well being will enable me to open up and be able to be social and cooperative. As per the definition of extroversion, I need to spend more time with others. As per the definition of agreeableness, I need to be more helpful, trustful, soft-hearted, forgiving, and compassionate. Finally, according to emotional stability explanations, I need to be more confident.
References
Ceschi, A., Costantini, A., Scalco, A., Charkhabi, M., & Sartori, R. (2016). The relationship between the big five personality traits and job performance in business workers and employees’ perception. Int. J. Bus. Res, 16, 63-76.
Wihler, A., Meurs, J. A., Wiesmann, D., Troll, L., & Blickle, G. (2017). Extraversion and adaptive performance: Integrating trait activation and socioanalytic personality theories at work. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 133-138.
Van Aarde, N., Meiring, D., & Wiernik, B. M. (2017). The validity of the Big Five personality traits for job performance: Meta‐analyses of South African studies. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 25(3), 223-239.
