Different Personalities in the Workplace

Different Personalities in the Workplace

By. Matt Stuart

            I’m sure that everybody has come across somebody in their personal life whose personality clashed with their own.  Often times when this happens it creates a hostile and unhappy environment.  Now, when this happens in a professional business setting, it can create a toxic and unproductive workplace.  Why does this happen? Well, simply put, because everybody is different.  Personality refers to the structures and propensities inside people that explain their characteristics patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior (Colquitt 294).  In today’s day and age there are many different types of people with a wide variety of varying personality traits that each person possesses.  Again, no one person is the same.  So the key to any company is to provide a synergetic atmosphere in the workplace by creating an environment in which all the different personalities work well together towards a common goal.

What to know
         According to the “Organizational Behavior” textbook the different types of personalities can be boiled down to five types, also known as the five factor model or the “Big Five” (Colquitt 295).  The creation of the five factor model is often credited to Ernest Tupes and Raymond Christal in 1961 (Judge 767).  These five types are conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion (book). A few characteristics of these five personality types are:

• ·         Conscientiousness – dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, and hardworking.
• ·         Agreeableness – kind, sympathetic, helpful, warm, cooperative, and courteous.
• ·         Neuroticism – nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous, and unstable.
• ·         Openness to experience – curious, imaginative, creative, complex, and refined.
• ·         Extraversion – talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, and dominant. (Colquitt 296)

          Your personality type can also provide a correlation to your career advancement.  Forbes did a study of 1,200 executives, asking them a series of questions to determine the personality traits that they possess. The study ultimately showed that the largest percent of them fell under the “star puplis” category.  This category was described as “those kids in grade school who sat up in the front, whose hands were the first in the air anytime the teacher asked a question” (Sniderman).  Under the “Big Five” personality model, these types of people could best be categorized as having a conscientiousness type personality.  While people with these types of personalities are often the hardest working people, their attention to detail and ambition could lead to an inter-office conflict.

          When you have these different types of personalities in a stressful work environment, conflict can arise.  According to US News, one of the key mechanisms to dealing with different personalities in the workplace is to choose your battles (Thormon).  One of the quickest ways to create a conflict at work is to let every difference you may have with a coworker be known.  Also, a simple thing a conversation beforehand between coworkers about how they work also can help avoid a conflict (Thormon).

What to take away
           Whether you are a shy person or the loudest person in the room, everybody is different.  The “Big Five” personality model categorizes the main personality traits into just five types; conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion. Blending these different personalities together in the workplace is an integral part of the success of any company.  When these personalities clash in a professional environment, it can lead to an unproductive and inefficient work force.  One of the key points made by Rebecca Thormon of US News to avoid creating a hostile work environment is to pick your battles.  You may not mesh with every coworker that you have but, there should be a give and take with your battles.  Creating a conflict with a coworker over something minuet can lead to a hostile work environment that only leads to an unproductive and unhappy work force.

Work Cited

Judge, Timothy A., et al. "Personality and leadership: a qualitative and quantitative review." Journal of applied psychology 87.4 (2002): 767.

Thormon, Rebecca. "How to Successfully Work With Different Personalities." US News RSS. Usnews.com, 12 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2013.

Colquitt, Jason, Jeffery A. LePine, and Michael J. Wesson. "Personality and Cultural Values." Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2011. 294-96. Print.

Sniderman, Brenna. "The Five Personalities of Innovators: Which One Are You?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.

Furnham, Adrian. Personality at work: The role of individual differences in the workplace. Routledge, 1994.