Personality

It is quoted by F. Scott Fitzgerald that “personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures”. An individuals personality depicts the happenings in ones own life and sometimes the life of others. So, prior to any discussion about personality it is important to state its definition. Personality refers to those characteristics of the person that account for consistent patterns of feelings, thinking, and behaving (Pervin, Cervone & John, 2005, p.6). This definition proposes that personality is the overall qualities of a person that is reflected in the individual behaviour. These characteristics of an individual also effect their job performance . The following essay tells how the personality of an individual effects its performance on job.



In order to identify the personality effects on an employee’s performance, we need to understand the personality traits of a person. An organisation needs to understand the workforce and their personality traits in the business environment to direct their behaviour towards goal achievement. For this purpose the concept of “Big Five” will help us understand the personality of an individual. The Big Five has categorized the traits of a person into five main domains which are: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. The following are the brief description of the five traits. According to (Dr. John A. Johnson.) Extroversion personalities are more socially active people, energetic and have a positive attitude towards the environment. They are people who grab the opportunities and utilize it to the maximum. Extroverts are considered to be more suitable for sales and managerial jobs.(article1). Agreeableness is a trait that is associated with being kind, helpful, cooperative, getting along with others and maintaining social harmony. These people have an optimistic opinion about others and have a compromising nature. Agreeable people are more likely to be in team oriented and interpersonal...