The Potential Relationship Between Personality And Job...

Throughout decades, individuals have been trying to understand the human behaviour. One of the core reasons fuelling this on-going search is to have a better knowledge on the way organisations work and the people affecting it. The way employees behave and factors that affect job performance or job commitment all come down to one single area of study, which is organisational behaviour. Due to the large spectrum of values and beliefs, human behaviour tends to be rather vast and unpredictable. However, it is possible for organisations to take advantage of this by effectively analysing the extent to which those different behaviours affect overall job performance. (Lombardo, n.d) This may potentially help to better understand the needs of the†¦show more content†¦The FFM consists of five main personality dimensions. Conscientiousness refers to having self control, strong-will, determination, organisational skills and being achievement striving. Agreeableness is defined by being a ltruistic, selfless, compassionate and eager to help. Anxiety, high levels of stress and personal insecurity defines neuroticism. Openness to experience reflects the ability to have an active imagination, being unconventional and experience new ethical or social ideas. Lastly, extraversion consists of being sociable, energetic and optimistic (Rothmann Coetzer, 2003). According to psychologists, there are two main ways through which an individual’s personality is formed. Firstly, the science of behavioural genetics, largely through twin studies has shown that â€Å"much of our identity is stamped on us from conception† (Wright, 1997, pp. 143-148). In addition, studies have also reveals that our personality is a product of our environment (Roach, n.d). The relative importance of both factors however can be argued and debated. Personality and Job performance Job performance is a multi dimensional construct which indicates how well employees perform their assigned duties and the way in which they undertake them (Boshoff Arnolds, 1995). The link between personality and job performance has been a large and ongoing research topic in industrial psychology over the past century. The first phase of research