Considerable attention was given to the identification of personality characteristics related to workplace activities. Many types of research exist to support the “Big Five Personality Model” as a predictor of performance, investment decisions, entrepreneurship characteristics, and job statuses. It explains five major personality traits that individuals possess. These traits can predict an individual attitude towards his work and also help to predict the profession according to his personality.
In this article, we will explore the interesting facts about the personality of individuals and its influence on our work.
Openness to experience
This trait encompasses an individual desire towards exploring and trying new things. It measures how deep your imagination is and how creative and open-minded you are. The people who have greater scores in this trait are curious, open-minded, imaginative, artistic, and open towards new experiences. These individuals always try to explore new ways of doing things, making them innovative and creative. These individuals have a positive attitude towards doing new things and think outside of the box that is not what others might typically come up with. They are often comfortable with different opinions that are different from their own.
And those who have low scores are conservative and stick to their decisions and thoughts and don’t accept different viewpoints. They cannot adapt to new ways of doing things and cannot bear change.
In workplace
the individuals are often aesthetic who cares about the beauty of things and often are in the professions of designing such as art, philosophy, architects of music and entrepreneurship, etc.
Zhao, Seibert, and Lumpkin in their study in 2010 state that an individual who are disposed toward new ideas, having different values and unconventional ways of doing things have high chances of becoming successful entrepreneurs.
And those who are low on this scale stick to old status and position, preferring routines and keeping themselves in their comfort zone which is not favorable for entrepreneurship.
Extraversion
It indicates how social a person is. A person who falls high on this scale is social, gets recharged when interacting with people, and is assertive. And those who have low scores are more likely to live in solitude.
In the workplace,
those who have a high extraversion seek different opportunities and are sociable, highly motivated, and enthusiastic in their work. Whenever an individual starts his business, he needs to interact and involve with others, should have intensive contacts to build social networks that facilitate their excess to different resources. A successful entrepreneur should have high scores in this trait. This is the most important trait for an individual if they want to become an entrepreneur.
Cantner, Silbereisen, and Willing in their study in 2011 also claimed that extraverts, due to their sociability, are better at performing managerial activities.
Those with low scores lack social involvement and are less talkative. These people like to engage in critical thinking and are more in the professions where they safe themselves from sociabilities such as writer, author, and librarian.
Conscientiousness
Those who scored high in it are trustworthy and reliable. They are highly goal-oriented, focused, committed to norms and values, very organized, and can easily control their impulses. And those who scored less in this trait can easily react to a situation, have less control over their impulses, and get distracted.
In the workplace,
those who are highly conscientious are mostly leaders. They are efficient in their work, look for new and better solutions to their problem, are hardworking and consistent in their work.
Conscientiousness has been seen as a negative predictor of entrepreneurial success. An individual who has a high level of this trait fails as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship demands new and creative ideas and flexibility in work, to adapt to the situation, and flexibility in goals. But a person having high conscientiousness is attentive and concerned with little details and is generally less flexible and has lower contextual performance. Accomplishing a task doesn’t give profit but creativity does.
However, this trait is very advantageous for better performance in a job. It helps for long-term survival in a company. Freelancers, doctors, and actors who need discipline and hard work have high conscientiousness.
Agreeableness
Agreeableness is the trait that measures how well a person gets along with others. A high score indicates that an individual is sympathetic and understanding. He can build strong relationships with others and faces problems with saying no to anyone.
In workplace
These people are more attracted to emotionally demanding fields such as nursing and counseling and are more flexible than others in these professions. They can also work well in professions where interpersonal interaction is required. They can do well in team works too. But they face problems in authoritative professions such as management where hard decisions need to be taken to get things done.
Agreeableness is not enough for being a successful entrepreneur but it can help an individual to lessen failure rates by stopping himself from looking into his self-interest, doing hard bargains and, stopping himself from manipulating others to get what he wants.
However negative associations have been seen between agreeableness and entrepreneurial success. Because by being very agreeable to others, you cannot prioritize your work, always sacrifice your interests, and bow to other demands without thinking about yourself.
Agreeableness alone is not enough for career success. It, only after combining with other traits such as conscientiousness, is beneficial. It indicates that agreeableness is beneficial when combined with political skills, focus, and self-discipline. By being more focused and organized, they can help others without compromising on their work. If you don’t have a conscientiousness trait with agreeableness, you might sacrifice your work to please others and fail.
This suggests that being helpful and nice can be very beneficial when used strategically.
Neuroticism
It measures emotional stability. Individuals having low scores in it have high emotional stability and are self-confident, relaxed, calmed and tolerant. While neurotic individuals are always depressed, anxious, and vulnerable. They have very little control over their emotions.
In workplace
Neurotic tendencies cause entrepreneurial failure. An entrepreneur faces difficult situations such as workload, family conflicts, losses, and risks. Emotional stability is required in these situations which a neurotic person lacks. So individuals who fall high on this scale are less likely to be successful as an entrepreneur.
However, neuroticism can help to build team strength because neurotics have more emotional depth, have experience in controlling disturbing emotions, and also understand other people’s struggles. They are more likely to be florists, yoga instructors, writers, and artists, etc. where emotion can be tamed.
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