Personality and Prediction of Behavior
Mariam Barranco
Psychology 100
October 8, 2018
Theory and Research Presented in the Scientific Paper
When working as a human resource manager, it is important to determine the personality and expected behavior for every employee. When hiring individuals, a manager is obliged to carry out a personality test. In the modern world, the number of applicants can fairly outweigh the number of available openings for a particular job. Owners in each company are obliged to carry out personality tests with an attempt to determine the most suited employee for a specific position. In the past years, employers leaned on intelligence quotient (IQ), academic qualification and response from recommendations to hire individuals. However, they realized that the results could be biased based upon the role of the individual in the company, the qualities that each has that are best-suited to the position as well as how important the individual is in influencing others (Cervone & Shoda, 1999). When considering such options, employers started taking personality tests. They were determined as the tests that would show the most ideal person with the traits suited for specific positions in the workplace. It ignored other traits of the employee and considered only the intelligence of the potential employees.
When coming up with the personality tests, there were some considerations that employees took, which were important in the determination of the most important individual in the firm. The first crucial information was the need to accurately get the data that was important in making important decisions. The individuals that were selected needed to be conversant with all the information about the firm’s activities, decision-making and future expectations as well as the goals and objectives. They would be able to think about the most important choices that would make the employees act in such a way that they would support the firm’s objectives. However, the intelligence quotient program was seen as opposing development as it did not consider people’s emotions and the ability to express them effectively to the employees. It late gave rise to a combination of the IQ+EQ programs, which considered the emotions in an individual as well as the ability to express such emotions properly. The program was based on seeing how people use their emotions in the thinking process, as well as how they would utilize them in coming up with coping mechanisms as well as the ability to express their message and feelings to the targeted audience.
When the personality tests came into being, they were aimed at ensuring that the individuals selected could maintain a balance between intelligence and emotions. The tests that have been generated by different societies, as well as organizations, have been targeted towards isolating people into different categories, based on their answers at a specific time. The responses are aimed at ensuring the people are able to regulate their emotions, dampening their negative emotions and making use of positive feelings at a specific time. For example, a parent can ignore his or her experiences in the workplace effectively without affecting the decisions he or she makes at home (Cervone ; Shoda, 1999). However, it is difficult to come up with questions that can encompass all the situations that affect parents, lovers or other individuals in the workplace and differentiate the instances from the situations in the workplace. The people involved in such personality tests may be biased in one way or the other. The person answering the question can also have been affected by a specific situation, which makes him or her lack an objective answer to specific questions in the test.
How Theory and Research can be applied to the Problem
When employers come up with personality tests, their aim is to choose from individuals that have qualified for a specific position, ensuring that each person’s beliefs and expectations are aligned to the organizational culture. The many personality tests arising from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator present such options, which present an in-depth analysis of each person’s traits. However, when analyzing the tests, it may become that the organization or the analyzers of the tests are affected by their individual traits. It becomes difficult to analyze whether the human resource management personnel in a company are responsible for the selection based on their individual feelings, or the needs of the organization. The personality dimensions expressed in such decision processes as the Myers-Briggs may also affect the hiring personnel. They may think that specific processes are favorable for their personalities, only to later realize the people selected do not favor the organization. Such challenges as emotional stability, agreeableness, openness to experiences, extroversion, a tone of voice and future goals among others are measured in personality tests. The interviews do not consider the situation in which a person appears, as well as their attitude towards the interviewers.
One of the main advantages of personality tests is that they give the interviewer time to assess each individual and determine whether they are suited to perform specific tasks. However, it is upon employers to come up with specific programs to guarantee that an applicant’s specific personality is not meant to secure a job without being suited for the position. The tests should ensure that the applicant’s experience and training are consistent with the results that are meant for passing in a position. However, the interviewer cannot be not only assessing the personality tests but also the qualifications of the potential employee. It gives each employer an opportunity to look for weaknesses in each candidate and offer an in-depth analysis of the organizational culture, and a person’s effects when participating in various roles (Cervone & Shoda, 1999). The tests usually give interpersonal characteristics for various jobs. However, when presented with individuals that do not establish with specific traits such as gender roles, the challenge arises on maintaining the organization’s culture and dignity.
When establishing personality assessments in an organization, it is important to ensure that each test is well-established and takes into consideration the objectives of the firm. Some personality assessments take a long period and only dissuade potential clients from engaging with the application process. Applicants should also have interview questions that are objective and meant to address various issues that they might face in the firm. They should guarantee diversity in the workplace by giving everyone the chance to apply and not have limitations based on race, gender or other characteristics (Cervone ; Shoda, 1999). Personality traits can be expensive, especially when weighing against the results of each individual. Even if each person answers questions as expected, the interviewers should take more time to review the responses as well as what the person expected. In different personalities, people expect better results and are ready to answer questions based on the expectations of the interviewer. The employees end up disappointing the hirer as they perform activities with an attempt to please the superiors rather than achieving the expected objectives. Even if an applicant answers the personality tests perfectly, it does not mean that they are fit for the job. It takes time to ensure that each person has the necessary traits other than the required academic qualifications to occupy a specific position.
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References
Cervone, D. ; Shoda, Y. (1999). Beyond Traits in the Study of Personality Coherence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 27-32
