Question

How can the following approaches can be used to understand a company's issues (or employee issues) and to enhance performance and productivity?

this question is about personality. Also please provide examples. please note the employees in the company have lot of behavioural problems, work related attitude, low motivation and job satisfaction increased absenteeism and tardiness, poor work performance, elevated stress and conflict. I would appreciated if you could answer this question by highlighting these.

A) Psychodynamic approaches

B) Trait Approaches

C) Learning approaches

Answer 1

As stated in the question, we are assuming that the employees in the company have personality issues. We would try and understand the personality issues in the light of the following three approaches:

A) Psychodynamic approach - The basic assumption of this theory is that our unconscious motives influences our behavior. So here, if employees are being neurotic, anxious, etc it is because of the unconscious motives which are at play. E.g.. an employee who is angry at the boss but instead creates trouble with his teammates is a classic example of the defense mechanism - displacement. Other examples might be - low job satisfaction or low motivation which might be because of the unconscious mind which consists of various inaccessible feelings and judgments that surface sometimes. Sometimes, certain events are so painful and uncomfortable, that they are repressed by the minds and later the person totally forgets about the occurrence of the event altogether. E.g.. an employee who was scolded by his boss in from of the whole office, and was asked to rectify the mistake, might not remember anything at all.   

B) Trait approach - Traits refer to the habitual patterns of emotions, thoughts and behaviors. Traits are the dispositions which are relatively stable and consistent over time and are unique to individuals. E..g. to enhance the productivity and performance of the employees, we must try and identify the traits of the employees. An extrovert would be best fitted to work with a team or a group. An introvert employee would perform the best if he is given space and opportunity to work alone. Employees with the traits like novelty seeking, venturesome, openness to experience etc would perform best if they are allowed to be creative and imaginative.

C) Learning approaches. This approach believes that thinking and reasoning are important in learning. Bandura's concept of self efficacy, Rotter's locus of control theory all can be used to improve performance and productivity. Employees must be rewarded timely for their achievements. This will help the demotivated employees to do well and also develop self efficacy. Employees must be given a say in the decision making whenever and however possible, because that would help employees develop an inner sense of control.