Question

Individual differences are something which refers to the different way of activities an individual perform in an organization. Managers need to understand these individual differences very carefully as it relates with the emotions, thoughts and feelings of an employee and also production of an organization depends largely on individual differences. The five individual differences are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. One of the most important individual differences is the conscientiousness which the managers need to understand from the perspective of the potential impact of individual differences on organizational behavior. Conscientiousness is something which refers to someone who has the qualities of being organized, be on time, structured, looking for success and trustworthy. This qualities in an employee is important because this can maintain a good and quality-oriented environment in an organization. This can eventually affect on the production of the organization. These are some decent work behavior. These type of qualities in an employee can have big impact on productivity and also can create a good working environment. Managers need to understand these individual differences as to put the right person in right position and it can also help in hiring the right person as well.

Do you agree with the post above ? why?

Answer 1

Yes, I agree that individual differences are significant in determining the success of an individual in an organization. The rationale for this is every role requires certain personality traits that match. For example, extraversion is an element that works well with job roles that require convincing skills and interaction with clients. Someone with a low extraversion might not excel at the same role. While agreeableness might seem to be a good trait, it only has benefits in the workplace but doesn't contribute to climbing up the ladder. Learning to say no is important in the workplace. However, the agreeableness factor can be useful for managers in delegating tasks to such individuals who have high agreeableness.

Based on these individual differences, job roles also vary. Hence, it is important to use these individual differences to extract the maximum potential from the employees. Similarly, when looking at personality traits like neuroticism, managers must ensure selecting individuals with low neuroticism as they are likely to be calm and composed in handling situations in the workplace.

Conscientiousness is an important trait even based on research and there is sufficient evidence that it is a vital contributing factor to the success of an individual. According to a study by Duckworth, conscientiousness when combined with grit can have a highly productive outcome and also translate success in the workplace. This is an important personality that needs to be identified while hiring and managers that can find highly conscientious individuals are better prepared for success.