Relationship between Personality Traits and Job Performance at the General Service Unit

Seminar paper from the year 2023 in the subject Law - Philosophy, History and Sociology of Law, grade: 100, Kenyatta University (City Campus), course: PSYCHOLOGY, language: English, abstract: White (2023) suggests that placing employees in departments that they best fit based on their behaviour will help an organization achieve its performance-based objectives. For instance, employees who do not possess team work traits can be moved to positions that do not require much engagement with others. Sev (2019) posits that a high job performance behaviour will result in achievement of organizational performance. He also points out that employees have different levels of efficiency and productivity. Some employees may exhibit hard work whereas others may show negative and non-cooperative behaviour such as absenteeism, negative acts, and narrow mindedness among others. These attitudes often result in contradicting performance at work. Syed et al., (2015) study on organizational commitment and five factor model of personality found that conscientious and openness to experience had a positive impact on affective commitment whereas neuroticism and extroversion had a negative correlation with normative commitment. Cubel et al., (2016) study on personality traits and productivity found that more neurotic employees performed worse, and that those who ranked higher in conscientiousness performed better. Bui (2017), points out that extraversion had no impact on job satisfaction. According to Delima (2019), there are five main personality traits that shape employee behaviour and in turn affect the relationship between these employees, customers, management and the general organizational job performance. The attribution theory will be used to try to explain the link between the five personality traits and job performance. According to Main (2023), attribution theory refers to the way in which people justify behaviour by trying to pin it on a cause. Notably, attributing causes to events can have a great impact on a person’s motivation and self-esteem, which are also affected by an individual’s personality traits. Understanding this theory in an organizational setting can help make informed decisions regarding recruitment and assignment of tasks to different members of an organization. Similarly, the Gordon Allport theory suggests that each individual has a unique set of traits that are the building blocks of his or her personality. These traits can either be cardinal, central or secondary. Cardinal traits are dominant in a person’s entire life, are rare and are often associated with one’s creativity and success. [...]