About Different Personality

The extraordinary combination of patterns that affect people’s behavior, emotion, thoughts, and motivation is known as their personality (Boundless, 2017). When defining personality, two contrasting viewpoints spring to mind. First, personality can be understood as a spectrum of various ways of feeling, thinking, and behaving. People are therefore perceived as being unique because of how they either think, act, or feel in various contexts. For instance, some people like to chat a lot, but others are quieter and prefer to be alone. Second, personality can also be seen as a predetermined collection of enduring propensities displayed by people to act, think, or feel in particular ways. Sixteen different personality types are in existence (“Personality Types | 16Personalities”, 2017). These are further sub-divided into four main categories namely analysts, diplomats, sentinels and explorers. Each of these categories is further broken down into four other categories. Analysts comprise of architects, logicians, commanders and debaters while diplomats comprise of advocates, mediators, protagonists and campaigners. On the other hand, sentinels comprise of logisticians, defenders, executives and consuls while explorers comprise of virtuosos, adventurers, explorers and entertainers.

The team in our organization comprises of four team members who have different personality types. These are Jeff, Mike, Stacy and Marion. Jeff, the team leader has a protagonist personality as he is charismatic and able to enthrall the rest of the team in different work situations. Mike’s personality is more of an architect as he is imaginative and a strategic thinker who comes up with solutions when required. Stacy, being the most outgoing in the group, has an entertainer personality as she is ever boisterous and full of life in the team. She makes the team come to life when faced with challenges. Lastly, Marion, has an executive personality as she is excellent in administration and managing both the team and different project activities.

Advantages of working with the different personality types

Having different personality types in the team is important due to several reasons. According to Ylisela (2017), one advantage of having different personality team members is that it enables the team to balance its strengths and weaknesses. For instance, while Mike provides different solutions for the team, Stacy keeps the team full of life with her entertaining personality. Secondly, by having different personalities, this creates diversity among staff members and as a result, helps drive projects forward in a stable manner. Thirdly, the pool of different personalities is important as it helps the team tap into different talents arising from the different team members. For instance, Mike comes up with analytical solutions while Jeff, with his charismatic personality, helps communicate them in an easy manner. Lastly, different personalities contribute to creating a conducive workplace atmosphere that enables teamwork to take place easily.

Disadvantages of working with the different personality types

Despite the various advantages that arise from the pool of different personality types in the team, challenges arise. First, a clash of ideas often occurs as different personality types imply differences in thoughts and work styles. While outgoing personalities opt a given work methodology, reserved people may prefer an approach that suits them. Secondly, having high-handed team leaders who push staff too hard may lower their morale and as a result, their productivity. Thirdly, having different team members sometimes leads to unequal involvement of the members in projects. As a result, some of the workers work too hard while others are lazy thereby leading to reduced morale in the team

Ways organizations can manage a diverse group of employees

Given that organizations are bound to have employees of different personalities; it is imperative that they learn how to manage these diverse personality types. Marquis (2017) suggests various ways that can be employed. First, he suggests that organizations need to identify the different personality types that exist in the workplace. Though detailed identification is not necessary, being able to identify the broad personalities is important in order to adapt their work behaviors towards them. Second, he affirms that project managers ought to assign project roles appropriately to different workers based on their personality types. This not only assures project success; it also enables the development of a conducive work environment. Third, he suggests that managers ought to be prepared in handling different personality related issues. In so doing, they will be able to resolve conflicts in more amicable ways.

References

Boundless. (2017). Defining Personality. Boundless. Retrieved 23 July 2017, from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/personality-16/introduction-to-personality-76/defining-personality-303-12838/

Marquis, A. (2017). How to Deal With Personalities in the Workforce. Smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved 23 July 2017, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/deal-personalities-workforce-32961.html

Personality Types | 16Personalities. (2017). 16personalities.com. Retrieved 23 July 2017, from https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types

Ylisela, M. (2017). What Are the Benefits of Having Different Personalities & Temperaments in the Workplace?. Smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved 23 July 2017, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-having-different-personalities-temperaments-workplace-34480.html

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