There is a kind of relationship exists between individual’s personality with value and their job performance in the workplace. High personality on values has high performance in the job. It means there is positive relationship exists between them. The managers concern is more towards how to match the personality and values and jobs so that both organization and employees will be relatively benefited. The relationship between personality and job is first explain by John Holland offering Personality-Job Fit Theory and is the Person-Organization Fit Theory.
1. Personality Job Fit Theory
John Holland present six personality types and proposes that satisfaction and propensity to leave a job depend on how well individuals match their personalities to a job. The following table describes the six types, their personality characteristics, and examples of the congruent occupation for each.
Holland Idea of Personality and Congruent (Matching) Occupations
Types
|
Personality Characteristics
|
Congruent Occupations
|
Realistic
Prefer physical activities that require skill, strength and
coordination.
|
Shy, genuine, persistent, stable, conforming, practical
|
Mechanic, drill press operator, assembly-line worker, farmer.
|
Investigative
Prefers activities that involve thinking, organizing and
understanding.
|
Analytical, original, curious, independent.
|
Biologist, economist, mathematician, news reporter.
|
Social
Prefer activities that involve helping and developing others.
|
Sociable, friendly, cooperative, understanding.
|
Social worker, teacher, counselor, clinical psychologist.
|
Conventional
Prefers rule-regulated, orderly, and unambiguous activities.
|
Conforming, efficient, practical, unimaginative, and inflexible.
|
Accountant, corporate manager, bank teller, file clerk.
|
Enterprising
Prefers verbal activities in which there are opportunities to
influence others and attain power.
|
Self-confident, ambitious, energetic, domineering.
|
Lawyer, real estate agent, public relations specialist, business
manager.
|
Artistic
Prefers ambiguous and unsystematic activities that allow creative
expression.
|
Imaginative, disorderly, idealistic, emotional, impractical.
|
Painter, musician, writer, interior decorator.
|
According to the theory of Holland, satisfaction is highest and turnover is lowest when personality and occupation are on agreement. A realistic person in a realistic job is in a more congruent situation than a realistic person in an investigative job. A realistic person in a social job is in the most in-congruent situation possible. The key points of this model are that
- There do appear to be intrinsic differences in personality among individuals.
- There are different types of jobs, and
- People in jobs congruent with their personality should be more satisfied and less likely to voluntarily resign than people in in-congruent jobs.
2. Person-Organization Fit Theory
According to this theory, if an organization faces a dynamic and changing environment and requires employees who are able to do readily change tasks and move easily between teams, it’s more important that employees’ personalities fit with the overall organization’s culture than with the characteristics of any specific job.
The person-organization fit essentially argues that people are attracted to and selected by organizations that match their values, and they leave organizations that are not compatible with their personalities. Moreover, managers could expect that people high on extra-version fit well with aggressive and team-oriented cultures and that people high on agreeableness match up better with a supportive organizational climate than one focuses on aggressiveness. And people high on openness to experience fit better into organizations that emphasize innovation rather than standardization. Following these guidelines, at the time of hiring, manager should lead to select new employee who fit better with the organization’s culture, which should result in higher employee satisfaction and reduction turnover. Research on person-organization fit has also looked whether people’s values match the organization’s culture or not this match predicts job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and low turnover. (Robbins, S.P. et. Al. (2012).
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