Psychology and Behavioral Science International Journalgeneral database of some of the articles. In all cases, the primary keywords used in searching for the articles were motivation, personality, individual differences, organisational behaviour, and human resources. The timeframe allowed for the inclusion of an article was that it ought to have been written between the year 2010 and 2018. The keywords and timeframe were therefore the inclusion criteria for sources that were consulted for purposes of completing this study. Theoretical Review Personality has been extensively researched and most scholars have found a strong relationship between personality and motivation of workers. Fleeson [3] consider some of the most prominent theories used in this regard to be the traits theory, psychoanalytic, humanistic, and social cognitive theories. The traits theory of personality This theory asserts that people exude different types of personalities based on traits that are inherently in them. Several scholars have made an attempt to explain the working of this theory. One of them is Gordon Allport, as he claims that these traits are categorized into three groups namely cardinal, central, and secondary traits Anderson [4]. Hans Eysenck also proposed another approach in line with the traits theory by categorizing people according to three scales in the determination of their personality. Dinger et al. [5] argue that the traits theory and all its approaches are closely related to motivation at the workplace. As a human resources manager, one needs to explore the traits of their members in an organization in order to understand their personalities. According to their assessment, a good human resources manager would look into whether such a person is introvert, and that he works best when alone, instead of concluding that such a person is absolutely unproductive. In that way, Klotz [6] feel that the presence of other workers would be a demotivating factor rather than a motivating one for this worker. The psychoanalytic theory of personality The theory is attributed to Sigmund Freud. According to Spence [7], it asserts that one’s personality is composed of three dimensions namely the id, ego, and super ego. The id is the selfish part of an individual, and it will always seek to satisfy them even at the expense of others. The super ego is the most moral and socially sensitive of one’s personality as it seeks to prevent them from committing evil just because it is wrong. The ego is the mediating dimension between the aforementioned aspects. It seeks to create a compromise between the arguments of the two thereby leading to a more composed resolution. Individual differences manifest from the differences in the levels of these three dimensions of personality in a person Mc Cann [8] (Figure 1). The humanistic theory of personality How to cite this article:Ashveen N. The Effect of Personality on Motivation and Organisational Behaviour. Psychol Behav Sci Int J. 2018; 9(2): 555760. DOI:10.19080/PBSIJ.2018.09.555760.002 This school of thought decried the issues that the former trait and psychoanalytical theories of personality failed to address. Consequently, they designed a different perspective to explain differences in personalities among people Quinney [9]. Two common scholars who are widely known for advocating for the humanistic approach of personality are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Abraham Maslow drew from his needs hierarchy theory to develop an approach towards personality. According to him, all people are guided by their need to achieve self-actualization and so is their personality. On the other hand, Carl Rogers developed an approach that he called the peoplecentred theory. In this theory, he suggests that personality is a combination of beliefs, thoughts, and feelings. He indicates that people are always aware of their self-concept. He also introduced the elements of congruence and incongruence. Congruence is when there is a match between self-concept and reality while incongruence is when there is a mismatch. This is in agreement with Quinney [9], as they state that good personalities arise when there is congruence and the opposite is true. The social cognitive theory of personality The social cognitive theory advocates for the fact that personality is something that one can learn from people and their environment. Walter Mischel developed this theory where he opined that people are social beings who have the ability to learn from their environment what is good and resist adopting what is deemed to be wrong. This is a departure from the former traits theory as it is against the notion that personality is in born. Mischel believes that most attributed of personality are acquired. Sherman et al. [10] particularly argue that one’s personality essentially depends on the person-situation rather than trait-state (Figure 2).
Psychology and Behavioral Science International Journal Criticism of personality theories Bettencourt et al. [11] have criticized trait theories for being too simplistic. Some scholars argue that even when one is said to have certain traits; it is not always that they tend to manifest. For instance, the source argues that the way someone reacts to a given stimulus today might be absolutely different from the way they react to the same stimulus in future. The psychoanalytical set of personality theories also faces the criticism that it has a narrow focus, seems patriarchal, and lacks a scientific basis Klotz [6]. There is no experiment that has successfully proven Freud’s theory, and it therefore does not have an empirical backing for its assertions Parks-Leduc [12]. Humanistic approaches have also received a fair share of criticism mostly for the fact that they are not objective in nature, thereby rendering its findings unreliable. Finally, social cognitive theory of personality has been criticized for its findings being too preliminary, and that it fails to properly account for the relationships between social cognition, behaviour, behaviour, and personality Klotz [6]. Findings Impact of personality on motivation Emotional stability and motivation Personality has been found to affect the manner in which persons are willing to be affected by motivation strategies as proposed and or implemented by management. More specifically, studies have affirmed that persons with emotional stability and those who rank low on the psychoticism are more willing to be receptive to motivation techniques Jaeggi [13]. On the other hand, persons with more aggressive personalities tend to be resistant to management even on things that are beneficial to them. For instance, when management finds that the staffs can be well motivated by inducing job rotation program, some workers may resist this viewing it as a means to allow ‘outsiders’ to their roles. Conway et al. [14] argue that most of such workers only appreciate monetary incentives as the sole strategy for improving their levels of motivation. Level of aggression and motivation With respect to Lee [15], this notion is squarely envisaged in Vroom’s Expectancy theory, which suggests that the motivation of an employee and their ultimate performance is affected by personality among other factors such as experience, skills, and abilities. This notion is consistent with the research compiled by Avery [16], which opines that valence is the central tenet that comes into question whenever personality is linked with motivation. It is concerned with the emotional orientations of workers with respect to the suggested rewards, where workers with aggressive personalities will tend to be aligned to aggressive and physical rewards for them to feel motivated. Employees with less aggressive tendencies are likely to be attracted to soft and more qualitative aspects while selecting the rewards they prefer Bettencourt [11]. Emotional orientations are a direct product of people’s personalities, and therefore the findings made in the studies above provide evidence of a link between personality and motivation. Fi gu re 1: Lume n learni ng [25]. Figur e 2: Lumen learning 2012.
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