A Conscientious Manager

When looking at the Basic Personality assessment from the individual behavior assignment, I was surprised to find that my score was consistently low on everything except for conscientiousness. From the assessment description, it’s determined that I am not easily distracted, and desire to focus a lot of effort in select goals I set. Because of this, a position in business management might be a good career path to pursue.

There are many reasons as to why this conclusion was drawn upon. To begin, it has been found that “conscientiousness and emotional stability are related to supervisory ratings of job performance….success across occupational groups.” (Salgado, 2002, p. 117) The conscientious person places great integrity into the tasks they take on, so it would make sense in the world of management, because the integrity of the work is not only correlated with the managers determination, but the will of the employees that work under him or her; someone who is able to instill this integrity into others would be an ideal manager. Furthermore, many believe that “conscientiousness will be perceived as more favorable for a managerial position by recruiters assessing organizational climate as control than those assessing organizational climate as flexible.” (Van Vianen & Kmieciak, 1998, p. 156) the business world has a tendency to be more rigid in structure and follow a particular method for operations. Because of this, a conscientious person would be a great fit, because of the high level of organization that goes along with the controlled structure of the business realm.

This high level of organization makes it easier to achieve a higher level of work that not only satisfies company needs, but progresses them. Simply put, it’s widely regarded that conscientious people “tend to set themselves higher standards of performance and to be more committed to them.” (Tziner et al., 2007, p. 168) People often refer to this as efficacy. The connection between the two variables is hard to explain, since it’s been supported that “conscientiousness on performance ratings is attributable to indirect effects through efficacy,” (Burns & Christiansen, 2011, p. 433) so there is a connection that conscientious people tend to deliver desired results. Because time is money, time cannot be wasted fixing problems that were made because employees were not diligent enough. As mentioned earlier, the ideal manager has the ability to influence the integrity of the employees that work under him, and essentially lead from the middle. If this is true, then the ability to guide employees well is important, so that everyone achieves the set standards. When referring to management positions, it has been noted that the “ideal image would be of a person who takes the risk of initiating ambitious action (extraversion), who also works methodically to then accomplish challenging tasks (conscientiousness).” (Hirschfeld et al., 2008, p. 389) So the energy of being able to interact well with and have defining moments between managers and employees compliments the diligence that comes with being a conscientious manager. This is also because “highly conscientious individuals feel accountable…. they always try to do a careful, thoughtful job. (Roch et al., 2005, p. 59) In regards to managing the work of others, this comes as a benefit, because conscientious people are more thoughtful in bringing out the best in others. This can be linked to the idea that “both extraversion and conscientiousness are significantly related to ATT (Attention to the Team).” (de Jong et al., 1999, p. 37) Focus on the team is an important aspect of management, since that team is your lifeline.

Finally, I firmly believe that conscientious people have a great deal of humility. It has been found that “Honesty-Humility are typically viewed as components of the Conscientiousness.” (Lee et al., 2005, p. 84) They are also incredibly important factors in determining healthy, non-deviant behavior in the workplace. With this in mind, as a highly conscientious person, I conclude that my personality types has the necessary traits to succeed in management.

References

Burns, G. N., & Christiansen, N. D. (2011). Self-efficacy in the Workplace: Linking personality to domain-specific efficacy beliefs. International Journal Of Selection & Assessment, 19(4), 429-434. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2389.2011.00570.x

de Jong, R. D., Bouhuys, S. A., & Barnhoorn, J. C. (1999). Personality, Self-Efficacy and Functioning in Management Teams: A Contribution to Validation. International Journal Of Selection & Assessment, 7(1), 46.

Hirschfeld, R. R., Jordan, M. H., Thomas, C. H., & Feild, H. S. (2008). Observed Leadership Potential of Personnel in a Team Setting: Big Five traits and proximal factors as predictors. International Journal Of Selection & Assessment, 16(4), 385-402. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2389.2008.00443.x

Lee, K., Ashton, M. C., & Shin, K. (2005). Personality Correlates of Workplace Anti-Social  Behavior. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 54(1), 81-98. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.2005.00197.x

Roch, S. G., Ayman, R., Newhouse, N., & Harris, M. (2005). Effect of Identifiability, Rating Audience, and Conscientiousness on Rating Level. International Journal Of Selection & Assessment, 13(1), 53-62. doi:10.1111/j.0965-075X.2005.00299.x

Salgado, J. F. (2002). The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Counterproductive Behaviors. International Journal Of Selection & Assessment, 10(1/2), 117.

Tziner, A., Fisher, M., Senior, T., & Weisberg, J. (2007). Effects of Trainee Characteristics on Training Effectiveness. International Journal Of Selection & Assessment, 15(2), 167-174.doi:10.1111/j.1468-2389.2007.00378.x

Van Vianen, A. M., & Kmieciak, Y. M. (1998). The Match Between Recruiters' Perceptions of Organizational Climate and Personality of the Ideal Applicant for a Management Position. International Journal Of Selection & Assessment, 6(3), 153.