In a paper soon to be published in Personality and Individual Differences, researchers discuss the practical implications of their study in terms of maximizing work performance. This recommendation includes a combination of personality, motivation orientation and organizational climate.
I think we all understand that work performance is influenced by a complex interaction of variables, including personality, motivation and work context. In this study, the researchers examined each of these variables to predict work performance.
Specifically, they defined:
Personality in terms of a sensitivity to rewards (commonly referred to as the Behavioral Approach System or BAS) - individuals who score high on measures of BAS are sensitive to conditioned and unconditioned signals of reward. This sensitivity to reward typically results in approach behaviors (not avoidance).
Motivation as a mastery approach goal orientation. Individuals high in this orientation tend to believe that success is a result of hard work and persistence; they are interested in challenging tasks and they know that they can learn from their mistakes (they're not afraid of making mistakes, so they typically don't avoid tasks, but dig deep to learn for learning's sake).
Organizational climate is the employee perception of the characteristics of the organization (innovation, relationships, responsibility), and in this case particularly theavailability of rewards.
Work performance is a complex construct, taking into account the changing nature of work and the organizations themselves. Specific attention in this study was on core task performance as assessed by the supervisors. (e.g., "Adjusted to new equipment, process or procedures in core tasks." or "John initiated a better way of doing his core tasks.").
The study
Zahra Izadikhah (School of Psychology, University of Queensland) and colleagues, Chirs Jackson and Natalie Loxton (Australian School of Business) collected data from 123 full- and part-time workers (56% female) with an average age of about 31 years living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Using self-report measures of personality, goal orientation and organizational climate, they modeled the interactions of these variables in the prediction of supervisor's ratings of work performance.
Their results
Their "results confirmed that mastery approach orientation is a stronger mediator of the relationship between BAS and work performance in work climates which are perceived as rewarding" (p. 5).
In other words, personality affects work performance indirectly. Personality is a distal predictor of work performance that is expressed through goal orientation. In this case, an approach-type personality of high Behavioural Approach System (similar to Extraversion in fact) is related to a higher mastery goal orientation that influences work performance. Most importantly, this study revealed that this relationship is most effective in contexts where work climates are perceived as rewarding.
These individuals are sensitive to rewards, approach success
and thrive best in an organization that clearly provides rewards.
Implications
The authors write that "a practical implication of our study is that managers would be likely to benefit form high work performance in their followers if they hire high BAS individuals who are also high in mastery approach orientation and provide a highly rewarding climate" (p. 5).
Of course, the converse, not yet studied, may be true. Managers who are supervising individuals who are high on Behavioral Inhibition (meaning that they are sensitive to cues for punishment, commonly perceived as being high in the personality trait of "Neuroticism") and who have a performance orientation (interested in how they perform in relation to others) may benefit from creating an organizational culture that clearly signals the costs of failure.
Stated this way, it's not so palatable, is it? The thing is, we are all different in terms of personality and goal orientation. As they say, "different strokes for different folks." Good managers know this.
In addition, organizational culture is not homogeneous. There are cultures within cultures, and much as with parenting multiple children, the individuals' personality and goal orientation evoke different reactions from managers. The perceived organizational climate can be influenced a great deal by the employee-supervisor relationship, and this varies from person to person in the organization. Managers need to be aware of this so that they can react more purposely in their work, creating the appropriate "micro-climate" that promotes work performance.
Reference
Izadikhah, Z., et al. An integrative approach to personality: Behavioural Approach System, mastery approach orientation and environmental cues in the prediction of work performance. Personality and Individual Differences (2010), doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.12.012
