Individual Differences: Personality, Skills, and Abilities

Write an essay on Various research works and its relevant application.

Various research works and its relevant application in the field of organizations as well as applicable contextual factors will be described. In this assignment, some of the factors are going to be analyzed critically. Organizational behavior generally, explores the effects that individual, groups and organizational composition have on behavior within an organization. The impact of these factors is compelling enough from the corporate behavioral perspective. The key components are motivation in an organization, group dynamics and team work, organizational culture, traits, creativity and innovations, personality, skills and capabilities of every individual, and finally the leadership in an organization. Developments of these are necessary to understand for improvement of the performance of employees and the overall organization.

Individual differences are the different aspects that are intimately collaborated with organizational behavior (Krishnan, P., & Krutikova, 2013). Personal reflection is dependent on the personality traits of each person working in an organization. Different authors define the definition of personality in a variety of ways those are different from one another. According to (Nielsen & Nielsen, 2013), personality is a unique character that is helpful to discriminate one person from another. The factors that come into consideration during the measurement of any individual’s personality are emotion, expressions, posture, gesture, communication style, behavior, etc. The personality traits can be defined with the help of the skills and abilities that someone has (Morgeson et al., 2013). These features differentiate one employee to another.

The skills and abilities of a person cannot be same with any other person. Therefore, this uniqueness enables a person to become famous or to get non famous in the working environment (Daft, 2014). An experienced person can give a lot to the organization. From the training and development aspects, it is found that skill is the characteristics that define the personality of a person. This adjective always gives positive impact to an organization. Skill is the defining character of an employee whereas the ability is the outcome of a skillful person (Rabin, 2013). An experienced person possesses massive positive deliveries to an organization. Skill is something which is strictly related to development and training programs (Albon, Iqba & Pearson, 2016). Skill can be enhanced if a person shares it with others the ability also increases with increased practice level. Saxena & Jain, (2013) opined that ability of a person is always based on the training, general knowledge and education. If a person pursues training and development programs then it can enhance the performance level of the person (Krishnan & Krutikova, (2013). Again, if a person is not enough educated, then a communication gap will occur which the lead the organization in a loss.

Motivation in Organizations

The behavioral model explains that the two major attributes that distinguish an individual ability and personality. It is visible at certain situations and their traits are distinguishable in every person. According to a study the difference is obvious and each person is different from the psychological point of consideration. The identity of a person is endowed with traits and character that complete the characteristics of that person (Ritzhaupt & Martin, 2014). The character traits, habits, temperament, and interest prevailing in the individual are manifested as a cognitive process considering the individual style of activity. The process of understanding the personality traits for analyzing the individual differences is important for the leaders and managers. In an organizational setting, the study of the personal traits and individual differences helps the supervisors for relating the qualities as per the need of the organization (Morgeson et al., 2013). There are number of tests that can be used for predicting and describing the personality of an individual. The managers can use the understanding of the individuals for managing and determining the consequences of bringing the individual in the organization. The MBTI or the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and Big Five Personality Model can be used for measuring the personality of the individual.

According to Belle, (2013) the acronym motivation implies several acting forces on an employee that help him or her to be more precise, well mannered and organized regarding the organizational goals. It impels a person

Motivation is one of the major factors that come into consideration during the assessment of individuals within organizations (Wright, Moynihan & Pandey, 2012). Motivation analyzing enhances the overall performance of every individual working in an organization. Motivation is the ratio of return and the ability of every person working in an organization. The process flow moves through different components such as cooperation, reward etc. In order to accomplish objectives of an organization motivation from the higher authority is also required (Bozeman & Su, 2015). It is the combination of various internal and external factors that invigorates the wish and spark in every individual employee. These factors motivate the employees to be more committed and interested in their job profiles (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015).

Different authors define different kinds of motivational aspects. There are two kinds of motivations that are found in the field of organizational behavior (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015). There are two kinds of motivational aspects in the field of organizational behavior such as intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation (Albon, Iqba & Pearson, 2016). Intrinsic motivation is nothing else but is referred to like the job satisfaction of every individual working in an organization. This state is independent of the platform or any complimentary factor. This motivational factor mainly motivates an employee while he or she is working in an organization. The reward, payment hike or reprimands are not aspects which help the operator in case of intrinsic motivation. It is an intra-organizational component. While an employee is working in an organization his commitment to the task is paramount; then it will be a natural disturbance to that employee. Extrinsic motivations are the external factors. These are payment hike, motivation from the top level managerial team, annual reward processing ceremony. These factors are also motivation to the employees.

Group Dynamics and Work Teams

Sometimes it happened that the working ambiance is not favorable to one employee that time these kinds of motivations provide positive vibes to them (Liu & Maitlis, 2014). In addition to this, motivation to an employee sometimes gives positive impact and sometimes it provides negative vibes to an employee (Nielsen & Nielsen, 2013). These diagnostic keys always influence the performance of an individual and also the overall performance of an organization.

The motivational theory explains that the workers are inspired on the account of various intentions. Some of them are completely desired entity that results in the motivation of the individual. The most significant aspect for each worker is their desires and requirements. The worker can be motivated by; Praising and Recognition, Job security, Opportunity for advancements, attaining new experiences and effective communication among the organization (Albon, Iqba & Pearson, 2016). It is important for letting the workers to get involved in decision making process. The unbiased nature of the superiors also let the workers to get motivated for getting the work done.

Group dynamics and organizational teamwork are another important component that influences the performance of the team and the overall performance of an organization. Group dynamics and the teamwork may have a positive negative impact on an organization. Positive results always improve the performance of the team and in order to achieve the ultimate goal that is being decided previously for a team. Again, when a team is working for an organization several people will be working on the same task. Thus, there will be a huge possibility of organizational contradiction. As, a team content different kinds of people who are having a different thought, mindset, communication style, behaviors, therefore, the views of team members will also be different (Krishnan & Krutikova, 2013). For the different point of opinion organization contradict will undoubtedly occur in that society. Thus, a team should have one decision maker who will make the final determination for the team. Before making any final decision, the necessity of the importance and benefit measurement is imperative (Trastek, 2013). The decision maker defines the most efficient one from all the views provided by the team members.

In case of group formation the management team should consider some factors such as forming, storming, norming etc. The members of the group should always belong from the same background such as if the team is finance team then the employees belonging to that must have a background in finance. Again if the team is a management team, then all the members belonging to that group must have a management background. There are many positive impacts of teamwork in an organization. It is found that when many members of a team are working for an organization there will be a possibility of summation of all their critical thoughts (Valentine, Nembhard & Edmondson, 2015). Sometimes it happens that the team is consists of many people having out of box logical thinking. Then those thoughts will sum up together to make a final decision for the organization (Zimbardo & Boyd, 2015). The group is a collection of two or more than two free interacting people with shared norms, values, and culture to provide a collective identity for the team as well as to an organization.

Organizational Culture

In an organization, two kinds of groups are found such as formal and informal. The group dynamics is required to follow certain steps. These steps are as followed:

Forming: This is the first step necessary for the formation of a group. In the case of forming certain aspects are always kept in mind. During formation, the individual characteristics of the team members are needed to be examined minutely. This is the most conflict situation during the team formation. As this time the member is unknown to each other and they always think that the other officers of the organization will not support their views. 

Storming: In this step, the teamwork collaborates on the task. The team members will understand the views of one another (Wright, Moynihan & Pandey, 2012). During the team work thoughts of all the members are collaborated.

Norming: In this case, the teamwork moves on in order to achieve the goal of the organization. In this stage members of the team starts to know each other to resolve the differences and to motivate one another. People get strongly committed to their job profile to improve the overall performance.

Performance: The performance of the team which is responsible for enhancing the performance of the entire group took place in this step (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015). The team members work together with all others support and motivation. This time, the emotional attachment of every individual is also calculated. If a team collaborates on a project and the task is about to complete then the members start realizing that the existence of the previous team will be staying jut for some days  (Morgeson, 2013). The attachment of the team members with their task always improves the individual performance and also the overall performance of the organization.

Adjourning: This is the last rather ultimate step of group dynamics. Any project team exists only for particular time period. In this stage construction of new team starts and even existing team reconstruction also starts.

Leadership in an organization is one of the most important factors that come into consideration during the measurement of organizational traits. Leadership is different from the management of an organization. Thus, the function of a leader and manager is also different from one another (Zimbardo & Boyd, 2015).  The role played of a leader is imperative in the field of organizational application. The leader is the person who takes all the vital decisions which are necessary to make for the overall performance improvement of an organization. The director of an organization plans, organizes and coordinate with the team members whereas the leader leaders the entire working process (Morgeson, 2013). The leadership traits motivate and inspire the performance of the team members. Leaders innovates new things in the organization that enhances the overall performance of the team.

Creativity and Innovations

Moore et al., (2012) Opined that the manager develops the performance of the team members, and it originated challenges within the team members and outside the team also. It has been found that the leaders make the transformation from the potential to the reality. Real leadership is necessary to improve the overall performance of a team. Leadership is an organization the key resource in any organization. Companies compete with one another based on the quality of their products (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015). Innovative products are produced with the help of the support and constructive suggestions provided by a leader of an organization.

A better leader always leads a group in order to create a better product in the competitive marketplace which will bring commercial benefits to the organization. A leader of an organization always tries to accomplish the requirement of a client. In order to mitigate the issues an organization should incorporate the working principle of a manager and the play role of a leader (Krishnan & Krutikova, 2013). If a management unable to provide a perfect leadership to its organization then the total system will be corrupted.

Leadership Styles has been divided on the basis of the qualities of the leader and the way of communication and decision making. Autocratic is the leadership style in which the leader is sole responsible for the work and decision making process. In democratic style of leadership the process of decision making is solely dependent on the leader. The communication is restricted and anarchical (Morgeson, 2013). Transformational leadership is the most suitable leadership style for any organization. In this transformational style the leader are motivators and they encourage their subordinates and followers.

The style is dependent on the higher level of the communication in the level of management. The leadership style is noted for the system where the leader engages in work with their subordinates for identifying the required change (Moore et al., 2012). They create the vision that helps in the change of the plan for achieving the goal of the organization. Transformational leadership style is committed to serve the purpose of enhancement of the moral and performance of the job.

Corporate culture is one of the most fundamental entities that are required to achieve the final goal of an organization. The culture of every individual along with the culture of the entire organization influences the performance of the team and the performance of an organization as well (Krishnan & Krutikova, 2013).  In teamwork, the culture of every member is needed to be measured. If the thought of all the members is different, then there is a chance of occurrence of two parallel situations. As every individual have different skills thoughts, culture, and behavior, therefore, it may create the problem within the team (McShane & Von Glinow, 2015). The barrier in the communication can be set up due to the occurrence of this issue.

Leadership in Organizations

Various thoughts and creativity implementation in a task may create innovation in the performance rather it can be said that the creativity addition in the task may improve the overall performance of a team. Sometimes this is also found that the creativity of a team is partially dependent on the group members (Hoch & Kozlowski, (2014). The members working in a group must have an interactive nature so that whatever thought is there in their mind they can share it with all the other members of the team. If the team members are motivating, then they can freely share their views with one another. It is not possible that a group contains all productive members. Creativity in the team leads one organization to innovations. Organizational culture is one of the most important factors that influence the performance. Some group members always have the capability to think in different ways. Therefore if the task contains all the logical thought together then, it will lead the company to ultimate benefits (Ritzhaupt & Martin, 2014). Leadership in the teamwork is also required in order to obtain the best possible solution for any task.

If the team is working on an IT project, then the group members must have compact knowledge in at least some of the mandatory subjects of IT. Then in the first step all the members should share their views about that particular project (Saxena & Jain, 2013). The thoughts of all the members are arranged in a well-organized manner. Some of the team members have some out of box knowledge about the project. Those knowledge summations will give creativity in the project work (Wright, Moynihan & Pandey, 2012). At the same time, the creativity will provide innovation in the task.

Therefore it can be said that organizational culture, creativity, and innovations are interrelated to each other. Teamwork has some positive impacts, but there is a chance of occurrence of adverse working environment for a large number of team members and their different views on the same topic. It is found that due to the presence of a huge number of members in a team a simple decision making process can become complicated (Valentine, Nembhard & Edmondson, 2015). Numbers of shared thoughts make the team lead confuse to choose the best option for them. If one of the provided suggestions given by the team members got selected then, other employees might sometimes feel jealous for that. Apart from this, for different views, a simple decision making process may become time-consuming (Ritzhaupt & Martin, 2014). In order to mitigate this issue, an organization should acquire some steps.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is found that different organizational context is defined by organizational behavior. It explains the key components of the behavioral aspects. These are necessary to improve the overall performance of the company. First one is the summation of the thoughts of all members and the second one is the possibility of problem incidents. A different member belonging to the same group can create confusion within the team work. The terms leadership and management are different, but these are complimentary to each other. It is unnecessary to differentiate the role play of a manager and a leader in an organization otherwise it will cause intra-organizational problems.

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