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Personality, on the other hand, refers to a wider range of scope -- that which involves feelings, emotions, thoughts, and behavior. In psychology, there is what is known as the Big Five Personality Traits or the OCEAN traits -- this comprises of five dimensions that account for variation in people's personalities. Some tender to be more OPEN, or curious about the world while others tend to be CONSCIENTIOUS, organized and punctual. Others tend to be EXTRAVERTS, outgoing, talkative, and high in social skills while some are more AGREEABLE as they are sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm. Last dimension is NEUROTICISM which refers to the anxious, moody personality (ibid).
The Challenge: Now, How Will I Manage All These?
Now, having discussed the points of differences that people may have in a workplace setting -- either stemming from their national characteristics or individual differences -- the work place manager is now faced with the task of being able to account for these two with the hope of attaining an orderly and peaceful workplace environment. According to Liff (1997), there are two popular strands that tackle diversity management: the first is focusing on individual differences while the other focuses on social group characteristics.
Given the learning from all these models, we can say that what is of paramount importance, as a new manager in the workplace is to first assess the people. What kind of personality do they have? What kind of national characteristic do they possess? Only through this understanding can the manager effectively assess and effectively work upon what needs to be addressed. Once a thorough understanding of the employees has been done, one can proceed on classifying what is more salient on them -- their individual differences or their national characteristics? Which of these two greatly affect their behavior and decisions? Which of these two are more salient in particular situations? The new manager can then devise ways of managing diversity: that which is focused on resolving...
The manager also needs to bear in mind that employees should not be punished or rewarded on the basis of their personality type (TDCJ. 2009). If certain situations call for the manager to adopt the national characteristics-focused way of managing diversity then it is vital to understand any point of contention because of cultural differences and make people understand the diversity of their cultural values.
At the end of the day, it is imperative for the manager to be able to accommodate the differences among his employees and to create choices to minimize diversity issues. Also the style of managing diversity should be dynamic, hence able to adapt to varied circumstances. Situational leadership should also be accounted for -- that of learning when to lead, manage, or allow people to resolve their differences among themselves (ibid).
References
Bauer, Tayla. n.d. Individual Differences: Values and Personality. Available at:
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/organizational-behavior/34687 [Accessed
5 June 2010].
Cornell University. 2010. Organizational Behavior. Available at:
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/research/subjectguides/organizationalbehavior.html
Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 2009. Managing Diversity Training Series. Available at: http://tdcj.state.tx.us/vacancy/diversity/diversity2.htm [Accessed 5 June 2010].
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_66.htm [Accessed 5 June 2010].
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