Personality and Communication Styles in the Workplace

Conflicts can arise in the workplace because of differing styles of task orientation, personality clashes, and interdependence conflicts. Most people have experienced a personality conflict at some point in their careers. Whether we like it or not, we are going to have to face various types of conflicts in the work environment, and we must learn how to communicate with fellow workers across different styles.

This paper explores the case of Parker Allison, who has been transferred to a different department in her company with a mandate from her boss to improve productivity. The interpersonal relationships in Parker's new department have presented challenges because of differing work and communication styles among her colleagues. The theoretical foundations of personality and communication with respect to the workplace are explored, Parker's interactions with her boss and two co-workers are described, and a counselor's recommended strategies for improving Parker's organizational fit are presented.

John Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments has been a dominant framework in career psychology for many years (Arnold, 2004, p. 95). Holland believed that there are six personality types and that people and occupations can be categorized using combinations of these types (Toomey, Levinson & Palmer, 2009, p. 82). According to Holland, the six personality types are: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional.

Realistic people work well with animals, tools, and machines, and tend not to thrive in more social professions such as teaching. Investigative people enjoy problem-solving but do not particularly like to persuade or lead others. Artistic types value creativity and the freedom to be expressive and independent. Social people tend to seek work in helping professions such as counseling or nursing. Enterprising people like to lead and persuade; they are skilled at selling but less effective at activities requiring careful observation and analytical thinking. Conventional people are suited to working with numbers, records, or machines in a prescribed, orderly fashion (CareerKey.org, 2011).

Parker can be categorized as an investigative type; she enjoys solving problems. She felt that her previous position as a customer service representative was well-suited to her personality and skills. She spent the majority of her workday on the phone, talking with people from across the United States — answering questions and providing callers with additional information, sometimes information they did not realize they needed but were grateful to receive. Parker enjoyed the interaction and liked hearing weather reports from around the country. She particularly valued the satisfaction she felt when customers thanked her and told her how helpful she had been.

Although Parker enjoyed talking with customers and always worked to build rapport, she was also adept at managing conversations so that she was not on the phone longer than necessary. As a result, Parker maintained a consistently high call volume, and it was this success that convinced her boss she was the right person to improve productivity in another department.

Parker visited a workplace communications consultant within the first two weeks at her new position. She had been flattered when her boss asked her to "work her magic" in the new department. Parker was given a raise and promised a bonus if she could improve productivity. Her nature as a problem-solver, combined with the appeal of greater annual income, made her determined to succeed in the new role.

As Saklani (2010, p. 71) points out, "Excessive concern for economic development and materialism during a major part of the last century in most of the countries of the world relegated values having bearing on the qualitative aspect of life to the background." He notes that organizations are now taking a greater interest in the quality of work life. Parker was delighted with her higher salary but felt the money would not be worth it unless she felt good about her work and her workplace. Ilies, Scott & Judge (2006, p. 561) point out that there is an increasing body of research on work behavior that goes beyond traditional measures of job performance. They found that people with positive affect and agreeable personalities exhibited greater levels of organizational citizenship than those deemed less agreeable or even disagreeable.

Parker's co-workers would probably all agree that she has a positive affect and an agreeable personality. She does not like conflict and feels that she goes out of her way to avoid it. She was therefore taken aback by the behavior of Susan, her new secretary. Susan is older than most people in the department and has less formal education. She avoids work when possible and complains frequently. She seems friendly in one-on-one exchanges, but Parker quickly discovered that Susan makes negative remarks and snide comments once someone is out of earshot. Parker's new boss was annoyed when she did not receive Parker's weekly report on time — Parker had finished the report several hours early, but Susan had not put the documents in inter-office mail in a timely fashion. Parker's relationship with Susan can be characterized as an interdependence conflict.