Industrial – Organizational Psychology and Personality Differences at the Workplace
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Personality and Communication at the Workplace
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Personality Differences at the Workplace
Our different personality traits play a key role in our ability to recognize that while people are different, they deserve respect and care as well. Everyone has different abilities and strengths, but we are all valuable individuals. In the workplace, it is especially important to recognize these differences. Communicating effectively among coworkers is necessary. It can help release the motivation and leadership skills from within our employees, which key to a successful company. Communication skills are different among individuals everywhere. We need to communication with others around us, especially at the workplace. If we have a good relationship with our coworkers, we can gain the cooperation needed to complete our tasks.
If I examine myself for specific qualities that make me successful, I can determine my strengths and weaknesses. I believe that by doing this, I can get a better idea on places that may need improvement. Below I have listed a few styles of communication that I do have.
Communication and Personality Style Strengths:
Good listening skills
Ability to understand the point of view of others
Good posture
Ability to allow others to choose and make decisions that are in the best interest of the company.
I recognize a persons emotions and have empathy towards them
I express my personal feelings without fear of being judged.
I am motivated individual
I have good decision making qualities and consider how my decision may affect others.
I am flexible and can adapt to changes easily.
I am attentive and maintain eye contact during communication.
I am trustworthy and honest.
If I feel there is a problem I look for the answer causing it and take action.
Communication and Personality Style Weaknesses:
Interrupt occasionally
I have problems with completing tasks on time because I postpone things till the last minute.
My feelings can be over sensitive.
I tend to sigh a lot when I am frustrated with something I cannot figure out.
At times I speak too loud or too quickly.
When I am criticized, occasionally I feel it as a personal attack.
I have difficulty trusting people I do not know.
Some people may have trouble working with me on a job because of my differences. I have had situations with people on the job that had a different way of doing things. Each situation is very different, however I did what I felt was necessary at the time. I will explain three examples of how I handled situations that occurred between me and other employees.
One of my situations involved am employee who was late to work every day. This affected me because I would have to stay longer to finish the work that was required by our supervisor. It also caused a conflict with my daughters babysitter because she had to stay longer also.
I had always had a good relationship with this coworker. We had mutual interests and enjoyed similar things, so our conversations flowed smoothly. One day I decided to be straightforward and ask her what was making her late every time she was scheduled to work. I admitted that I procrastinate quite a bit so I can relate to others who wait till the last minute to get something done.
I offered her a ride to work if transportation was an issue, because we lived only 2 streets apart. She looked relieved to explain that she was involved in a rough relationship with a controlling guy. She said that he was extremely jealous of her and her friends/coworkers. She would be verbally and physically attacked if she was late coming home from work. He would accuse her of cheating on him and call her terrible names, so by leaving for work a bit late she assumed he would still feel that he was a priority over her job.
We thought over the different choices we could make to change the situation. I asked her if we could explain to the supervisor that if your schedule was posted 15-30 minutes earlier, she could arrive at the job right on time. My supervisor and coworker discussed how a schedule change of just a few minutes could make a huge difference for everyone involved. I think that this was a great way to handle this situation, rather than having her coworkers write individual complaints daily.
A different strategy I could have used a different strategy such as writing up a complaint anonymously to the supervisor. I could also have changed the time the babysitter went home to later on, but in the end I think that confronting the issue was the best strategy in this particular instance.
In another situation, we had a girl that had been employed with us for 4 years. She was extremely shy. Every time she communicated with someone she would only whisper. She never made eye contact with anyone at work and she was very withdrawn. When we would have a supper break, she would sit at a table alone and read a book for the entire 30 minutes.
Another girl and I decided to try and help her socialize more. We started out by asking her to join us on the smaller break which was 15 minutes. I have a tendency to talk a little loud at times, so I made sure to talk in a medium tone to ensure her comfort. During the short break we would discuss things that are of mutual interest to most everyone. For example I said “Lisa, how do you feel about all this snow we are having and its only October?” Next the other girl would smile and nod to show her we were listening and had an interest in her opinions. We want her to feel comfortable we us, because we spend so much time together every day.
Each time we had a break we would try to do something to include her to share her opinions with us. I would buy a large pizza with a pitcher of soda and put it in the middle of the table. I thought to myself that everyone likes pizza and Pepsi so this allowed her to interact with us in another way.