The Influence of Personality Dimensions on Organizational Performance

A journal article by Dr. Damary Sikalieh a Lecturer at the Chandaria School of Business in USIU- AfricaIn the 21st century, one of the most critical topical issues in the study of organizational behavior is the effects of workforce diversity such as personality on organizational performance. In today’s global and competitive environment, the general consensus is that organizations that capitalize on diversity are likely to perform better than organizations without the advantages that diversity brings. Workforce diversity refers to employee’s individual differences and similarities. It stands for individuality that includes personality, gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, region, sexual orientation, income, marital status, work experience and perceptions that uphold organizational core values. On the other hand, organizational performance can be defined as when an organization meets its set targets putting into consideration all other personality, external and internal dimensions that influence performance. The purpose of this study was to examine how personality dimensions impact on corporate organizational performance. A descriptive research design taking a survey approach was used. The target population of this study consisted of employees of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) from all the four locations, namely; Nairobi, Kisumu, Busia and Kilifi. A non-probability restricted purposive judgmental sampling was used to divide the population into two homogenous sub-groups; Research Officers and Administrative staff. Both the stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 85 employees of KEMRI comprising 55 researchers and 30 administrators. A semi-structured questionnaire sent through emails. The data analysis tool used was the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the findings were presented in the form of frequencies and percentages, in charts and tables. The findings on the personality dimensions and performance showed that the conscientiousness personality trait is the most predictive of job performance at followed by openness to experience, agreeableness, extraversion and emotional stability. In conclusion, the majority of KEMRI’s workforce is mainly composed of a conscientiousness personality trait, which has been found most predictive of job performance at the organization. Hence personality is useful for predicting other work-related criteria, like job satisfaction and job performance. The study recommends that KEMRI should consider personality tests as part of the recruitment and selection process