Introduction
Personality refers to a pattern of feelings or behaviour that describes someone. It is an intrinsic character that arises from within a person and remains forever in their lives. Motivation, on the other hand, is the desire or need to act in order to meet certain objectives. It actually triggers personality and the way you work to achieve your goals. This paper will dig deep into my work peer’s character, Tom and how general motivation by the manager could help in improving such kind of personality.
The Person’s Personality
I will analyze Tom’s personality using the Big Five model. According to this model, there are five personality traits that people possess: Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (Dalpé et al., 2019). Openness implies that someone is able and willing to learn and grasp new things every day. They have a great interest in making decisions and seeing them yield as they had planned. Conscientiousness is that kind of personality that includes good behaviour and always being thoughtful in making decisions. A person who is an extrovert means that they are willing to work as a team, and that energizes them to produce the best results. Being agreeable means that you have trust in others, and you are kind enough to help others. Neuroticism means that most of the time, you are sad, moody, and you usually experience emotional instability. This type of trait reduces productivity and can also lead to poor interpersonal relationships.
I can bet that knowing my friend well, he possesses the trait of conscientiousness. He is conscientious because he sets priorities in his work and usually plans ahead to how to tackle the roles ahead of him. He is always interested in working with us so that we can all help in the overall development of our team. Importantly, Tom really loves teamwork and being associated with peers in every activity. Though he does not want to thrive in being the centre of attention in our group, he usually shows effort in having motivated us to do what is right and complete our work assignments on time. Tom agrees that all that he sees could help our company grow and improve in terms of productivity. He has such a sharing, cooperating and comforting character that many employers would want in their employees.
Motivation Theories
They are two theories of motivation that our manager can use to help Tom achieve his potential at work. These are Vroom’s expectancy theory and Skinner’s reinforcement theory. Vroom’s expectancy theory states that people will tend to put effort into what they do, expecting positive outcomes and increased productivity (Scheffer & Heckhausen, 2018). Since Tom is fond of setting achievable goals, the manager should create a working environment that enables workers like tom to produce to their maximum abilities. The manager could create work incentives and rewards for any work that has been successfully completed. Based on reinforcement theory, argued that people from certain working behaviours after they perform actions and experience their consequences. Given that my peer Tom is a good decision maker and a performer, appreciation through rewards could be the best way to help him increase productivity in whatever role he performs.
Process of Determination and Theory Recommendation
Individual behaviour is what helps in understanding what really motivates them. Motivational theories help in understanding personal approaches towards work and how they can improve their performance. I would really recommend the application of Vroom’s expectancy theory because it has been tested in improving productivity as well as motivating workers to increase their efforts in achieving their goals. Workers can set goals and look for the possible factors that could help them meet such goals. This includes working together with their peers as a team and combining efforts to reach greater heights, and they see their company thrive.
Application of the Tenets of Expectancy Theory and Reinforcement Theory
The manager is expected to invest more in ensuring that the resources needed in maximizing productivity are available. Rewarding the employee and ensuring that they are trained on how to follow their goal-setting blueprints and combining efforts with their peers to achieve higher work productivity (Baciu, 2018). Another way of motivating the employee is by ensuring that, as a manager, you are connected and associated with what the employee does and how they intend to accomplish certain tasks. This will help in establishing any possible gaps that could hinder the process of accomplishing the project and even knowing the possible areas that require reinforcement. Motivating individual personality is an essential factor towards increased employee productivity.
References
Baciu, L. E. (2018). EXPECTANCY THEORY EXPLAINING CIVIL SERVANTS’WORK MOTIVATION. EVIDENCE FROM A ROMANIAN CITY HALL. The USV Annals of Economics and Public Administration, 17(2 (26)), 146-160.
Dalpé, J., Demers, M., Verner-Filion, J., & Vallerand, R. J. (2019). From personality to passion: The role of the Big Five factors. Personality and Individual Differences, 138, 280-285.
Scheffer, D., & Heckhausen, H. (2018). Trait theories of motivation. In Motivation and action (pp. 67-112). Springer, Cham.
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