INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE WORKPLACE

1. What do you think happens when you put together a group of people from a variety of diverse backgrounds and cultures? This is what you are going to learn in this module. Two commonly recognized benefits include:

better problem solving
increased productivity
Think of staffing a company like putting together a puzzle: fitting people into the best fit with their skills and experiences, but not forgetting about considering their potential, too.

2. Not only do new diverse employees bring their skills and experiences, but they also bring their knowledge and ideas. Employees should not be nervous about making suggestions in front of their peers because research has shown that diverse teams see a 60% improvement in decision-making abilities (PM Editorial, 2017, para. 2).

Source: PM Editorial. (2017, October 23). Diversity drives better decisions. People Management. Retrieved from

3. Every employee has valuable input regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, or other cultural variables. It really all comes down to experience as to the quality of their suggestions.

Have you ever worked at a company where you had a supervisor who did not seem to appreciate you for your differences from your coworkers? If not, imagine that you were in that positionone where nothing you did seemed to please your supervisor. How would that make you feel? Given this scenario, would you be prepared to work all day with an upbeat feeling of confidence that you are a valued asset to your employer?

Your feelings really depend upon your own key personality characteristics, so it is important to know what those characteristics are. You can easily find out by taking the free Big 5 Test that is comparable to both the Myers-Briggs and Jung tests. The five factors measured by this test are: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability (also called “neuroticism”), and intellect/imagination (also called “openness”). The test only takes about seven minutes or less to complete.

4. Your essay will cover the following five questions:

List your five personality factors, including your score. Describe a summary of each factor according to the report received after taking the test.
After reviewing your report, is there any part of the report that you do not agree with? Why do you not agree with it? Explain in detail.
Is there any part of your personality characteristics that you want to work on to change? Explain in detail.
How does your personality affect your attitude at work? At home? In a public setting? Explain in detail.
How does your personality affect your job performance? Explain in detail.

5. A good way to organize your paper is to divide it into the following sections:

Introduction that briefly describes the assignment and personality test
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Neuroticism
Openness
Do I agree with my test results?
Time for a change?
Personality vs attitude
Personality vs job performance
References
Support your arguments with at least two scholarly references to the concepts you discuss in your paper.