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BABEŞ-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS
AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
CLUJ-NAPOCA
Bachelor’s thesis
Scientific Coordinator
Conf.univ.dr. Monica Aniela Zaharie
Student
Florina TEODORESCU
2015
BABEŞ-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS
AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
CLUJ-NAPOCA
Bachelor’s thesis
Personality traits and
performance in real estate
sales
Scientific Coordinator
Conf.univ.dr. Monica Aniela Zaharie
Student
Florina TEODORESCU
2015
Contents TABLE OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. 4
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 6
1. SITUATION ANALYSIS .................................................................................. 8
1.1. EVOLUTION OF WORK PSYCHOLOGY AND HRM ..................................................... 8
1.2. CURRENT STATE OF HR PRACTICES IN ROMANIA .................................................. 12
2. THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION AND RESEARCH METHODS ................20
2.1. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL .................................................................................. 20
2.2. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE JOB PERFORMANCE ................................................... 35
3. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH .............................44
3.1. OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESES ............................................................ 44
3.2. SAMPLE OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................ 46
3.3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND METHODOLOGY .................................................. 48
3.3.1. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL QUESTIONNAIRE................................................ 48
3.3.2. PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................... 48
3.4. COLLECTION OF THE DATA ................................................................................... 50
3.5. RESEARCH RESULTS.............................................................................................. 51
3.5.1. PERSONALITY TESTING RESULTS ................................................................... 51
3.5.2. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL RESULTS ............................................................ 55
3.5.3. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FFPI FACTORS AND PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
CRITERIA.. .............................................................................................................. …….56
3.5.4. OTHER CORRELATIONS ................................................................................. 57
4. CONCLUSIONS, FALLACIES AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS ..60
LIST OF REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 62
APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................ 65
TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1 - The distribution of sample according to age..............................................47
Figure 2 - The distribution of employees according to seniority ................................47
Figure 3 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Extroversion ....................52
Figure 4 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Agreeableness ..................52
Figure 5 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Conscientiousness ............53
Figure 6 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Emotional Stability ..........54
Figure 7 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Openness to Experience ...54
Figure 8 - Averages of performance appraisal criteria across the sample ...................55
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INTRODUCTION
As the majority of research regarding the effects of personality features on
performance is focused mainly on the American population, the present study intends
to offer some insight into the particularities of the issue in a completely different
setting. While there is previous research on this subject focused on the European
population, in Romania, the study of the correlation between personality and
performance is still in its infancy. This thesis therefore hopes to offer some insight
into this matter and at the same time serve as a tool for companies wanting to improve
the success of their selection processes, as well as for individuals who wish to pursue
a career that will suit their personality and the needs that derive from it.
At present, most of the companies operating in Romania do not have and therefore,
do not use the knowledge of either Human Resource Management or Work
Psychology in their employee selection processes (Ticu, 2004). Most of these
decisions are made intuitively, and, as such, the rate of employee turnover and job
dissatisfaction increases, resulting in lower performance for the employees as well as
for the company. The solution, however, is not to attempt to imitate the western
model of management, especially regarding human resources, but to gain knowledge
in the fields of HRM and work psychology and understand the particularities and the
implications of the Romanian culture on organizational culture and the perspective on
work of Romanians.
The main aim of this thesis is to identify the degree to which certain personality traits
or combinations of personality traits influence individual work performance, if such a
correlation can be established in the first place. Performance will be assessed in a
professional context, in the field of real estate. The study will be focused on a sample
of 21 employees of a real estate agency based in Cluj-Napoca. The performance of
these employees will be assessed using supervisory ratings and sales data.
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There are three main objectives that derive from the aforementioned aim. The first of
them is the identification of correlations between performance and personality. Such
knowledge may be used as criteria for increasing the effectiveness of selection
processes.
Secondly, the present work intends to build a ground for further research on the
subject of the link between personality and work performance, a subject that has yet
to receive its due attention in Romania. Everywhere, there seems to be a chiasm
between theoreticians and practitioners, yet in Romania this chiasm seems to be
significantly more prominent. The present thesis is written with the intention to make
this chiasm smaller and to bring closer together the theory and the practice of work
psychology and HRM.
Lastly, this paper is itself meant to build on the pre-existing knowledge in the fields
of work psychology and human resource management. Thus, in line with that intent, a
number of hypotheses will be drawn in order to both verify the previous findings in
the context of a Romanian company and attest the discovery of new correlations
between specific dimensions of personality and individual job performance.
For the purpose of identifying the personality traits of the sample population, the five-
factor model of personality will be used, also known as the “Big Five model”.
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1. SITUATION ANALYSIS
1.1. EVOLUTION OF WORK PSYCHOLOGY AND HRM
Given the severe attempt to control information and supress the voices of
inconvenient personalities during the years 1945-1989, following the evolution of
what would become human resources management and work psychology is not an
easy undertaking. These files of history feature a strange combination of recorded,
proven facts and less known, ambiguous information blurred by controversy.
At the beginning of the 20th century, work psychology developed into the several
directions: personnel psychology, engineering psychology, work rationalization,
economic (behavioural) psychology, social psychology of work and organizational
psychology (Jurcău, Drugas, 2008). In Romania, the first studies regarding work
psychology appear in the wake of the 1st World War, following a period of economic
recovery. Work psychology and its evolution were shaped by the impact of several
factors, namely the contribution of universities, the activity of the first
psychotechnology laboratories and institutes, ergonomics as an established science
and several publications which had a resonating effect during the century.
Not long after psychology gains global recognition as an experimental science, the
seeds of psychology as an independent science begin to sprout also in Romania.
Under the supervision of W. Wundt, E. Gruber, C. Rădulescu-Motru, F. Stefănescu-
Goangă, the first Romanian pioneers of experimental psychology complete their
apprenticeship in the first laboratory of this kind established in 1879 in Leipzig,
Germany.
In 1906, Constantin Radulescu-Motru establishes the laboratory of experimental
psychology in the University of Bucharest, whose development will be laboured due
to the lack of funding. In Cluj-Napoca, Stefănescu-Goanga and C. Rădulescu-Motru
9
obtain permission from the Ministry of Labour to form psychotechnology laboratories
in Cluj and Bucharest (Bejat, 1972). The year 1930 features the creation of the
Academical Society of Psychotechnology, which publishes “The journal of
experimental and practical psychology” (“Revista de psihologie experimentală si
practică”). The first issue of the journal features an ample description of the
Rationalization and Psychotechnology conference from Berlin. The Laboratory of
Bucharest also seems keep up with international developments, translating and re-
testing the Army Alpha tests and performing studies on people working in the oil
extraction industry from Valea Prahovei and workers from the cement factory of Gura
Hont (Rosca, 1967). The Army Alpha was a group-administered test developed by
Robert Yerkes and six others for the purpose of evaluating U.S. military recruits
during World War I. The test also featured a non-verbal exam dubbed Army Beta,
meant for illiterate or foreign-speaking soldiers.
The institute of experimental comparative and applied psychology of Cluj-Napoca is
established in 1922, under the direction of founder Florian Stefănescu-Goangă. The
activity on the institute is mainly centred around the adaptation and elaboration of
tests and questionnaires, as well as the development of psychotechnical tools. The
studies performed within the institute were published in the Journal “Psychological
studies and research”, which spanned the years 1929-1945. While greatly appreciated
by Nicolae Margineanu, the work of Stefanescu-Goanga did not elude criticism from
other members of the scientific community, who commented on the excessive
reliance on testing, which sometimes lead to conventional, biased results.
The attention of work psychology specialists was focused, among other issues, on
professional orientation, which represented a current issue in Romania. While abroad,
vocational guidance was mostly supported by those who worked in the industry, in
Romania, the issue was brought up by universities, especially by those in Cluj and
Bucharest. The founding of experimental psychology laboratories in the above-
mentioned university centres allowed the creation of the first research and studies
pertaining to work psychology and vocational guidance.
The Romanian psychology gained unanimous international recognition during the
interwar period, only to be suppressed, years later, by the communist regime. On the
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background of social transformations, political oppression and ideological confusion
characterizing the 1940s, work psychology moves through a difficult phase. While
vocational guidance remains in the forefront of preoccupations, the issue is deprived
of the scientific support provided by institutions.
After 1950, the development of small clusters of support built around personalities of
the realm of work psychology provides a foundation for continuing research. One
such collective is the one in Cluj, which managed to complete research in various
areas of work psychology under the guidance of Alexandru Rosca, some related to the
adaptation of the worker to the profession. Most often, the research conducted by this
group would take on issues related to selection and personnel training, organization of
work, product quality control, and accident prevention (Jurcău, Drugas, 2008).
The year 1964 witnesses the formation of the Association of Psychologists of
Romania. National conferences pertaining to the domain follow, each featuring a
segment dedicated to work psychology. The first symposium dedicated to work
psychology takes place in 1970; among other contributions, the symposium leads to
the identification of the main problems that plague the Romanian industrial
psychologist. The main themes of the symposium were vocational guidance, selection
and professional placement, engineering psychology, industrial and organizational
psychology (Pitariu, 1978).
This period is characterised by the apparition and publication of a series of work
psychology monographs and manuals, written by several prominent personalities in
the area. The researchers would publish their findings in issues of actuality such as
the prevention of fatigue and accidents, pertaining to the field of ergonomics, or
psychosocial issues, such as absenteeism and personnel fluctuation. The works
published would often have a practical character, due to the collaboration with
companies belonging to the mining and pharmaceutical industries.
Starting from 1975, psychology falls from communist grace; university professors
and prominent figures of the field are promptly dismissed and directed towards other
work places. The departments of psychology in universities all over the country are
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subsequently removed. This abrupt banning of psychology takes its toll on the rhythm
of development of psychology as a whole.
After 1989, the Faculties of psychology of Bucharest, Cluj and Iasi are reinstated and
new universities are established at Timisoara, Oradea, Constanta and other Romanian
cities.
Ever since the fall of the Communist regime in Romania, the academic circles of
work psychology and human resources have been slowly covering the ground lost in
the previous decades. During the 80s, while Ceausescu and his followers were
occupied with the aggressive abolition of psychology, in the rest of the world, IT and
telecommunications were flourishing, globalization and internationalization were
changing the rules of the game for production and consumption, and the importance
of human resource management was reconsidered in the light of new findings related
to its strategic character. After the veil of communism was lifted, there was
humungous growth in publications and research. The newfound freedom manifested
itself in collaborations with work psychologists from Western countries. The new
political and social conditions, the unrestricted access to books and conferences
contributed to minimizing the gap between Romanian and mainstream work
psychology and human resource practices (Kiss, 2012). The economic crisis that
followed, which damaged not only industrial giants who seemed untouchable, but
also demolished several myths relating to the supposedly failsafe western managerial
practices, continues to shape the way human resources are managed in today’s
organizations.
During last years of transition, Romania, along with the other Central and Eastern
European countries, continuously borrowed practices, principles and management
methodologies used by developed countries. The labour market was also going
through change, as a result of the population decrease after the regime change. The
population decrease, caused by reduced fertility rate, reduced number of live births
and increased number of deaths, coupled with the contraction of economic activity,
which led to the departure of a significant fraction of the total population abroad,
caused a significant change in the size of the workforce (Russu, 2014).
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1.2. CURRENT STATE OF HR PRACTICES IN ROMANIA
In the meantime, growing awareness regarding the importance of human resources
was taking its toll on the way that these were managed. Economic competition and
the advent of multinational companies and foreign investors have contributed to
shifting the mentalities regarding the importance of human resources in organizations.
While there continues to be a gap between domestic HR practices and Western ones,
the situation seems to be improving as time passes.
As such, data from a 2006 study regarding the human resources market of Romania
conducted on companies of all sizes reveals that in the majority of the companies, the
HR manager has less of a strategic influence, since most of the decisions regarding
Human Resource Management are taken by the General Manager (53.6%) or the
Administrative Board (19.2%), while the HR Manager is in charge of these decisions
only 12% of the time. In the following year, data from the same study shows a slight
amelioration in the situation, with the HR manager making strategic HR decisions in
19% of the cases. Other data points to the fact that a HR strategy is more likely to be
established in companies that have a higher number of employees, which are, perhaps
not coincidentally, the companies who also have an established HR function. As such,
95% of companies with over 1000 employees have a HR strategy, as opposed to 57%
of small organizations with less than 10 employees (Marinas & Puia, 2009).
However, the greater cause for concern is the fact that most companies are not
transparent regarding the objectives of their human resource strategies. It is a fact
well known that in order to have better odds at reaching a particular strategic
objective, each and every employee needs to be engaged and of course
knowledgeable about the workings inside the company. While there is a tendency for
improvement, at present, survey data seems to indicate that most companies’
employees are not familiar with the objectives of HR strategy (Marinas & Puia,
2009).
As what regards the annual spending budget on HR activities, the average for
Romania is 92 EUR per employee (Romanian HR profile 2006). Survey data shows
that a third of companies invest between 150 and 200 EUR per employee for training
13
and development, while 38% of companies invest less than 50 EUR per employee
annually. To put this into perspective, the data from the Official Statistics of Finland
(OSF): CVTS, Continuing vocational training survey reveals that in Finland, course
training costs average at an impressive 573 EUR per employee annually. The
situation does not look especially favourable, even less so when we take into account
the fact that a high quality training course would cost an organization upwards of 50
EUR per employee. In these conditions, it is clear that one in three companies provide
none or poor quality training for their employees. Survey information from 2007
suggests a slight decrease in spending, with the average training budget per employee
estimated at 87 EUR per year. On the other hand, the training budget allocated to top
managers is approximatively three times larger. On a brighter note, there is proof
indicating that there is a larger population of employee being exposed to training in
2007 than in the previous year, as there were less companies that completely lacked a
training budget, and more companies that recorded a training budget higher than 200
EUR.
The main training subject requested was communication training (83%), closely
followed by Sales (73.4%) and Team Building (62%). There is also significant
interest in Presentation skills, Negotiation and General Management, the latter one
specific to manufacturing companies which often have issues with middle
management employee retention. Since the employee training and development
market is only in its infancy in Romania, it is expected that organizations offering
training will be more highly specialised in the future, and also slightly decrease the
prices for team building, communication and sales.
The Romanian labour market is characterized by a shortage of well prepared and
experienced candidates, who demand higher and higher salaries. According the HR
professionals, it is dissatisfaction with the salary that is behind most employees’
decisions to leave. Another factor often located behind employees’ decisions to leave
is the desire to change the type or field of activity. However, this information should
be viewed with a healthy dose of scepticism, as few companies (37%) organize “exit
interviews”. There seems to be continuous pressure on companies to increase salaries,
as the indicator for reasons to leave due to compensation has increased since the
14
previous year. The main reasons for employee discharge are, in order of frequency,
indiscipline, incompetency, restructuring and theft.
Data from HR Outlook studies spanning the years 2010-2013 indicate that the main
areas of activity of HR departments in companies, in order of budget distribution, are:
Training and professional development
Recruiting
Specific HR logistics
Remuneration
Internal communiation
While e-learning was not particularly popular with companies during the first decade
of the 21st century, in 2010 it was responsible for a slight decrease in training and
development costs, in comparison to the previous year. Recruiting continues to be a
major preoccupation of all companies, with significant costs associated to it due to the
increasing tendency of outsourcing it or collaborating with external consultants.
While external consultants are not often involved in the HR activity of the company,
when they are, it is most likely in relation to recruitment and selection (35% of the
cases), performance management (15% of the cases), and internal communication
(20% of the cases).
The least important activities, as reported by the HR Outlook 2010 survey, were
performance management, organizational studies, consultancy for HR processes and
systems development, and litigation and compensation.
By the year 2013, data from the HR Outlook report looks significantly different in
some areas. One of these is the performance management budget allocation, which
registered an increase of 36% since the previous year. Companies spent more on
Performance management, and less on HR Administration. This may be a clue as to
the shift in paradigm, as the HR function moves closer and closer to becoming a key
strategic function.
15
Regarding Knowledge Performance Indicators (KPIs), the one that receives the most
attention is the Turnover rate. HR Departments use this indicator almost twice as
much as they use the Productivity or Profit per Employee indicators. For Recruitment
and Selection, the main KPI under surveillance is the average recruitment time. It is
interesting to note that the time needed for recruitment metric is considered by
companies to be more important than the metrics related to cost, such as the average
recruitment cost (HR Outlook 2013). The preferred recruitment sources are
newspaper advertisements (80.8%), internal recruitment systems (60.5%),
recommendations (47.3%), specialized websites (46.3%) and specialized companies
(34.5%). Perhaps unsurprisingly, most companies rely on other methods of
recruitment, resorting to collaborating with specialized companies only in slightly
over a third of the cases. As for Professional development and training, the most used
indicator is the Training Rate also known as Total number of training hours per year
(46%), followed closely by the Total Training Cost/Employee (41%).
All in all, Recruitment and Training and Development continue to be at the top of
most HR department’s budget, across the years, together accounting for 44% of the
budget. The situation, however, differs drastically when it comes to performance
appraisals and performance management, which is currently at the lower end of the
priority list for Romanian companies.
Several studies and surveys conducted on SMEs paint a completely different picture
for the state of HR practices in Romania. The companies surveyed in the above
mentioned studies, regardless of size, did have an HR function inside their
organizational structure. Multinational and large companies often have the added
advantage of foreign managerial know-how, which contributes significantly to
strategic management. In the absence of this knowledge, and given the relative youth
of the SME sector in Romania, it is perhaps understandable that human resources and
their management are so blatantly neglected in Romanian small and medium
companies. The existence of a gap between HRM research and practices is obvious
even in large companies, yet in SMEs, this gap is even more debilitating, since
managers of small companies are often constrained by the scarcity of resources, and
cannot simply imitate the large companies’ model of HRM.
16
According to Marinas & Puia (2009), who conducted a study on small and medium
companies, public companies, large companies and multinational companies, an
estimated 79% of the investigated companies had a HR department. Another study
conducted on SMEs indicated that only a third of companies had a HR department.
By correlating this information with the respective size of the companies interviewed,
it is revealed that preoccupation towards HRM increases together with the company’s
size. According to the same study, only 30% of companies seek assistance from
specialized companies for HR activities like evaluation, professional development
and recruitment and selection (Grigore, 2008). In Romania, there is a history of DIY
culture with regard to almost everything, and HR practices are no exception. Just as a
few years ago, sellers and buyers would avoid seeking the services of a real estate
company, in order to avoid unnecessary spending – because they could manage by
themselves just fine, so it is now that companies most often prefer to conduct HR
activities by themselves, without external consultancy. The reason behind this
decision is simple: one on hand, the benefits of collaborating with specialized HR
companies are not widely known, and on the other hand, the resources available to
SMEs are so limited that they do not allow for the use of consultancy for HR specific
activities.
Managerial training seems to relieve the issue of requesting consultancy services for
HR activities, which inevitably leads to the conclusion that the knowledge factor
weighs significantly in the decision to employ or not to employ the services of a
specialized HR company, since the trained manager becomes more aware of the
importance of human resources management and of the possibilities of company
growth that it would allow, if managed effectively. Furthermore, as a result of
training, a manager would understand the complexity of the HR field, and admit that
it would require continuous effort to resolve HR issues, which may lead to
questionable solutions.
Regarding the recruitment methods, it has been revealed that most companies
belonging to the SME category predominantly use informal channels for the purpose
of recruitment of both executive and management personnel. The method assumes the
existence of previous knowledge on candidates. The second most used recruitment
method is the publication of job and vacancy advertisements in internal recruitment
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systems, which allows a company’s employees to be informed about vacancies. This
is an especially efficient approach because it decreases the acclimatization period of
the employee, since he/she is already accustomed to the company culture and
practices, it promotes engagement, since it acts as a strong motivator for employees,
and it reduces overall costs for selection. Internal recruitment systems are used for
both executive and management personnel (Marinas & Puia, 2009). Among other
widely used recruitment methods for executive personnel are mass-media recruitment
(38%) and employment requests published in newspapers (34%) (Grigore, 2008).
Recruitment agencies are also used when a company is searching for management
personnel. The nature of the job seems to account for the variability in the preferred
methods for recruitment.
In what regards the selection phase, there are a number of criteria that revealed itself
as most important for SMEs:
Qualities, knowledge and personal abilities
Diplomas or certificates for studies
Work experience
Previous position held
References or recommendations from a third party
Of these, the one that weighed the most as a criterion was Qualities, knowledge and
personal abilities, followed by diplomas or certificates for studies. The fact that these
two come in the first and second positions does not come as a surprise, as it would be
only natural for the selection process to be reliant on personal abilities and qualities,
and for the candidates to be distinguished by their education and studies. Not far
behind the second criterion was work experience, which is preferred by some
entrepreneurs to differentiate between candidates, while others prefer little to no
experience, as it allows them to train the employees according to the company’s
values and culture. These findings are also confirmed by Marinas & Puia (2009).
Regarding the selection methods, the same study conducted by Grigore in 2008 found
that for execution personnel, the most used methods are the interview and practical
testing, whereas management personnel is most often selected through interview, CV
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and KSA tests. Another study indicated the occasional use of motivational letters for
managerial staff selection (Marinas & Puia, 2009). The study has revealed a positive
correlation between the size of the enterprise and the use of formal methods of
selection. For example, KSA testing is used in microenterprises only in
approximatively 10% of the cases, as opposed to medium companies, where it is
reaches a percentage of 70%. Although less popular, the same trend can be seen for
personality testing, which is rarely used in small enterprises, but is used in 1 in 4
medium companies. Some causes behind the restricted use of personality testing in
companies may be the lack of knowledge, potential ethical issues and the cost
associated with purchasing and using viable personality inventories and
questionnaires.
When it comes to training and developing human resources, most SMEs prefer to
accomplish this in their own companies, at the workplace (Grigore, 2008). The
situation does not differ in other types of companies, as proven by the study of
Marinas & Puia (2009), with the majority of companies preferring on the job training
for their employees. Besides cost issues, another possible reason for this is the fact
that a company with a small number of employees is restricted by this and cannot
afford to stifle production in order to send an employee to external training.
Nonetheless, it seems that also in the case of training, the size of the company
influences the range and diversity of training that employees receive.
The situation is strongly divided in the case of personnel evaluation: 52% of SMEs
evaluate their employees, while the rest of 48% do not (Grigore, 2008). While the
existence of performance evaluations or lack thereof depends on the size of the
company, the figure is surprisingly small, even for medium companies (63%). Of
those that use performance appraisals, almost half prefer results measurements as the
main method for evaluation. The rest are divided among behavioural observation,
peer appraisals and other methods of evaluation. Regardless, formalized systems for
evaluation are usually rare in SMEs, and the evaluation process lacks constancy in
interpretation and operationalization. As for whom is responsible for conducting the
performance appraisals, it is most often the direct manager (60% of cases), and only
an estimated of 23% for the department manager (Marinas & Puia, 2009).
19
All in all, it can be said with certainty that there is a connection between the size of a
company and the degree to which HRM has a formalized functioning inside a
company. While many of the issues affecting the proper implementation of HRM
inside a company are due to lack of knowledge and can be remedied by training
management personnel, some are simply caused by the lack of resources. The
challenge for small companies is to develop using very flexible HRM practices using
scarce resources, and avoid falling into rigid procedures. At present, the approach of
SMEs to HRM is rather reactive. Managers should strive to make it more proactive,
and performance evaluations are one of the ways in which companies can be brought
closer towards an effective, systemic and proactive HR management.
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2. THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION AND RESEARCH
METHODS
2.1. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
According to S, Rothmann and E. P. Coetzer (2003), job performance is a complex
construct which indicates the performance of employees in their tasks, the initiative
they take, the resourcefulness they show in solving problems, the degree to which
they complete tasks, their available resources and the time and the energy they spend
on their tasks.
Appraising performance is defined as the act of observing and evaluating an
employee’s work behaviour and accomplishments. Performance appraisal is intended
to offer a measurement of real performance against expected performance.
Performance appraisals may be used for various purposes, ranging from wages, salary
and benefits to promotion, demotion, or termination actions to training, counseling
and career-development options. The systematic methods of identifying and
measuring employee performance can become extremely useful tools for Human
Resources in planning and improving an employee’s future performance.
Furthermore, having an effective performance appraisal system can lead to many
benefits, including the ability to control marginal performance, reduction of losses
from ineffective performance, and generally leads to a more efficient use of
personnel. The organization, however, is not the only one who can gain from a well-
built performance appraisal system, as also individuals may gain rewards for effective
performance, as well as a clear understanding of their career path.
As for the person or persons responsible for evaluating performance, possibilities are
vast. The assessment may be performed by immediate supervisors, peers,
subordinates, evaluation committees, personnel department staff, training department
staff, external sources, and also by one’s self. It is possible for an organization to use
only one or a combination of the following methods in order to conduct performance
21
evaluations. While the most popular method seems to be that of reviews conducted by
an employee’s immediate supervisor, it is not necessarily the most effective. On one
hand, supervisors are viewed by employers as legitimate performance evaluators who
are qualified to make career development decisions. On the other hand, it is possible
that the employee subjected to the performance appraisal feel uneasy regarding the
process, especially if there are frictions and tensions standing in the way of
communication with his/her supervisor, which may ultimately bias the results of the
appraisal.
Another option which has its advantages and disadvantages is the self-appraisal
method. Self-appraisals are known to contribute to employee satisfaction with the
evaluation process. The reason for this is that having employees participate in setting
their own performance goals, determining evaluation criteria, rating themselves, as
well as discussing their performance with supervisors reduces their tendency to
become defensive regarding appraisals and leads to greater improvement in
performance. The downside is that employees have a tendency to over-estimate their
performance when they are permitted to make their own performance appraisal.
Moreover, employees with lower performance are less precise in reviewing their own
performance than are employees with greater performance. (Ticu, 2004).
Another viable option is that of employee evaluations of supervisors and managers.
This is an excellent tool for assessing the performance of managers and supervisors
since it allows for multiple ratings from different sources, minimizing the chance that
the results may be heavily biased, and it encourages employees to view workplace
demands through the eyes of their supervisors. Additionally, the employees offer a
valuable viewpoint of their supervisor’s performance, since they are in the ideal
position to assess the leadership ability of the supervisor. This method is also
beneficial to the organizational culture, because it promotes an environment of
participation and provides valuable feedback to managers. The method is not without
its flaws, as some supervisors may feel threatened by employee evaluations and apply
negative sanctions to the work group if negative reviews are offered. Fearing
reprisals, employees may also inflate ratings. In addition to this, it is often said that
workers may not fully understand a supervisor’s job requirements, and as such, they
are not in a position to review their performance. Another potential flaw of this
22
method is the biasing of results due to the possibility of employees emphasizing
criteria relevant to their own relationship with the supervisor, which may or may not
be highly relevant for their performance. Some of these issues may be remedied by
anonymity.
A method that is increasingly growing in popularity is the 360 Degree review method.
In this method, all members of the organization’s internal environment which have
contact with the individual under review give appraisal input. The method is said to
be effective when reviewing all levels of management, including even the senior level
managers. The 360 degree review method features a questionnaire that includes
specific open ended questions related to the manager’s effectiveness and style,
questionnaire which has to be completed by all contact persons within the
organization. The input is based on observation through direct contact and interaction
with the reviewed person. Consultants are often used to assist in the process’
administration. They also work with managers in order to develop an action plan for
communicating results. External evaluators, such as consultants or assessment-centre
raters, may also be employed to conduct performance appraisals. The performance
appraisal obtained with the help of external evaluation may be more accurate, since
they often employ standardized techniques which are known to be statistically
accurate and legally protected. However, involving them in the appraisal process is
costly, and they typically evaluate behaviour in hypothetical rather than actual
situations.
Another option for conducting performance appraisals is the peer review appraisal
technique. Research has shown that peer appraisals are reliable and valid predictors of
job performance. There are a number of factors that lead to the validity of the method.
First of all, peers often have first-hand knowledge of one another’s performance. In
addition, there is less pressure and tension involved in a review made among peers.
Employees may respond better to peer-provided reviews than to management or
supervisory feedback, since the power disadvantage is removed. However, a single
rating provides lower reliability than would provide a set or an average of several
peer ratings. Among other issues that may affect the results of this method is the
unwillingness of peers to evaluate each other, biases caused by friendship or dislikes,
as well as competition within the work group. It is known that raises may be
23
considered as the most important feature of the appraisal process, fact which may
influence the outcome of appraisals. Peer reviews may switch the focus of
performance appraisals from raises to actual performance and methods to improve
performance. This is in line with the recommendation of experts in the field to
separate discussion of raises and promotions from performance appraisal discussions,
since combining the two can only lead to lack of clarity regarding performance
appraisals discussions. Simply put, the performance appraisal and review should be
focused solely on past performance and should be viewed from the standpoint of
expectations and behavioural modifications required in order to meet or even exceed
future expectations and performance goals. Some researchers argue that including
raises in the performance evaluation discussion has a positive effect on the morale of
the employee and on future performance streaks (Ticu, 2004). However, raises and
salary discussions do not impact either phase of appraisal process, and should be kept
until after the appraisal process is concluded. Involving discussion of salary in the
appraisal process may only lead to demotivating an employee if he or she does not
obtain the raise or promotion expected. Feedback should be focused on work
performance relative to work demands and expectations.
Now that discussion of the possible responsible persons for conducting appraisals is
complete, it is possible to shift the focus towards the performance appraisal
techniques available at present. There are nearly as many techniques as there are
options for performance evaluators. A number of 8 techniques will be presented and
explained, featuring also the advantages and the disadvantages specific to each
technique.
Trait based measures such as creativity, honesty, dependability, decisiveness,
cooperation, resourcefulness, enthusiasm, loyalty, personality, leadership, integrity,
judgement, tact and initiative are used in certain organizations in order to conduct
performance appraisals. The appraisals are based on traits because it is believed that
traits such as the ones mentioned above manifest themselves in the workplace and
affect job performance. The people who rate the employee under review indicate their
personal perceptions of the respective employee regarding those traits with the help of
a checklist, a yes/no scale, or a graphic rating scale indicating a relative quantity of
the trait. One of the disadvantages of this method is that it provides ample room for
24
error, because raters may have significantly different perceptions and understandings
of the traits, be forced into the role of judge, and have difficulty defending or
argumenting their decisions. The raters may not know or correctly use the criteria
available. Judgements based on trait-based measures are subjective and prone to
litigation. According to research, receiving high ratings on trait-based measures does
not necessarily mean that a person is highly performant at their job. Therefore, it is
recommended that organizations use such methods sparingly, perhaps in conjunction
with other techniques, or avoid them altogether in performance evaluations.
Narrative essay appraisals are basically a written description of an employee’s
qualities, attitudes, and behaviour, as seen by his workplace peers. The appraiser is
supposed to be a person familiar with the employee’s performance, and has to
produce an unstructured, honest statement regarding the employee’s strengths,
weaknesses, as well as areas needing improvement. The method is effective in
providing specific performance feedback to the employee. If used effectively, it can
facilitate communication between a supervisor and an employee, and also act as a
catalyst for goal setting and individual development. Among the drawbacks of this
technique, there are the facts that it is highly subjective and it is also dependent on the
appraiser’s writings skills, which means it’s difficult to implement in all work
environments. Looking at it from a legal standpoint, we see that the method is flawed
in the sense that certain statements written by people unfamiliar with affirmative
action laws may be difficult to defend in court.
The critical-incident technique involves the supervisor making periodical notations of
important performance actions taken on by employees. The notations feature both
positive and negative actions and outcomes. In essence, it is a collection of files of
effective and ineffective actions or performance of employees recorded by the
supervisor. The files may serve to stimulate the memory during a performance
review, may provide employees with meaningful feedback about specific work-
related behaviour, can serve as the basis for completing other performance appraisal
instruments. It is important to note that these files may be used for the purpose of
providing written documentation for backing up decisions regarding personnel, in the
event of appeals or litigation. The drawback of this method is that it is painstakingly
time-consuming when the supervisor takes on the responsibility of performing it
25
conscientiously for all employees. Moreover, supervisors are human too: They may
display bias in what they choose to record, and for whom, according to personal
sympathies. It is possible and likely for a supervisor to record more negative incidents
for a disliked employee or fail to document poor performance of a well-liked
employee. In case of a litigious environment, it is wise to have documentation to base
any personnel decision, including performance reviews and appraisals.
Checklists can range from lists of traits to descriptive statements of job-related
behaviour. The technique involves an appraiser indicating with a check mark the
traits employees manifest or job-related behaviours employees perform. Checklists
facilitate comparisons to standard, since each employee is assessed on the same items.
The objectivity of the method depends on the degree of specificity and
descriptiveness of the items on the checklist. For example, checking a form in order
to indicate whether an employee has initiative requires much interpretation on the part
of the evaluator. In contrast, checking an option on a continuum of behaviours related
to the initiative trait depends more on the observation of an employee’s behaviour
than on subjective judgement.
Graphic rating scales consist of several job performance qualities and characteristics
moulded into statements. The scales may have one out of two forms, either having the
appraiser’s responses based on the frequency with which the employee under scrutiny
demonstrates a certain behaviour or quality, in which case the spectrum consists of
‘always’, ‘often’, ‘sometimes’, ‘rarely’, ‘never’, or having the appraiser’s responses
based on the extent of agreement with a descriptive statement about the employee
(e.g. strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, strongly disagree). Examples of
statements used in a graphic rating scale include “The employee can be expected to
take extended coffee breaks or roam around purposelessly”, “The employee meets
reporting deadlines”, or “The employee keeps in touch with the customers throughout
the year”. Since the items or statements on the graphic rating scales usually involve
job behaviours rather than generalised traits, they are more objective than several
other evaluation methods. The use of specific statements, such as “reporting
deadlines” and “extended coffee breaks” decreases the chance that the item may
subject to the appraiser’s interpretation. If constructed carefully and used in
combination with reliability and validity data, graphic rating scales may provide an
26
efficient, standardised and legally sound method of structuring performance
evaluations. In addition, the method is known to work well with peer reviews and 360
degree reviews.
BARS, or the behaviourally anchored rating scales, are a type of graphic rating
system that has specific behavioural descriptions for each point along the scale. The
descriptions are meant to aid the appraiser in defining outstanding, good, average or
poor performance, hence the name ‘anchor’. Ideally, the scale should be constructed
with the inputs of both evaluators and employees to be rated. However, this is not
always possible, since the development of the scale is a complex process involving
the collection of incidents descriptive of various levels of performance of a particular
job (competent, average or poor). The incidents are further categorised into overall
performance dimensions such as technical ability, communication skills, leadership
and so on. The last step in the development of the BARS scale is the assignment of
numerical values that translate into anchors along a continuum. The following is an
example of an item from a BARS, for the dimension of Accuracy and Quality of
work:
Excellent: Work is of highest quality. Errors are extremely rare, if any. There
is little to no wasted effort.
Good: The employee checks and observes his/her work. Quality can be relied
upon.
Average: The employee usually turns in acceptable work. Not many errors are
made.
Below average: Work is sometimes unsatisfactory because of errors or
untidiness of the employee.
Poor: The employee is a careless worker. He/she also tends to repeat certain
types of errors.
The BARS method, as all methods, tends to have both advantages and disadvantages.
The technique is considered precise and objective, because each decision option is
based on behavioural anchors. The anchors corresponding to excellent, average or
poor behaviour according to criteria for a particular job do not allow for
interpretation, as they are clearly specified. Moreover, because the anchor
27
descriptions are developed by people who are familiar with the job, they are more
likely to be accurate illustrations of the range of job performance, and also contain the
proper job terminology. On the other hand, the development of the BARS is time-
consuming, when it must be done for each job in an organization. The method is also
not completely legally sound, as, in order for a method to be legally defensible,
ratings must be supported by documentation for specific instances in which the
employee performed of failed to perform a certain action.
Even though the reliability of a particular method is high, it is still necessary and very
important that the formal methods of performance appraisal be thoroughly analysed
and used in a way that fits and organization’s goals. Each method has different
impacts and different types of results. The graphic rating scale is recommended to be
used when the organization requires a quick and easy solution that results in a
numerical rating. On the other hand, critical incident techniques are appropriate for
use when numerical scores are not necessary and managers display diligence in
recording both positive and negative events. The BARS method is most appropriate
in cases in which the organization places importance on behavioural examples, and
clear job descriptions allow for a description of detailed behavioural objectives.
The cost-related outcomes technique is based on quantitative measures of
performance outcomes or results. For the purpose of quantitative measurement, any
one of several criteria may be used, such as sales volume, claims processed, reports
written, units produced, turnover rate, absenteeism rate, and accidents. The chosen
criteria may serve as absolute indicators of an individual’s, a department’s, or an
organization’s cost/revenue/profitability effectiveness. Measurement is very precise
and objective. While the method is excellent for organizations whose performance
may be assessed according to cost-outcome criteria, especially when used in
combination with other measures, the method may not fare so well in other
organizations, since not all jobs or aspects of jobs are able to be quantitatively
measured. Indeed, we may ask ourselves how is it possible to quantify problem-
solving, or employee-development activities? Also, cost-related outcomes speak only
of the frequency with which an action was completed, completely setting aside any
discussion related to the quality of the work performed. The quantitative criteria are
liable to be influenced by an array of factors beyond an employee’s control.
28
Management by objectives, also known as MBO, is an appraisal method in which
supervisors and subordinates mutually agree on a set of measurable performance
goals for a certain period of time. Following the establishment of the goals, the
supervisor-employee team develops plans of action and specifies resources available
for the achievement of the goals. The third step of this method is the monitoring of
the progress and the evaluation of goal achievement in a performance-review session.
The main problem to which MBO is vulnerable to is the potential for supervisors and
employees to disagree on performance goals for a given period of time. In such cases,
it is difficult, if not impossible, to decide whose goals become the evaluation criteria
against which performance is assessed. Another disadvantage is that MBO focuses on
an array of small, specific accomplishments, often completely excluding broader and
less measurable long-range objectives. Also, the achievement of goals depends on the
provision and availability of resources. If these are not in place, then the employee’s
failure to meet the established objectives may be due to external forces, situation
which renders the performance appraisal process highly unfair.
As mentioned briefly in the presentations of each of the methods, performance
appraisals are not without flaws, and while, depending on the needs of the
organization and the available resources, some methods might be more appropriate
than others, there are a number of problems that plague all performance appraisals,
simply because they are based on human judgment, rendering them prone to
subjectivity and error. Being aware of the common problems that affect appraisals,
organizations trying to find and apply an appraisal technique that is at the same time
fair, objective, and related to the job requirements of the individual being evaluated,
are more likely to be successful in their endeavour.
Objectivity seems to be the largest issue when it comes to appraisals, due to a number
of reasons. First of all, an appraiser may unconsciously inflate ratings in a desire to be
accepted by his peers. Another possibility is that of the appraiser having a friendship
with the employee under evaluation, which can negatively impact the objectivity of
the process. The same negative impact can be a result of the appraiser showing
reluctance to make negative evaluations of an employee’s performance for fear of
reprisal, violent reactions, or simply out of the desire to avoid making their
29
department or organization look bad. Another possible situation is that of appraiser
increasing the grade of the employee in order to appease them or to aid them in
obtaining a raise or simply a favourable appraisal. The evaluation process may also be
subject to unintentional bias or overt discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion,
political ideology, or any of a number of factors that pertain to the beliefs of the
employee. Even though awareness regarding discrimination is being raised, this
continues to be an issue that plagues organizations in areas beyond performance
appraisals.
The appraisal process may also be obstructed by more structural causes, such as the
lack of knowledge regarding proper appraisal techniques. In such cases, appraisers
may lack the skill and knowledge to both complete and also communicate the
performance appraisals to the employees. It is important to note, with this occasion,
that the appraisal process itself does not end when the evaluation is complete, but also
includes the very important stage of communicating the results to the parts concerned.
This last step may sometimes make the difference between a successful appraisal and
a failed one. This category can also include the fact that appraisers are often named
inappropriately; they have little opportunity to observe employee behaviour. Another
common issue plaguing appraisals that pertains to the structural category is the status
effect. It has been documented that people in higher level positions automatically
receive better ratings that people in lower-status jobs. While more common in
companies that display more preference towards rewarding seniority, it is still a very
important issue that can render the evaluation process ineffective, if overlooked.
Appraisers may also unintentionally bias the evaluation due to their own human
nature. The appraisal process may be influenced by the fact that appraisers may lack
motivation to complete a task which they strongly dislike. This may be due to the fact
that there is a general lack of understanding and fear regarding evaluations, often
shared by all members of an organization. Even if the knowledge regarding appraisals
is in place, success is not guaranteed, since appraisers, as all human beings, can have
fallible memories and thus fail to document behaviours. Evaluations may be affected
by what is called the hallo effect. In such cases, the appraiser has a strong perception
of an employee’s performance in a particular area, which leads to the evaluator’s
perception regarding other areas of the employee’s performance being distorted. For
30
example, if the appraiser perceives the employee as being motivated, this may lead to
the erroneous conclusion that the employee is also competent. Another common
weakness of appraisals is the ‘spill-over’ effect. Somewhat similar to the halo effect,
the ‘spill-over’ effect occurs when conclusions from a previous appraisal interfere
with the appraiser’s judgement regarding a current appraisal. Appraisers may also be
influenced in their decision by what is known as the central tendency effect.
According to this effect, the appraisers have a tendency to group all employees’
performance at the middle or average point on all performance dimensions of a rating
scale. This effect may be a result of the appraiser’s lack of motivation or lack of
desire to discriminate against employees, thus clustering them towards the midpoint
of the scale. This is obviously counterproductive, since basically everyone is
classified as ‘average’. Yet, since the true distribution of employees on the
performance scale is not known, it is not possible to account for the true causes of the
central distribution tendency, be it error, lack of motivation on the part of the
appraiser to discriminate between employees, or simply a restriction of range in the
employee’s performance.
Last, but not least, it is important to note the thoughts of Dr. W. Edwards Deming on
the issue of appraisals. He considered that ranking people was highly underproductive
for a company, basically describing it as a lose-lose situation, since by ranking
employees, the company limited high performance to a select few, disregarding the
majority of employees. This has effects on the organizational level, as well as on the
individual level, as some employees were highly demotivated by the practice.
Deming’s view is shared by a number of other total quality experts.
On the positive side, it is worth adding that many of these shortcomings may be
decreased or eliminated by simply providing training to persons in charge of
appraisals. According to research, appraisers who receive training in how to conduct
performance evaluations are more successful than untrained appraisers. Organizations
that are committed to the performance evaluation process should make sure that their
appraisers are properly equipped with the knowledge and skills to successfully apply
appraisals.
31
However, that is not the only thing that organizations desiring to conduct successful
performance appraisals should do. The need for appropriate documentation of
appraisals cannot be stressed enough. Documenting the appraisal process means
keeping track of notes and files of specific actions during a review period. The
documentation can serve as a reminder at the time of a formal appraisal and also
guide the appraiser to an accurate judgement. During the communication phase of the
appraisal process, documentation can assist the evaluator in providing specific
examples to clarify points and help employees understand the reasons behind the
ratings. Transparency in the process helps the employees cope with the results and
better understand the process. Complete transparency is achieved when the
employees not only know how they were rated, but also why they received those
ratings. If the prior arguments have not been convincing enough, the fact that proper
documentation can make a complete difference in defending job evaluations and
decisions in a legal argument should do it. With this in mind, the next part will be
focused on describing the series of steps required in order to ensure that an appraisal
process is properly documented. First of all, both the evaluation and the
documentation aspect of it require fairness. An appraiser should document all
meaningful job behaviours, not only positive or negative ones. If documentation
appears heavily biased in either direction, for example, trying to build a case against
an employee, or, on the contrary, showing favouritism toward an employee, the
appraiser’s actions will be seen as prejudiced and he/she is liable to lose credibility.
Any employee file should include instances of good and bad behaviour, as is
normally expected.
The second measure that appraisers should take in order to obtain proper
documentation is to make sure that it contains facts, and not opinions. Objectivity is
difficult to achieve, since working in the same environment with the employees under
appraisal renders the evaluator inherently subjective, yet it is important to distinguish
between inferences of attitude or perceived motives and actual behaviours, and only
record actual examples of observable behaviours.
The third step concerns timeliness in recording actions and behaviours. It is of
essence to the integrity of the documentation to comply with this third step, since the
forgetful nature of people is already common knowledge. Not so widely known, but
32
nonetheless true, is that memories physically recreate themselves in the brain as we
remember them, so they are different every time that we remember them (Bridge &
Paller, 2012). Performance evaluations are just one of the areas where this
involuntary process can have drastic consequences. Objectivity is threatened when
appraisers allow time to pass between the moment the action occurred and the
moment it is recorded, not only because the memory of the incident may change, but
also because several other actions could take place which can influence the appraiser.
This is in line with the requirement that appraisers strive for consistency in their
documentation. Basically, this means that the documentation should match the oral
comments and actions of appraisers.
Finally, for a proper documentation, the appraiser should focus on keeping
documentation on all subordinates, in a balanced manner. Only keeping performance
records for a few low-performers could be perceived, and rightfully so, as unfair
practice. Documentation should be balanced and thorough, and record all major
actions of all employees, regardless of personal preference and status.
With this, we have arrived to perhaps the most important aspect of the performance
evaluation: the performance interview. Offering feedback to employees is crucial for
their development, and should be conducted accordingly. The supervisor and the
employee should engage in an honest, two-way discussion regarding the employee’s
performance, and commonly agree on a set of goals for the future. The interview
process should be divided into three parts, especially when the people involved are
inexperienced with the process: preparation, communication and follow-up.
The preparation phase involves the appraiser setting a time, a place and an agenda for
the appraisal interview and notifying the employee with those details. Each party
involved should be awarded sufficient time in order to prepare for the interview – the
appraiser should have time to prepare the agenda for the meeting, and the employee
should be given enough time in order to complete a self-rating scale, if self-review is
part of the process, or set performance goals, if the appraisal features an MBO
approach. The appraiser’s responsibility is to gather the necessary data and to
complete evaluation forms. Ideally, the interview should take place in a private and
comfortable location, preferably a neutral site. The scheduling should be made so that
33
both parties have sufficient time to discuss all relevant points without feeling rushed.
Armed with proper skills, the appraiser should focus on the delivery of feedback, and
should be careful about employee reactions, the appropriate way to handle them and
effectively coach for improved work performance.
The second part of the performance interview should be focused on communication.
It is the supervisor’s job, at this point, to make sure that the employee feels
comfortable with the discussion, starting with the purpose and agenda for the
meeting, and following the introduction with the information about job performance.
The interviewer should focus on clarity and transparency, matching the comments
regarding the employee’s work performance with specific examples. The
interviewer’s work revolves around the evaluation of the employee’s work
performance against objectives and standards that the employee has previously agreed
to. If self-review is included in the process, then the supervisor and the employee
should focus on clarifying the areas of discrepancy in ratings, if it be the case.
Hopefully, by this time, it has become clear to both parties involved that the interview
is not a battle between the employee and the supervisor, but a battle in which both
employee and supervisor work together in order to discern the causes for variations in
ratings or for below-standard results, and to come up with solutions to enhance
performance. It is recommended that both parties enter the discussion with a problem-
solving mind-set.
However, performance interviews are a delicate issue, and many things could go
wrong. The appraiser, for his part, must be skilled in offering feedback and
constructive criticism, showing empathy, listening, probing for information,
managing conflict and avoiding raising the defensiveness of the interviewee. The
appraiser must be chosen carefully. The position should be occupied by a person who
is skilled in interpersonal communication, who is at the same time nonthreatening,
sensitive, objective, firm, composed and helpful.
Once the performance ratings on all dimensions have been communicated clearly to
the employee, and discussion regarding them has reached a common point, the focus
may be shifted to development plans. Areas needing improvement need to be taken
systematically and discussed, one at a time. It is of crucial importance that the
34
employee and the supervisor agree on the work objectives for the next period and
determine how each of them will contribute to meeting the established goals. The
interview should conclude with the supervisor reiterating briefly the main points of
the discussion, focusing on what agreements have been made, and what plans have
been made.
The last and final phase of the performance interview is the follow-up phase. During
this phase, the appraiser should record all relevant information regarding the case as
soon as possible after the interview. The post-interview documentation should feature
an objective account of the information exchanged, as well as the personal reactions
and impressions of the interview climate and tone. In order to avoid future arguments
and misunderstandings, both parties should keep a written agreement of the
understandings that have been reached, the planned actions, and the commitments
that have been made.
And, because no discussion regarding performance appraisals can be complete
without at least a mention of informal appraisals, they will be briefly presented here.
Even though the formal appraisal process is a crucial aspect of all organization, it is
the author’s opinion that it should exist as part of a larger appraisal system.
Organizations truly committed to performance evaluations probably know that it is
not sufficient to give performance feedback only at periodic time intervals, once or
twice per year. In an ideal setting, the daily routine of the supervisor and of the
employees should feature informal discussions of job goals and performance results.
The discussions may be initiated by either part, and, as time would tell, the
supervisor-employee relationship will have only to gain from this type of constructive
exchange.
In the case of this particular study, the performance of the employees will be assessed
based on supervisory ratings, as well as on sales data. The evaluation method will be
a type of graphic rating scale, with scales ranging from 1 to 5, in which 1 represents
“poor performance, utter lack of interest on the part of the employee” and 5 stands for
“excellent performance”. The questionnaire will focus on the following performance
dimensions: the quantitative outcome of the employee’s performance, the quality of
his/her work, the orientation towards the client, the relationships with his superiors
35
and with his colleagues, adaptability and flexibility, initiative and improvements
suggested and respecting deadlines. The questionnaire will be completed by the
supervisor of the employees, which is in this case the general director of the company
in which the research will be conducted.
2.2. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE JOB PERFORMANCE
This section of the thesis will feature evidence for this perspective by reviewing
studies, mainly from personality literature, which provides evidence for the
reciprocity of personality and professional performance in the field of real estate.
Most of the existing research has aimed to investigate the potential relationship
between personality traits and overall job performance, with some studies being
focused on the longitudinal aspects of personality across working life (Woods et al.,
2013).
There is a multitude of factors that predict job performance, that range from
predictors of personal nature, such as intelligence, conscientiousness, age (in
connection to learning ability), of social nature, such as the provision of clear and
complex goals, a long term vision to which a company is truly committed to, and
interdisciplinarity in teams, and finally of structural nature, which includes factors
such as motivating salaries and wages, including discussions regarding salaries, as
well as payment according to individual performance (Ticu, 2004).
Our society is very focused on performance, so studies that aim to analyze the link
between personality traits and job performance abound. Most of the studies on the
reciprocity of personality and performance are built on western populations, with few
of them, most notably Salgado’s work (2007), being focused on the European
community. Given that most research seems to suggest that personality traits as
predictor variables can be generalized across all occupations and work tasks (Barrick
& Mount, 1991), the pursuit of knowledge regarding this relationship in specific
occupations and jobs seems particularly enticing. Of particular interest to the author is
the field of real estate, an industry with many particularities worldwide. Perhaps the
complexity of the job of a real estate consultant will show that some personality traits
are more likely than others to lead to a better performance. The value of identifying
36
which, if any, personality traits correspond to performance would lead to companies
being able to distinguish a top performer from a poor performer early in the
recruitment process.
A favourite tool among researchers has been the Five-Factor model of personality,
developed for the purpose of studying the dimensions of personality. The tool has had
consistent results in a wide range of participants of various ages and cultures. The
model consists of the following dimensions: Openness to experience,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability (Digman,
1990). Each of the factors is composed of groups of narrow inter-correlated traits,
often referred to as facets or sub-dimensions (Klang, 2013).
Openness to Experience refers to individuals that possess the following
characteristics: creativity, imagination, as well as curiosity to experience new things
(Costa & McCrae, 1992). Individuals who score low on this trait seem to lack
autonomy and strong personal beliefs. People who score high on this trait, on the
other hand, often take a different course of action than other individuals and are less
likely to allow others to lead them. Especially interesting for this trait is the way it
relates to the emotional process of the individual. It seems that high scorers
experience deeper emotional states, meaning that their emotions of both happiness
and unhappiness have a greater depth than that of low scorers. The facets of Openness
to Experience, as described by Costa and McCrae (1992), include Fantasy,
Aesthetics, Feelings, Actions, Ideas, and Values.
Precedent studies and meta-analyses are not conclusive regarding the ability of this
trait to predict performance. Barrick et al. (2001) did not find any meaningful
relationship between Openness to Experience and general job performance. However,
another research done by Barrick and Mount (1991) seems to indicate that Openness
was a predictor of training proficiency. Another perspective is that of Salgado (1997),
who claims that the trait is a valid predictor for performance in police and skilled
labour. There are grounds to believe that real estate consultants who score high on
this trait will be better performers in comparison with other workers with low scores.
Hypothesis 1:
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Openness to Experience will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job
performance.
Conscientiousness is representative of individuals who exhibit good planning and
organizational skills, who work strategically towards goals and carry out tasks in their
entirety. This trait is also associated with diligence, self-discipline, punctuality and
general competence, as described by (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Individuals who score
low on conscientiousness are often nonconformists, have a tendency to engage in
actions without pretense of their use or finality and are likely to fail to meet deadlines.
Low scorers are not necessarily immoral or amoral people; however, they do not
display the same thoroughness in applying their moral beliefs as their counterparts.
High scorers are achievement oriented individuals, respectful of rules and norms, tidy
and organized, and trustworthy. They plan each of their actions and strive to obtain
the best outcome, every time. On the negative side, high levels of conscientiousness
may lead to annoying fastidiousness, compulsive neatness or even workaholic
behaviour, which has proven to be health endangering in some cases. This broad
dimension of personality contains the following facets: Competence, Order,
Dutifulness, Achievement-striving, Self-discipline, and Deliberation (Costa &
McCrae, 1992).
The majority of precedent studies are in agreement on the validity of
conscientiousness as a performance predictor. In their large scale meta-analysis,
Mount and Barrick (1991) investigated the potential relationship between the Five-
Factor Model and job performance across five different occupations. As
hypothesized, the results of the research indicated an association between a trait of the
FFM and job performance across all occupations. Thus, the findings indicated that
conscientiousness correlated positively with job performance in all 5 occupational
groups (namely professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi-skilled).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, individuals who are characterized by dependability,
persistence and achievement orientation tend to become top performers, regardless of
the job profile. The majority of research findings fall in line with those of Mount and
Barrick’s meta-analysis (1991), supporting the notion that Conscientiousness is the
personality trait that displays the strongest correlation with overall job performance,
across different occupations, out of all the “Big Five” personality dimensions (Barrick
38
et al., 2001; Hurtz & Donovan, 2000; Mount & Barrick, 1995; Ones & Viswesvaran,
1996; Salgado, 1997; Vinchur et al., 1998, Ticu, 2004). Furthermore, Vinchur et al
(1998) found that one particular facet of the dimension correlated even more strongly
with job performance than the broader factor. Achievement striving was found to
have a correlation coefficient of 0.25, compared to Conscientiousness, which had a
correlation of 0.22. Achievement striving describes individuals who work diligently
towards their goals.
As the employees who participate in the research phase of this study have a set of
monthly targets to attain, it makes sense to attempt to confirm the connection between
the main dimension Conscientiousness and job performance in this particular context.
Under these circumstances, it is expected that the following hypothesis will prove to
be true:
Hypothesis 2:
Conscientiousness will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job
performance.
Extraversion, according to Costa & McCrae, refers to the energy directed outwards
into the social world by an individual. As part of this trait, interpersonal interactions,
activity level, need for stimulation and capacity for joy are nuanced by two factors,
namely intensity and quantity. In other words, extroverted individuals are more likely
to be more sociable, energetic, talkative, outgoing, assertive and facially and
gesturally expressive (McCrae & John, 1991). Individuals who score low on
Extraversion can be described as showing traits of shyness, inhibition, introversion, as
well as a tendency for withdrawal and isolation in social situations, often preferring to
spend time on their own or in smaller groups. The six facets included in this
dimension of personality are Warmth, Gregariousness, Assertiveness, Activity,
Excitement seeking, and Positive emotion (Costa & McCrae, 1992).
In line with the above description of Extraversion, the findings of Barrick & Mount
(1991) are representative for the reasoning that extroverted individuals are more
likely to perform better in occupations that demand a higher level of interaction and
socialization. The research of Barrick & Mount (1991) also suggests that Extraversion
39
is not only a valid predictor of overall job performance, but of sales performance
specifically as well. These findings have been replicated and confirmed by several
studies. Klang (2013) has conducted a study on a group of telesales workers, arriving
to the conclusion that Extraversion had a significant correlation to job performance
(r=0.33). Furthermore, the results of Klang’s study indicated a positive correlation
between the sub dimension Assertiveness and supervisory ratings of job performance,
with a coefficient of 0.33. Other research has showed that extroverted individuals are
more likely to perform better at supervisory, police and sales related occupations
(Salgado, 1997). Similarly, the results of one meta-analysis conducted by Vinchur et
al. (1998) indicated Extraversion to be a strong predictor of supervisory ratings of
sales performance as well as objective data of sales performance (sales volume).
However, it should be taken into consideration that, according to Barrick et al.
(2001), there is no significant relationship between Extraversion and overall job
performance, although the same research does find a link between managerial
performance and Extraversion (r=0.21). In the light of this information, it seems that
although there appears to be a positive relationship between Extraversion and job
performance, the relationship surfaces only in the context of certain occupations
(Barrick & Mount, 1991; Salgado, 1997). Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that in
the field of real estate consultancy, higher performance will be attained by individuals
who score high on Extraversion, as opposed to low scorers, since the work requires a
high level of interaction with customers. Therefore, the following hypothesis will be
put under testing:
Hypothesis 3:
Extroversion will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job performance.
Agreeableness involves characteristics such as altruism, nurturance, care and
emotional support (Digman, 1990). Individuals who score high for this dimension are
more appreciative, forgiving, generous, kind, sympathetic and trusting. At the
opposite end of the spectrum are characteristics such as hostility, indifference to
others, self-centredness, spitefulness and jealousy, which are representative for
individuals with low scores on Agreeableness (Digman, 1990). Individuals low on
Agreeableness are also said to lack the desire to cooperate with others. This
40
dimension includes the following six facets: Trust, Straightforwardness, Altruism,
Compliance, Modesty, and Tender Mindedness (Costa & McCrae, 1992). While past
research has not had conclusive findings indicating a solid correlation between
Agreeableness and overall job performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991, Klang, 2013), a
relationship has been established between this dimension and team work (r=0.34)
(Barrick et al., 2001). Moreover, previous research suggests that Agreeableness can
predict success in specific occupations, similarly to Extraversion, although the
occupations are very likely to differ in nature. In other words, Agreeableness may still
prove to be a valid predictor of job performance, depending on the type of
occupation. Bearing this is mind, it is still unlikely to notice a positive correlation
between this dimension and job performance in the context of real estate sales work,
since it is most often focused on individualistic competition. A certain degree of
egocentricity is expected to link to a better performance, and in consequence, the
following hypothesis is tested:
Hypothesis 4:
Agreeableness will correlate negatively with supervisory ratings of job performance.
Emotional Stability describes individuals who are secure and calm, and in
consequence, more likely to control their impulses and better at coping with stressful
situations. According to Rothmann & Coetzer (2003), Emotional stability is
considered to be a stable predictor of job performance. The findings of Barrick et al.
(2001) support the conclusions of Rothman & Coetzer’s research, further establishing
Emotional Stability as a valid predictor of performance across occupations and work
tasks. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Neuroticism, which describes
individuals who have a tendency to be shy, angry, insecure, depressed, vulnerable and
anxious. According to Zonderman et al. (1989), high scorers on Neuroticism are more
prone to developing psychiatric disorders. The six facets of Neuroticism are Anxiety,
Angry Hostility, Depression, Self-consciousness, Impulsiveness, and Vulnerability
(Costa & McCrae, 1992). The present study is expected to replicate the results of
Klang’s study of telesales workers, which found that Neuroticism had a negative
correlation with job performance. Neuroticism corresponds to low Emotional
Stability. Taking into account the competitive nature of sales and the ferocity of the
real estate industry, it seems reasonable to believe that individuals scoring high for
41
the Emotional Stability will perform better than sales workers who are less
emotionally stable and show higher levels of vulnerability. Therefore, the following
hypothesis is generated:
Hypothesis 5:
Emotional stability will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job
performance.
As briefly mentioned in the introduction, the Five-Factor Personality Inventory will
be used for the purpose of analysing the psychological traits of the participants. The
FFPI was developed by A.A.J. Hendriks, W.K.B. Hofstee and B. de Raad. The
questionnaire is comprised of 100 questions, each belonging to one of 5 scales. Each
of the scales corresponds to one of the personality dimensions described above. The
original test manual includes neither the definitions, nor the interpretations of the
factors evaluated by the FFPI, so most of the definitions belong to other researchers
in this field. The FFPI features a 1-5 answer scale, ranging from Strong
Disagreement, Disagreement, Neutrality, Agreement, and Strong Agreement.
The subjects involved in the study will complete the questionnaire in an auto-
evaluation fashion. The scores for each of dimensions are afterwards computed by
summing up each quota for the items corresponding to that particular dimension,
which are in turn computed with the help of a set of linear regression equations.
While the first studies made on personality and performance, pertaining to the 1900-
1980 period, found no correlation between the two, after the 1980s, the direction of
research took a different turn, leading to very different results. There was an initial
lack of agreement as to what traits truly indicated performance, with Barrick &
Mount’s findings (1991) indicating conscientiousness as the only trait having a non-
zero correlation with performance across different occupational groups. Tett,
Rothstein and Jackson (1991), on the other hand, concluded that only emotional
stability showed non-zero correlations with performance. They also found that
agreeableness and openness to experience displayed higher correlations with
performance than did conscientiousness. According to more recent studies made by
Salgado (1997) and Anderson and Viswesvaran (1998), emotional stability and
42
conscientiousness are the two traits that show non-zero correlations with job
performance. The cause of this variance in results is considered to be the second-
order sampling error, a term dubbed by Hunter and Schmidt (1990) in order to refer to
the biasing of meta-analytic means and standard deviation estimates caused by the
usage of small samples and a limited number of studies.
While variance in results continues to be a problem, most researchers have reached a
consensus regarding the correlation of two traits of the FFM – conscientiousness and
emotional stability – with job performance in virtually all jobs (Anderson and
Viswesvaran 1998; Barrick and Mount 1991; Salgado 1997; Tett et al. 1991). Of the
two, conscientiousness appears to be the one with the strongest correlation towards
job performance. It has also been established that conscientiousness and emotional
stability can influence success in teamwork (Hough 1992; Mount, Barrick and
Stewart 1998). However, since the real estate field is a more competitive area and
involves only a minimum degree of teamwork, it is unsure whether the two will
display a stronger correlation than other traits or combination of traits. Barrick &
Mount’s research (1991) has also indicated that employees who are more
conscientious are more likely to benefit from training.
In 2001, Barrick et al. conducted a research based on all prior meta-analyses focused
on the correlation between personality traits and job performance. Among other
conclusions in line with the ones stated above, it was found that the other three FFM
traits are also considered to be good predictors of performance, but only in certain
occupational fields or for specific criteria. Extraversion, for example, is a valid
predictor of job performance in occupations in which interactions with others
constitute a significant portion of the job (Barrick and Mount 1991; Mount et al.
1998). Into the aforementioned category of occupations fall Management and Sales
jobs, including real estate sales jobs, where individuals with a higher level of
sociability, gregariousness, assertiveness, energy and ambition are more likely to
encounter success. Extraversion also plays a significant role when it comes to the
effectiveness of teamwork. Some meta-analytic research also points to the conclusion
that extraversion is associated with greater learning proficiency. The explanation for
this would be that more extraverted trainees are more active during training and ask
43
more questions, which enables more efficient learning. According to the same study,
openness to experience was also found to be a valid indicator of training performance.
There is a strong positive correlation between intelligence and performance, which
increases along with the complexity of the job. For example, the correlation between
intelligence and performance the coefficient is 0.23 for simple jobs, 0.40 for
intermediary jobs and 0.59 for managerial positions (Ticu, 2004).
While there has been much progress made in the last 50 years in the area of research
concerning performance and personality, with much of the consensus reached by
researchers being based on the Five-Factor model, it is time to look for other
measures and instruments for the study of the abovementioned relationship, as there
is unlikely for anything new to be discovered by pursuing the same direction of
research (Barrick et al. 2001). Although meta-analyses have found positive
correlations of certain traits with job performance, the correlation index is mediocre
at best, rarely exceeding 0.30. In the light of this information, researchers recommend
focusing on exploring the relationship between certain facets of traits and
performance, on one hand, or direct focus towards finding a global measure of
personality, on the other hand, such as the Global Personality Inventory (GPI)
(Barrick et al. 2001).
44
3. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH
3.1. OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
First of all, the research segment of this thesis is expected to confirm the results of
previous research on the relationship between personality and job performance. Given
the competitiveness of the present economy, and the growing awareness around the
fact that organizational success is strongly intertwined with employee success, there is
reason to believe that offering a potential way to improve the match between a
candidate, a job and an organization right from the selection phase may be the key to
a prosperous employer-employee relationship, and perhaps even a competitive
advantage. It is in the spirit of this belief that the following hypotheses were set, in
accordance with previous research and assumptions regarding traits that would
correlate with performance, in the real estate business domain.
For the sake of brevity, the established hypotheses will briefly be reiterated, along
with the motivation for choosing each of them.
Hypothesis 1:
Openness to Experience will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job
performance.
As previous studies have found, the trait Openness to Experience can be positively
correlated to intelligence, more specifically, to the type of intelligence that permits
and individual to use his/her knowledge, skills and experience in problem solving,
called crystallized intelligence (Moutafi et al, 2006). Since intelligence was found to
have one of the strongest correlations to work performance, it seemed only natural to
launch the above hypothesis. However, that is not the only reason why it was chosen
to be studied. Given the rather unpredictable nature of the job, requiring an individual
45
to continually adapt to different situations, makes a person that is high on Openness to
Experience to encounter more success than someone who is not as eager to adapt to
unfamiliar situations and engage in self-examination.
Hypothesis 2:
Conscientiousness will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job
performance.
Conscientiousness was found to have the strongest correlation to job performance,
across all occupations. Therefore, it was only natural to subject the above hypothesis
to testing and discover whether the correlation is still valid for the particular
environment under research.
Hypothesis 3:
Extroversion will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job performance.
On the basis of previous research, the above hypothesis is subjected to testing. Given
the social nature of the work performed by real estate agents, it is expected that this
trait will influence the performance of employees to a significant degree.
Hypothesis 4:
Agreeableness will correlate negatively with supervisory ratings of job performance.
Since, at least for the present, the real estate sales environment features more
individualistic competition than team work and cooperation, it is assumed that
individuals who score high on agreeableness will not be responsible for high
performance.
Hypothesis 5:
Emotional stability will correlate positively with supervisory ratings of job
performance.
46
The last hypothesis is tested in this situation under the expectation that it will confirm
previous studies, whose findings indicated that Emotional Stability was a valid
predictor of job performance across all occupations, as well as teamwork.
However, it was not only with these hypotheses in mind that this study was
conducted. Instead, the more profound meaning of this is to bring to the attention of
management the importance of properly aligning an individual to his/her job, of
achieving a match between work and personality, for the gain of both parties
involved. Striving to achieve this alignment should start right from the selection
phase of the process.
As the correlation relied on conducting performance appraisals on employees, it is
hoped that the study will serve to further the idea that performance appraisals need
not be only an administrative task, conducted for purposes of promotion and raises,
but a tool to spur and sustain the development and subsequently enhance the
performance of employees.
Moreover, this study was initiated in the hopes that it would bring further awareness
on the HR practices other than Performance Appraisal, which could bring a positive
impact on the organization and employees’ development. The aftermath of the study
is not expected nor supposed to transform the company in which it was applied on a
structural level. Instead, the most treasured and desired effect would be to merely
transmit the spirit of HRM, not as a rigid, administrative system, but as a way of
thought and action.
3.2. SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
The research part of the study was focused around the employees of a Real Estate
company from Cluj-Napoca. The sample is composed of 21 individuals (4 females, 17
males).
The majority of the individuals work as real estate agents, of which only two hold
management positions. Most of the employees had higher education degrees, with less
than a third of them having high-school as the last educational unit graduated.
47
Figure 1 - The distribution of sample according to age
The average age of the subjects was 30.67 years, with the majority of the employees
being under 30. The average for females (28.5) was lower than that of males (31.18).
Figure 2 - The distribution of employees according to seniority
The average seniority in the organization was 3.41 years (3 years and 5 months). The
data reflected that a number of 5 employees had longer than 5 years seniority in the
company, with the majority being under 4 years.
48
3.3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND METHODOLOGY
3.3.1. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL QUESTIONNAIRE
The performance appraisal of the employees constituting the sample was conducted
according to a questionnaire filled in by the supervisor of the employees. The
questionnaire required the supervisor to rate each of the employees according to a 1 to
5 rating scale, which were represented as follows:
1 = inadequate results, complete lack of interest
2 = results that are below expectations
3 = results that meet expectations
4 = results that exceed expectations
5 = exceptional results
The subjects were rated according to a set of 6 criteria, based on their performance on
each of the criteria in the last 6-12 months. The criteria used are the following:
Target achievement (quantitative)
Quality of work and tasks performed
Customer orientation
Relationship with supervisors
Relationship with peers
Adaptability, flexibility
Initiative, improvement propositions
Meeting deadlines
The performance appraisal questionnaire was less detailed than the one used generally
by the company, which is conducted on a yearly basis.
3.3.2. PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE
49
For the purpose of identifying the personality traits of the sample subjects, the Five-
Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) was used. The inventory evaluates the five main
traits of the Big Five model, namely Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness,
Emotional Stability and Openness to Experience. The FFPI may be applied in two
manners: either by self-evaluation, which was how it was used for the purpose of the
present study, or by evaluation of a subject by another individual who is familiar with
the subject. The FFPI may be used for personality diagnosis, in an educational or
clinical setting.
The questionnaire was calibrated on a non-clinical population, comprised of
individuals ranging from 14 to 65 years old. It may be administered individually or
collectively. There is no time limit imposed to the subjects taking the inventory.
According to observations recorded during the administration of the FFPI for this
study, the time necessary for completion was approximatively 10 minutes.
The FFPI comprises of 100 items, grouped on 5 scales. Subsequently, each scale
consists of 20 items and is named after one of the main Big Five factors. While each
of the factors was designed so as to be independent from the others, there was a
positive correlation observed between openness to experience and extraversion (Aluja
et al., 2001).
In the absence of a formal definition made by the author of the FFPI (Hendriks,
1997), the interpretation of the factors was obtained according through factorial
analysis of the inventory answers offered by 115 students. As such, the interpretations
obtained in this manner for small and large scores for each of the factors are presented
below.
For Extraversion, a large score indicates an individual who feels comfortable in
society, who actively participates to social life and fun, who enjoys conversation and
has no difficulty in making friends and forming relationships. Small scores are
representative of quiet people, who have a tendency to isolate themselves from human
contact.
50
Those who obtain high scores on Agreeableness are likely to display interest for the
people in their environment and respect for their opinions and rights. High scorers are
known to try to maintain positive relationships with other people. In contrast, those
who have lower scores on this factor are more likely to be self-centred, to try to attract
attention to one’s self. Furthermore, the low scorer on Agreeableness is focused on
displaying and enforcing personal opinions on others, as well as more likely to disturb
people in their surrounding environment.
Regarding Conscientiousness, most people who score high on this factor are rule-
abiders, highly orderly people, who make a point of planning their actions and display
a strong desire to achieve the best possible outcomes, every time. Such individuals are
also more likely to be trustworthy. At the opposite scale are the low scorers, who are
generally non-conformists, likely to initiate activities without forethought. Also,
individuals who score low on conscientiousness are more likely to exceed deadlines.
The interpretation for high scores on Emotional stability points towards individuals
focused on positive thought and optimism, who have trust in themselves and their
abilities. These individuals are also better at controlling their emotions. Low scores
for this factor point to an inability to cope with stressful situations, perpetual
uneasiness and anxiety.
For Openness to Experience, those who obtain high scores on this trait are
characterized by a tendency to adopt different courses of actions than other people
and who are also less likely to adopt a follower position. A high degree of Openness
to Experience also points out to a high degree of creativity. In contrast, low scores on
Openness to Experience indicate a person that lacks personal opinions, accepts the
opinions and decisions of others and can be easily handled.
3.4. COLLECTION OF THE DATA
The research phase began in the 5th of May. The first step was the preparation of the
FFPI questionnaire sheets and delivering them to the subjects. The inventory was
administered in a face-to-face meeting to each of the subjects. Prior to handing out the
inventory, the purpose of the process was explained to the participants. The
51
completion time ranged from 7 to 20 minutes, averaging around 10 minutes. The
author, who was responsible for administering the tests, addressed the questions of the
respondents, whenever there were any uncertainties. All personality inventories were
administered and collected by the 13th
of May.
The second part of the research part, the performance evaluations, started on the 15th
of May and was completed in three days. The supervisor of the employees was given
the performance evaluation questionnaire, which he completed in due time. The
Performance Appraisal ratings were also supplemented by a hierarchy featuring the
subjects who had the highest amount of sales during the last two years.
In the final part of this phase, the results of the personality tests were introduced into a
Cognitrom rating programme. This started in the 19th and was finished by the end of
the same week, along with the centralisation of data into a single file. The data was
then sent forward to Conf. univ. Dr. Monica Aniela Zaharie for further analysis.
3.5. RESEARCH RESULTS
3.5.1. PERSONALITY TESTING RESULTS
After the personality test results were rated and interpreted, it was revealed that, as
expected, most of the subjects fell in the range of the normal population (40T to 60T),
rarely exceeding the upper or lower limits. It was interesting to look at the results
from the gender perspective as well, and notice the differences between the results of
the male and female groups.
The average of the subjects for the Extraversion main factor was 51.90. Only three of
the subjects exceeded the population average for this trait, while two were below the
average. The data for males and females, respectively, revealed a slight difference
between the two, with males (52.06) having, on average, higher scores than females
(51.25). These findings disapprove the results of Schmitt et al. (2008), who found no
significant difference for the Big Five factor Extraversion scores of men and women
from Romania.
52
Figure 3 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Extroversion
The average for the Agreeableness factor is 51.62. While in the case of this scale,
there were also two subjects that fell below the lower limit of population average,
there were also significantly more subjects having scores above the upper limit. The
average for females was 47.50, while the one for males was 52.59. The significantly
larger difference between the two averages comes into contradiction with previous
research, which established merely a negligible difference between men and women
Agreeableness scores (Schmitt et al., 2008). The low sample of females in this study
may account for the divergence with the results of other studies.
Figure 4 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Agreeableness
53
As for Conscientiousness, the data indicated an average of 49.33. By comparing male
and female data averages, it was revealed that females obtained higher scores on
Conscientiousness, which is in line with the findings of Schmitt et al (2008), on the
gender divergence of Big Five personality traits across cultures. It was for this trait, as
well as Openness to Experience, that the lowest averages were registered. It may be
added that Conscientiousness is among the few traits in the case of which none of the
subjects exceeded the upper limit of the population average.
Figure 5 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Conscientiousness
Emotional stability seemed to be the most prevalent trait for the entire sample, with
none of the subjects falling below the lower limit of the population average. The
average for this factor was the highest out of all the Big five factors (55.81). A third
of the subjects were above the population average, according to their results. As for
the gender differences, it was revealed that males had a higher average (57.06) than
females (50.50). Lower emotional stability for females was also recorded by Schmitt
et al. (2008) in the case of 49 countries, including Romania. Neuroticism (the opposite
of Emotional stability) was the only Big Five factor to reveal a moderate to large
difference in gender results.
54
Figure 6 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Emotional Stability
As for what regards the last trait, Openness to Experience, the data indicates an
average of 49.33. The averages for males and females for this factor have indicated a
significant difference between the genders. While the average for females was rather
low (44.00), males obtained an average of 50.59. Of the entire sample, only one
individual exceeded the population average.
Figure 7 - Distribution of subjects according to scores on Openness to Experience
55
3.5.2. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL RESULTS
Figure 8 - Averages of performance appraisal criteria across the sample
A central tendency effect can be observed for most of the performance criteria
assessed. With the rating scale ranging from 1 to 5, this means that most of the ratings
were clustered around 3. None of the employees received minimum ratings (1) on any
of the criteria. Still, only a small part of them received maximum ratings for one or
more of the criteria assessed. Generally, females obtained slightly higher ratings, on
average, than did the male subjects, although the difference is not large enough to be
statistically significant.
As such, in the case of Target achievement, the data indicated an average of 3.29.
Only 14 percent of subjects received the maximum rating for Target achievement. On
average, males received better ratings than females on this criterion.
Regarding the Quality of work criterion, a slightly higher average can be seen, in
comparison with the previous criterion. The situation is reversed in regard to the
gender averages, with females obtaining higher ratings than males.
56
In the case of Customer orientation, the average is 3.29. It is interesting to note that
females were rated significantly lower than men on this criterion. An estimated 10%
of subjects were assigned the maximum rating for customer orientation.
None of the subjects received the maximum rating for Relationship with supervisors,
and only 10 percent were rated ‘5’ on the Relationship with peers criterion. The
averages for these criteria were 3.62 and 3.38, respectively. On both of these criteria,
females received higher ratings than males, which contradicts expectations, as females
were found to have significantly lower scores on Agreeableness than males.
While the minimum rating that subjects received on Adaptability was 3, there were
also no individuals to be rated higher than 4. The data pointed to an average of 3.33
for this criterion. For Adaptability and Initiative, the differences in ratings between
gender averages were negligible. It is interesting to note, regarding Initiative, that the
data indicated the lowest average out of all the criteria: 3.00. According to discussions
with the General Manager, it seems as though, while there are efforts to engage the
employees in constructive discussions regarding possible improvements and ideas,
only a small segment of the employee responded to the opportunity to put forward
their ideas and propositions.
Finally, the average for the Meeting deadlines criterion was 3.38. Given the average
on Conscientiousness for the entire sample, it was expected that the ratings for this
criterion would be lower. Still, the significantly higher scores on Conscientiousness
for females may be behind the fact that they received higher ratings than males on this
criterion.
3.5.3. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FFPI FACTORS AND PERFORMANCE
APPRAISAL CRITERIA
The analysis on the results obtained lead to some hypothesis being met, while most
were rejected. There was also one surprising and unexpected correlation, which will
be developed further below. Even more surprising was the utter lack of correlations
between sales data and personality traits.
57
As mentioned, the only hypothesis to be met was the first one. As expected, Openness
to experience correlated positively with performance, according to the criterion
“Customer orientation”. A correlation of r=0.667 was established between the two
variables. These findings neither confirm nor infirm the results of previous studies
and meta-analyses, which were inconclusive as to the ability of the Big Five factor
Openness to experience to predict job performance. Whether the relationship between
performance and this Big Five factor is of causational nature remains to be seen. The
possibility that the correlation may be the result of the connection between Openness
to experience and intelligence must be kept open until proven otherwise (Moutafi et
al, 2006).
The second and most unexpected correlation identified was between Openness to
experience and Meeting deadlines (r=-0.429). The data analysis indicated a negative
correlation of average intensity. While there were few previous studies to find a
positive connection between Openness to experience and job performance (Salgado,
1997), there were none to point out a negative correlation for this factor.
In contrast to the findings of most previous research, the hypothesis that there would
be a relationship between Conscientiousness and job performance was not confirmed.
The findings are as baffling as could be, since highly conscientious individuals did not
appear to be the most performant, neither according to supervisory ratings nor to sales
data.
Contrary to initial expectations, there were no positive correlations found between
Extroversion and job performance or Emotional stability between and job
performance, nor any negative correlations between Agreeableness and job
performance. Thus, the hypotheses 3, 4 and 5 were infirmed.
3.5.4. OTHER CORRELATIONS
There have been a number of other correlations observed, mainly among personality
traits, among performance appraisal criteria, and between other characteristics of the
sample and performance appraisal criteria. The will be presented below.
58
While, as mentioned earlier, the Big Five factors were supposed to be independent
from each other, in the case of this particular study, some inter-trait correlations were
found:
Positive correlation between Extraversion and Emotional stability (r=0.521)
Positive correlation between Agreeableness and Emotional stability (r=0.522)
Positive correlation between Openness to experience and Emotional stability
(r=0.598)
The greatest number of correlation was found between performance criteria. They are
as follows:
Positive correlation between Target achievement and Quality of work
(r=0.720)
Positive correlation between Target achievement and Customer orientation
(r=0.457)
Positive correlation between Target achievement and Initiative (r=0.443)
Positive correlation between Customer orientation and Quality of work
(r=0.525)
Positive correlation between Initiative and Quality of work (r=0.676)
Positive correlation between Initiative and Customer orientation (r=0.481)
Positive correlation between Relationship with supervisors and Relationship
with peers (r=0.537)
Positive correlation between Relationship with supervisors and Adaptability
(r=0.476)
Finally, there were several other correlations identified on the basis of Seniority in
organization and performance criteria, and Age and performance criteria, respectively.
These are:
Positive correlation between Seniority in organization and Target achievement
(r=0.684)
Positive correlation between Seniority in organization and Quality of work
(r=0.742)
Positive correlation between Seniority in organization and Adaptability
(r=0.660)
59
Positive correlation between Age and Adaptability (r=0.588)
Positive correlation between Age and Meeting deadlines (r=0.900)
The first three correlations, based on the variable Seniority in organization, are
assumed to be a result of a process akin to natural selection. According to available
information, the employees who were low performers were, in time, replaced by those
with higher performance.
60
4. CONCLUSIONS, FALLACIES AND FUTURE RESEARCH
DIRECTIONS
Drawing on the final results of the research, it is clear that most of the findings do not
confirm the majority of research existent on the subject of performance-personality
correlation. Perhaps most surprising of all was the absence of a connection between
Conscientiousness and performance, or Emotional Stability and performance, which
were previously found to be valid predictors of performance in all occupations. One
possible explanation is that there are other factors at play, which influence the
outcome of an individual’s work, surpassing the contribution of personality to
performance.
Another possible reason behind the absence of any valid correlations is the small size
of the sample used in the study. While the instruments used were calibrated on a
significant population and were deemed valid, the results of the present study lack
certainty as there were insufficient subjects in order to obtain statistically relevant
results.
Moreover, since the personality inventory was not used in a clinical or educational
setting, but in a work environment, it is more likely that the subjects were influenced
by what is known as social desirability effect. In essence, this means that the subjects
felt that the stakes were higher, and as a result, they felt more pressure to offer
answers that they deemed more desirable in that context. While social desirability is
considered to be an issue across all circumstances, it is assumed that it has a more
profound effect when personality testing is used for hiring or in a professional
context.
While the performance appraisals were not a novelty for the company in which the
empirical study was conducted, the evaluations contributed to raising awareness
regarding the varied uses of the performance appraisal techniques. It is hoped that in
61
the wake of this empirical study, the company will feature more performance
appraisals conducted for the purpose of employee development.
Lastly, one of the unforeseen effects of the presents study is also among the most
important. In communicating with the company over the course of conducting the
empirical study, information, opinions and practices regarding selection, among other
Human Resource Management practices were exchanged, which led to an increased
awareness regarding the entire process. As a result, there is increased focus on
employee satisfaction. Also, a formalized procedure for exit interviews has been
proposed. While the management of the company was aware of the value of human
resources, what was lacking was the knowledge regarding appropriate practices,
which is where this study has had the most significant impact.
Changing the focus onto the wider view of the situation in Romania regarding the
research around the correlation between personality traits and performance, it must be
underlined that there is insufficient data regarding the subject. While this empirical
study fails to satisfy the criterion of sufficient sample size, it may represent a basis for
the construction of other studies. While in countries where there is a developed
theoretical basis for the personality-performance relationship, there can be a shift
towards the study of individual facets of Big Five factors, in Romania, the study of
this relationship is far from being sufficiently explored.
62
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65
APPENDIX
FFPi Personality inventory
Vă rugăm să vă caracterizaţi cu ajutorul următoarelor afirmaţii, acordând un punctaj
de la 1 la 5 pentru fiecare afirmaţie.
1 = mi se potriveşte foarte puţin;
2 = mi se potriveşte puţin;
3 = mi se potriveşte cam pe jumătate;
4 = mi se potriveşte mult;
5 = mi se potriveşte foarte mult.
1. Caut prilejuri de a povesti cu alţii. 1 2 3 4 5
2. Îi reped pe ceilalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
3. Lucrez fără să-mi fac un plan de acţiune. 1 2 3 4 5
4. Mă simt disperat. 1 2 3 4 5
5. Accept ordinele fără să le judec. 1 2 3 4 5
6. Mă pricep să înviorez o petrecere. 1 2 3 4 5
7. Îi ajut pe ceilalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
8. Îmi place ordinea şi regularitatea. 1 2 3 4 5
9. Mă gândesc că ceea ce fac se va termina cu bine. 1 2 3 4 5
10. Repet ceea ce spun alţii. 1 2 3 4 5
11. Rămân pe planul al doilea. 1 2 3 4 5
12. Ascult cu răbdare ceea ce povestesc ceilalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
13. Îmi place să am un program de viaţă fix. 1 2 3 4 5
14. Îmi fac probleme pentru lucruri mărunte. 1 2 3 4 5
15. Iau hotărâri în privinţa mea fără a le cere altora părerea. 1 2 3 4 5
16. Mă simt stingherit în prezenţa altora. 1 2 3 4 5
17. Sunt atent să nu îi deranjez pe ceilalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
18. Îmi las lucrurile vraişte. 1 2 3 4 5
19. Văd partea bună a lucrurilor. 1 2 3 4 5
20. Conduc acţiuni. 1 2 3 4 5
21. Vorbesc pe ton scăzut. 1 2 3 4 5
22. Respect drepturile celorlalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
23. Fac lucruri cu care ceilalţi nu şi-ar pierde vremea. 1 2 3 4 5
24. Mă tem că acţionez greşit. 1 2 3 4 5
25. Sunt în stare să cred orice. 1 2 3 4 5
26. Mă distrez de minune. 1 2 3 4 5
27. Îi accept pe ceilalţi aşa cum sunt. 1 2 3 4 5
28. Încep să lucrez fără să ştiu la ce va folosi ceea ce fac. 1 2 3 4 5
29. Îmi ascund emoţiile. 1 2 3 4 5
30. Mă las influenţat de părerile celorlalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
31. Evit compania celorlalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
32. Mă gândesc în primul rând la mine însumi. 1 2 3 4 5
33. Fac lucrurile în ultima clipă. 1 2 3 4 5
66
34. Văd viitorul în culori întunecate. 1 2 3 4 5
35. Îmi asum riscuri. 1 2 3 4 5
36. Îmi plac petrecerile. 1 2 3 4 5
37. Încerc să-i mulţumesc pe toţi. 1 2 3 4 5
38. Îmi termin munca la timp. 1 2 3 4 5
39. Mă tem că se va întâmpla ce e mai rău. 1 2 3 4 5
40. Îi las pe alţii să hotărască. 1 2 3 4 5
41. Îmi place să discut. 1 2 3 4 5
42. Provoc certuri. 1 2 3 4 5
43. Mă comport corect. 1 2 3 4 5
44. Trec cu uşurinţă peste eşecurile proprii. 1 2 3 4 5
45. Privesc lucrurile din diferite puncte de vedere. 1 2 3 4 5
46. Cunosc puţine persoane. 1 2 3 4 5
47. Ţin seama de sentimentele altora. 1 2 3 4 5
48. Respect regulile. 1 2 3 4 5
49. Fac faţă cu bine situaţiilor stresante. 1 2 3 4 5
50. Propun acţiuni. 1 2 3 4 5
51. Creez bună dispoziţie. 1 2 3 4 5
52. Mă folosesc de alţii pentru scopurile proprii. 1 2 3 4 5
53. Mă angajez în acţiuni riscante. 1 2 3 4 5
54. Îmi dau lacrimile. 1 2 3 4 5
55. Fac aşa cum vor alţii. 1 2 3 4 5
56. Mă ţin deoparte de alţii. 1 2 3 4 5
57. Împărtăşesc bucuria şi tristeţea altora. 1 2 3 4 5
58. Vreau ca totul să meargă perfect. 1 2 3 4 5
59. Găsesc motive de bucurie. 1 2 3 4 5
60. Sunt uşor de supus. 1 2 3 4 5
61. Intru în vorbă cu alţii. 1 2 3 4 5
62. Povestesc despre situaţii în care le-am fost superior
celorlalţi.
1 2 3 4 5
63. Îmi las munca neterminată. 1 2 3 4 5
64. Îmi las la o parte grijile. 1 2 3 4 5
65. Înainte de a acţiona aştept să văd ce fac ceilalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
66. Îi ţin pe alţii la distanţă. 1 2 3 4 5
67. Îmi place să fac ceva pentru alţii. 1 2 3 4 5
68. Fac lucrurile aşa cum scrie la carte. 1 2 3 4 5
69. Îmi stăpânesc nervii. 1 2 3 4 5
70. Acţionez la fel ca majoritatea celor din jur. 1 2 3 4 5
71. Prefer să fiu singur. 1 2 3 4 5
72. Râd de părerile celorlalţi. 1 2 3 4 5
73. Muncesc cu râvnă. 1 2 3 4 5
74. Am încredere în forţele mele. 1 2 3 4 5
75. Reacţionez rapid. 1 2 3 4 5
76. În societate mă simt în largul meu. 1 2 3 4 5
77. Mă amestec în treburile altora. 1 2 3 4 5
78. Îmi abandonez cu uşurinţă munca. 1 2 3 4 5
79. Intru în panică. 1 2 3 4 5
67
80. Mă simt atras de sarcinile grele. 1 2 3 4 5
81. Visez cu ochii deschişi. 1 2 3 4 5
82. Îi împiedic pe alţii să îşi spună părerea. 1 2 3 4 5
83. Îmi respect promisiunile. 1 2 3 4 5
84. Sunt nemulţumit. 1 2 3 4 5
85. Îmi fixez scopuri clare. 1 2 3 4 5
86. În prezenţa străinilor mă închid în mine. 1 2 3 4 5
87. Respect părerile altora. 1 2 3 4 5
88. Îmi pregătesc bine acţiunile. 1 2 3 4 5
89. Îmi ies din fire. 1 2 3 4 5
90. Sunt uşor de păcălit. 1 2 3 4 5
91. Îmi fac uşor prieteni. 1 2 3 4 5
92. Îmi impun părerile proprii. 1 2 3 4 5
93. Fac doar ceea ce-mi place. 1 2 3 4 5
94. Mă frământ pentru diverse lucruri. 1 2 3 4 5
95. Sunt plin de idei. 1 2 3 4 5
96. Îmi arăt bucuria. 1 2 3 4 5
97. Vorbesc doar despre mine. 1 2 3 4 5
98. Îmi neglijez îndatoririle. 1 2 3 4 5
99. Îmi păstrez sângele rece. 1 2 3 4 5
100. Găsesc soluţii originale. 1 2 3 4 5
Sex: M__; F__
Vârsta: ___ani
Postul ocupat:_____
Vă mulţumim!
68
Performance evaluation questionnaire
Chestionar de evaluare a performantelor angajatilor
Va rugam sa caracterizati performantele individuale din ultimele 6-12 luni ale
angajatilor din lista de mai jos, acordand un punctaj de la 1 la 5, dupa cum urmeaza:
1 = rezultatele necorespunzatoare, lipsa totala de interes
2 = rezultate sub asteptari
3 = rezultatele corespund asteptarilor
4 = rezultatele depasesc asteptarile
5 = rezultate exceptionale
Informatiile furnizate sunt confidentiale si vor fi utilizate pentru realizarea unui studiu
de caz ce urmareste legatura dintre personalitate si performanta.
Multumesc!
Pozitia ocupata de angajatul evaluat: __________________________________
Departamentul/echipa:_________________________________________________
Vechimea in firma:____________________________________________________
Norma parțială …… întreagă ……
Vârstă ….. Ultima școală absolvită Liceu…. Licență .... Masterat ….
Sexul: M F
Nume angajat
Criteriu de evaluare Punctaj
acordat de la
1 la 5
Realizarea cantitativa a targetului
Calitatea muncii/sarcinilor realizate
Orientare catre client
Relatia cu superiorii
Relatia cu colegii
Adaptabilitate, flexibilitate
Initiativa, imbunatatirile aduse
69
Respectarea termenelor