Management : Personality tests, Job satisfaction & Motivation

1. In your own words, organizations are increasing their use of personality tests to screen job applicants. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? 2. In your own words, if you were a manager, how can you tell that an employee is experiencing job satisfaction? 3. Choose one theory from the content perspectives on motivation and one from the process perspectives on motivation. In your own words, describe actions that a manager might take to increase worker motivation under each of the theories. 1. Personality tests Personality tests have become quite common in the recent past where they are used as part of hiring new employees. They have led to a raised bar as far as recruiting new employees is concerned. It is usually a test based on questions that have been designed with the purpose of assessing the character as well as the psychological makeup of an individual. It is a great tool that allows organizations to hire the best of the best in addition to other factors such as education, referees, and experience. It allows employers to know whether a person has a personality that would create success for the organization. However, use of personality tests as one of the major bases for hiring is not effective in hiring the most productive people. One of the disadvantages of personality test is their transparency that allows people who take the tests to manipulate the results. It is a measure that focuses much on a person’s state rather than his or her traits, and this makes the results prone to change based on context. Personality lacks the ability to predict a person’s performance in the future, but they can work well as complements to other test and therefore, should not be used as the main factors used for hiring (Martin, 2014). 2. Job satisfaction Job satisfaction is associated with whether an individual loves his or her job or not. Job satisfaction can be seen in an employee if whether he or she is contented with the work delegated to him or her. The relationship between employer and employee is usually a good indicator of job satisfaction whereby a positive relationship highlights content and satisfaction while a negative relationship shows dissatisfaction. Another indicator of satisfaction is associated with a sense of fulfillment, and this is a factor is also based on an employee’s performance and productivity. Fulfillment is usually a personal reward associated with the accomplishment of personal goals and objectives, and when an employee feels this sense of accomplishment then it means that he or she has job satisfaction. Another factor of job satisfaction is associated with a person’s ability to work with a team. When employees feel happy working with others, it shows content and satisfaction with others and with the employment. Another characteristic is associated with following the organization's rules and structure to the letter. Employees satisfied with their jobs do not have problems following rules. They follow them with enthusiasm and diligence; however, those with dissatisfaction will always find themselves in trouble and have a lot of difficulty following rules and regulations (Miller, 2014). 3. Motivation In the workplace, motivation is very important. It is a factor concerned with the improvement of the focus of an employee by the use of incentives. These incentives are supposed to encourage employees by raising their enthusiasm and have the effect of boosting their performance at the workplace. Content perspectives are associated with finding factors in the workplace that are expected to motivate employees, while process perspective is associated with the mechanism to be applied to motivate them. The condition is another factor that may be used to motivate employees. Incentive includes financial rewards for improved performance. For content perspective, a manager can ensure that employees have job satisfaction and that they constantly have a sense of fulfillment from the work they do. This is a form of conditioning that if well development may keep them always motivated and it would ultimately reflect well on the productivity and performance of the organization (Perspectives on Motivation, 2017). ? References Martin, W. (2014). Personality Tests for Hiring. Retrieved 2017, from https://hbr.org/2014/08/the-problem-with-using-personality-tests-for-hiring Miller, M. (2014). Job Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. Retrieved 2017, from https://careerpivot.com/2014/7-key-areas-to-job-satisfaction/ Perspectives on Motivation. (n.d.). Retrieved 2017, from https://www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-management-textbook/organizational-behavior-5/motivating-an-organization-45/perspectives-on-motivation-235-3915/