Individual Differences in the Workplace

For the Session Long Project, you will be applying the concepts from the background materials to your own personal workplace experiences. For this assignment, think of two former or current coworkers that had unique personalities. Choose two people that you worked with closely enough that you were able to get a good idea of their personality traits and workplace attitudes.

Review the main personality traits and attitudes from the background materials, and think about how these apply to your two coworkers. Then write a three page paper addressing the following issues:

1. How would you describe the personalities of these two coworkers? Use the Big Five Personality traits and other personality traits discussed in Chapter 6 of Nair (2010) to find the personality traits that best describe your coworkers. You must use specific personality traits that you found in the background readings for your answer.

2. How would you describe their workplace attitudes including job satisfaction and organizational commitment?

3. Do you think their personality traits impacted their workplace attitudes, or did other factors such as the work environment, job characteristics, etc. have a greater impact on their attitudes?