Some research supports the impact of personality within teams because certain personality

characteristics seem to affect whether the interpersonal conflict helps or hurts team performance.
For example, when the team is composed of employees high on openness to experience and
emotional stability, conflict can help their performance. However, when the team is low on these
qualities, conflict can hurt performance. Additional research has explored how personality
differences affect employees’ relationships with their supervisors. Employees and supervisors
report weaker relationships between one another when they differ on emotional stability,
openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (but not extraversion).

Despite these findings, many note that personality is just one piece of the puzzle—the big picture
is more complex, politically sensitive, and nuanced than differences in personality. However, if
you find yourself in a potential “personality clash” situation, Dr. Sills notes that you should try to
(1) resist “recruiting” coworkers to take sides (this will just add more negativity and complexity
to the situation), (2) focus on the strengths of this other person, (3) reduce your contact with the
other person so that the conflict occurs less frequently, and (4) develop some insight into who
you are and what your personality is like (this can help you figure out what you can do or what
you should stop doing in order to reduce conflict).
Sources: J. B. Bernerth, A. A. Armenakis, H. S. Field, W. F. Giles, and H. J. Walker, “The Influence of Personality Differences between
Subordinates and Supervisors on Perceptions of LMS,” Group & Organization Management 33, no. 2 (2008): 216–40; B. H. Bradley, A. C.
Clotz, B. E. Postlethwaite, and K. G. Brown, “Ready to Rumble: How Team Personality Composition and Task Conflict Interact to Improve
Performance,” Journal of Applied Psychology 98, no. 2 (2013): 385–92; B. Dattner, “Most Work Conflicts Aren’t Due to Personality,” Harvard
Business Review, May 20, 2014, https://hbr .org/2014/05/most-work-conflicts-arent-due-to-personality; S. Lebowitz, “A Psychologist Says These
Personality Types Are Most Likely to Clash at Work,” Business Insider, May 27, 2015, http://www .businessinsider.com/personality-types-that-
clash-at-work-2015-5; J. Sills, “When Personalities Clash,” Psychology Today, November 1, 2006,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200611/when- personalities-clash; and S. Simpson, “Personality Clashes in the Workplace: Five
Interesting Employment Cases,” Personnel Today, February 27, 2015, http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/ personality-clashes-workplace-five-
interesting-employment-cases/.

Questions

4-18. Have you ever had an experience in which your personality clashed with someone, either
at work or outside work? Was the situation resolved?
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyLab Management.
Student responses will vary.

4-19. Which do you think is more important: similarity between personality types or
differences? Explain your answer.
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyLab Management.
Student responses will vary.

4-20. Do you think knowledge of personality similarities or differences can help employees
reduce conflict and get along better? Or does this knowledge have the potential to cause
harm? Explain your answer.
Answer: This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyLab Manageme