PSY 328 Project Two Template

For this project, you will create a professional blog post highlighting what you have learned
about personality theory applied to yourself in the workplace. The purpose of the post is to
promote and encourage similar reflection from peers.

Complete this template by replacing the bracketed text with the relevant information. Insert 3 to
5 sentences for each bullet. Delete the bullets when you are done so your finished product will
resemble a blog post.
Understanding Myself

Personality and the Individual

The results from your Big Five personality assessment show that I have a high level of
conscientiousness, which indicate that I am an individual that adheres to rules and norms, goal-
directed, hard-working, organized, and responsible. Conscientiousness entails various facets such
as reliability, responsibility, perseverance, and self-control. Being a conscientious individual, I am
good at impulse control and self-regulation. It helps me to take the obligation to other people
earnestly, behave impulsively, deliberate over choice, and set and maintain long-term ambitions.
Conscientiousness has contributed to my success in my studies and relationships with others. It
has also contributed to longevity, well-being, and health. When making both small and big
decisions, I am always proactive (Ponnock et al., 2020). For instance, when setting my goals, I also
determine and set timelines for achieving every goal. With my conscientious personality, I am
more successful in tasks demanding attention to detail. I am not impulsive; I usually plan what to
do and abide by the schedule. I am punctual, keep my promises, take notes, and rarely miss
paying my bills on time. As a conscientious person, I usually participate in self-care by eating a
healthy diet, getting proper sleep, and exercising. To maintain this attribute, I have adopted a
mental contrasting technique where I usually visualize a goal, the pathway to the purpose, and
the potential barriers I will face in achieving the goal. The process helps me choose feasible plans
and enhance my determination to attain them. Conscientiousness has enabled me to be more
empathetic when dealing with others. As a conscientious person, I usually dwell on an issue until
it is solved.
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 Another trait that was well graded on the Big Five personality test was extraversion,
indicating that I am a social, enthusiastic, and outgoing individual. I am usually energetic and
enjoy being in social gatherings and in other people's company (Ok, 2021). I typically look for
stimulation and the company of other individuals. I usually like linking with the external world.
Moreover, I am an action-oriented individual and thrive on excitement. My extraversion sub traits
include cheerfulness, excitement seeking, activity level, assertiveness, sociability, and friendliness.
I want to be a therapist in the future since my Big Five personality could allow me to fit
into the career perfectly. As a therapist, one must be an outgoing person who can quickly
establish a rapport with their clients and make them feel easy enough to open up. I will focus on
ensuring that I comprehend the clients' problems and work together using my conscientiousness
to create a treatment plan with the clients. As an extrovert and conscientious person, I will need
to assist the clients in reflecting on problems affecting them and making progressive changes. I
must also demonstrate empathy, dependability, and kindness to my clients. Being empathetic
implies that I will not be judging the client's actions throughout the session. As an outgoing
person, I will demonstrate my capabilities as a specialist to enable my clients to get comfortable
when receiving care. As an extrovert, I should be in an interprofessional relationship to facilitate
easy liaising with other professionals to allow changes.
The type of work setting most favorable for my extroversion personality is an open or
group setting. Working closely with other people is usually enjoyable. Such an environment will
allow me to interact with others as a means of learning and to get diverse opinions regarding
various issues at hand. As an extrovert, I will need to be in an open setting or a group, as I often
draw my energy from the people surrounding me. Engaging in a lot of remote work is boring for
me. A group and open setting will also make me more enthusiastic about helping others around
me. Working in such an environment will likely make me a leader because I can quickly build
rapport with other people and perform excellently in groups. As an extrovert, I will become an
anti-boring person who will bring out the best in my colleagues and clients, such as confidence,
energy, and conversation. Being in an open work setting will enable me to become a social savior
where I can fill awkward silences, strike up conversations, make an introduction, and bring people
together. Being in such a setting will enable me to let out my feelings, thoughts, and ideas quickly
to ensure that other people understand me and are willing to interact with me.
My ideal manager should be an individual who is more understanding to ensure that they
understand both my professional and personal situation. A transparent manager is crucial as they
will ensure I know what is going on and how I am doing. I want honest and direct feedback
regularly. The manager should not hide brutal realities nor sugarcoat the truth. As an extroverted
person, my ideal manager should have excellent communication skills. They should issue
recognition or rewards for good performance, provide regular feedback, and keep in contact with
me. Communication should include body language, chat applications, emails, and face-to-face. As
a manager, the individual should endeavor to understand me to know what makes me
comfortable and know what I need to do well. They should be ready to discuss anything that
concerns me though having an open-door policy. Being my ideal manager demands that they have
excellent listening skills. The person should be willing to listen to my insights and opinions. Once I
offer valuable feedback, the manager should be ready to act. As my manager, one should be
reliable and consistent. They should seek advice, opinions on various things, and clarification. I
should be comfortable approaching them as I trust them. As an extrovert, I will likely share many
things with my manager. Thus, they ought to respect confidentiality and be trustworthy. The
manager should also be able to empower me to set my goals to ensure that I feel ownership of
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the objectives leading to better standards and more work being done. The manager should
comprehend how to establish realistic and motivational goals to ensure that I remain motivated
and engaged.

Personality and Teams

My behaviors usually shift from being high in extroversion when working with a group to low
extroversion and a high level of conscientiousness when doing individual work. I typically form
good relationships with others when doing group work through my high extroversion. I tend easily
and quickly form friendships. Moreover, I am usually outgoing hence making group work more
effective. Through my extroversion nature, I tend to remember faces and names, become
comfortable establishing friendships with many people, and can retain close relationships with
others. When doing group work, I am usually charismatic, candid, and straightforward, ensuring
that I speak my mind openly and honestly. Additionally, I can easily communicate with diverse
individuals often present in a group setting. I also tend to have very high confidence when in a
group setting which triggers my self-reliance tendencies, the likelihood of taking charge, and
determination. However, when working on my work, my attribute tends to shift to introversion
and higher levels of conscientiousness. When working alone, there is a high likelihood of
achieving more in terms of quality work and completion since I understand how far I can drive
myself to achieve a specific goal. I also appreciate my work ethic. Since I am a perfectionist, I
believe in completing one task before beginning a new one. I am always cautious about schedules
and deadlines as I prefer finishing earlier to give sufficient time to revisit. As a conscientious and
introverted person, working alone makes me more creative since I have adequate time to
recharge and reflect. It also becomes the best moment to establish the best ideas. When working
alone, I tend to focus inward and turn all attention to what I am doing.
One of my traits that are considered to be a strength is conscientiousness. Being a
conscientious person enables me to influence the quality of work the team produces
positively. I am always interested in ensuring that every task is done perfectly. I usually cross-
examine the most minute details of every job to assess how it can be improved. As a
conscientious person, I typically bring great emotional intelligence into the work setting.
Through practicing conscientiousness, I usually have a lot of curiosity. I also believe in the
power of personal integrity and character. I persist even during challenging moments (Taggar,
2021). As a team member, I usually visualize what other team members need and do my best
to satisfy their needs to ensure everyone becomes a winner. Being a conscientious person, I
am generally highly organized. I am also a super planner; hence I will be able to visualize
challenges before they happen. I also tend to have a short memory of past situations and
interactions, especially those that negatively impact others and myself. However, my
conscientiousness may pose to be a challenge in some cases, such as I may end up putting
moral pressure on other people as I expect other people to adhere to the values and virtues
stipulated. At times, it becomes hard for people to work with me in a team as I tend to see
shortcuts taken and variations in routines quickly. Since I am usually emotionally attached to
what I do, failure may make me feel guilty and shame. As a conscientious person, I always
want to ensure that every detail of a task is correct. However, chasing after perfection may
decrease the team's productivity level. Such keenness for quality has also led to my team
missing deadlines.
An example of personal-situation debate in the workplace is that individuals act
how they want to act. Individuals' actions are usually associated with their personality traits.
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For instance, an individual behaves fluently since they have much extroversion. Such occasions
can happen when there is a social event, such as team building at one's workplace. Extroverts
tend to become the center of attention as they usually interact with everyone and are aware
of everything concerning the event, such as music choices and catering.
Handling potential conflict with co-workers is vital in ensuring a conducive working
environment. Possible conflict with a co-worker is likely to arise due to no or poor
communication. Thus, I ensure that I communicate what is necessary, using the right channel
to ensure that I am on the same page with the rest of my co-workers. I also do not ignore that
there is some conflict. Once tension is already felt, I always presume that I have to act so that
the conflict does not erupt. Addressing the anxiety before it worsens is vital to ensure no
hostility between my colleague and me (GaneshKumar, 2021). However, when the conflict
erupts suddenly, I wait for both of us to cool down to hold a real conversation. Setting a face-
to-face meeting with the co-worker in a private setting is also a vital strategy for dealing with
any potential conflict as it provides the interested parties sufficient time to express concerns. I
also tend to establish a common ground we both agree on rather than focusing on my
grievances. Listening and keeping an open mind would be another strategy for solving conflict
with a co-worker. I understand that I can only comprehend a co-worker's point of view by
listening to their feelings and the reason behind them. Once it is my colleague's turn to air
their perspective, I should not interrupt them. Upon finishing their statement, I should not be
afraid to question them thoughtfully and respectfully when I feel something is unclear.

Personality, Stress, and Coping

A team member's personality traits and personality states are two different elements.
Personality traits entail things termed to be an element of a person's personality. Hence it is a
long-term attribute of a person that is demonstrated through their feelings, actions, and behavior.
It is seen as a person's quality, feature, or characteristic. A personality state entails short-lived
conditions that a person experiences over a short period. Upon the passing of the state, one
resumes their permanent condition. For instance, one may say that they are feeling stressed
because of a task that is a due deadline, but upon submitting, they resume their typical
personality trait of being jovial. However, a person with a stressed personality trait is always
stressed.
One approach I could use to help a colleague reduce stress at work is being supportive and
present by communicating with them to see how they are doing. Such checking will give me a
view of what is happening and reassure my peer that I am concerned about their well-being. In
some scenarios inquiring about how they are doing can help them contemplate themselves and
realize that they are struggling. I will also ensure that the colleague knows I am there for them
and am not aggressive or pushy (Thisted et al., 2020). I will also inquire about how I can help them
instead of making assumptions about their needs. Sometimes the colleague may require
distractions from their stress, a channel to vent out, or a practical solution. I will also listen to my
stressed colleague if they want to talk. I would determine whether my stress in the workplace is
too high by checking out various symptoms such as insomnia and decreased energy, problems
with my concentration or memory, constant worry, sleeping too much, feeling unfocused,
unmotivated, or overwhelmed, restlessness, irritability, or anger, and anxiety or depression.
Among the steps, I would utilize to reduce stress include connecting with others, managing social
media time, maintaining good nutrition and physical exercise, practicing deep breathing, and
using guided meditation.
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 References
GaneshKumar, R. (2021). Effectiveness of Conflict Management Games and Activities in
Workplace. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCOMAT), 12(11),
395-400.
Ok, C. (2021). Extraversion, loneliness, and problematic game use: A longitudinal
study. Personality and Individual Differences, 168, 110290.
Ponnock, A., Muenks, K., Morell, M., Yang, J. S., Gladstone, J. R., & Wigfield, A. (2020). Grit and
conscientiousness: Another jangle fallacy. Journal of Research in Personality, 89, 104021.
Taggar, S. (2021). Conscientiousness in Teams Completing Creative Tasks: Does it Predict?. The
Journal of Creative Behavior, 55(2), 319-336.
Thisted, C. N., Labriola, M., Vinther Nielsen, C., Kristiansen, S. T., Strøm, J., & Bjerrum, M. B.
(2020). Managing employees’ depression from the employees’, co-workers’ and
employers’ perspectives. An integrative review. Disability and rehabilitation, 42(4), 445-
459.

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