The Importance of Various Personalities While Communicating in Groups
Abstract
The benefits of multiple personality interaction within group work have been dissected by identifying the members that display these traits involved in each group. The members that make up the group that are familiar or unfamiliar with one another are the critical tools of communication in order to conduct the intended purpose of the group. Each member of the group may have specific or general responsibilities that cooperate equally among the other members. The formation of the group is a delicate process by which ideally would select various personalities to be involved. The variety of personalities can affect the foundation of creativity and insight into each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This project will emphasize several personality strengths that have been noted to positively affect the group. Helpful personality traits can differ from preferred traits. Personality traits have been historically identified by five major categories. However, professionals have noted a plethora of traits in the current work force. Because individuals have different intentions such as employer, employee, colleague, trainer, correspondence, and similar positions while interacting with people. Communication is generally difficult between people meeting for the first time, and personality can be noticed early in these introductory phases.
Keywords: personality, communication, group, team, group-work, team, traits, characteristics, variability
The Importance of Various Personalities While Communicating in Groups
Current society and scholars identify five major personalities. The identified Big Five personality traits are extraversion/ extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism (Barry and Stewart). These traits being the general strong personality types also means this is unbiased to group or singular interaction. These traits are identifiable by the individual regardless of the interaction. Interaction can serve as a gateway for these personalities to be discoverable.
Society has been open about personal identity such as introversion/ extroversion, shy vs confident, anxiety, and other characteristics the individual identifies with (Elmassah et al., 2020). Often personal quirks get overlooked as potentially beneficial. The benefit or each trait has purpose depending on intent of the group or individual goal. Direct vs passive speech has a high impact on communication effectiveness. Voice characteristics such as pace and volume can hinder the intent of the speaker (Koutsoumpis and de Vries, 2022). The methods of interaction are considered communication styles. Whatever the style developed with the individual will be habitually exercised through interaction. These styles can be directly related to personality. Various personalities can encompass similar communication details but are still dominant in the personality (Covell, 2023).
Benefits of Various Traits
Group communication is based on function. The goal of the group is identified before the styles of group members are identified. Since countless goals and events have been documented, there may not be one preferred personality over any other. The preference of members changed considerably based on the goal and functions of the group.
Personality Trait Preference (PTP) has been considered a focal point of group interaction. The goal is involved in group manifestation. For example, during high stress, difficult or challenging events many group members consider humor to be beneficial (Stachowski et al., 2009). During time critical and/ or financial events, A more direct and serious approach is preferrable (Covell, 2023). Other reflective journals have been noted in professional group work such as nursing-management magazine, “A great team needs a diverse range of talents. To use a sporting analogy, you can’t have a team full of strikers, because your defence will be weak,” (Covell, 2023). The stress of the group is shared during the event. Member personalities are impactful with the potential to both help and hinder the progression of the group. Academic recourses such as the textbook associated with HUMS 335 in Columbia College have noted “Humor can help to release tension, so long as the humor does not ridicule another member or is used to ignore the disagreement” (Galanes, 2018). This is consistent with successful group research while assessing the goals and events of these groups.
Group Member Involvement
Many groups may have a hierarchical structure. This places more accountability on certain members of the group than others. Although a leader may be decided due to position in the organization, each member has a similar amount of responsibility to the nature of the group’s goal (Elmassah et al., 2020). The variety of the group involves the different styles of interaction. A person may yield qualitive ideas, but the delivery of their ideas may become discrediting. Voice characteristics have great implications for the speaker. Voice characteristics can be both controlled and uncontrolled. No person chooses what their voice sounds like. Each person has the ability to use their voice in a plethora of ways to emphasize their emotions (Koutsoumpis & de Vries, 2022)
Other studies have reported the importance of voice characteristic in the following way:
In the present study, exploratory correlation analyses mainly revealed that, regarding personality, individuals with a wide intensity range scored high on Openness to Experience, individuals who spoke fast scored low on Emotionality, and individuals who made long pauses scored high on Openness to Experience. Some correlations were in line with the operationalization of each personality trait, suggesting that voice might serve as a behavioral manifestation of personality. (Koutsoumpis & de Vries, 2022)
Some may misconstrue tone for inflection. Inflection regards pitch and is not controlled by the speaker. Tone is closely associated with emotion or attitude and can strongly be associated by the variation of speech execution. Some personalities associated with voice trait activation include Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, and openness to Experience (Koutsoumpis & de Vries, 2022). As mentioned above, there are many traits related to personality that are relevant to interpersonal interaction and overall communication.
Verbal vs Nonverbal Traits
Communication includes all forms of interaction between two or more entities. These transactions involve motion, appearance, perceived intent vs intent, and many other forms of silent verbal cues (Joergensen et al., 2021). Noticing expression and body language may be an indicator of the perspective of both sender and receiver. While communicating to multiple members, the sender would be addressing the entire room or facility. Noticing these indicators of the listener can assist with self-adjustment, as necessary.
Immediate feedback can be absorbed from both the group entirety as well as individuals. Smiling, nodding the head, writing notes, and other gestures interconnected with active listening are attested measures of understanding and acceptance. Professional studies have recorded findings on various nonverbal indicators understanding the adequacy of comprehension. A recent publication comprised of multiple Universities have remarked “we use the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) to compare empathy measures to a person’s perception of nonliteral language.” (Joergensen et al., 2021).
Conscientious traits can differ from individual tasks to group work. If this trait interacts in groupwork, many times the individual is likely to notice others of this trait and allow that person to remain the conscientious and mindful member of the group (Barry & Stewart, 1997). Other traits are explored as it pertains to group level and have emphasized that performance of one personality in the group setting is inconsistent with this dominant personality while connecting at the individual level of tasks and conversation. The goals and intentions of the groupwork frequently change in studies, but the feedback of the collective members of the group, more strongly reform the exertion of these traits.
Preferences and understanding of Traits
A teamwork analysis of communication has explained self-awareness to be essential in connecting with different personalities (Covell, 2023). Individuals can possess multiple facets of several major personalities. Effective communication involves utilizing appropriate traits in the corresponding situation. When leadership qualities are fundamental for the present task and group needs, multiple members are highly inclined to expose those qualities over their other qualities. Some virtues of personality may not be self-identified as helpful until the goals of the group are met. These traits can be strengthened for certain tasks such as interviews and team selection processes. Intention is significant to early team formation. Different positions such as employers emphasize leadership qualities while seeking employees and forming task forces. Expectations are reciprocal among employer and employee. It is important to understand that all levels of the organization impact others on the micro and macro level. Leadership qualities have been explored apart from personality type. Progressive leadership qualities noticeably make long term differences rather than short term (Barry & Stewart, 1997).
Studies have shown that personality clashes are likely to hinder communication and derail teamwork. Covell included in the medical article, “Research shows that teams made up of different types of people make better decisions.” (Covell, 2023). Team members can benefit from structuring their own communication style in order to better sync with surrounding personalities as they become more familiar with one another. Some discussion between personalities can cause more conflict than clarity. While conflict is viewed as negative and needs to be avoided, some personalities can discuss corrections and constructive criticism in such a way that avoids judgmental undertones. The receiver of this information regardless of personality or position may be more susceptible to the information and suggestions of the other members.
Open mindedness can provide a foundation for a person to build upon their multiple traits when necessary. The different phases of one’s personal and professional experience consist of maturing in values of interacting. Some team members may intend to focus more on tasks instead of connecting with other members, while others may value connection with each other rather than only task oriented. These multiple intentions do not necessarily cancel each other out and hinder progress. Larger groups may benefit from compartmentalization for certain personality types to sync together in order to complete separate tasks. These decisions may be democratically input or approved from higher positions that create the groups. Furthermore, levels of position can benefit the group regardless of personality. Leadership and experience are essential when involved in choosing those roles within the group.
Conclusion
Currently there is an abundance of personality terms that have been studied. One personality has not been concluded as preferable in comparison to other personalities. The determination of which personality is beneficial or non-beneficial is based on the various communication intentions. The five major traits have served as a foundation for further study into how personalities connect or and interact to each other. Communicating with groups can become simpler as one experiences familiarity with the members more than the tasks. The members of the group are the true driving force for shared goals and general maturing. Constructive criticism comes from other people in more accommodating methods than individual comprehension (Barry & Stewart, 1997).
Significant involvement of groupwork includes communication, personality, intention, and variability. Group work adjusts over its existence while tasks are completed. The initial formation of the group involved certain communication styles that evolved due to familiarity and as tasks are developed. A study about self-managed groups determined “At the core of an analysis of either the structure or functioning of a group must be an analysis of what individual group members bring to the group.,” (Barry & Stewart, 1997). Each personal characteristic has potential to organically strengthen over time. The ability to endure contradiction is beneficial to growth. One may prefer to expose a singular personality, but candor from the group helps to invest in other personality traits for the benefit of clearer communication.
References
Barry, B., & Stewart, G. L. (1997). Composition, process, and performance in self-managed groups: The role of personality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(1), 62–78. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.82.1.62
Covell, Yvonne. “How personality can affect teamwork and communication.” Nursing Management, vol. 30, no. 6, 7 Dec. 2023, pp. 6–8, https://doi.org/10.7748/nm.30.6.6.s2.
Elmassah, Suzanna, et al. “What shapes students’ perceptions of group work: Personality or past experience?” International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 34, no. 9, 19 July 2020, pp. 1457–1473, https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem-11-2019-0401.
Galanes, G. (2018). Effective Group Discussion: Theory and Practice (15th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education (US). https://ccis.vitalsource.com/books/9781260130997
Joergensen, G. H., Makarla, P. R., Fammartino, M., Benson, L., & Rothermich, K. (2021). No, no one had fun. individual differences in nonliteral language perception. Language and Speech, 65(2), 290–310. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309211010859
Koutsoumpis, Antonis, and Reinout E. De Vries. “What does your voice reveal about you?” Journal of Individual Differences, vol. 43, no. 3, July 2022, pp. 160–167, https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000362.
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