One major personality theory
One of the major personality theories is the Freud’s Tripartite Theory of Personality. This theory embraces the psychodynamic model by “emphasizing the interplay of unconscious mental processes in determining human thought, behavior, and feelings” (Bornstein, 2006, p. 340). This theory works on the assumption that individuals have opposing forces, which are always conflicting. According to this theory, an individual has three psychodynamic constructs, viz. ego, id, and super-ego.
Its use in conducting an assessment
Human resources management researchers are developing interest in the role of personality traits in the employees’ performance. Conventionally, resource managers believed that the performance of an individual depended on efforts and motivation among other external factors. However, an emerging body of knowledge holds that certain personality traits contribute to the performance of a given employee. Therefore, resources managers use personality constructs, viz. the ego, id, and super-ego to determine how an individual will be affected by different factors within the workplace. For instance, an individual with a strong ego has well-balanced personalities and s/he can make a good employee. Liang (2011) posits, “The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality” (p. 180).
The ego balances the id’s primitive instincts and the super-ego’s sense of entitlement. In the workplace, employees are supposed to be ambitious and hardworking and this aspect can be taken care of by the super-ego. However, organizations have to depend on teamwork in a bid to be successful. Therefore, a strong ego will enable an individual to fit in a team for the accomplishment of the set goals. Therefore, resources managers focus on one’s ego coupled with establishing how it balances the id and the super-ego to make a functional human being that can work in a team.
Personality assessment practices
One of the factors that stood out for me about personality assessment practices is the role that the ego plays in an individual. Apparently, some individuals have very weak egos that cannot control their base id characteristics. Therefore, such individuals end up acting unconsciously to portray some primitive behaviors that can be detrimental to team work. On the other side, I realized that some individuals have very strong super-egos, which lead to self-serving interests and this aspect can be damaging to any team. Such individuals end up pursuing personal goals at the expense of teamwork, thus creating discontentment and disarray amongst team members.
Therefore, I realized that individuals with strong egos are in a position to deal with the reality of the need for working with other team members. Such individuals are accommodating and willing to learn new things because they appreciate the importance of continued growth. Employees with strong egos are neither bound by their primitive ids nor blindfolded by their self-serving super-egos (Navaneed, 2012).
Current research trends and their variance across cultures
The current research trends are focused on unravelling more on the role of each construct in an employee’s performance, motivation, and job satisfaction. As aforementioned, organizations are moving form the conventional thinking that employees can only be motivated via extrinsic factors. Apparently, emerging evidence shows that monetary rewards cannot solely influence the performance, motivation, and job satisfaction amongst employees. The current research trends are focusing on the role of intrinsic motivators. Intrinsic motivators are linked to personality traits. For instance, an employee with poor ego can be motivated via compliments from the management.
However, the interpretation of these factors varies across different cultures. The culture in which an individual is brought up in plays a critical role in the formation of one’s personality traits. Nwoke (2012) posits, “Individual’s personality is the end product of an interaction between biological and experiential factors and experiential factors are culturally determined” (p. 100). Therefore, the interpretation of one’s personality constructs varies across cultures due to ethnic influences.
References
Bornstein, R. (2006). A Freudian Construct Reclaimed: The psychodynamics of personality pathology. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 23(2), 339-353. Web.
Liang, Y. (2011). Id, ego, and super-ego in pride and prejudice. International Education Studies, 4(2), 177-181. Web.
Navaneed, C. (2012). Balance of internal drive, ego, and super-ego through self Hypnosis. Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, 2, 221-224. Web.
Nwoke, M. (2012). Impact of cultural value system on the personality development of Ogoni adolescents. Asian Social Sciences, 8(3), 100-112. Web.