I believe that in most instances, intangibles such as personality, attitude, and behavior are equally important as performance results when evaluating an employee because I believe that personality and attitude has a direct affect on end results. “A person's personality may not necessarily have a very high impact on a person's job or productivity per se, depending on the type of work being done (Sinha, 2004). Not all jobs require an employee to be personable and friendly. This is why I believe that intangibles should only carry as much weight as performance/end-results if the job calls for it. For example, a car salesman needs to be friendly and personable in order to make a customer feel comfortable and ultimately make the sale. If you were looking to purchase a new vehicle and the salesperson was not friendly, and showed a poor attitude would you still test drive the car? Personally, I would leave and go to a different dealership.
I’d also like to point out that sensitivity, reliability, and acceptability all relates back to an individual’s personality. Whether or not a manager can trust an employee with a specific task or job duty can be determined by the employee’s personality. An employee who shows determination and a will to learn, will more than likely receive a promotion over someone who lacks determination, reliability, and does not desire to learn or enhance their career.
Reference:
Sinha, K (2004). How much does personality influence job performance. Retrieved March 4, 2009, from www.personalityresearch.org/papers/neubert.html