How Can Difficult Personalities Impact the Workplace?ĭifficulties workplace personalities can negatively affect the well-being of individual workers as well as entire organizations. And some researchers have found that traits of narcissism - such as a sense of entitlement and lack of empathy for others - are higher in Generation Y or Millennials (sometimes referred to as "Generation Me") than in previous generations which can make for more challenging interactions within office environments (Twenge & Campbell, 2008). For example, you may know someone who has extreme and unpredictable emotional mood swings which often appear in people with borderline personality disorder. Even though these disorders create extreme behaviors in those who have them, even people without personality disorders can display traits from them which appear in the workplace. Examples of personality disorders include antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. For those who have personality traits that are considered outside of the norm and potentially harmful to themselves and/or others, a personality disorder may be present.Īccording to the American Psychiatric Association (2013b), "personality disorders are associated with ways of thinking and feeling about oneself and others that significantly and adversely affect how an individual functions in many aspects of life" (p.1). Basically stated, personality is the sum of characteristics and traits that define a person's typical thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in over time (Malik, 2007). What is Personality?īefore learning more about difficult workplace personalities and how to handle them, it is important to understand personality. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to describe ten difficult workplace personalities which are common to many workplaces and strategies for effectively communicating and interacting with them. Although you may be able to find some humor in it, at the end of the day difficult workplace personalities can be very upsetting for all of those who have the misfortune of sharing time, space, and job tasks with them. In the following picture, Holloway and Kusy (2009) use humor to illustrate the joy of having a difficult employee leave a company. You may have even found yourself fantasizing about their departure or considering your own just to get away from him or her. If you've ever dealt with a particularly difficult coworker, you may have found yourself avoiding that person at work, perhaps changing your schedule or taking a different route in and out of your building. That said, dealing with difficult personalities in the workplace can really take a toll on one's health and well-being, as well as on the entire company or organization. Indeed, for many of us, we find ourselves spending more time with our coworkers and colleagues than with our family and friends. Many of us spend countless hours at work, and for the majority of full-time workers, more time may be spent at work than in any other context outside of one's home.
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