Different Personality Traits

Leslie Snow manages a team of five help desk operators. The cubicles of the operators are located a floor below Leslie’s office. Each operator is required to log help desk calls into a team database. This database tracks the nature of a problem, the length of the call, and whether the problem was fixed or sent to the engineering department for further investigation.

Leslie has a busy schedule, and it is not possible for her to monitor the performance of her team members sitting on a different floor. Therefore she decides to assess their performance solely on the basis of reports queried from the database.

What five personality traits does differential psychology focus on identifying? Is it important for managers to understand their employees’ differences? Why or why not? Explain your viewpoint by giving a minimum of two specific examples.