A manager Kokila is in the process of deciding which of the two persons she will appoint as task force leader. The task is to develop a new approach to marketing an already established product. She has observed Akhil, who is quiet and reserved and interacts relatively with his work peers. He is very bright, a hard worker and very reliable in doing structured work. He has never been observed to express either positive or negative emotions.
The other candidate Urmi is talkative and outgoing. She interacts easily with others and has a warm, outgoing style. She is sometimes careless about details and easily bored with repetitive routine work. However she enjoys solving new problem and makes good decision in vague situations. Her peers can tell what Urmi is feeling as she is quite expressive, but she has never let her emotions out of control when under stress. The more difficult the problem, the more she enjoys it.
Question
In this case, personality theory of Industrial Psychology has been applied.
Application of Five force model of personality to decide over selection of task leader between Urmi and Akhil:
The openness to experience dimension of personality is characterized by a willingness to try new activities. People with higher levels of openness are amenable to unconventional ideas and beliefs, including those which challenge their existing assumptions. They are more open to unfamiliar cultures and customs. People with low levels of openness are wary of uncertainty and the unknown. They are more suspicious of beliefs and ideas which challenge their status quo. They feel uncomfortable in unfamiliar situations and prefer familiar environments. Less open individuals value the safety of predictability, and like to adhere to well-known traditions and routines.
Urmi enjoys solving new problems and makes good decision in vague situation. However, Akhil is good at doing structured work. He is comfortable in familiar situation and not in unknown situation. He falls in low level of openness to experience. Personality of Urmi falls in high level of openness. She is better than Akhil in terms of openness to experience.
Conscientiousness
People who are conscientious are more aware of their actions and the consequences of their behavior than people who are unconscientious. They feel a sense of responsibility towards other and are generally careful to carry out the duties assigned to them. People with high conscientious levels also exhibit more goal-oriented behavior. Low levels of conscientiousness are reflected in less motivated behavior. Unconscientious individuals are less concerned by tidiness and punctuality. This may result in them arriving late to appointments and meetings, and being more relaxed in setting life goals. Unconscientious people tend to engage in more impulsive behavior.
Both Urmi and Akhil exhibits high level of conscientiousness as both of them carry out their duties and responsibilities assigned to them. Both possess goal oriented behaviour. Both are punctual and do not reflect impulsive behaviour at work. Hence on conscientiousness scale, both reflects more or less same level of tendency.
Extraversion is characterized by outgoing, socially confident behavior. Extraverts are sociable, talkative and often forward in social situations. They enjoy being the center of a group and will often seek the attention of others. Extraverts enjoy meeting new people and are happy to introduce themselves to strangers, thriving in company of others. This personality trait is measured on a introversion-extraversion continuum. Introverts are people with low levels of extraversion, display contrasting behavior. They are quieter and often feel shy around other people. They may feel intimidated being in large groups such as parties, and will often try to avoid demanding social gatherings. Introverts enjoy being a part of smaller social groups, preferably with familiar people. Such behavior results in introverts tending to enjoy smaller social networks, but instead they maintain a close group of trusted friends.
To become a task leader for marketing an established product, extraversion is utmost important. This quality is possessed by Urmi. Urmi is talkative and outgoing. She interacts easily with others and has a warm, outgoing style. She is quite expressive but Akhil is quiet and reserved and interacts relatively with his work peers. Hence Urmi is better candidate than Akhil considering this trait of personality.
Individuals who score highly on agreeableness measures are friendly and co-operative. Often considered more likeable by their peers and colleagues, agreeable people are trusting of others and are more altruistic, willing to help others during times of need.. Agreeable people dislike being involved in arguments, conflict with others and other forms of confrontation. They seek to pacify and appease others, acting as the mediating ‘peace-maker’ of their group. Individuals who are disagreeable score lower on this dimension of personality. They are less concerned with pleasing other people and making friends. Disagreeable individuals are more suspicious of other people’s intentions and are less charitable. Instead, they are motivated to act in accordance with their self-interest, showing less regard for the needs of others. As a result, they are perceived by others as being more selfish than agreeable personalities.
On Agreeableness part, Urmi is more agreeable than Akhil as Urmi helps people in solving issues of vague nature. Her peers can tell what Urmi is feeling as she is quite expressive. This indicates she maintains friendly relationship with her peers and cooperates with them. However, no such behaviour of Akhil is exhibited or given in the case.
This personality dimension is measured on a continuum ranging from emotional stability to emotional instability, or neuroticism. People with high neuroticism scores are more fearful and often feel anxious, over-thinking their problems and exaggerating their significance. Rather than seeing the positive in a situation, they may dwell on its negative aspects. People with low neuroticism scores are less preoccupied by these negative concerns. They are able to remain calmer in response to stressful situations, and view problems in proportion to their importance. As a result, they tend to worry about such problems to a lesser extent.
On neuroticism sacale, Urmi weighs higher than Akhil. Urmi is quite expressive, but she has never let her emotions out of control when under stress thus showing less neuroticism as required by a task leader. Akhil has never been observed to express either positive or negative emotions but whether he remains calm in stressful situation or not is not clear in the case. Hence Urmi is a better option for task leader than Akhil on neuroticism scale.
Urmi should be selected as task force leader because she fits team leader role better than Akhil. Her confidence, efficiency, energy, warmth and originality led to her being appointed as team leader.
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