\ Course Title : MANAGEMENT IN ORGANISATIONS

Question 1: (a) Summarise Big Five Personality Framework and describe the way Big Five Personality attributes might affect a managers own behavior in dealing with his or her subordinates. (10 marks) The Big Five Personality describes a persons attributes and behavior and how he or she responds to the surrounding environment in various situations. It is a personal style of someone based on his or her cultural and social values. The Big Five is divided into the 5 categories below. 1. Extraversion:- describes a person whom is talkative, outgoing, socially agreeable and always in a positive mood. The opposite end of this trait is a person who is an introvert who is shy and reserved. 2. Agreeableness: - Is a person who is approachable, accommodating, warm, friendly and trustworthy. A person who is low in agreeableness is distant and unfriendly. 3. Conscientiousness:- A conscientious person is very organized, detailed, dependable and reliable. They can make perfect work colleagues. 4. Emotional Stability : - this trait represents someone who is able to manage stress and pressure. They have either high or low self esteem and and have the ability to motivate themselves. People who have low emotional stability or neuroticism are irritable and moody and allow their moods to affect their behavior. 5. Openness to Experience :- a person who is open to experience is someone who is eager to learn new things and have a number of broad interests. They also have a curios and creative nature. On the other hand, a status quo and a conventional person is regarded as being on the low end of this personality. A managers behavior will affect the people working around him and vice versa. Some personality types may enhance a managers performance while another may affect his mood negatively. A manager has to have a strong character and capability to handle all types of personality differently to ensure a conducive work environment among the staff.
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An extroversion person who is open and socially agreeable is able to get along with everyone in the office. A manager will find it easy to handle an extraversion person as he is approachable and easy to talk about the issues and challenges in the office. Such a person should hold positions in marketing and sales. A person who is agreeable is always accommodating and friendly. It is fairly easy for the manager to handle friendly people but on the other hand, agreeable people usually agree to everything without raising any issues or doubts that may be important. The manager has to encourage such a person to voice his actual view of the situation so that unrealistic goals will not be created. Persons high in agreeableness should be involved in organizing office events and functions, annual dinners and social club meetings. A person who is conscientious can make very good administrators, secretaries and office managers. A manager will have a high level of trust and confidence when handling these personality types as they are very self-disciplined and organized. The manager would not have a problem assigning a task to them as he would be confident that a conscientious employee will always see to its completion. Emotional stability is an important feature for individuals with high job stress levels. The managers behavior will be affected by the highly emotional staff during stressful situations. If the staff concerned is involved in a stressful project but shows a stable mindset and calm disposition when tackling the situation, then the manager himself would be calm and composed and will be able to make effective decisions for the company. Staffs that are creative with high openness to experience personality are best designated to Public Affairs, Designing and Advertising functions. The manager should encourage these personality types to open up to new ideas, be creative and inventive so that new products can be introduced to the customers.

b) Suppose you had to choose an assistant who will be assisting you in dayto-day work routine. Would you prefer an assistant who is high in conscientiousness but low in agreeableness, or an assistant who is high in agreeableness but low in conscientiousness? Defend your answer. (10 marks)

I would choose an assistant who is high in conscientiousness and low in agreeableness because from the employers perspective, an assistant with high conscientiousness represents a person with a high level of discipline and responsibility. Such personalities usually go hand-hand with an assistants job as it usually encompasses event scheduling, filing, organizing meetings, planning activities, preparing official documents and other administration work. The person selected for the job should be organized, detailed, thorough and dependable and he or she will normally accomplish the given job regardless of whatever the mood they are in. Additionally, an assistants job description would not require them to socialize or be creative in any way. The agreeableness personality attribute also does not apply to this job because kindness, trust and friendliness are not a required factors needed for an office assistant. Furthermore, selecting a person which is high on any of the other 4 personality traits would only delay the job from getting completed and create unwanted disagreements. Moreover when my assistant is confronted with a work problem, she or he must have the ability to be calm and clarify the issues while sorting the problem out in an orderly manner without creating further turmoil. A job description for an assistant would usually match the personality traits of someone who is highly conscientious. Likewise, there should be an acceptable level of conscientiousness in all employees within any company because it will indicate a workforce that is responsible and hardworking. The downside of a person who is at the high end of conscientiousness is that at times the person may tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to details.

Question No.2. a) Differentiate between Group Polarization and Groupthink. Suggest methods that a manager might use to ensure that groupthink does not occur in his or her group. (10 marks) Group polarization consist of members who already share the same pre-existing perceptions and beliefs and it is further reinforced to the extreme when other dominant members of the group influences them with a stronger viewpoint of those same opinions. Group think however occurs when members of a group have contradicting opinions or ideas but are suppressed by other dominant
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members so that the whole group will appear harmonious and arrive at a consensus without any form of conflict. In an effort to appear harmonious, Group think members have a tendency to suppress ideas and thoughts that may be beneficial. This misguided appearance will eventually lead to unwise decisions and unfortunate reactions.

Two factors that basically explain the Group polarization theory is, social comparison and information influence. Social comparison is when a person wants to be accepted within a group so he socially conforms to the views of the members of the group. Information influence is when other members of the group have stronger or better views about the situation and this reinforces the views of the individual concerned.

There are various methods that a manager may use to avoid a Group think from occurring. Inform and Educate:The manager can hold early talks with the group concerned and inform and educate them about the dangers and the consequences of a group think decision. Preference The group leader should not take sides or prefer the opinion of only a selected few members during the discussions. All members should be given an equal opportunity to voice their concerns or thoughts and each suggestion should be viewed seriously and evaluated properly. Encourage criticism The leader of the group should encourage everyone to put their `thinking caps on and come up with various alternative ideas. Constructive criticism should also be allowed among members so that the ideas or plans can be analyzed thoroughly. External information. Get members to gather more information from external sources and feedback on personal experiences and produce it during brainstorming sessions with the rest of the group. Evaluate

Evaluate the contingency plans and come up with various alternatives or action plans to meet targets. Get people from outside the group to evaluate and give their feedback on the various alternatives or plans that have been set. Same rank Ensure that all members of the group are of basically the same rank in the organizations hierarchy. This is because everyone will feel at liberty to voice out their thoughts and doubts as all members are of the same rank within the organization. If the group members involved are from lower ranking staff to middle management staff. Then the lower management staff may not voice their doubts because of the concern of `treading on someone toes in the middle management level. Wrong Assumption Dont necessarily assume that only the smart ones can contribute a smart plan. Take in all views from a broad angle without preference of who is academically higher or lower. Devils Advocate Assign a role of a `Devils Advocate to someone from the group or an outsider to critic every idea that has been presented and ask the members to come up with solutions.