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11
The Manager
as a Person

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Personality Traits
Personality Traits: Characteristics that influence how
people think, feel and behave on and off the job.
Include tendencies to be enthusiastic, demanding, easygoing, nervous, etc.
Each trait can be viewed on a continuum, from low to
high.
There is no wrong trait, but rather managers have a
complex mix of traits.

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Figure 11.1

The Big Five Traits:

I
Low

Extroversion

High

Low

Negative Affectivity

High

Low

Agreeableness

High

Low

Conscientiousness

High

Low

Openness to Experience

High

II

III

IV

V
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The Big Five

Extroversion:

people are positive and feel good about

themselves and the world.

Managers high on this trait are sociable, friendly.

Negative

Affectivity: people experience negative

moods, are critical, and distressed.

Managers are often critical and feel angry with others

and themselves.

Agreeableness:

people like to get along with others.

Managers are likable, and care about others.

Conscientiousness:

people tend to be careful,

persevering.
Openness to Experience: people are original, with
broad interests.

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Traits and Managers

Successful managers vary widely on the Big Five.

It is important to understand these traits since it helps
explain a managers approach to planning, leading,
organizing, etc.

Internal Locus of Control: People believe they are

responsible for their fate.

Managers should also be aware of their own style and try

to tone down problem areas.

See their actions are important to achieving goals.

External Locus of Control: People believe outside forces

are responsible for their fate.

Their actions make little difference in achieving outcomes.

Managers
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need an Internal Locus of Control!

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11-6

Other Traits
Self-Esteem: Captures the degree to which people
feel good about themselves and abilities.
High self-esteem causes people to feel they are
competent, and capable.
Low self-esteem people have poor opinions of
themselves and abilities.
Need for Achievement: extent to which people have
a desire to perform challenging tasks and meet
personal standards.
Need for Affiliation: the extent to which people want
to build interpersonal relationships and being liked.
Need for Power: indexes the desire to control or
influence others.

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Values

Values: describe what managers try to achieve through

work and how to behave.
These are personal convictions about life-long goals
(terminal values) and modes of conduct (instrumental
values).
A persons value system reflects how important their
values are as a guiding principle in life.
Terminal values important to managers include:

Sense of Accomplishment, equality, self-respect.

Instrumental

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values include:

hard-working, broadminded, capable.

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Terminal and Instrumental Values

Figure 11.3

TERMINAL
TERMINALVALUES
VALUES
Prosperous
Prosperouslife
life
Exciting
Excitinglife
life
Sense
Senseof
ofAccomplishment
Accomplishment
AAworld
worldat
atpeace
peace
Salvation
Salvation
Self-respect
Self-respect
Pleasure
Pleasure
Wisdom
Wisdom
True
Truefriendship
friendship
Equality
Equality
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INSTRUMENTAL
INSTRUMENTAL
VALUES
VALUES
Ambitious
Ambitious
Broadminded
Broadminded
Capable
Capable
Cheerful
Cheerful
Clean
Clean
Helpful
Helpful
Honest
Honest
Obedient
Obedient
Loving
Loving
Responsible
Responsible
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Attitudes

Attitudes: collection of feelings about something.

Job Satisfaction: feelings about a workers job.

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Satisfaction tends to rise as manager moves up in the

organization.
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: actions not required
of managers but which help advance the firm. Managers
with high satisfaction perform these extra mile tasks.
Organizational Commitment: beliefs held by people
toward the organization as a whole.
Committed managers are loyal and proud of the firm.
Commitment can differ around the world.
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Moods

Moods: encompass how a manager feels while managing.

Positive moods provide excitement, elation and
enthusiasm.
Negative moods lead to fear, stress, nervousness.

Moods can depend on a person's basic outlook as well as

on current situations.

Managers need to realize how they feel affects how they

treat others and how others respond to them.
Workers prefer to make suggestions to mangers who are
in a good mood.

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Perceptions

Perception is the process through which people select,

organize and interpret input.
Managers decisions are based on their perception.

Managers need to ensure perceptions are accurate.

Managers

are all different and so are their perceptions of a

situation.

Perceptions depend on satisfaction, moods, and so forth.

A managers past experience can influence their outlook on

a new project.
Good managers try not to prejudge new ideas based on the
past.

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Career Development

Career: sum total of the work-related experiences through

a persons life.
Linear career: person moves through a sequence of jobs
of higher levels.

Can build different experience in different positions.

Steady

State career: worker chooses to keep the same

kind of job over much of a career.

Become highly skilled in a given area.

Spiral

Career: worker holds fundamentally different jobs

that still build on each other.

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Worker gains wide experience yet skills continue to build.

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Career Stages

Figure 11.7
Preparation
Preparation
for
forWork
Work

Organization
Organization
Entry
Entry
Early
EarlyMidMidcareer
career
MidMidcareer
career
Late
Late
Career
Career
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Career Stages:
Preparation for Work: decide on kind of career, determine
qualifications needed.
Organizational entry: find a first job.

Managers usually start in a functional area first.

Early career: establishes person in the firm and begins

achievement.

Worker learns firms values and duties.

Also begins to achieve noteworthy results in the job.
Worker tries to stand out as a good performer.

Mentors

(experienced manager who shows you the ropes)

are valuable during this stage.

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Stages, cont.

Mid-career: usually have been in workforce 20-35 years.

Usually provides major accomplishments.

Career

plateaus can occur as chances for further

promotion dwindle.

Plateau managers can still enjoy a fruitful career.

Late career: continues as long as the manager works and

is active.
Many managers choose to stay active well past normal
retirement.

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Career Management
Managers need to consider both personal career
management as well as the careers of other workers in
the firm.
Ethical practice: managers need to ensure worker
promotions are based on outcomes, not friendships.

This means all workers are treated equally.

Accommodation

of other demands: Workers have

many things in their lives besides work. Managers need
to consider these issues as well.

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The dual career couple is the norm.

Workers have family commitments.
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Stress
Results when people face important opportunity or
threats they are uncertain can be handled.

Managers almost always face stress.

Physiological

issues: stress can result in sleep problems,

headaches, and other issues.

Long-term levels of stress can result in heart attack, and high

blood pressure.
Different people experience stress differently.

Psychological

nervousness.

issues: stress can result in bad moods, anger,

Can result in lower work output and frustration.

Behavioral

issues: stress can actually enhance job

performance as well as impair it.

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Figure 11.8

Stress & Performance

Level of
Performance

High

Low
Low

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Positive Stress

Negative Stress High

Level of Stress

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11-19

Sources of Stress
Role Conflict: results from conflict between
managerial roles.
Conflict can result when managers want to present a
problem with the firm but still want to present firm in
best possible light.
Role Overload: managers have too many duties and
activities.
Most managers have several roles but they can become
over-powering.

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Coping with stress

Problem-focused:

actions taken to directly deal with

stress.
Emotion-focused: actions taken to deal with stressful
feelings.
Time Management: allows people to accomplish more
with less wasted time.
Mentoring: mentor shows how to deal with stress.
Exercise: can reduce stressful feelings.
Meditation: puts current cares aside.
Social support: can come from family or other workers.
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