Page 146 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Notes could have high or low self-esteem and what caused them to have it. “…persons low in self-
esteem are less likely to make effective use of self-protection strategies, we hypothesized that
this strategy of deflecting the threat involved in upward comparison would be used primarily
by persons who are characteristically high in self-esteem.” (Musssweiler, Gabriel, Bodenhausen,
2000) According to the social comparison research by Mussweiler, Gabriel, and Bodenhausen,
the majority of the individuals tested used the gender and ethnicity to either separate themselves
from another or to use this factor to help them achieve a higher self esteem, or it could have the
opposite effect of putting down one’s own self-worth. The overall outcome in all situations is
that people will develop different methods to block out unpleasant feelings of being
outperformed, the experience of inferiority.

Task Elucidate the following statements:
1. Reflective Listening focuses on personal elements of the communication and not the
abstract ideas.
2. Active listening is a key trait in many successful supervisors.

7.5 Application of Personality Theory in Organizations: The Meyers
Briggs Type Indicator Instrument

As a follow up to Carl Jung’s theory that every individual is fundamentally different, the
Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator Instrument, the MBTI, measures an individual’s personality
preferences in a variety of organizational settings, including: team building, management,
decision making, leadership, career counseling, and many more. The MBTI examines four
dichotomies: Extroversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/
Perceiving. Each dichotomy has an explanation about the characteristics associated with each
type.
The MBTI is based on the Jungian theory of personality; meaning, it can be used in all populations,
including non-clinical settings. Meyers and Briggs, authors of the MBTI, used Jung’s theory to
predict people’s patterns of behavior. “Because the results of the MBTI are subject to a variety of
environmental influences, such as work tasks and organizational climates and values,
interpretations have to be treated with caution and individually verified” (Michael, 2003). Many
people use the MBTI test in a rigid fashion causing the results to be an inaccurate assessment of
people’s personalities. If the weaknesses of the test were considered, and people would use the
test with caution, adjustments can be made to determine an accurate assessment of any changes
in an individual’s behavior.

7.5.1 Attribution in Organizations and Managerial Implications: Using
Personality, Perception, and Attribution at Work

The attribution theory explains how individuals pinpoint the causes of their own behavior and
that of other people. There are two sources of “power” that human beings believe are responsible
for the outcome of their own actions. One source is internal; we normally relate success and
elements under our control as an internal attribution. The second source is external: we normally
relate failure and elements out of our control as an external attribution. Success in the workplace
can simultaneously alternate between internal and external. You might have been prepared and
researched for a project and believed your success was internal. On the other hand, you may
believe you were lucky to have done such a great job on a project, attributing your success to
external forces.

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