Page 48 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Notes A study by Donna Pickering (2009) supported the cognitive social learning theory that sustains
many Type A personalities. A Type A individual places a great deal of value on their achievements
and reaching their goals. Not meeting goals is a great source of stress for these personality types
that may carry over to their social relationships resulting in interpersonal conflict and ultimately
having a negative effect on their physical and psychological health and well-being (Pickering,
2009). Perceived roadblocks to a Type A’s goals will also lead to conflicts in the workplace.
A study by Baron (1989) showed that Type As are more likely to become embroiled in conflicts
with others as opposed to Type B personalities. The study showed that Type as experienced an
elevated incidence of conflict with others when evaluated by other members of their work
group. These conflicts contributed disproportionately to costly resource consuming interchanges
in the work setting (Baron, 1989).
Cognition may not be the only factor responsible for aggressive tendencies in Type A
personalities. A study by Berman, Gladue, and Taylor (1993) exposed Type A and Type B males
to increasing provocation from a stranger in the Taylor competitive reaction-time paradigm.
The results indicated that during the competition Type As with a high testosterone level responded
to increasing levels of provocation with increased aggression than Type A males with lower
testosterone levels. Therefore, the physiological component of high testosterone seems to
exacerbate a personality with already aggressive tendencies.
Overall, Type A personalities do not just threaten their own health and well-being. Their
heightened propensities to respond strongly to provocation and become involved in aggressive
interchanges also threaten the safety of others (Baron & Richardson, 1994).

Task Elucidate the following statements:
1. Type A is a personality pattern defined by hard-driving and competitive
characteristics, a high degree of time urgency, and a high level of hostility and overt
aggression.
2. The “middle of the road” temperament

3. Type “B” Personality - Represents highly extroverted people who love the spotlight.

3.2.2 Example/Application – Real Life

On February 12, 2010 three faculty members from the University of Alabama in Huntsville were
shot to death, three other faculty and staff members were seriously wounded. The assailant was
Dr. Amy Bishop, a Harvard-educated neuroscientist who had been denied tenure. As the days
wore on, more stories about Dr. Bishop’s aggressive behavior emerged. Dr. Bishop displayed
characteristics of a Type A personality: competitive with a high level of aggression and hostility.
According to the New York Times (Dewan, Saul, & Zezima, 2010) in 2002, Dr. Bishop was
charged with assault after punching a woman in the head for taking the last booster seat.
Dr. Bishop demanded the booster seat for one of her children screaming “I am Dr. Amy Bishop!”
In 1986 she shot her brother to death, the authorities had ruled it as an accident but later other
suspicious details emerged such as her trying to car jack a driver and refusing to drop the shot
gun after an officer had ordered her to. Unfortunately, despite her violent background, Dr.
Bishop had alluded any criminal charges until the shooting at the university.

Later reports from people that worked with Dr. Bishop claimed that she often walked the line
between brilliance and rage. Dr. Hugo Gonzales-Serratos claimed that she became extremely
angry at their research group for not being published as the first author in an article that they
published (Dewanet, et al., 2010). She was known to frequently dismiss grad students from her

42 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY