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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, easy-
going, 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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The Big Five Traits:

Figure 11.1

I
Low Extroversion High

II
Low Negative Affectivity High

III
Low Agreeableness High

IV
Low Conscientiousness High

V
Low Openness to Experience High
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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 manager’s approach to planning, leading,
organizing, etc.
 Managers should also be aware of their own style and try
to tone down problem areas.
 Internal Locus of Control: People believe they are
responsible for their fate.
 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 need an Internal Locus of Control!

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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 person’s 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 values include:
 hard-working, broadminded, capable.
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Terminal and Instrumental Values

Figure 11.3

INSTRUMENTAL
INSTRUMENTAL
TERMINAL
TERMINALVALUES
VALUES VALUES
VALUES

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

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Attitudes
 Attitudes: collection of feelings about something.
 Job Satisfaction: feelings about a worker’s job.
 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.
 Manager’s 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 manager’s 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 person’s 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.
 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
EarlyMid-
Mid-
career
career

Mid-
Mid-
career
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 firm’s 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.
 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 issues: stress can result in bad moods, anger,
nervousness.
 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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Stress & Performance

Figure 11.8
High
Performance
Level of

Low
Low
Positive Stress Negative Stress High

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Level of Stress ©The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000
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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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