PERSONALITY PROFILING ACCORDING TO THE BIG FIVE MODEL BY P. T. COSTA AND R. R. MCCRAE: COMPARISON ANALYSIS OF MANAGERS AND SPECIALISTS

Personality profiling nowadays is a common organisational practice aiming to identify a set of traits of an individual, which distinguish him/her among other people. Based on the assumption that personality factors constitute a fundamental indicator of development potential of a particular person, it is possible to depict his/her functioning style in a job position and hence predict professional suitability in performing a given professional role. The research project was conducted by the means of the 2010 Polish adaptation of the NEO-FFI Personality Inventory. The analysis pointed out the differentiating effect of a professional group under the influence of the results obtained in Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to experience, and Conscientiousness. The major differences between the groups of managers and specialists occurred in Neuroticism, the lesser ones in Extraversion and Conscientiousness and the least in Openness to Experience. However, the analysis did not reveal any interaction effects between professional group and gender. However, it showed a concurrent influence of age and professional group on the level of Extraversion and Conscientiousness.KEYWORDS: the Five-Factor Model, manager, personality, personality profiling

Ego states in E. Berne’s transactional analysis and the dominant ways managers use to solve conflicts

PURPOSE: The article aims to capture and present relationships between a manager’s personality structure and their conflict resolution styles. The fast pace of work and the constant changeability of organizational life make broadly understood conflicts an everyday phenomenon. Therefore, it is interesting how managers behave in conflict situations, what kind of conflict resolutions they adopt, and what determines the adoption of a specific response style. This knowledge is particularly valuable from the cognitive and practical points of view as it helps optimize managers’ behaviour in their business practices.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Two research tools were used in the studies presented in this paper: the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), and the Ego State Scale (the Egogram) by K. Kälin and P. Müri. The latter refers to the functional model of personality proposed by E. Berne’s Transactional Analysis, which makes it possible to determine dominant personality predispositions presented as so-called ego states.FINDINGS: This article presents the findings of research whose main objective was to determine dependencies between the ego states that make up one’s personality and one’s conflict resolution style, described by means of a theoretical construct proposed by K. Thomas and R. Kilmann. When subjected to multifaceted analysis and interpretation, the obtained correlations provide good insight into the mechanisms and causes of these relationships.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The findings of research into the interdependencies between ego states and behaviour styles in conflict situations point to a number of different actions that can be taken to give managers more control over their behaviour, with the ultimate aim of improved and more effective conflict resolution.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The findings are of significant cognitive and practical importance as they confirm a close relationship between intrapsychic phenomena and human behaviour in reallife situations. They make it possible to understand managers’ tendencies to adopt specific styles of behaviour, regardless of situational variables. The captured dependencies can play a huge role in preparing people in managerial functions to consciously improve their professional behaviour.peer-reviewe

Dominant ego states in transactional analysis in the context of managers’ stress coping strategies

PURPOSE: The article aims to grasp the relations between the ego states constituting the personality of a human being (manager) and his/her ways of reacting to stressful situations. Knowledge in this area is fascinating from a cognitive point of view and gives excellent opportunities associated with the optimisation of human resources management in the practice of managing enterprises.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Two research tools were used in the studies presented in this paper, the CISS Questionnaire and the Ego State Scale of Kälin. The CISS Test enables measuring stress coping styles on three scales, task-oriented coping, emotionoriented coping, avoidance-oriented coping (SSU). The Ego State Scale refers to the functional model and its authors distinguish the following states, Controlling Parent, Nurturing Parent, Adult, Free Child and Adapted Child.FINDINGS: The paper presents results of studies the purpose of which was to capture the relation between the ego states, comprising an individual’s identity, and the mode in which the individual reacts to stressful situations. The knowledge gathered about the correlation between the individual ego states and styles of coping with stress was subjected to a multiaspect analysis and interpretation, whereas its results offer a good insight into the mechanisms and causes of such relations.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Knowledge about the mutual determinants between the ego states and the preferred styles of coping with stress also offers extensive possibilities of taking practical development steps, aimed at increasing the efficiency of individuals becoming liberated from the adverse impact of stress-inducing stimuli.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The received results have great cognitive and practical significance. They confirm a very close relation between personality and modes in which people handle stress and explain which type of personality features correlate with individual stress coping styles. Increasing interest in Transactional Analysis follows from the fact that it is a theory that delivers a series of practical indications, possible for implementation whilst taking correcting or development actions.The paper is funded under the program of the Minister of Science and Higher Education titled “Regional Initiative of Excellence” in 2019-2022, project number 018/RID/2018/19, the amount of funding PLN 10 788 423.16.peer-reviewe

Experiencing happiness and coping with stress as the key factors in the development of intelligent organisational culture in enterprises applying the idea of e-learning

Contemporary literature studies concerning the essence and importance of organisational culture increasingly present the discussed concept as ambiguous or even controversial. This fact makes the discussion of organisational culture extremely inspiring, opening many new areas for scientific exploration. The aim of the article is to present intelligent organisational culture and the key determinants of the effectiveness of the process of creating its model in enterprises applying the e-learning idea, with the emphasis on the essence and importance of two research categories: experiencing happiness and the ability to cope with occupational stress

Dobrostan psychiczny jako czynnik zachowań menedżerskich w warunkach stresu organizacyjnego

Dobrostan psychiczny człowieka ściśle związany jest z jakością życia każdej osoby. Kluczowym czynnikiem dobrostanu psychicznego są pozytywne doświadczenia każdej jednostki w toku jej życia, przejawiające się w doświadczaniu szczęścia oraz w poczuciu sensu życia. Miary te wyznaczają wysoki poziom dobrostanu psychicznego, będącego motorem ludzkiej aktywności, umożliwiając ludziom podejmowanie ukierunkowanych działań, wyznaczanie celów i dokonywanie wyborów oraz określanie metod postępowania. Wskazane składowe dobrostanu psychicznego mogą stanowić istotny czynnik kształtowania strategii postępowania menedżerów w warunkach stresu organizacyjnego. Charakterystyka zachowań menedżerskich w kontekście wysokiej stresogenności pełnionej roli zawodowej w oparciu o miary dobrostanu psychicznego może dostarczyć ciekawych wniosków na temat powiązań między odczuwanymi przez menedżera poziomem szczęśliwości i poczuciem sensu życia a jego efektywnością w zakresie znoszenia organizacyjnych obciążeń psychologicznych

The sense of life and strategies for coping with stress

The sense of life is undoubtedly one of the most important subjective characteristics of human beings and plays an extremely important role in dealing with various kinds of situations, including difficult situations that are a source of stress. Due to the diversity and multiplicity of the areas in which it occurs, issues relating to the sense of life can be analysed from many different points of view. A sense of life is related to an individual’s personality, life situation, and the conditions in which they live, all of which seemingly determine the choices they make and thus affect the effectiveness of coping with stressful situations. It can therefore be said that questions about the meaning of life seem to determine the form of human life. At the same time, it should be remembered that, as V.E. Frankl stated, such existential questions require individual answers in the unrepeatable and unique context of one’s own life. However, when dealing with issues related to the sense of life, it is possible to establish certain general regularities, and for this reason it seems important to analyse the relationship between the sense of one’s own existence and coping with stressful situations. The aim of this article is therefore to point out the relationship between the sense of life and the strategies adopted to deal with stress. The article emphasizes the importance of the sense of life as an important motivator of human activity and points out that it is the sense of one’s own existence, which is in turn related to the individual hierarchy of needs, goals, expectations, sense of control or self-assessment, that determines our way of functioning and decisions. Therefore, considerations about the sense of life in the context of coping with stress prove to be an extremely important mechanism in determining the effectiveness of an individual’s coping strategies

The personality maturity of managers and their effectiveness in performing their role

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present the relationship between the level of a manager’s maturity and their effectiveness in performing their role. Design/methodology/approach: This article is an overview that presents a new perspective in the perception and assessment of managers’ effectiveness, namely managers’ personality maturity. Findings: The conducted considerations show that the maturity of a manager’s personality determines the maturity level of their personal behaviour, which creates space for effective managerial activities. Research limitations/implications: It is recommended to continue empirical investigations using strong diagnostic tools, including personality diagnostics in a large research group of managers. Practical implications: The relationship presented in this article between the level of managers’ maturity and their ability to perform effective managerial behaviours at the organizational level creates a research area for determining the relationship between personality predispositions and their usefulness in the effective achievement of the tasks entrusted to managers. As a result, it is possible to shape the desired self-development conditions that are conducive to building and strengthening a mature personality. Social implications: If introduced as a permanent category in assessing managers’ effectiveness, personality maturity, understood as the ability to assume responsibility for one’s personal self-development, can significantly incentivise organizations to create space for managers’ psychological responsibility for the development of themselves and their employees. Originality/value: A close relationship has been identified between personality traits and their development and managers’ efficiency and effectiveness in achieving assumed goals. It is shown that a manager’s mature personality increases their chances of fulfilling expectations regarding the ever-increasing and more complex demands of their role

Leadership styles as a mental representation in the context of personality skills

The choice of leadership style demonstrated by people in managerial positions is conditioned by numerous factors and specific organisational situations. However, every manager has an individual inclination to act in a consistent way, which in science is referred to with the term leadership style. These personal tendencies are to a large extent determined by personality, therefore, it is worth considering the dimension of managers’ cognitive functioning. The “ME as manager” construct is a cognitive representation that creates certain tendencies which are visible in a manager’s working style and the resulting effectiveness of their actions

Leadership styles in the context of the meaning of life - an empirical analysis

Purpose: This article presents research into the interdependencies between leadership styles and the sense of meaning of life, perceived as a psychological category. Design/methodology/approach: The aim was to either capture the relationship or reveal the lack of dependency between the leadership style preferred by managers – understood in a theoretical approach as a mental representation – and the experienced sense of the meaning of life. Two recognised and reliable research tools were deployed: the WERK Leadership Style Inventory, by U. Brzezińska and M. Rafalak, and the Purpose in Life Test, by J.C. Crumbaugh and L.T. Maholic. Findings: The research demonstrates that the sense of meaning of life, as a psychological category, does not influence managers’ preferences in terms of the adopted leadership style. Research limitations/implications: Research continuation is advisable, but with a larger sampling group and additional breakdown into the organisation’s levels and decision-making autonomy of the managers involved. Practical implications: The lack of correlation between experiencing the sense of life and the declared leadership style – as demonstrated – may imply that such axiological alienation might affect efficiency and generate stress and dissatisfaction with one’s vocational activities. Social implications: This includes the axiological aspect, understood as the feeling of sense of life, in managerial behaviour schemes, which may effectively drive the organisation towards corporate social responsibility. Originality/value: It was demonstrated that leadership style seems to be a construct from a different axiological category than sense of life and, therefore, is largely subject to the influence of situational contexts, such as corporate culture or standards

Przywództwo w organizacjach z perspektywy Analizy Transakcyjnej

Transactional Analysis is currently one of the most holistic personality theories, well recognised in the vast business world reality. In contemporary organisations Transactional Analysis (TA) is applied in order to recognise psychological mechanisms of communication, interferences in its flow, and also to plan changes enhancing the information flow process. The article presents assumptions of Transactional Analysis with reference to the leadership practice that requires managerial maturity in developing responsible and satisfying relations with employees (the so-called transactions as referred to by the TA language). Having assumed the manager’s personality and its maturity level constitute the key factors in shaping leadership efficiency, tools proposed by the TA concept have been deployed to determine the transactional profile of an efficient manager and to formulate the development tendencies. Owing to its consistency with the partner leadership approach, the Transactional Analysis model offers a perspective of numerous references to managerial practice and provides precise development indications