Awareness about personality types
As in the case of Locus of Control, "personality types" are
just another area wherein you need to build up some sort of awareness.
Depending on how one goes about on a day-to-day basis doing one's tasks,
personality type can be put under two categories,
namely 1) Type "A" Personality 2) Type B Personality.
Type A personality
When a person is seen as aggressively involved in a chronic incessant
struggle to achieve more m less time and if necessary against the opposing
efforts of other people or things, as Friedman and Rosenman (1974) put it, such
a person can be said to be a Type A personality.
Robbins (2003) has listed some of the characteristics with the help of
which a person With a type A personality can be identified. Some of these
characteristics are as follows: A person With Type A Personality
- is always seen moving, walking and eating rapidly
- feels impatient with the rate at which events take place
- strives to do two or more things at the same time
- finds it difficult to cope with leisure time
- is obsessed with measuring success in terms of cash or goods
Type B personality
The type B personality has characteristics that are just the opposite
of those of personality type A. Type B are never much seen running after money
or position. Nor are they found participating In an endlessly growing series of
events. Some of the characteristics by which we can identify them, opines
Robbins (2003), are as follows:
- They never suffer from a sense of emergency with regard to time with its accompanying impatience
- They feel no need to display their accomplishments unless such display is demanded by the situation
- They play for fun and relaxation rather than to exhibit superiority of any kind
- They can relax without feelings of guilt.
As compared with type B, those in type A operate under moderate to high
levels of stress. They subject themselves not only to continuous time pressure
but also choose themselves a life of deadlines. Type "A" are fast
workers. The demonstration of their competitiveness is limited to working long
hours. They frequently make poor decisions as they are always in a hurry to do
things. They are also rarely seen to be creative as they mostly rely on past
experiences when faced with problems, obsessed as they are with quantity and
speed rather than quality. They are found to be unwilling to allocate time for
solutions of problems that are new and unique.
Now, despite the hard work put in by type "A", it is the B
type who are generally seen making their way to the top. Senior executives in
most organizations are found to belong to type B. Type A trade off quality for
quantity. Promotions usually go to those who are tactful rather than to those
who are hostile; and to those who are creative rather than those who are merely
agile.
Type A can be found in every country. However, they are found more in
capitalist countries where achievement and material success are rated high.
According to Friedman and Rosenman (1974), about 50% of North Americans are of
type A. Unlike the USA and Canada which value time management and
efficiency and stress accomplishments and acquisition of wealth, the Middle
Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia
and Iran
believe that life is essentially preordained. These countries have less type A
in their work force than those of the USA
and Canada.
By now you know what personality types A and B are and the
characteristics that distinguish one from the other. Reflect and find out
whether your affinities go with Type A or Type B. Bring about appropriate
changes in your personality and make your life more effective and rewarding.
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