WHAT'S MY BASIC PERSONALITY?

The five-factor model of personality - often referred to as the Big Five - has an impressive body of research supporting that five basic personality dimensions underlie human behavior. These five dimensions are defined as follows:

Extraversion. Someone who is sociable, talkative, and assertive. High scores indicate an extravert; low scores indicate an introvert.

Agreeableness. Someone who is good-natured, cooperative, and trusting. This is a measure of your propensity to defer to others. High scores indicate you value harmony; low scores indicate you prefer having your say or way on issues.

Conscientiousness. Someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and achievement oriented. High scores indicate that you pursue fewer goals in a purposeful way; low scores indicate that you're more easily distracted, pursue many goals, and are more hedonistic.

Emotional stability. Someone who is calm, enthusiastic, and secure. High scores indicate positive emotional stability; low scores indicate negative emotional stability. Openness to experience. Someone who is imaginative, artistically sensitive, and intellectual. High scores indicate a wide range of interests and a fascination with novelty and innovation; low scores indicate you're more conventional and find comfort in the familiar.

Your personality score was calculated as follows (with reverse scoring on those items marked with an asterisk). Scores in each category will range from 3 to 15:

Items 1, 6, and 11* Extraversion You scored 10

Items 2*, 7, and 12 Agreeableness You scored 10

Items 3, 8, and 13 Conscientiousness You scored 13

Items 4, 9, and 14* Emotional Stability You scored 12

Items 5*, 10*, and 15* Openness to Experience You scored 9

The most impressive evidence relates to the conscientiousness dimension. Studies show that conscientiousness predicts job performance for all occupational groups. The preponderance of evidence indicates that individuals who are dependable, reliable, thorough, organized, able to plan, and persistent tend to have higher job performance in most, if not all, occupations.

WHAT DO I VALUE?

Terminal Values 1

Happiness; satisfaction in life 5

Knowledge and wisdom 8

Peace and harmony in the world 6

Pride in accomplishment 3

Prosperity; wealth 4

Lasting friendships 9

Recognition from peers 10

Salvation; finding eternal life 2

Security; freedom from threat 7

Self-respect

Instrumental Values 3

Assertiveness; standing up for yourself 8

Being helpful or caring toward others 6

Dependability; being counted upon by others 7

Education and intellectual pursuits 2

Hard work and achievement 10

Obedience; following the wishes of others 4

Open-mindedness; receptivity to new ideas 1

Self-sufficiency; independence 5

Truthfulness; honesty 9

Being well-mannered and courteous toward others

Values are basic convictions of what is right, good, or desirable. Your values reflect what you think is important. There are, of course, no right or wrong values. This self-assessment merely gives you some directive insights into your value structure.

Research demonstrates that people in the same occupation tend to hold similar values. For instance, a study of corporate managers found that they ranked self-respect and security as their top-rated terminal values. For instrumental values, these same corporate managers rated truthfulness first, followed by dependability.

It may be helpful to assess your value structure in terms of your career aspirations. Specifically, to what degree do you think your values align with those of successful people in the field to which you aspire?

WHAT'S MY ATTITUDE TOWARD ACHIEVEMENT?

Your score is:

Favor Seeing Successful People Fall: 49

Favor Seeing Successful People Rewarded: 49

This instrument was developed to measure attitudes toward the success and achievement of

others. Emphasis is on the display of conspicuous success.

Your responses to items 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 18, and 19 will range between 10 and 70. The

higher your score here, the more you favor seeing very successful people fall. The higher your

score for your responses to the remaining ten items indicates the more you favor the reward of

the very successful.

This instrument was developed in Australia. And although Australians value achievement, they

are very ambivalent about its public expression. They tend to enjoy seeing the conspicuously

successful fall from grace. In a sample of Australian adults, the average fall score was 38, and

the average reward score was 45.

The results from this instrument can help you better understand why you react the way you do

to others' success. It can also help you assess how important achievement is to your life goals.

WHAT MOTIVATES ME?

This instrument taps the three needs of growth, relatedness, and existence. It is based on what

is known as ERG Theory.

Your Score:

Growth needs: 20

Relatedness needs: 18

Existence needs: 20

If you considered all four items within a need category to be extremely important, you would

obtain the maximum total of twenty points.

College students typically rate growth needs highest. However, you may currently have little

income and consider existence needs as most important. For instance, one student of mine

scored 20, 10, and 15 for growth, relatedness, and existence needs, respectively. This should be

interpreted to mean that her relatedness needs are already substantially satisfied. Her growth

needs, on the other hand, are substantially unsatisfied.

Note that a low score may imply that a need is unimportant to you or that it is substantially

satisfied. The implication, however, is that everyone has these needs. So a low score is usually

taken to mean that this need is substantially satisfied.

WHAT'S MY DECISION-MAKING STYLE?

Your score is: C

There are four major decision styles. The directive style is characterized by a preference for

simple, clear solutions to problems. People who use this style are efficient, logical, and tend to

make decisions rapidly. The analytic style reflects a desire for more information and

consideration of more alternatives than is true for directives. Analytics are more willing to

consider complex solutions based on ambiguous information. Individuals who rely on the

conceptual style are very broad in their outlook and consider many alternatives. They enjoy

new ideas and are very good at finding creative solutions to problems. The behavioral style is

characterized by a deep concern for their organization and personal development of their

coworkers. These people work well with others and desire to help peers and subordinates

achieve.

If your highest score was "a," you prefer the directive style; b = analytical; c = conceptual; and d

= behavioral. So your highest score represents your dominant style. Scores of 7 or above in any

category suggests a strong preference. The more spread out your answers over the four

response categories, the greater flexibility you show.

Business students, lower-level managers, and top executives tend to score highest in the

analytic style. This isn't surprising, given the emphasis that formal education, particularly

business education, places on developing rational thinking. For instance, courses in accounting,

statistics, and finance all stress rational analysis.

The results from this instrument not only gives you insight into the way you're likely to handle a

problem, it can help you to read and understand others. If you know someone's preferred style,

you improve your ability to predict how they'll approach a decision.

HOW INTUITIVE AM I?

Your score is: 5

Decision making isn't all systematic logic. Good decision makers also have developed, through

experience, an intuitive ability that complements rational analysis. This ability is particularly

valuable when decision makers face high levels of uncertainty, when facts are limited, when

there is little previous precedent, when time is pressing, or when there are multiple plausible

alternatives to choose among and there are good arguments for each.

Your score will range between 0 and 12. If you have a high intuitive score, what does it mean?

Basically, you prefer situations where there is a lack of structure and rules. You can handle

uncertainty, spontaneity, and openness. Whether this ability is a plus in your job depends to a

great extent on the culture of your organization. Where rationality is deified, reliance on

intuition is likely to be seen as a negative quality. In open and creative-type cultures, intuitive

ability is more likely to be valued.

HOW DO MY ETHICS RATE?

No decision is completely value-free. It undoubtedly will have some ethical dimensions. This

instrument presents philosophical positions and practical situations. Rather than specify "right"

answers, this instrument works best when you compare your answers to those of others. With

that in mind, here are mean responses from a group of 243 management students. How did

your responses compare?

1. 4 3.09

2. 4 1.88

3. 4 2.54

4. 4 3.41

5. 4 3.88

6. 4 2.88

7. 5 3.62

8. 5 3.79

9. 5 3.44

10. 1 1.33

11. 5 1.58

12. 1 2.31

13. 1 3.36

14. 5 3.79

15. 5 3.38

Do you tend to be more or less ethical than the student norms presented above? On which

items did you differ most? Your answers to these questions can provide insights into how well

your ethical standards match other people with whom you will be working in the future. Large

discrepancies might be a warning that others don't hold the same ethical values that you do.

WHAT'S MY EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SCORE?

Your score is: 44

Emotional intelligence (EI) is an assortment of skills and competencies that have shown to

influence a person's ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures.

People with high EI have the ability to accurately perceive, evaluate, express, and regulate

emotions and feelings.

This questionnaire taps the five basic dimensions in EI: self-awareness (items 1 and 9), self-

management (2, 4), self-motivation (3,7), empathy (5,8), and social skills (6,10).

Your score will fall between 10 and 50. While no definite cutoff scores are available, scores of

40 or higher indicate a high EI. Scores of 20 or less suggest a relatively low EI.

EI may be most predictive of performance in jobs such as sales or management where success

is as dependent on interpersonal skills as technical ability. EI should also be relevant in selecting

members to teams. People with low EI are likely to have difficulty managing others, making

effective sales presentations, and working on teams.

Can EI be learned? A large part of an individual's EI is genetically based. However, you can

improve on your EI. See, for instance, J. Segal, Raising Your Emotional Intelligence (Holt, 1997)

and A. Simmons and J.C. Simmons, Measuring Emotional Intelligence: The Groundbreaking

Guide to Applying the Principles of Emotional Intelligence (Summit, 1998).

What is your negotiation style?

Negotiation is one of the most popular electives in the MBA programme. It will take

approximately 200 hours of study, but to give you a taste of the course, and to show how this

MBA is relevant to the real-world skills necessary for business, you can test your negotiation

skills with these interactive questions, taken from the Negotiation course website.

For each question, choose one of the options, then click the 'SUBMIT' button for immediate

feedback. To make the experience entertaining as well as instructive, your answer will be

categorised as one of the following:

a donkey response (not too smart!)

a sheep response

a fox response

an owl response (the most astute)

How many 'owl' responses can you collect?

Click the 'DISPLAY OVERALL FEEDBACK' button at the bottom of the page for a summary of your

performance.

Question 1

You want to sell your yacht and you know that you would be very fortunate to get as much as

225 000 for it. While you are considering placing the advertisement, a keen yachtsman

approaches you and offers 250 000 in cash immediately for your boat. Do you:

A. Accept his offer without further ado?

You are thinking only of the profit you might make and not about the problems you might

create. These are the characteristics of a sheep. Always challenge a first offer!

B. Tell him to wait until the boat is advertised?

C. Haggle?

Submit Reset

Question 2

You are in the market for a yacht and have taken a fancy to the Isabella which is advertised at

225 000. The most you can raise is 212 000 from selling your own boat and borrowing from

the bank. You meet the owner in the boathouse and casually tell him of your (strong) interest.

You mention that you could only raise 212 000. He agrees to sell you the Isabella for that

sum. Is this:

A. An offer you cannot refuse?

B. A lousy situation?

Because he accepted your first offer it must cast doubts in your mind about the Isabella and/or

what you might have got it for if you had opened lower. Makes you a fox caught out by another

Fox wanting rid of his boat.

C. An occasion to celebrate your bargain?

Submit Reset

Question 3

A young talented actor wants to get into the big time and she meets a television producer who

is desirous of securing her services for an important part in a detective film. He tells her that

she cannot get top rates until she is known but if she does this one cheap and gets famous,

she will see train loads of money coming her way for her future work. Should she:

A. Tell the producer to offski?

B. Agree, as she has to start somewhere?

C. Demand top rates if she is to do a top job?

Has the tactical implications of (A) without its higher risks. She knows what she is worth. She

can come down a little without losing out or relying on vague hopes and fantasies as in (B). If

you sell yourself and your products cheap then you will get exactly what you demonstrate they

are worth! All owls know this.

Submit Reset

Question 4

A customer, who buys simple forged metal components from you, tells you that they have

decided to make them in-house when the current order is delivered. Do you:

A. Offer to discuss your prices?

B. Warn him that in-house manufacturing of these components would be more expensive

when tooling, casting dies and quality controls are considered?

C. Suggest that you discuss the problem with him?

Sounds like a case of sour grapes, doesn't it? Not very fox like; more like a donkey's response.

D. Say Fine, wish them the best and to come back if they experience problems?

Submit Reset

Question 5

The aluminium company's marketing manager is back on the phone, saying that your most

recent purchase order cannot be fulfilled because it looks as if there will be a strike at the plant

and all the stocks of aluminium ingots are being diverted for the manufacture and delivery of

products for long term priority customers. Over your protests she tells you that first priority

customers pay a premium price per ton over what you pay, despite the recent price increase

you agreed with her. Do you:

A. Ask what size of premium the priority customers are paying and offer to match it?

B. Ask what size of premium the priority customers are paying and offer to beat it?

C. Urgently take your business elsewhere?

What a waste of time but then donkeys have plenty of that.

Submit Reset

Question 6

You have been buying a component for your room divider systems, which you manufacture and

install to order, from a large aluminium extruder for a number of years. Their new marketing

manager rang you this morning with the news that they have decided to cease extruding your

line because they cannot make a profit at current prices. Do you:

A. Suggest that you re-negotiate the current contract price?

B. Ask for details of their costings and profit requirements?

Owls need information before they act, and how they respond will indicate how genuine is their

problem. Meanwhile compare the details already collected because, to be frank, this is

something an owl does on a regular basis.

C. Check for availability of capacity and prices from other extruders?

D. Tell them that you are well aware of the negotiating ploy she is up to?

Submit Reset

Question 7

You have been working only three weeks in a new job as a shipping agent in Baltimore, USA,

and had planned to get married on Friday 18 August (which you did not disclose at the job

interview). Your intended spouse expects a proper honeymoon vacation of at least a week in

Bermuda. It's now 16 August and you ask your boss for leave for the wedding day and for the

vacation. She is visibly not happy with your request and asks stiffly how long you were thinking

of being absent. Do you reply:

A. The wedding day only?

B. Two weeks?

Good. Start boldly and work down if you have to. Your boss will respect your courageous

assertiveness eventually. A move for clever foxes.

C. Three days?

Submit Reset

Question 8

You are a package tour operator negotiating with a Spanish hotel chain on the terms for next

season's holiday bookings. The price they are asking per person per week in their hotels is 45

higher than your current offer. They offer to split the difference 5050. Do you:

A. Suggest, say, 5545 in your favour?

B. Say you can't afford to split the difference?

C. Agree to their offer?

D. Agree, if it is 7525 in your favour?

Definitely better than (C) and more challenging for a fox than (A). A possible move for an owl

much later, after you have tested the padding.

Submit Reset

Question 9

Do you see negotiating as being about:

A. A fair and equal transaction?

Negotiation is always fair, but seldom equal, unless you are a sheep.

B. Compromising?

C. Making a joint decision in which you get some of what you want and they get some of

what they want?

Submit Reset

Question 10

You are engaged in extremely difficult negotiations with a Lebanese government department.

After much haggling over finance for a rural road project, they make a small unilateral

concession on their demand for irrevocable letters of credit. Do you:

A. Note the concession but otherwise ignore it?

Yes. If they make a unilateral free gift concession no fox feels obliged to reciprocate in kind.

Foxes trade, they don't concede.

B. Reciprocate with a concession of your own?

Submit Reset

Your negotiation profile

Donkey answers: 2

Sheep answers: 2

Fox answers: 4

Owl answers: 2

Your negotiation style is:

Update overall profile