...one managerial position at a time. Hah, maybe not, but a girl can dream, right?
According to the Dimensions of Behavior Personal Profile System conducted in class I possess a predominantly dominant personality. I'm hesitant to say the results, or at least the description of the results, are spot on my personality (or at least how I perceive myself to be, but then again my view on myself may be biased. I mean can I, or anyone, have have an objective AND accurate view on others' personalities? Are personal views, which are often subjective and faulty, more or less accurate than a uniform and completely objective test? But the objective test is taken by the subjective person, so does that cancel the objectivity of the test? will we ever be able to determine who we are? can we be one way, but appear to be something completely different? if so, are we who we are, or are we who we are perceived to be? whoa...philosophical mind bomb!) Anyway, where was I? Right, the results. I guess in relation to the other possible results, Dominance is most closely related to who I am, or at least think I am. Coincidentally, I think I've arrived to one of those life milestones where I've begun to meticulously evaluate who I am and who I want to be. I've realized that I'm relatively indifferent about a lot of things, mostly because I haven't acquired enough information for me to make a valid judgment (or am I unmotivated to research on a broader range of topics because I'm so indifferent?) I guess this very aspect of my personality reflects the tendencies to "research facts" and "deliberate before deciding" of the Dominance types. However, I've been told many times that I need to be more cautious about things ranging from crossing the street to approaching sensitive situations. My responses are usually "this is how ALL native new yorkers cross the street. I've gotten dodging crazy taxis and road raged drivers down to a science!" and "I'm sorry, if I could articulate this in a more empathetic manner I would, but those pants just aren't as fancy schmancy as you think." I suppose my refusal to accept others' advice to be more cautious somewhat reinforces the idea of "my way, or the highway" behind the dominant types. (hmm...I'm beginning to see more Dominance qualities in myself).
I do wish I could posses more I-qualities though. The idea of being a good influence and inspiring people to do something is a bit easier to succumb to than the idea of of dominating them and making them do something. I did score the lowest on the I-factor, I suppose it's because I tend to carry a more abrasive attitude (but my intentions are good, I swear!) Perhaps I need to work on my people skills to become more of an influence-er. (But aren't we born as we are? Can we really nurture our personality to become something we want it to be? ackk another philosophical anomaly)
I think this test is only helpful to a certain extent, because it is a pretty general test. Even individuals classified as the "Dominant type," or any other alternative types, can have different styles of managing or leading. This occurred to me when Prof K asked all the Dc types (my type) to raise their hands, and as I looked around the class to see who else shared the same personality as I did, I realized that I was very different from them, especially in our performance in the classroom. Now, there can also be the possibilities that either I chose inaccurate answers, or they did. But we've already determined that I fit the Dominance type more so than the other types, and I highly doubt that all of the other Dc types had received inaccurate results. I think more extensive personality tests, such as the Myers-Briggs personality test, would be more effective in determining people's managing style and understanding how to interact with them.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
You'd Think With Four-Eyes, My Vision Would Be Clearer...
I suppose it's a little ironic that in the very first post about myself I wrote "I don't really know what I want to do in the future or who I want to be, but whatever happens, happens right?" To be honest, not much of that has changed within the past month or two since I wrote that. I'm still a strong believer of taking life as it comes, and whatever is meant to be will eventually happen. Many say that is the lazy or unambitious way to view life, and I don't completely disagree. What I do disagree with, however, is when others deem it to be the "wrong" attitude towards life. As much as I respect people who take their life into their own hands and make something of themselves (and I really do, sometimes I wish i could be a fraction as ambitious as they are) I do not see a "right" or "wrong" attitude to life, just a suitable one. The vision-less, take life as it comes, attitude is currently what suits me the best. I find myself less stressed about things, and generally more relaxed and happier. I pride myself in my ability to cope and adjust to the many changes in life. There are some things that I can not control, rather than wasting my time and energy mourning over why I couldn't change it I'd rather spend that time and energy to make the best of the situation. But anyway, I'm getting a little sidetracked here. So for the sake of this assignment, I suppose I can come up with several goals that I'd like to achieve in the years post-graduation. Oh my, just the thought of stepping into the real world scares me, but here goes nothing...
1. First and foremost, continue laughing. Everyone I've met who are older than me tell me one thing, "enjoy college, because it will be the best time of your life." Now that I am beginning to grow up and getting closer to graduating I finally see what they mean. At this age, I have nothing to worry about and just be able to appreciate the life around me. This is the time when I can appreciate life for its beauty and have pure, unfiltered laughs. This is something that I hope I can take with me as I graduate college; be able to laugh myself and make those around me laugh as well. I do not strive to make people "happy," but rather just make them laugh because laughter is the only signal of pure bliss, whilst the feeling perceived to be "happiness" is often plagued by the thought of "this is too good to be true." So I think laughing, albeit momentary, is the only time where people experience real happiness.
2. Be able to provide for myself and my parents. They have worked incredibly hard for 20+ years to make sure that I can have everything that they couldn't even fathom when they were my age, particularly a good education. They want me to become something when I graduate, and when I do, they will be the first people I share my success with.
3. Perhaps its time for me to get more practical with my goals, even though this may be somewhat generic; get a good job. This goes hand in hand with my vision before because I envision myself in a respectable field, doing a job that I enjoy, and being compensated for it. Nothing too extravagant, but the perfect combination of living comfortably but still have that drive to become even more successful.
4. Continue my studies. I really do enjoy learning, I just loathe the work that comes with it. If am still unable to obtain a job that I like. I would rather go back to school and work on getting that M-something. At least that way I know I'd be more desirable in the work field.
5. Last but certainly not least, be healthy. None of these goals can be achieved if I do not take care of myself. I believe that it is very important that people live a healthy lifestyle. If they are constantly sick or mentally exhausted, they will never be able to see their vision clearly and achieve what they want. That being said, it's passed 5 am, and I will need to wake up in a couple hours for class. So I guess I will start putting my vision into action from here and catch some very healthy Z's.
Until next ti...ZzzZzZzzz
1. First and foremost, continue laughing. Everyone I've met who are older than me tell me one thing, "enjoy college, because it will be the best time of your life." Now that I am beginning to grow up and getting closer to graduating I finally see what they mean. At this age, I have nothing to worry about and just be able to appreciate the life around me. This is the time when I can appreciate life for its beauty and have pure, unfiltered laughs. This is something that I hope I can take with me as I graduate college; be able to laugh myself and make those around me laugh as well. I do not strive to make people "happy," but rather just make them laugh because laughter is the only signal of pure bliss, whilst the feeling perceived to be "happiness" is often plagued by the thought of "this is too good to be true." So I think laughing, albeit momentary, is the only time where people experience real happiness.
2. Be able to provide for myself and my parents. They have worked incredibly hard for 20+ years to make sure that I can have everything that they couldn't even fathom when they were my age, particularly a good education. They want me to become something when I graduate, and when I do, they will be the first people I share my success with.
3. Perhaps its time for me to get more practical with my goals, even though this may be somewhat generic; get a good job. This goes hand in hand with my vision before because I envision myself in a respectable field, doing a job that I enjoy, and being compensated for it. Nothing too extravagant, but the perfect combination of living comfortably but still have that drive to become even more successful.
4. Continue my studies. I really do enjoy learning, I just loathe the work that comes with it. If am still unable to obtain a job that I like. I would rather go back to school and work on getting that M-something. At least that way I know I'd be more desirable in the work field.
5. Last but certainly not least, be healthy. None of these goals can be achieved if I do not take care of myself. I believe that it is very important that people live a healthy lifestyle. If they are constantly sick or mentally exhausted, they will never be able to see their vision clearly and achieve what they want. That being said, it's passed 5 am, and I will need to wake up in a couple hours for class. So I guess I will start putting my vision into action from here and catch some very healthy Z's.
Until next ti...ZzzZzZzzz
Monday, November 8, 2010
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...
Personally, I am unable to see the role I played during this activity to fit 100% with any of the Decision Making Conflict Behavior. I think that I exhibited partial characteristics of several of the listed behaviors. Perhaps I'll just go over all the behaviors and list how I did or did not use them to handle the conflict
1. "Compete to Win"
I did not feel the need to be aggressive or assertive to get my way, because I was confident that the rest of the class and I shared the same interest and had the same goal in mind. There was no "my way" as opposed to someone else's way. It had appeared that whatever I had in mind was already shared by my fellow classmates, and whatever possible arrangement that I could think of to raise our grades were already proposed. So I saw no need for me to get too worked up and aggressive, especially since some students had already adopted this method so added aggressiveness would only have made the situation more chaotic.
2. "Avoidance"
Although I mostly kept quiet for the duration of the activity, I was confident that Prof. K would be true to his words of allowing us to do whatever we'd like as long as there was 100% agreement of the class. That might have been a bit naive of me, and in any other situation that seems too good to be true I should probably be more skeptical, but for some reason I intuitively knew that Prof. K would not have gone back on his word. Therefore I did not hold a "there is no chance of winning" mentality. Rather, I was more quiet because there was no need to add on to the chaos that erupted over the same thing. What students did not realize was that they were arguing or fighting for the same thing, so an added voice would just have confused everyone even more.
3. "Compromise"
I did see all members to be equal, but I saw no need to serve as a mediator of any sort. Because, as I had said earlier, the members who were arguing were essentially arguing about the same thing. They were just too caught up in their own argument to listen to what their opponent was proposing. At times I tried to speak up and help them realize it, but unfortunately, my efforts were not very effective. Although, they did eventually realize they were arguing the same thing, it just took several minutes after I tried to bring up the issue.
4. "Accommodation"
Similar to my reason behind competing to win, I knew that the class and I had the same interest in mind and getting the extra points was just as important to me as anyone else. Although I did essentially let the leaders of the discussion decide for me, it was exactly what I had wanted anyway.
5. "Collaborating"
There was not much negotiating or bargaining among the class. For the most part, people accepted any proposal to get extra points. The only real "give and take" was concerning the essay. Some students were for it, and some were not. Which is understandable because every student is different, so after negotiations someone came up with the idea to keep the essay, but as extra credit. I thought that was a great idea and negotiation, and apparently so did the rest of the class.
I think another way to handle the conflict more efficiently is if we had a real authoritative figure, such as Prof K, to mediate. Although we did have a couple of students who stepped up and tried to organize everyones thoughts, I think that the majority of the class saw them as their peers so gave less attention to them. Especially when they were trying to take preliminary votes. If someone with more authority had given us some guidelines of what we could and could not ask for we would not have second guessed ourselves and our requests. Things usually run smoother when there is at least one person who has more authority and can make quick and final decisions, than when everyone is equal.
1. "Compete to Win"
I did not feel the need to be aggressive or assertive to get my way, because I was confident that the rest of the class and I shared the same interest and had the same goal in mind. There was no "my way" as opposed to someone else's way. It had appeared that whatever I had in mind was already shared by my fellow classmates, and whatever possible arrangement that I could think of to raise our grades were already proposed. So I saw no need for me to get too worked up and aggressive, especially since some students had already adopted this method so added aggressiveness would only have made the situation more chaotic.
2. "Avoidance"
Although I mostly kept quiet for the duration of the activity, I was confident that Prof. K would be true to his words of allowing us to do whatever we'd like as long as there was 100% agreement of the class. That might have been a bit naive of me, and in any other situation that seems too good to be true I should probably be more skeptical, but for some reason I intuitively knew that Prof. K would not have gone back on his word. Therefore I did not hold a "there is no chance of winning" mentality. Rather, I was more quiet because there was no need to add on to the chaos that erupted over the same thing. What students did not realize was that they were arguing or fighting for the same thing, so an added voice would just have confused everyone even more.
3. "Compromise"
I did see all members to be equal, but I saw no need to serve as a mediator of any sort. Because, as I had said earlier, the members who were arguing were essentially arguing about the same thing. They were just too caught up in their own argument to listen to what their opponent was proposing. At times I tried to speak up and help them realize it, but unfortunately, my efforts were not very effective. Although, they did eventually realize they were arguing the same thing, it just took several minutes after I tried to bring up the issue.
4. "Accommodation"
Similar to my reason behind competing to win, I knew that the class and I had the same interest in mind and getting the extra points was just as important to me as anyone else. Although I did essentially let the leaders of the discussion decide for me, it was exactly what I had wanted anyway.
5. "Collaborating"
There was not much negotiating or bargaining among the class. For the most part, people accepted any proposal to get extra points. The only real "give and take" was concerning the essay. Some students were for it, and some were not. Which is understandable because every student is different, so after negotiations someone came up with the idea to keep the essay, but as extra credit. I thought that was a great idea and negotiation, and apparently so did the rest of the class.
I think another way to handle the conflict more efficiently is if we had a real authoritative figure, such as Prof K, to mediate. Although we did have a couple of students who stepped up and tried to organize everyones thoughts, I think that the majority of the class saw them as their peers so gave less attention to them. Especially when they were trying to take preliminary votes. If someone with more authority had given us some guidelines of what we could and could not ask for we would not have second guessed ourselves and our requests. Things usually run smoother when there is at least one person who has more authority and can make quick and final decisions, than when everyone is equal.
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