Perception, Personality, and Emotions

Perception, Personality, and Emotions

Learning About Myself

As I read the textbook, Organizational Behaviour by Nancy Langton, I began to further understand the attributes and patterns of my behaviour that determine how I react to different people and situations. I discovered that I would be considered more of an extrovert because I am assertive and tend to take the leadership role when put into group settings. This would also result in me being more impulsive than some of my peers (Langton et al. 51). I also discovered that I am high in self-monitoring after completing the "Learning About Yourself Exercise: Are You a High Self-Monitor" (Langton et al. 71). This reinforces the likelihood that I will emerge as the leader of a group, but also means that I am able to adjust my behaviour to situational factors. I also learned that I consider myself to be conscientious, persistent, and responsible, which could prevent me from developing creative solutions to problems. This is consistent with the results I obtained when completing the "Learning About Yourself Exercise: Are You a Type A" (Langton et al. 74), which indicated I have a Type A personality.

Group One Outcome

We had the opportunity to choose our groups for the first assignment, which resulted in this group consisting of friends. While a leader was not determined explicitly, I did find myself taking charge of the group. Together we decided how to divide the work among us, but then I created a deadline by which everyone had to send me the completed parts to edit and to ensure it came together cohesively. Although this group was made up of my friends, this was the first time I had the opportunity to work with three of them. This led me to make a few perceptual errors regarding their work ethic. I noticed they actively participate and take notes in class, therefore due to the halo effect I developed the impression I could expect them to be on time for our meetings and deliver quality work. I put off reading their part until the night before our final meeting because I expected it would not need much editing to make it consistent with the rest of the report. It was lacking a lot of the details we discussed as a group, and seemed to be completed in a rush since the spell or grammar check had not been done.

Group Two Outcome

This group was assigned, but I had worked with one of the members multiple times over our university career. From these past experiences, I knew this individual also has the tendency to take control and emerge as a group leader. To ensure the group was able to work effectively, I adjusted my typical behaviour and refrained from taking the role of the group leader. I also avoided assuming that the members I had never worked with before, would have similar work ethics as myself. This led me to take on the largest sections of the report in apprehension of the members not completing their parts properly.

Motivation

Learning About Myself

After reading the motivation chapters, I discovered that I am motivated most by intrinsic factors. This includes my own internal desires to overcome challenges and to do well. My results from the "Learning About Yourself Exercise: What Motivates You" (Langton et al. 164) confirmed this belief by indicating I am motivated by the need for achievement. According to this, I have the drive to excel and I strive to succeed. However, the textbook also brought to my attention that since individuals have different needs, they are motivated by different factors. It is therefore important for myself, as both a group member and leader, to understand the needs of the other members.

Group One Outcome

As a group, we discussed how the work would be delegated and how our grades would be assigned. We all agreed that because the work had been divided evenly, we should all be given the same reward, or grade. Although we established goals regarding when to have each section of the report completed by, we did not provide each other with feedback on how well these goals were being accomplished. I believe our reward system was flawed, as we made it impossible to link the grade to the type of performance that was desired and expected. As a result, if a member was not motivated by their own need for achievement, they did not put a lot of effort into completing the work that they were responsible for. These members would have been more likely to be motivated by extrinsic rewards, such as the grade they desired. I believe we would have been more successful as a group if we had implemented a rewards system that had tied the grade each of us received directly to our performance.

Group Two Outcome

Although this group