PERSONALITY TYPES (part A)
by
Charles Lamson
In the previous article, we considered people's orientations, which are directly related to organizational life. In this article, we return our attention to the way people are generally - their basic personalities. Personality can be defined as the sum of an individual's characteristics that make her or him unique. There are literally thousands of ways people differ from one another. Each person is higher and/or lower than most other people around them on some of these characteristics. Social scientists have identified some of the individual differences which have a distinctive impact on people in organizations. We will consider several of these in this upcoming series of articles, starting with authoritarianism.
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Authoritarianism. This personality type has highly predictable patterns of behavior. Authoritarians, if they are anything, are consistent. The authoritarian personality type is very structured and rule-oriented. Often authoritarians are stern, unhumorous, conventional, suspicious and at times hostile. Authoritarians respect authority. They are obedient to those above them, and they expect those below them to be obedient to their demands.
Authoritarians intensely dislike it when others do not show proper respect and obedience to authority. They may become very vindictive when treated in a disrespectful manner by those below them in the hierarchy. It might seem this is one type an organization surely could do without, but some organizations want this type of person in certain jobs. They will get people to toe the line and keep order and make sure things run smoothly.
Since they firmly believe power and status should be recognized and that some people have a lot of it, whereas others should obey those who have the power and status, authoritarians often become the favorites of supervisors, particularly if the supervisor also is an authoritarian. As supervisors, high authoritarians make their subordinates feel as if they should salute each time they pass one another in the hallway. They usually manifest conservative attitudes, rarely find things funny at work, want others to be submissive and show deference to them, and become hostile when others ignore rules and policies.
In one organization with which the authors of this book worked, their was such an authoritarian individual who was not a supervisor. Many of her peers went out of their way to torment her. They quickly learned that she had little control over them, since she was not well liked by her supervisor. So they would do things that would drive her up the wall. If she felt someone was not dressed properly and commented on it , the next day the person would show up even less properly dressed. She would comment on the music people played in their offices, they would play it more loudly and obnoxiously. Because high authoritarians are so demanding of others and expect others to always obey their wises, they can become targets; particularly if they are not in a supervisory position.
If you work under a high authoritarian, you need to understand his or her need for authority and obedience. If you chose not to conform, he or she is likely to make your life miserable. If you cannot accept doing what you need to do to be able to work with this type of person, you probably should leave your position. In many ways, authoritarians are easy to work for because you know what you need to do to stay out of trouble. But if you are not willing to do what is necessary, leave.
Communicating with highly authoritarian people is easy. Agree with them. "Yes" is the word they most enjoy hearing. "No" is not often acceptable. It is acceptable for you to ask them for explanations concerning how to do what they have instructed you to do. It is not acceptable of you to question why that should be done. Challenging a highly authoritarian person is like stepping on a dog's tail. If you do it, you can expect to be bitten.
While dealing with high authoritarians is not particularly difficult if you are willing to do it, dealing with people who are unusually low in authoritarianism may be even more difficult. These are people who have no respect for authority. They do not respect the rules, and their behavior may be seen as aberrant in the organization. Being seen allied with such a person does not make one popular in an organization. Communication with these people should be handled very carefully and kept to a minimum, at least in the presence of other organization members.
To be continued...
*SOURCE: ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION FOR SURVIVAL 3RD ED. BY VIRGINIA P. RICHMOND, JAMES C. MCCROSKEY AND LINDA L. MCCROSKEY; PGS. 87-89*
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