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Understanding personality traits is important in the workplace. Type A and Type B are two contrasting personality theories that explain how certain employee characteristics can affect workplace behavior.
People with Type A personality traits are aggressive, ambitious, controlling, highly competitive, preoccupied with status, workaholics, hostile, and lack patience. People with Type B personality traits are relaxed, less stressed, flexible, emotional and expressive, and have a laid-back attitude.
There can be great difficulties in the workplace when these two personalities have to work together. People who have either of these personality types are usually best at specific tasks within an organization. Let's look at an example.
A huge project needs to be completed at the Fun Town Water Park. Every year, the water park unveils a new water ride. Production has begun on this year's Lava Falls water ride, which carries kids through a volcano on rafts and then shoots them out of the top down a huge slide.
Two managers want to be in charge of completing the project. Type A Alfred and Type B Beatrice have a deadline of May 15th to get the new ride completed and ready for the season. The current report on the ride shows it's behind schedule. Is Alfred or Beatrice the better manager choice to bring this project to completion before the May deadline? A consultant has been hired to investigate both managers and see who should be selected to manage completion of the ride.
Type A Alfred wants to work twelve-hour days and pushes for all of his ideas to be used to get the ride finished. In the past, he has created a hostile work environment with his lack of patience with employees. Workers do not always respond to his demands, and therefore, upper management is worried that the ride will end up further behind schedule.
On the other hand, Alfred is very aggressive and will focus on finishing the job as quickly as possible so he can apply for a promotion to a director position. He is also extremely focused and would stay on top of the suppliers for the project. The consultant spent many hours with Alfred and now has some recommendations that will improve his productivity and work relationships.
Consultant's recommendation: Alfred needs goals with specific times and dates for completion of the ride. Performance incentives need to be tied directly to his overall performance, which includes how his workers rate his managerial skills. Since he is a self-motivator, upper management does not need to micromanage Alfred. However, the consultant feels that Alfred could use a training class on having patience and motivating employees in an efficient manner.
In contrast to Alfred, Beatrice believes that quality reigns supreme, and she doesn't want to work crazy hours and sacrifice product safety. Since she is a Type B personality, she has an empathetic nature. She has quickly realized that her workers feel unappreciated if they're not complimented. She is also good at adapting to new situations and can tolerate different types of people and different ways of doing things. But there are some negative points in Type B personality traits, too. Beatrice can be a procrastinator and be too casual with her employees.
Consultant's recommendation: The consultant also spent time watching Beatrice in a work environment. His findings showed that Beatrice works better in a team environment where she can interact with employees throughout the day. His recommendation was to move her to a manager position dealing with customers or suppliers. She would benefit from some training to help her procrastinating tendencies.
Final consultant recommendation: Since there is a lot of pressure to complete the ride by May, Alfred is the best candidate to finish the project due to his urgent sense of completing jobs and natural take-charge tendencies.
Employees can have different personality traits that will impact how they work and communicate. Type A and Type B are two types of trait classification. Type A individuals are aggressive, ambitious, controlling, highly competitive, preoccupied with status, workaholics, hostile, and lack patience. Type B people are relaxed, less stressed, flexible, emotional and expressive, and have a laid-back attitude.
An employee's personality type can affect what type of position they would be best suited for in a corporate environment. Each of the types does have positive and negative traits, and by understanding where employees might need additional training, companies can improve overall productivity and morale.
Once you are done with this lesson, you should be prepared to differentiate between Type A and Type B personalities and identify the roles each type would be best at in an organization.
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Business 107: Organizational Behavior22 chapters | 142 lessons | 13 flashcard sets
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