2) ESSAY Worth 35%

 

Objectives of assessment: 

NB: Choose either the topic of PERSONALITY and address this single topic throughout all parts of the essay.

 

There are three parts of this assessment:

 

PART A (approx. 500 to 1000 words)

1) Demonstrate knowledge regarding  personality in the workplace. Students are required to demonstrate this by writing a literature review that cites a minimum of 8 refereed academic journal articles. Articles that relate to these topics can be found in full text format in databases such as Proquest, Business Source Premier and Psych Info. Also see the list of recommended journal titles

 

PART B (approx. 500 words)

2) Demonstrate increased self-awareness about either their personality characteristics via the self-assessment tests discussed in Workshops. Results of the self-assessment tests must be attached as an appendix to the essay. Students are required to report and analyse their test results and demonstrate an understanding of what their self-assessment results might mean for their current or future workplace behaviour. This analysis is strongly underpinned by the literature in the area of personality or emotion & moods discussed that will be discussed in Part A.

 

PART C (approx. 300 words)

3) Apply knowledge of the literature on personality  to respond to questions regarding ONE of the corresponding case studies below.

 

Choose the case study which corresponds to your topic, ieeither Personality

 

 

 

Case study: Topic 1: Personality 

 

Nelson, D. L., & Quick, J. C.  Understanding Organizational Behavior(3^rd Ed). OH, USA: Thomson.

 

Alice loves to hire new people. As manager of the Medicare Reimbursement Department of a large hospital, she sees it as a great responsibility to aggressively pursue and hire the best people. She has already experienced the challenges of hiring the wrong person. She knows a bad personality match could undermine the culture she has worked so hard to build. Alice plans to do everything in her power not to repeat the mistake of a bad hire again.

 

The latest hire, however, is proving to be a challenge. The problem is that the position requires a good deal of specialised knowledge. Alice needs someone who knows the current Medicare regulations and who would be able to decipher new ones. The pool of candidates with this knowledge is extremely small. Truthfully, she has interviewed only one person with the skills and knowledge that she needs.

 

Jana was interviewed by Alice two weeks ago. She knew the regulations better than anyone Alice has ever met. The dilemma is that Jana seems extremely extroverted, needing and wanting lots of social involvement. This job would not offer that opportunity.  Even worse, Mark the main person with whom Jana would be working with is an extreme introvert. He rarely speaks to anyone and prefers people to speak to him as little as possible.  Alice does not know what to do. She values Mark a great deal. But she desperately needs someone in this vacant position.  Yet is it fair to bring someone she feels would be unhappy in the job and ultimately quit?

 

 

Questions:

 

1. What advice would you offer to Alice regarding this dilemma? Do you believe employers should use personality testing to select their employee? Support your argument with evidence from the literature.

 

2. In what other work contexts (besides selection) might personality tests be used?

 

2) ESSAY Worth 35%

 

Objectives of assessment: 

NB: Choose either the topic of PERSONALITY and address this single topic throughout all parts of the essay.

 

There are three parts of this assessment:

 

PART A (approx. 500 to 1000 words)

1) Demonstrate knowledge regarding  personality in the workplace. Students are required to demonstrate this by writing a literature review that cites a minimum of 8 refereed academic journal articles. Articles that relate to these topics can be found in full text format in databases such as Proquest, Business Source Premier and Psych Info. Also see the list of recommended journal titles

 

PART B (approx. 500 words)

2) Demonstrate increased self-awareness about either their personality characteristics via the self-assessment tests discussed in Workshops. Results of the self-assessment tests must be attached as an appendix to the essay. Students are required to report and analyse their test results and demonstrate an understanding of what their self-assessment results might mean for their current or future workplace behaviour. This analysis is strongly underpinned by the literature in the area of personality or emotion & moods discussed that will be discussed in Part A.

 

PART C (approx. 300 words)

3) Apply knowledge of the literature on personality  to respond to questions regarding ONE of the corresponding case studies below.

 

Choose the case study which corresponds to your topic, ieeither Personality

 

 

 

Case study: Topic 1: Personality 

 

Nelson, D. L., & Quick, J. C.  Understanding Organizational Behavior(3^rd Ed). OH, USA: Thomson.

 

Alice loves to hire new people. As manager of the Medicare Reimbursement Department of a large hospital, she sees it as a great responsibility to aggressively pursue and hire the best people. She has already experienced the challenges of hiring the wrong person. She knows a bad personality match could undermine the culture she has worked so hard to build. Alice plans to do everything in her power not to repeat the mistake of a bad hire again.

 

The latest hire, however, is proving to be a challenge. The problem is that the position requires a good deal of specialised knowledge. Alice needs someone who knows the current Medicare regulations and who would be able to decipher new ones. The pool of candidates with this knowledge is extremely small. Truthfully, she has interviewed only one person with the skills and knowledge that she needs.

 

Jana was interviewed by Alice two weeks ago. She knew the regulations better than anyone Alice has ever met. The dilemma is that Jana seems extremely extroverted, needing and wanting lots of social involvement. This job would not offer that opportunity.  Even worse, Mark the main person with whom Jana would be working with is an extreme introvert. He rarely speaks to anyone and prefers people to speak to him as little as possible.  Alice does not know what to do. She values Mark a great deal. But she desperately needs someone in this vacant position.  Yet is it fair to bring someone she feels would be unhappy in the job and ultimately quit?

 

 

Questions:

 

1. What advice would you offer to Alice regarding this dilemma? Do you believe employers should use personality testing to select their employee? Support your argument with evidence from the literature.

 

2. In what other work contexts (besides selection) might personality tests be used?