Personality Types (A, B, C, and D).
This is part four of a five part series describing the fundamentals of management and should be of particular interest to young people entering the work force or as a refresher for managers. Over the last forty years as a management consultant, I have learned a few things along the way. Hopefully, this will help newcomers entering the work force.
Personality Types
You will undoubtedly encounter many different types of personalities in the work place, each with their own unique blend of nuances. However, there are four basic types of personalities from which they are based, which is commonly referred to as A, B, C, and D. Although volumes have been written on such personality traits, here is a synopsis:
Type “A” Personality – Is a highly independent and driven personality, typically representing the leaders in business. They are blunt, competitive, no-nonsense types who like to get to the point. They are also strong entrepreneurial spirits (risk takers). As such, they embrace change and are always looking for practical solutions for solving problems.
Type “B” Personality – Represents highly extroverted people who love the spotlight. Because of this, they are very entertaining and possess strong charisma (everyone likes to be around them). Small wonder these people are sales and marketing types. They thrive on entertaining people and are easily hurt if they cannot sway someone (such as “bombing” on stage).
Type “C” Personality – The antithesis of Type “B”; they are introverted detailists as represented by such people as accountants, programmers, and engineers. They may have trouble communicating to other people, but are a whirlwind when it comes to crunching numbers or writing program code. They tend to be very cautious and reserved, and will not venture into something until after all the facts have been checked out.
Type “D” Personality – Is best characterized as those people who resist any form of change and prefer the tedium of routine, such as in clerical assignments. They are not adventurous, resist responsibility and prefer to be told what to do.
It is not uncommon to find people with a blend of personalities, particularly A-B and C-D, but these basic personality types explain why some people work well together and others do not. For example Type-A clashes with Type-D simply because one is more adventurous than the other, and Type-B clashes with Type-C as one exhibits an extroverted personality and the other is introverted. Conversely, Type-A works well with Type-B, and Type-C works well with Type-D.
The leveling factor between these different personality types is Common Courtesy which will be the subject of another article.
NEXT TIME: We will review the three basic theories of management (X, Y, Z) and how they are applied.
In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this article with me, please drop me a line at timb001@phmainstreet.com
Keep the Faith!
