The concept of introversion and extroversion

extroversion and introversion terms introduced into psychology by Carl Jung to identify opposite psychological types. Jung saw the activity of the extrovert directed toward the external world and that of the introvert inward upon himself or herself. This general activity or drive of the individual was called the libido by Jung, who removed from the term the sexual character ascribed to it by Sigmund Freud . The extrovert is characteristically the active person who is most content when surrounded by people; carried to the neurotic extreme such behavior appears to constitute an irrational flight into society, where the extrovert's feelings are acted out. The introvert, on the other hand, is normally a contemplative individual who enjoys solitude and the inner life of ideas and the imagination. The extreme introvert's fantasies give him or her libidinal satisfactions and tend to become more meaningful to him than objective reality. Severe introversion is characteristic of autism and some forms of schizophrenia . Jung did not suggest strict classification of individuals as extroverted or introverted, since each person has tendencies in both directions, although one direction generally predominates. Influenced by Jung, Hans Eysenck conducted research on large samples of individuals, creating more objective classifications for extroversion and introversion.

Concept of introversion

Introversion is "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life”. introverts are people whose energy tends to expand through reflection and dwindle during interaction.

Contrary to what most people think, an introvert is not simply a person who is shy. In fact, being shy has little to do with being an introvert! Shyness has an

element of apprehension, nervousness and anxiety, and while an introvert may also be shy, introversion itself is not shyness. Basically, an introvert is a person who is energized by being alone and whose energy is drained by being around other people. Introverts are more concerned with the inner world of the mind. They enjoy thinking, exploring their thoughts and feelings. They often avoid social situations because being around people drains their energy. This is true even if they have good social skills. After being with people for any length of time, such as at a party, they need time alone to "recharge."

When introverts want to be alone, it is not, by itself, a sign of depression. It means that they either need to regain their energy from being around people or that they simply want the time to be with their own thoughts. Being with people, even people they like and are comfortable with, can prevent them from their desire to be quietly introspective.

Being introspective, though, does not mean that an introvert never has conversations. However, those conversations are generally about ideas and concepts, not about what they consider the trivial matters of social small talk.

Introverts make up about 60% of the gifted population but only about 25-40% of the general population.

Concept of extroversion

Extroversion is "the act, state, or habit of being predominantly concerned with and obtaining gratification from what is outside the self”. Extroverts tend to enjoy human interactions and are generally enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious in social situations.

They take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings such as: parties, community activities, public demonstrations, business, and political groups. Politics, teaching, sales, managing and brokering are fields that favor extroversion. An extroverted person enjoys and becomes energized by larger groups of people while time alone is less enjoyable and boring to them. Extroverts

aren't necessarily unintelligent or uncaring but tend to speak or act before putting much thought into what they do; not entirely realizing the lasting effects of their decisions.

Richard Depue and Paul Collins, professors of psychology at Cornell University and University of Oregon, define extroversion as having two central characteristics: interpersonal engagement and impulsivity Interpersonal engagement includes the characteristics of affiliation and agency. Affiliation means enjoying and being receptive to the company of others and agency means seeking social dominance and leadership roles, and being motivated to achieve goals They also closely link extroversion to "positive affect" which includes general positive feelings and motivation . Extroverts, they claim are more sensitive to reward than punishment whereas introverts are more sensitive to punishment than reward . According to Depue, "When our dopamine system is activated, we are more positive, excited, and eager to go after goals or rewards, such as food, sex, money, education, or professional achievements", that is, when our dopamine system is activated, we are more extroverted, or exhibit more "positive emotionality"

Jung's psychological types

Psychological Types

Carl Jung describes four psychological functions that are capable of becoming conscious, but to differing degrees in specific individuals:

Sensation - all perceptions by means of the sense organs.

Intuition - perception by way of the unconscious, or perception of unconscious events.

Thinking (in socionics, logic) - interpretation of information based on whether it is correct or incorrect.

Feeling (in socionics, ethics) - interpretation of information based on its ethical aspects.

For example, Jung's model for 2 types: extraverted intuitive-thinking (ILE) and introverted feeling-sensory (ESI)

Functions

dominant function

auxiliary function

tertiary function

inferior function

ILE

extraverted intuition

introverted thinking

introverted feeling

introverted sensation

ESI

introverted feeling

extraverted sensation

extraverted intuition

extraverted thinking

Eysenck's three-factor model

Eysenck's theory

The two personality dimensions, Extraversion and Neuroticism, were described in his 1947 book Dimensions of Personality. It is common practice in personality psychology to refer to the dimensions by the first letters, E and N.

E and N provided a 2-dimensional space to describe individual differences in behaviour. An analogy can be made to how latitude and longitude describe a point on the face of the earth. Also, Eysenck noted how these two dimensions were similar to the four personality types first proposed by the Greek physician Hippocrates.

High N and High E = Choleric type

High N and Low E = Melancholic type

Low N and High E = Sanguine type

Low N and Low E = Phlegmatic type

The third dimension, psychoticism, was added to the model in the late 1970s, based upon collaborations between Eysenck and his wife, Sybil B. G. Eysenck, who is the current editor of Personality and Individual Differences.

The major strength of Eysenck's model was to provide detailed theory of the causes of personality. For example, Eysenck proposed that extraversion was caused by variability in cortical arousal: "introverts are characterized by higher levels of activity than extraverts and so are chronically more cortically aroused than extraverts".While it seems counterintuitive to suppose that introverts are more aroused than extraverts, the putative effect this has on behaviour is such that the introvert seeks lower levels of stimulation. Conversely, the extravert seeks to heighten his or her arousal to a more favorable level (as predicted by the Yerkes-Dodson Law) by increased activity, social engagement and other stimulation-seeking behaviors.

Comparison with other theories

The major alternative to Eysenck's three-factor model of personality is a model that makes use of five broad traits, often called the Big Five model (Costa & McCrae, 1985). The traits in the Big Five are as follows:

1. Openness to experience2. Conscientiousness3. Extraversion4. Agreeableness5. Neuroticism

Extraversion and Neuroticism in the Big Five are similar to Eysenck's traits of the same name. However, what Eysenck calls the trait of Psychoticism corresponds to two traits in the Big Five model: Conscientiousness and Agreeableness. Eysenck's personality system did not address Openness to experience. He argued that his approach was a better description of personality (Eysenck, 1992a; 1992b).

Another important model of personality is that of Jeffrey Alan Gray, a former student of his.

The Big Five personality traits

The initial model was advanced by Ernest Tupes and Raymond Cristal in 1961, but failed to reach an academic audience until the 1980s. In 1990, J.M. Digman advanced his five factor model of personality, which Goldberg extended to the highest level of organization (Goldberg, 1993). These five over-arching domains have been found to contain and subsume most known personality traits and are assumed to represent the basic structure behind all personality traits. These five factors provide a rich conceptual framework for integrating all the research findings and theory in personality psychology. The Big Five traits are also referred to as the "Five Factor Model" or FFM (Costa & McCrae, 1992), and as the Global Factors of personality (Russell & Karol, 1994).

The Big Five factors and their constituent traits can be summarized as follows:

Openness – (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious). Appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience.

Conscientiousness – (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless). A tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behaviour.

Extraversion – (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved). Energy, positive emotions, surgency, and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others.

Agreeableness – (friendly/compassionate vs. cold/unkind). A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others.

Neuroticism – (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident). A tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability.

Four Temperaments

Four Temperaments is a theory of psychology that stems from the ancient medical concept of humorism.

The four temperament types

Each of the four types of humours corresponded to a different personality type.

Sanguine

The Sanguine temperament personality is fairly extroverted. People of a sanguine temperament tend to enjoy social gatherings, making new friends and tend to be

quite loud. They are usually quite creative and often daydream. However, some alone time is crucial for those of this temperament. Sanguine can also mean very sensitive, compassionate and thoughtful. Sanguine personalities generally struggle with following tasks all the way through, are chronically late, and tend to be forgetful and sometimes a little sarcastic. Often, when pursuing a new hobby, interest is lost quickly when it ceases to be engaging or fun. They are very much people persons. They are talkative and not shy. For some people, these are the ones you want to be friends with and usually they become life long friends. Sanguine can be sometimes emotional.

Choleric

A person who is choleric is a do-er. They have a lot of ambition, energy, and passion, and try to instil it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. Many great charismatic military and political figures were cholerics. They like to be leaders and in charge of everything.

Melancholic

A person who is a thoughtful ponderer has a melancholic disposition. Often very considerate and get rather worried when they could not be on time for events, melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become occupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. A melancholic is also often a perfectionist. They are often self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is sometimes they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

Phlegmatic

Phlegmatics tend to be self-content and kind. They can be very accepting and affectionate. They may be very receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are very consistent, relaxed, rational, curious, and observant, making them good administrators. However they can also be very passive and aggressive.

Cattell's 16 personality factors

The 16 Personality Factors, measured by the 16PF Questionnaire, were multivariately-derived by psychologist Raymond Cattell

Primary Factors- warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance , Liveliness, rule consciousness, social boldness,sensitivity,vigilance,abstractedness,privateness,apprehension,openness to change, self-reliance, perfectionism, tension.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is one of the most frequently used personality tests in mental health. The test is used by trained professionals to assist in identifying personality structure and psychopathology.

MMPI-2

The first major revision of the MMPI was the MMPI-2, which was standardized on a new national sample of adults in the United States and released in 1989.[2] It is appropriate for use with adults 18 and over.

MMPI-A

A version of the test designed for adolescents, the MMPI-A, was released in 1992. The MMPI-A has 478 items, with a short form of 350 items.

MMPI-2 RF

A new and psychometrically improved version of the MMPI-2 has recently been developed employing rigorous statistical methods that were used to develop the RC Scales in 2003. The new MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) has now been released by Pearson Assessments.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.

Four dichotomies

Attitudes: Extroversion (E)/Introversion (I)

Myers-Briggs literature uses the terms extroversion and introversion as Jung first used them, and preserves the original spelling of extroversion. Extroversion means "outward-turning" and introversion means "inward-turning." These specific definitions vary somewhat from the popular usage of the words.

Functions: Sensing (S)/Intuition (N) and Thinking (T)/Feeling (F)

Jung identified two pairs of psychological functions:

The two perceiving functions, sensing and intuition. The two judging functions, thinking and feeling.

Dominant function

According to Myers and Briggs, people use all four cognitive functions. However, one function is generally used in a more conscious and confident way. This dominant function is supported by the secondary (auxiliary) function, and to a lesser degree the tertiary function. The fourth and least conscious function is always the opposite of the dominant function. Myers called this inferior function the shadow.

Lifestyle: Judgment (J)/Perception (P)

Myers and Briggs added another dimension to Jung's typological model by identifying that people also have a preference for using either the judging

function (thinking or feeling) or their perceiving function (sensing or intuition) when relating to the outside world (extraversion).

The concept of conflict

Conflict can be a disagreement, the presence of tension, or some other difficulty between two or more parties. It may occur between individuals or between groups. Conflict is often related in interference or opposition between the parties involved. The parties in conflict usually see each other as frustrating or about to frustrate, their needs or goals. Conflict can be public or private, formal or informal, or be approached rationally or irrationally.

5 Stages of Conflict process

Stage 1: Potential opposition or incompatibility: The first step in the conflict process is the presence on conditions that create opportunities for conflict to rise. These cause or create opportunities for conflict to rise. These causes or sources of conflict have been condenses into three general categories - (1)Communications (2) Structure (3) Personal Variables.

(1)Communications: Different words connotations, jargon insufficient exchange of information and noise in communication channel are all antecedent conditions to conflict. Too much communication as well as too little communication can rely foundation for conflict.

(2)Structure: The term structure is used, in this context to include variables such as size, degree of specialization in the tasks assigned to group members, jurisdictional clarity, members/ goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems and the degree of dependence between groups.

The size and specialization act as forces to stimulate conflict. The larger the group and the more specialized its activities, the greater the likelihood of conflict. Tenure and conflict have been found to be inversely related,. The potential for conflicts tends to be greatest when group members are younger and when turnover is high. The greater the ambiguity in defining where responsibility for

action lies, the greater the potential for conflict to emerge. Such Jurisdictional ambiguity increases inter group fighting for control or resources and territory.

(3)Personal Variables: Certain personality types- for example individuals who are highly authoritarian and dogmatic- lead to potential conflict. Another reason for conflict is difference in value systems. Value differences are the best explanations of diverse issues such as prejudice disagreements over one’s contribution to the group and rewards one deserves.

Stage 2: Cognition and personalization: conflict must be perceived by the parties to it whether or not conflict exists is a perception issue. If no one is aware of a conflict, then it is generally agreed that no conflict exists. Because conflict is perceives does not mean that is personalized. For e.g. ” A may be aware that B and A are in serious disagreements but it may not make A tense or nations and it may have no effect whatsoever on A’s affection towards B” It is the felt level , when individuals become emotionally involved that parties experience anxiety ,

tension or hostility. Stage2 is the place in the process where the parties decide what the conflict is about and emotions plays a major role in shaping perception.

Stage 3: Intentions: Intentions are decisions to act in a given way intentions intervene between people’s perception and emotions and their overt behavior.

Using two dimensions cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other party’s concerns)and assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy his or her own concerns)- five conflict handling intentions can be identified.

1) Competing: when one person seeks to satisfy his or her own interests regardless of the impact on the other parties to the conflict, he is competing.

2) Collaborating: A situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all the parties. In collaborating, the intention o the partiesare to solve the problem by clarifying differences rather than by accommodating various points of view.

3) Avoiding: a person may recognize that a conflict exists and want to withdraw from it or suppress it. Avoiding included trying to just ignore a conflict and avoiding others with whom you disagree.

4) Accommodating: The willingness of one partying a conflict top lace the opponent’s interest above his or her own.

5) Compromising: A situation in which each party to a conflict is wiling to give up something.

Intentions provide general guidelines for parties in a conflict situation. They define each party’s purpose. Yet people intention is not fixed. During the course of conflict, they might change because of reconceptualization or because of an emotional reaction to the behavior of other party.

Stage 4: Behavior: This is a stage where conflict becomes visible. The behavior stage includes the statements, actions and reactions made by the conflicting parties. These conflict behaviors are usually overt attempt to implement each party’s intentions.

Stage 5 Outcomes: The action reaction interplay between the conflicting parties result in consequences. These outcomes may be functional in that the conflict results in an improvement in the group’s performance, or dysfunctional in that it hinders group performance.

Conflict is constructive when it improves the quality of decisions simulates creativity and innovations encourages interest and curiosity among group members provides the medium through which problems can be aired and tensions released and fosters an environment of self evaluation and change.

Conflict is dysfunctional when uncontrolled opposition breeds discontent, which acts to dissolve common ties and eventually leads to the destruction of the group. Among the more undesirable consequences are a retarding of communication,

reductions in group cohesiveness and subordination of group goals to the primacy of infighting between members.

Views on conflict

There are different ways of looking at organizational conflict. all of these ways is linked to a different set of assumptions about the purpose and function of organizations.

The Bad

The dysfunctional view of organizational conflict is imbedded in the notion that organizations are created to achieve goals by creating structures that perfectly define job responsibilities, authorities, and other job functions. Like a clockwork watch, each "cog" knows where it fits, knows what it must do and knows how it relates to other parts. This traditional view of organizations values orderliness, stability and the repression of any conflict that occurs. Using the timepiece analogy we can see the sense in this. What would happen to time-telling if the gears in our traditional watches decided to become less traditional, and re-define their roles in the system?

To the "traditional" organizational thinker, conflict implies that the organization is not designed or structured correctly or adequately. Common remedies would be to further elaborate job descriptions, authorities and responsibilities, increase the use of central power (discipline), separate conflicting members, etc.

This view of organizations and conflict causes problems. Unfortunately, most of us, consciously or unconsciously, value some of the characteristics of this "orderly" environment. roblems arise when we do not realize that this way of looking at organizations and conflict only fits organizations that work in routine ways where innovation and change are virtually eliminated. Virtually all government organizations work within a very disorderly context -- one characterized by constant change and a need for constant adaptation. Trying to "structure away" conflict and disagreement in a dynamic environment requires tremendous amounts of energy, and will also suppress any positive outcomes that may come from disagreement, such as improved decision-making and innovation.

The Good

The functional view of organizational conflict sees conflict as a productive force, one that can stimulate members of the organization to increase their knowledge and skills, and their contribution to organizational innovation and productivity. Unlike the position mentioned above, this more modern approach considers that the keys to organization success lie not in structure, clarity and orderliness, but in creativity, responsiveness and adaptability. The successful organization, then, NEEDS conflict so that diverging views can be put on the table, and new ways of doing things can be created.

The functional view of conflict also suggests that conflict provides people with feedback about how things are going. Even "personality conflicts" carry information to the manager about what is not working in an organization, affording the opportunity to improve.

If you subscribe to a flexible vision of effective organizations, and recognize that each conflict situation provides opportunity to improve, you then shift your view of conflict. Rather than trying to eliminate conflict, or suppress its symptoms, your task becomes managing conflict so that it enhances people and organizations, rather than destroying people and organizations.

So, the task is to manage conflict, and avoid what we call "the ugly"....where conflict is allowed to eat away at team cohesiveness and productivity.

The Ugly

We have the good (conflict is positive), the bad (conflict is to be avoided), and now we need to address the ugly. Ugly occurs where the manager (and perhaps employees) attempt to eliminate or suppress conflict in situations where it is impossible to do so. You know you have ugly in your organization when:

many conflicts run for years people have given up on resolving and addressing conflict problems

there is a good deal of private bitching and complaining but little attempt to fix the problem

staff show little interest in working to common goals, but spend more time and energy on protecting themselves

When we get "ugly" occurring in organizations, there is a tendency to look to the manager or formal leader as being responsible for the mess. In fact, that is how most employees would look at the situation. It is true that managers and supervisors play critical roles in determining how conflict is handled in the organization, but it is also true that the avoidance of ugliness must be a shared responsibility. Management and employees must work together in a cooperative way to reduce the ugliness, and increase the likelihood that conflict can be channeled into an effective force for change.

Ugly Strategies

In future articles we will look at what you can do to proactively manage conflict to increase the probability that positive outcomes occur. Right now, let's look at some common strategies that result in the increase of ugly conflict.

Most of the ugly strategies used by managers, employees, and organizations as a whole are based on the repression of conflict in one way or another. We need to point that, in general, you want to avoid these approaches like the plague.

Ugly #1: Nonaction

The most common repressive management strategy is nonaction -- doing nothing. Now, sometimes, doing nothing is a smart thing to o, provided the decision to do nothing is well thought out and based on an analysis of the situation. Most of the time, people "do nothing" about conflict situations for other reasons, such as fear of bringing conflict into view, or discomfort with anger.

Unfortunately, doing nothing generally results in conflict escalating, and sets a tone for the organization..."we don't have conflict here". Everyone knows you have conflict, and if you seem oblivious, you also seem dense and out of touch.

Ugly #2: Administrative Orbiting

Administrative orbiting means keeping appeals for change or redress always "under consideration". While nonaction suggests obliviousness since it doesn't even acknowledge the problem, orbiting acknowledges the problem, but avoids dealing with it. The manager who uses orbiting will say things like "We are dealing with the problem", but the problem never gets addressed. Common stalls include: collecting more data, documenting performance, cancelling meetings, etc.

Ugly #3: Secrecy

A common means of avoiding conflict (or repressing it) is to be secretive. This can be done by employees and managers. The notion is that if nobody knows what you are doing, there can be little conflict. If you think about this for a moment, you will realize its absurdity. By being secretive you may delay conflict and

confrontation, but when it does surface it will have far more negative emotions attached to it than would have been the case if things were more open.

Ugly #4: Law and Order

The final "ugly strategy". Normally this strategy is used by managers who mistakenly think that they can order people to not be in conflict. Using regulations, and power, the person using the approach "leans on" people to repress the outward manifestations of conflict.

Of course, this doesn't make conflict go away, it just sends it scuttling to the underground, where it will grow and increase its destructive power.

Conclusion

The notion that conflict should be avoided is one of the major contributors to the growth of destructive conflict in the workplace. The "bad" view of conflict is associated with a vision of organizational effectiveness that is no longer valid (and perhaps never was). Conflict can be directed and managed so that it causes both people and organizations to grow, innovate and improve. However, this requires that conflict not be repressed, since attempts to repress are more likely to generate very ugly situations. Common repression strategies to be avoided are: nonaction, administrative orbiting, secrecy and law and order.

Inter group conflict

Webster's Dictionary defines a group as "a number of persons near, placed, or classified together." Others define a group as a "social unit that consists of a number of individuals (1) who, at a given time, have role and status relationships with one another, stabilized in some degree and (2) who possess a set of values or norms regulating the attitude and behavior of individual members, at least in matters of consequence to them."

Intergroup relations between two or more groups and their respective members are often necessary to complete the work required to operate a business. Many times, groups inter-relate to accomplish the organization's goals and objectives, and conflict can occur. Some conflict, called functional conflict, is considered positive, because it enhances performance and identifies weaknesses. Dysfunctional conflict, however, is confrontation or interaction between groups that harms the organization or hinders attainment of goals or objectives.

Causes of Intergroup Conflict

One of the most prominent reasons for intergroup conflict is simply the nature of the group. Other reasons may be work interdependence, goal variances, differences in perceptions, and the increased demand for specialists. Also, individual members of a group often play a role in the initiation of group conflict. Any given group embodies various qualities, values, or unique traits that are created, followed, and even defended. These clans can then distinguish "us" from "them." Members who violate important aspects of the group, and especially outsiders, who offend these ideals in some way, normally receive some type of corrective or defensive response. Relationships between groups often reflect the opinions they hold of each other's characteristics. When groups share some interests and their directions seem parallel, each group may view the other positively; however, if the activities and goals of groups differ, they may view each other in a negative manner. When trying to prevent or correct intergroup conflict, it is important to consider the history of relations between the groups in conflict. History will repeat itself if left to its own devices.

Limited resources and reward structures can foster intergroup conflict by making the differences in group goals more apparent. Differences in perceptions among groups regarding time and status, when coupled with different group goals, can also create conflict. Reorganization of the workplace and integration of services and facilities can be stressful to some and create negative conflict. Some individuals within the group have inherent traits or social histories that impact

intergroup conflict, but problems within intergroup relations are not usually caused by the deviate behavior of a few individuals.

Consequences of Intergroup Conflict

Intergroup conflict causes changes to occur, both within the groups in conflict and between them. Within the groups, members will usually overlook individual differences in an effort to unite against the other side, and with this concerted effort the focus is on the task. The group can become more efficient and effective at what they do, and members can become more loyal, closely following group norms. Problems can occur, however, when the group loses focus of the organization's goals and becomes closed off from other groups. Haughtiness and isolation quickly lead to decreased communication. Communication is the key between groups in reciprocal interdependence, and these have the highest negative consequences for lack of effective communication. Miscommunication can be the death knell of any organization.

Conflict reaction styles

People deal with conflict in different ways. Some have an initial tendency to escape, and others are more prone to get involved . once involved, people also vary in how they face the conflict. These styles of conflict behavior are discussed below.

The Conflict Resolution Model

In his book, Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni presents another conflict resolution model. Lencioni’s model is a series of concentric circles centered around a point of conflict .

 

This model proposes four different types of obstacles that prevent issues from being resolved. According to Lencioni, the obstacles closest to the center of the model—i.e., the issue—are the easiest barriers to overcome, with obstacles becoming increasingly more difficult to overcome as one moves outward from the center of the model. These barriers include:

· Informational obstacles (circle closest to the issue or conflict)—the easiest issues for most people to discuss; individuals must exchange information, facts, opinions, and perspectives if they want to move toward resolution.

· Environmental obstacles (the next circle out)—the atmosphere in which the conflict is taking place; the physical space, office politics, individual moods, and company culture can all have an effect on the resolution process.

· Relationship obstacles (the next circle out)—issues between the people involved in the conflict; prior unresolved legacies or events among the parties, their reputation, or even position in the organization may affect how people work through conflict.

· Individual obstacles (the outermost circle)—issues that are specific to each person in the conflict; individual experiences, IQ, EQ, knowledge, self-esteem, and even values and motives all play a part in causing and eventually resolving conflict (Lencioni 125).

Lencioni explains that the key to this model is to understand that these obstacles exist during discussions. When a conflict arises because of a particular obstacle, the group should consider the model to decide whether to address the issue. Lencioni contends that if parties choose not to address and resolve an issue, they should agree not to let it affect their ability to resolve the larger conflict.

Lencioni also states that obstacles at the outside of the circle are more difficult to resolve, largely because they involve personalities and other issues that are not easy to change. In this way, this conflict resolution model resembles Furlong’s Circle of Conflict model as they both reveal hot-button issues managers should avoid when attempting to resolve conflict. Certainly, the issues toward the outside of the circle in Lencioni’s model and those in the top half of Furlong’s model are the most challenging. Parties that are able to talk about these types of issues must trust each other because doing so involves some type of personal risk (Lencioni 127).

Clearly, the methods available to resolve conflicts are numerous. There is certainly no right or wrong way to solve a problem. What is right for one conflict may be wrong for another; it all depends on the situation and variables involved.

The two conflict resolution models presented here illustrate that conflict most often happens when the emphasis is on differences between people. In their book Dealing With People You Can’t Stand, authors Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dr. Rick Kirschner cleverly describe it this way, “United we stand, divided we can’t stand each other” . In short, when people concentrate on what they have in common with one another instead of their differences, relationships run smoothly and conflict is significantly minimized.

A model of Conflict resolution styles

Five different styles of reacting to conflict that are drawn from these theories are:

Avoiding, accommodating, competition, compromising, and collaborating. These five styles are set in a two dimensional model.

The horizontal dimension reflects the degree to which a person has concern for the party’s needs and goals. High concern towards the other party’s reflects cooperativeness and a desire to maintain a relationship. People who are low on this dimension are not interested in the other party’s concerns, nor do they care much about preserving the relationship, they have uncooperative attitude.

The vertical dimension refers to how concerned a party is for his own needs and goals. A low concern reflects unassertiveness and a willingness to sacrifice one’s own needs. People who are high on this dimension are assertive, and their main desire is to achieve their own goals.

Competing

Competing is assertive and uncooperative -- an individual pursues his own concerns at the other person's expense. This is a power-oriented mode in which you use whatever power seems appropriate to win your own position -- your ability to argue, your rank, or economic sanctions. Competing means "standing up for your rights," defending a position which you believe is correct, or simply trying to win.

Accommodating

Accommodating is unassertive and cooperative -- the complete opposite of competing. When , the individual neglects his own concerns to satisfy the concerns of the other person; there is an element of self-sacrifice in this mode. might take the form of selfless generosity or charity, obeying another person's order when you would prefer not to, or yielding to another's point of view.

Avoiding

Avoiding is unassertive and uncooperative -- the person neither pursues his own concerns nor those of the other individual. Thus he does not deal with the conflict. Avoiding might take the form of diplomatically sidestepping an issue,postponing an issue until a better time, or simply withdrawing from a threatening situation.

Collaborating

Collaborating is both assertive and cooperative -- the complete opposite of avoiding. Collaborating involves an attempt to work with others to find some solution that fully satisfies their concerns. It means digging into an issue to pinpoint the underlying needs and wants of the two individuals. Collaborating between two persons might take the form of exploring a disagreement to learn from each other's insights or trying to find a creative solution to an interpersonal problem.

Compromising

Compromising is moderate in both assertiveness and cooperativeness. The objective is to find some expedient, mutually acceptable solution that partially satisfies both parties. It falls intermediate between competing and collaborating. Compromising gives up more than competing but less than . Likewise, it addresses an issue more directly than avoiding, but does not explore it in as much depth as collaborating. In some situations, compromising might mean splitting the difference between the two positions, exchanging concessions, or seeking a quick middle-ground solution.

Concept of motivation

Motivation is the driving force which causes us to achieve goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but, theoretically, it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism. Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure. Intrinsic motivation has been studied by social and educational psychologists since the early 1970s. Research has found that it is usually associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students. Explanations of intrinsic motivation have been given in the context of Fritz Heider's attribution theory, Bandura's work on self-efficacy,and Deci and Ryan's cognitive evaluation theory.

Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards like money and grades, coercion and threat of punishment. Competition is in general extrinsic because it encourages the performer to win and beat others, not to enjoy the intrinsic rewards of the activity. A crowd cheering on the individual and trophies are also extrinsic incentives.

Social psychological research has indicated that extrinsic rewards can lead to over justification and a subsequent reduction in intrinsic motivation. In one study demonstrating this effect, children who expected to be (and were) rewarded with a ribbon and a gold star for drawing pictures spent less time playing with the drawing materials in subsequent observations than children who were assigned to an unexpected reward condition and to children who received no extrinsic reward.

Motivational theories

Incentive theory

A reward, tangible or intangible, is presented after the occurrence of an action (i.e. behavior) with the intent to cause the behavior to occur again. This is done by associating positive meaning to the behavior. Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately, the effect would be greater, and decreases as duration lengthens. Repetitive action-reward combination can cause the action to become habit. Motivation comes from two sources: oneself, and other people. These two sources are called intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, respectively.

Applying proper motivational techniques can be much harder than it seems. Steven Kerr notes that when creating a reward system, it can be easy to reward A,

while hoping for B, and in the process, reap harmful effects that can jeopardize your goals.

A reinforcer is different from reward, in that reinforcement is intended to create a measured increase in the rate of a desirable behavior following the addition of something to the environment.

Drive theory

There are a number of drive theories. The Drive Reduction Theory grows out of the concept that we have certain biological drives, such as hunger. As time passes the strength of the drive increases if it is not satisfied (in this case by eating). Upon satisfying a drive the drive's strength is reduced. The theory is based on diverse ideas from the theories of Freud to the ideas of feedback control systems, such as a thermostat.

Drive theory has some intuitive or folk validity. For instance when preparing food, the drive model appears to be compatible with sensations of rising hunger as the food is prepared, and, after the food has been consumed, a decrease in subjective hunger. There are several problems, however, that leave the validity of drive reduction open for debate. The first problem is that it does not explain how secondary reinforcers reduce drive. For example, money satisfies no biological or psychological needs, but a pay check appears to reduce drive through second-order conditioning. Secondly, a drive, such as hunger, is viewed as having a "desire" to eat, making the drive a homuncular being—a feature criticized as simply moving the fundamental problem behind this "small man" and his desires.

Cognitive dissonance theory

Cognitive dissonance Suggested by Leon Festinger, this occurs when an individual experiences some degree of discomfort resulting from an incompatibility between

two cognitions. For example, a consumer may seek to reassure himself regarding a purchase, feeling, in retrospect, that another decision may have been preferable.

Another example of cognitive dissonance is when a belief and a behavior are in conflict. A person may wish to be healthy, believes smoking is bad for one's health, and yet continues to smoke.

Need theories

Need hierarchy theory

Abraham Maslow's theory is one of the most widely discussed theories of motivation.

The theory can be summarized as follows:

Human beings have wants and desires which influence their behavior. Only unsatisfied needs influence behavior, satisfied needs do not.Since needs are many, they are arranged in order of importance, from the basic to the complex.

The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower level need is at least minimally satisfied.The further the progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality, humanness and psychological health a person will show.

The needs, listed from basic (lowest-earliest) to most complex (highest-latest) are as follows:

Physiology (hunger, thirst, sleep, etc.)

Safety/Security/Shelter/Health

Belongingness/Love/Friendship

Self-esteem/Recognition/Achievement

Self actualization

Herzberg's two-factor theory

Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory, a.k.a. intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, concludes that certain factors in the workplace result in job satisfaction, but if absent, they don't lead to dissatisfaction but no satisfaction.[7]

The factors that motivate people can change over their lifetime, but "respect for me as a person" is one of the top motivating factors at any stage of life.

He distinguished between:Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive satisfaction, andHygiene factors; (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) that do not motivate if present, but, if absent, result in demotivation.

The name Hygiene factors is used because, like hygiene, the presence will not make you healthier, but absence can cause health deterioration.

The theory is sometimes called the "Motivator-Hygiene Theory" and/or "The Dual Structure Theory."Herzberg's theory has found application in such occupational fields as information systems and in studies of user satisfaction (see Computer user satisfaction).

Alderfer's ERG theory

Alderfer, expanding on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, created the ERG theory. This theory posits that there are three groups of core needs — existence, relatedness, and growth, hence the label: ERG theory. The existence group is concerned with providing our basic material existence requirements. They include the items that

Maslow considered to be physiological and safety needs. The second group of needs are those of relatedness- the desire we have for maintaining important interpersonal relationships. These social and status desires require interaction with others if they are to be satisfied, and they align with Maslow's social need and the external component of Maslow's esteem classification. Finally, Alderfer isolates growth needs' an intrinsic desire for personal development. These include

the intrinsic component from Maslow's esteem category and the characteristics included under self-actualization.

Self-determination theory

Self-determination theory, developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, focuses on the importance of intrinsic motivation in driving human behavior. Like Maslow's hierarchical theory and others that built on it, SDT posits a natural tendency toward growth and development. Unlike these other theories, however, SDT does not include any sort of "autopilot" for achievement, but instead requires active encouragement from the environment. The primary factors that encourage motivation and development are autonomy, competence feedback, and relatedness.

Broad theories

The latest approach in developing a broad, integrative theory of motivation is Temporal Motivation Theory, developed by Piers Steel and Cornelius Konig. Introduced in their 2007 Academy of Management Review article, it synthesizes into a single formulation the primary aspects of all other major motivational theories, including Incentive Theory, Drive Theory, Need Theory, Self-Efficacy and Goal Setting. Notably, it simplifies the field of motivation considerably and allows findings from one theory to be translated into terms of another.

Also, Achievement Motivation is an integrative perspective as outlined in the "Onion-Ring-Model of Achievement Motivation" by Heinz Schuler, George C. Thornton III, Andreas Frintrup and Rose Mueller-Hanson. It is based on the premise that performance motivation results from the way broad components of personality are directed towards performance. As a result, it includes a range of dimensions that are relevant to success at work but which are not conventionally regarded as being part of performance motivation. Especially it integrates formerly separated approaches as Need for Achievement with e.g. social motives like dominance. The Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI) (Schuler, Thornton, Frintrup & Mueller-Hanson, 2003) is based on this theory and assesses three factors (17 separated scales) relevant to vocational and professional success.

Cognitive theories

Goal-setting theory

Goal-setting theory is based on the notion that individuals sometimes have a drive to reach a clearly defined end state. Often, this end state is a reward in itself. A goal's efficiency is affected by three features: proximity, difficulty and specificity. An ideal goal should present a situation where the time between the initiation of behavior and the end state is close. This explains why some children are more motivated to learn how to ride a bike than to master algebra. A goal should be moderate, not too hard or too easy to complete. In both cases, most people are not optimally motivated, as many want a challenge (which assumes some kind of insecurity of success). At the same time people want to feel that there is a substantial probability that they will succeed. Specificity concerns the description of the goal in their class. The goal should be objectively defined and intelligible for the individual. A classic example of a poorly specified goal is to get the highest possible grade. Most children have no idea how much effort they need to reach that goal.

Concept of employees motivation

The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees. But that's easier said than done! Motivation practice and theory are difficult subjects, touching on several disciplines.

Motivation is the key to performance improvement

There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink; it will drink only if it's thirsty - so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. Whether it is to excel on the workshop floor or in the 'ivory tower' they must be motivated or driven to it, either by themselves or through external stimulus.

Are they born with the self-motivation or drive? Yes and no. If no, they can be motivated, for motivation is a skill which can and must be learnt. This is essential for any business to survive and succeed.

Performance is considered to be a function of ability and motivation, thus:

Job performance =f(ability)(motivation)

Ability in turn depends on education, experience and training and its improvement is a slow and long process. On the other hand motivation can be improved quickly. There are many options and an uninitiated manager may not even know where to start. As a guideline, there are broadly seven strategies for motivation.

Positive reinforcement / high expectations

Effective discipline and punishment

Treating people fairly

Satisfying employees needs

Setting work related goals

Restructuring jobs

Base rewards on job performance

These are the basic strategies, though the mix in the final 'recipe' will vary from workplace situation to situation. Essentially, there is a gap between an individuals actual state and some desired state and the manager tries to reduce this gap.

Motivation is, in effect, a means to reduce and manipulate this gap. It is inducing others in a specific way towards goals specifically stated by the motivator. Naturally, these goals as also the motivation system must conform to the corporate policy of the organization. The motivational system must be tailored to the situation and to the organization.

In one of the most elaborate studies on employee motivation, involving 31,000 men and 13,000 women, the Minneapolis Gas Company sought to determine what their potential employees desire most from a job. This study was carried out during a 20 year period from 1945 to 1965 and was quite revealing. The ratings for the various factors differed only slightly between men and women, but both groups considered security as the highest rated factor. The next three factors were;

advancement

type of work

company - proud to work for

Surprisingly, factors such as pay, benefits and working conditions were given a low rating by both groups.

Review of literature

In this section an attempt has been made to review the past researches in the area of introversion - extroversion, motivation and conflict resolution styles.

The review of literature helped the researcher in planning and guiding the present study.

Introversion-extroversion

INTROVERSION/EXTRAVERSIONS ROLE IN FACILITATING STEREOTYPES by

University . This study investigated the

effect of introversion/extroversion and self-esteem on a person's tendency to hold stereotypes about others. To measure the dependent variables, participants completed a day in the life paragraph of a fictitious Hispanic male. To determine whether the participant was introverted or extroverted, the Eysenck Extroversion Scale (Appendix A) was used; the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Appendix B) was used to determine the self-esteem of participants. The results did not show a significant effect of personality or self-esteem on the participants' use of stereotypes.

INTROVERSION-EXTRAVERSION AND THE EFL PROFICIENCY OF JAPANESE STUDENTS by Deborah Busch (2001) This study explores the relationship between the introversion-extraversion tendencies of Japanese students and their proficiency in English as a foreign language (EFL). It was hypothesized that in an EFL situation, extraverted students would attain a higher proficiency in English because they may take advantage of the few available opportunities to receive input in English and practice the language with native speakers. The hypothesis that extraverts are more proficient in English was not supported. In fact, statistical analysis revealed that extraversion had a significant negative correlation with pronunciation, a subcomponent of the oral interview test. In addition, introverts tended to have higher scores on the reading and grammar components of the standardized English test.

Even though introverts tended to score better on most of the English proficiency measures, it was found that junior college males who had tendencies towards extraversion had higher oral interview scores. Extraversion also correlated positively with length of time spent studying English at the adult school. These findings are discussed with respect to cultural factors predominant in Japanese society and psychological theory.

SOCIAL INTROVERSION-EXTRAVERSION AS A HERITABLE RESPONSE BY SANDRA SCARR (1990) UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Individual differences in social introversion-extraversion were examined in a large sample of twin girls and found to be highly heritable. Genetic factors accounted for more than half of the within-family variance, measured by Gough's Adjective Check List and the Fels Behavior Scales. The results for this population support previous studies by Gottesman, Eysenck, Vandenberg, Freedman, and others, who reported similar heritabilities for social introversion-extraversion in other populations, tested with other measures. Several longitudinal studies have reported consistent individual differences in sociability, which may be explained by the large genetic contribution to the dimension. Both longitudinal and twin data suggest that social introversion-extraversion is a basic way of responding to the environment, produced by polygenic inheritance and environmental interaction.

Extraversion: The Unloved Variable in Applied Linguistic Research by Jean-Marc Dewaele, Adrian Furnham (2002) The relatively small number of linguistic studies in which extraversion is focussed on as an independent variable suggests that applied linguists believe it unrelated to speech production or language learning. Argue was that this suspicion is based on a misunderstanding originating in the 1970s. Reappraisal of the literature suggests that extraversion may not be a predictor of success in second language learning but does affect both L1 and L2 speech production. An analysis of the psychological literature on extraversion allowed to formulate a number of hypotheses about the causes of linguistic variation in the speech of introverts and extraverts.

Interpersonal Conflict-Handling Behavior as Reflections of Jungian Personality Dimensions by Ralph H. Kilmann and Kenneth W. Thomas (1980) This study has sought to investigate the Jungian psychological correlates of an individual's choice of different interpersonal conflict-handling modes: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating. These five modes were defined according to the two basic behavioral dimensions of assertiveness and cooperativeness and were also related to integrative and distributive dimensions. The results suggest that the Jungian functions related to judging (thinking vs. feeling) and the type of enactment (introverted vs. extraverted) are significantly related to an individual's conflict-handling behavior. The study concludes with a schematic illustration of these Jungian functions plotted upon the basic behavioral dimensions which define and characterize the five conflict-handling modes.

Introversion-extraversion and Event-Related Potential (ERP): A test of J.A. Gray's theory by Dieter Bartussek, Oliver Diedrich , Ewald Naumann and Wilfried Collet(1992) Department of Psychology, University of Trier, Germany

Following Gray's theory of introversion-extroversion, extraverts should demonstrate stronger reactions to stimuli of reward than to stimuli of punishment, while introverts should be more susceptible to stimuli of punishment than to stimuli of reward. In the present study reward and punishment were operationalized by winning and losing different amounts of money in a gambling situation while measuring Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to the stimuli signaling winnings and losses and to the presentation of the amount to win or lose. The components P2, N2, and P3e of the ERPs to the feedback of winning and losing which are known to be influenced by stimulus meaning demonstrated the predicted interaction between extraversion and winning/losing. This interaction was found also for the late time region of the ERPs to the display of the amounts, according to winning or losing in the preceding trial. The results suggest that—on the background of an explicit theory—the ERP is a sensitive index for interindividual differences.

Conflict resolution styles

Personality and conflict management styles: synergy of nomothetic and idiomatic approach by Karolin Osuch & Michal Lewandowski (2002) University of Warsaw, Faculty of Psychology .

The study was focused on relationship between personality and conflict management styles using both, person-centred and variable-centred, models. The synergy of this points of view allowed to understand studied problem deeper and more complex. It was hypothesized that, using nomothetic model, Big Five personality factors should correlate with five management styles, developed by Afzalur Rahim in Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory (ROCI II). Moreover, using idiomatic model, there should be correlation between main personality prototypes and conflict management styles confirm and complement to result

ofnomothetic analysis. In order to verify this hypothesis Polish version of ROCI II was prepared for this research and correlations between five conflict styles and five personality factors (assessed by NEO-FFI) questionnaire) were calculated. The results indicate that each conflict style is specifically related to Big Five personality

traits and conflict management styles create bindings distinctive for each prototype.

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND CONFLICT DYNAMICS: AN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING METHODOLOGIES ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION by Tom Basuray, University of North Dakota Jerry J. Gosenpud, University of North Dakota Steven A. Scherling, University of North Dakota (1980)

An experimental design is proposed for analyzing personality dynamics in conflict resolution. The theoretical framework of intervention strategy and possible consequences of different techniques has been discussed in a previous paper by the authors. The purpose of this empirical investigation is to determine if some of the cognitive variables of the subjects, thrust into a learning situation which is focused substantially on conflict resolution, would be modified by the teaching- learning intervention. The teaching methodology was lecture-discussion. Pre and post measurements were taken and analyzed in relation to various personality variables. One significant pre/post change was found along with the beginning analysis of personality configuration and conflict resolution.

Relationship Personality, Conflict Resolution, and Marital Satisfaction in the First 5 Years of Marriage by Klaus A. Schneewind, Anna-Katharina Gerhard (2005). They explored the relationship between couples' stable personality variables associated with interpersonal competencies (referred to here as relationship personality variables) and marital satisfaction with conflict resolution style as the mediating factor. Eighty-three newlywed couples participated in the study at 6 points over 5 years at 1-year intervals. The results indicate strong mediational effects across time. In particular, conflict resolution styles appear to form during the 1st year of marriage and are habituated thereafter to a large extent. The relationship personality variables correspond closely with conflict resolution styles, which in turn influence marital satisfaction. The implications for intervention, especially for preventive intervention in early marriage, are presented.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY FACTORS AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLES by David Antonioni,(1998) (University of Wisconsin, Madison) The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the Big Five personality factors and five styles of handling interpersonal conflict. The Big Five factors are extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism, and the five conflict styles are integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising. A total of 351 students completed questionnaires. As a check on generalizing the results beyond students, 110 managers also completed the same surveys. The main results indicate that extroversion, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness have a positive relationship with integrating style. Extroversion has a positive relationship with dominating, while agreeableness and neuroticism have negative relationships with dominating.

Extroversion, openness, and conscientiousness have a negative relationship with avoiding, while agreeableness and neuroticism have a positive relationship with

avoiding. Implications of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Gender, Psychological Type and Conflict Style Preference By Paula S. Sorenson (Wichita State University) Katherine Hawkins (Wichita State University)Ritch L. Sorenson (Texas Tech University) (2000). Research on the effect of gender on interpersonal conflict in organizational settings has revealed contradictory findings. This research attempts to clarify the issue. One hundred and thirty-five experienced first- and mid-level managers responded to questionnaires regarding gender, psychological type, and conflict style preference. Consistent with previous research, results indicated that gender was related to psychological type: male respondents were predominantly “thinkers” and female respondents were predominantly “feelers.” Psychological type influenced conflict management for only one of five conflict style preferences. “Feelers” were more likely to choose an obliging style than were “thinkers.” Similarly, gender influenced conflict style preference for only one of five conflict management choices. Male respondents had a higher obliging score than did female respondents. Overall, however, results indicated that while psychological type may be a more powerful indicator of conflict style preference than is gender, neither factor accounted for a substantial amount of variance in conflict style preference. Implications of these findings are discussed.