Blog 9

I have learned about the different personalities in the Big 5 personality traits. I think it it interesting how different people are more suited to be leaders by their personality traits. This concept is continued in my Organizational Behavior Management class and my Industrial and Organizational Psychology Class. The traits that are most common for people that emerge as leaders are extraversion, contentiousness, and openness to experience. These are the people that emerge as leaders but they may not be the people that are the best for the position. Many times the best leaders are the ones that will not step up to the challenge. Some of the best leaders will stay behind the scenes until it is absolutely necessary for them to lead because they are actually concerned about the success of the business and the workers.

Another thing I’ve learned about is the different amount of Individualism in each country and culture. Some countries may view Individualism as bad or good. For example, the United States views individualism as a value and what makes it unique but on the other hand China would view it as rude and off putting. Another subject that interested me was difference between gender roles in each culture. Most countries and cultures follow the social construct of men being the bread winners and the ones that are thought to be the protectors while the women are seen as the more nurturing and care takers.

I chose this picture because it is breaking the norm of women being in charge of making the food.

Blog 4

I have learned a lot about my culture and how other people view different cultures. It has been very interesting comparing cultures and the different value dimensions along with what it means to have culture. This process will help me realize what kind of questions I got wrong and where I did not study enough. I can now realize the areas that the test questions are pulled from and what type of questions are asked for future tests.

Preparing for the test I read of my notes from reading the text and PowerPoint. I also made flashcards on Quizlet and studied those for about 45 minutes a night starting the week before the test. The extension on the test also really helped because I got more time to study instead of cramming on the day of the test to really prepare myself. I think I did pretty well on the test so I will keep on using this strategy.

Blog 3

For the Big 5 personalities, I am average for Neuroticism, average for Extraversion, high for Openness, high for Agreeableness, and average for Conscientiousness. I actually took this test late week in my management class and was not surprised by the results. My professor had a very interesting way to look at it and she asked if someone else did the test for us if the results would be the same. I do not think my results would be the same because people probably think I am extroverted because I am usually happy to talk but I know that I will be exhausted later.

I think Neuroticism would be inconsistent for many people because it has to do with emotions and emotions vary a lot of the situation. I am usually calm but if someone does something that hurts one of my loved ones I get pretty emotional about it. I am inconsistent with Extraversion because it depends on my mood on whether I want to be around people or not. I would definitely consider myself an introvert but I do like going out with friends that I am close with and having a good time. I am consistent with openness because I generally am ready to go explore and find new things to enjoy. If a friend wants me to try some new food or go on a trip somewhere the answer is almost always yes. I would say I am pretty consistent with Agreeableness and almost to a fault. As this is my first year living in an apartment I am getting used to living with roommates and many times my friend will tell me that I am letting one of my roommates take advantage of my kindness and letting them get what they want even if it is inconvenient for me. Conscientiousness is inconsistent for me because it depends on what I am doing. If I am babysitting, I do not take that lightly and am very persistent but with schoolwork, I get very tired of it fast so I am not the most persistent.

Blog 2

The things that have shaped my life the most have been going to mission trips from a young age. I really think it helped me realize that many people have different cultures and so much less than me. I made friends with Native Americans and Nicaraguans. I saw their life and how different it was from mine at home. It allowed me to step out of what I was used to and be able to help those that have less than me.

My dad is a pastor so my parents have always helped me be in touch with my emotions and also to help other people. This played a very important role in what I choose as a career. I always knew that whatever I did for a career I wanted to help people. I originally wanted to be a Dental Hygienist and even went on a dental mission trip to Chile. I didn’t get into any of the dental schools so I decided that I wanted to help companies treat their employees better because I have had jobs where a Human Resources person would help the environment so much and help productivity. I wanted to pursue higher education so that I could learn how to help companies do that and help workers feel better about their jobs. Unfortunately, many of the people that encouraged me to pursue this do not have degrees in what they went to college for but I knew that college would help with income.

Blog 1

While reviewing the course objectives I thought about how they will help me with my future career of being in Human Resources. The objectives will help me with doing research and understanding different cultures throughout the world which in my career I will come into contact with many different people with so many different backgrounds. It will benefit me to be able to know somewhat about their backgrounds so that I can act in their best interests and guide my companies to be fair to their employees who may be different from them as well. I believe it is In every business’s interest to be fair when interacting with so many different people. My management class had an example of a management technic that worked very well in the U.S. but after spending millions of dollars to implement it in China it did not work the same because their culture is different from ours. I would like to be the person that knows about the different cultures and can save companies from essentially wasting time, money and possibly stressing people out from the change.

I chose this picture because I believe learning about other people and cultures allows you to understand them better and therefore be able to help them be included. Unfortunately, I also know that that is a big task and that can many times those who help others tend to forget to help themselves as well.