Four personality styles
The Aggressive Person
• cannot afford to consider another person's point of view
• often has little real self-esteem and so seeks aggrandisement through
belittling others
• reacts in a threatening situation by attacking outright
• is competitively and needs to prove her/his superiority by putting other
people down
• compulsively over-reacts and often leaves, in her/his wake, a trail of hurt and
humiliated feelings
• leaves people around her/him feeling instantly defensive and although they
may sot say so directly, harbouring resentful feeling towards her/him
Aggressive managers
• are interested only in results
• do not value the opinions of others
• use sarcasm
• stare others down
• use threats
• blame others
• ignore other people's feelings
• order, never ask
• hear, but do not listen
Short-term results of aggression:
• The job gets done
• Feelings of power
• Everyone knows who is in charge
Long-term results of aggression:
• Staff will resent it
• Many disputes/power struggles
• Communication is one-way so ideas will be lost
• Stress
• Staff will fear manager and may leave
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The Submissive Person
• makes ideal fodder for the aggressive type
• sees her/him as a victim of unfairness and injustices at the hands of others
• finds it difficult to make decisions and allows others to decide for her/him
(these others will often resent this)
• clings onto her/his hard luck stories, resulting in the people around feeling
infuriated by her/his passivity and resignation
• often makes others feel initially guilty at not being able to do more to help
and after a while, frustrated by her/his lack of willpower and negative outlook
• continually puts her/himself down
• gives in or runs away when faced with any kind of confrontation
The Manipulative or Indirect Person
• is skilled at deceiving her/himself and others (this often stems from a
centrally low self-esteem)
• needs to control and manipulate those around in order to avoid getting hurt
• is never in direct approach (this would be too risky)
• manages to get most needs met by subtly making others feel guilty if they
don't do what s/he wants
• although s/he may appear to think highly of people close to her/him, they
often detect an undercurrent of disapproval so that they feel confused and
often frustrated
• attacks, but unlike the aggressive type, in a concealed manner, which
makes it even more difficult for others to pin her/him down
• will deny her/his own feelings and wriggle away leaving others frustrated,
confused and guilty
Passive managers
• run away from conflict and are afraid to rock the boat
• are over-apologetic
• are indecisive
• avoid eye contact
• are anxious to please
• speak very quietly and rarely ask for what they want
• listen but do not act
Short-term results of passivity
• Arguments are avoided
• People feel secure
• People choose their own work patterns
Long-term results of passivity
• A lack of overall achievement
• Little team work
• High level of frustration
• Poor communications
• Lack of innovation
• Stress
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The Assertive Person
• respects the people s/he is dealing with
• accepts her/his own positive and negative qualities and is able to be genuine
in accepting other peoples
• does not need to put others down to feel okay
• feels okay in her/him self
• doesn't believe that others are responsible for what happens to her/him -
takes responsibility for own actions, decisions and life
• doesn't have to make others feel guilty for not recognising her/him needs -
can acknowledge own needs and ask openly and directly, even though this
risks refusal
• doesn't feel totally demolished when refused, because her/his self-esteem is
anchored deeply within - it is not dependent on the approval of others
• is able to respond authentically to others, drawing upon the full range of
her/his emotional and rational intelligence
Assertive managers
• open the conversation by establishing common ground
• use mainly open questions
• have good eye contact
• observe and listen to their staff and colleagues
• think before they speak
• distinguish between opinion and fact
• use gestures and pauses to emphasise key points
• listen for feelings
• do not judge or blame but look for joint solutions
How to solve problems assertively
• Explain: The problem clearly
• Feelings: State how you feel
• Needs: Define your needs
• Consequences: Suggest results

 Model for change
Richard Beckhard (1977), an American organisational development consultant,
has suggested a very useful model for determining if change is likely to occur in
an organisation. The model identifies three conditions which must be present if
any change is to take place:
A = Dissatisfaction with the status quo
If people like the way things are, they will oppose change. Even if they do not
like the present position, they may have become so used to it that they no
longer think about it. The feeling of dissatisfaction must be current and
personal.
B = A shared vision of a better state
People will not change, even when dissatisfied, unless there is something better
to change to. There also needs to be agreement on the desirability of the
alternative.
C = Knowledge of practical steps
This is the knowledge of how to move towards the shared vision. Once the first
steps have been taken, the movement will gather momentum.
However, these conditions alone are not the only factors affecting change.
There are two potential negative factors that have to be taken into account:
X = Economic cost of changing
Most changes involve the commitment of money, time and other resources
which may not be readily available.
Y = Psychological barriers to change
These involve motivation, attitudes and emotions. People exhibit a natural
resistance to change, particularly when it is imposed upon them. This resistance
can arise from anxiety, cynicism, lethargy or sheer bloody-mindedness.
Not only must conditions A, B and C all exist, but for change to occur, they must
together outweigh X and Y.
It is necessary to examine the relative strengths of all the factors and only if the
balance is right will change occur. To get the balance right, it may be necessary
to work at building up A, B and C and reducing X and Y.
When assessing the degree of satisfaction with the status quo, one needs to
take into account the differences in motivational levels between different people.
A board of directors with the latest market and management information may
well accept that there is a very good reason for changing a management
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system, but the office staff may have no knowledge of this. If all they can see is
that their present system appears to work well and they are comfortable using it,
why should they feel dissatisfied? It may be possible to get them to share the
dissatisfaction by sharing the information, but there is one likely to be more
successful by focussing on some other dissatisfaction that is really meaningful
to them and which can be improved by the proposed change. For example, if
the introduction of new equipment reduces noise and permits a more social
atmosphere, that will be a more acceptable argument than one that emphasises
increased productivity.
Even though dissatisfaction exists, people are still unlikely to change unless
there is a shared vision of something better. This is captured by the proverb
‘better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know’. A good example is the
reluctance of voters to change governments at election times because they
have no real belief that the opposition parties will be able to do better than the
incumbent government.