Key Theories - summary of leading commentators
Holland
We have included Holland this week because his theories encourage self-awareness through discovering the relationship between workplace performance and understanding your true attributes. It is often used to understand the relationship of a personality type within a team. Holland's approach is an opportunity to discover a psychological approach to testing.England
David England (2002) proposes Inner Leadership provides a systematic method to display the qualities required for a successful business leader. Inner Leadership allows people to utilize their “deepest resources and self-leading potentially” (England, 2002, pp. 21) in the search for effective leadership. The article presents a self-awareness a mapping tool to uncover hidden parts of our personality.Drucker
“Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.” (Drucker. P. 2005). The challenges of managing oneself may seem obvious, and the answers may seem self-evident to the point of appearing naïve. But managing oneself requires new and unprecedented things from the individual, and especially from the knowledge worker. Objective analysis will rapidly show where you need to improve skills or acquire new ones. It highlights knowledge gaps and identifies how intellectual arrogance disables intended outcomes."Do not try to change yourself... you are unlikely to succeed. But work hard to improve the way you perform. And try not to take on work you cannot perform or will only perform poorly." Drucker 2005
Argyris - Action Science
Arygris states organisational learning is fundamental to business success and most 'smart leaders' do not know how to learn. He proposes most leaders are great at learning about systems and process (single loop learning) but fail to understand their contribution (double loop learning). Learning barriers are the gaps people have between their espoused action plan verse their "in use" action plan. When challenged, most leaders become defensive and the opportunity to learn shuts down. Arygris presents a new model of thinking that he calls positive reasoning and presents the use of work based case studies as a way to develop positive reasoning.
Eysenck - Cattel - Burns
Burns (1997) investigates theories of personalities by Eysenck and Cattell. Both theories refer to "traits" as components of personality dimensions and provide different tools for measuring personality in a work environment. Each theory aims to assist with the selection of the ideal work roles and settings for employee
