Self-Assesment Exercise 3
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Thomas Edison State College *
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Philosophy
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Feb 20, 2024
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Leadership and Influence Box 6.2 Self-Assessment
Argumentativeness Scale
Joseph M. VanMorter
Thomas Edison State University
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Leadership and Influence Directions: This questionnaire contains statements about arguing controversial issues. Indicate how often each statement is true for you personally by placing the appropriate number in the blank to the left of the statement. If the statement is almost never true for you, place a “1” in the blank. If the statement is rarely true for you place a “2” in the blank. If the statement is occasionally true for you, place a “3” in the blank. If the statement is often true for you, place a “4” in the blank. If the statement is almost always true for you, place a “5” in the blank.
1. While in an argument, I worry that the person with whom I am arguing with will form a negative impression of me.
3
2. Arguing over controversial issues improves my intelligence.
3
3. I enjoy avoiding arguments.
4
4. I am energetic and enthusiastic when I argue.
2
5. Once I finish an argument I promise myself that I will not get into another.
1
6. Arguing with a person creates more problems for me than it solves.
4
7. I have a pleasant, good feeling when I win a point in an argument.
3
8. When I finish arguing with someone I feel nervous and upset.
3
9. I enjoy a good argument over controversial issues.
1
10. I get an unpleasant feeling when I realize I am about to get into an argument.
4
3
Leadership and Influence 11. I enjoy defending my point of view on an issue.
5
12. I am happy when I keep an argument from happening.
5
13. I do not like to miss the opportunity to argue a controversial issue.
1
14. I prefer being with people who rarely disagree with me.
3
15. I consider an argument an exciting intellectual challenge.
3
16. I find myself unable to think of effective points during an argument.
4
17. I feel refreshed and satisfied after an argument on a controversial issue.
2
18. I have the ability to do well in an argument.
1
19. I try to avoid getting into arguments.
5
20. I feel excited when I expect that a conversation I am in is leading to an argument.
1
Argumentativeness Scoring: 1. Add your scores on items: 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20.
22
2. Add 60 to the sum obtained in step 1.
82
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Leadership and Influence 3. Add your scores on items: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 19.
36
4. To compute your argumentativeness score, subtract the total obtained in step 3 from the total obtained in step 2.
82 – 36 = 46
Interpretation:
73-100 = High in Argumentativeness
56-72 = Moderate in Argumentativeness
20-55 = Low in Argumentativeness
The results of this assessment show that I am extremely low in argumentativeness, scoring a 46, scoring me 9 points lower than the lowest possible score of the assessment. I have always known myself to be someone who tends to avoid argument and confrontation whenever possible. This assessment shows how argumentative I am, but I feel this assessment does not give an accurate description of my leadership skills or potential simply based on my ability to argue with another individual. This assessment would be better utilized provided it was catered to a specific work environment or topic of conflict, one chosen by either class mentor or chosen by student. The assessment is vague in the fact that it presents questions based on generalities because all of these questions will be scored differently, given they are based on more specific data than what is presented.
What I have learned from this exercise is very little if anything. As mentioned, I have always considered myself to be avoidant of arguments and confrontation. I am a very passive aggressive individual, but that has not stopped me from becoming a leader in my career field. I
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Leadership and Influence deal with different types of confrontation on a daily basis and have found a way to deal with them by using one thing, tact. Having the ability to be tactful during your daily work activities allows an individual to approach a situation, regardless of what it may be, and conduct themselves in a way that will allow themselves to interact with others while maintaining good relationships and avoiding confrontation or argument. My self-understanding has not changed because I have always been aware of my level of argumentativeness and confrontations handling skills. I do understand a bit more in depth, based on the reading, of how much more effective of a
leader I would be if I was more argumentative in certain situations. My argumentativeness has increased throughout the years, if I was to take this assessment
ten years ago I would have scored much lower than 46. This leads me to believe one thing, the ability to become an argumentative person can be developed by watching others as they conduct themselves and how they handle different situations. Leaders are not born, they are developed, and the same can be said about argumentativeness. This assessment reveals that I am not someone who enjoys to argue or get involved with controversial topics that could lead to argument. When I do find myself being put into the middle of an argument, I rely on my ability to be tactful to diffuse the argument as to not have it escalate beyond what it should. Although this assessment reveals that I am extremely weak in my ability to be argumentative, it has not limited my potential to be an effective leader within my organization.
Based on this assessment my leadership can be improved by being argumentative in my role as a leader in my organization. Although I do understand the concept behind this theory based on the reading from the text, I do not believe that increasing my level of argumentativeness will provide me with any benefit or advantage in my organization. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and based on the type of environment we work in each
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Leadership and Influence of us will display different leadership traits. If I was to be back working in retail or an auto body shop like I had before I began my military career, I’m sure my levels of argumentativeness would be much higher than this assessment has shown, based on different stress factors as well as interactions with customers and clients. In my line of work you need to know what you can and can’t argue, some things are too far above or below your pay grade and need to be handled at
different authoritative command and supervisory levels. It is difficult to outline specific steps that need to be taken in order to become a better leader based on my argumentative ability. As mentioned, in my line of work you need to know what you can and cannot be argumentative about, certain situations need to be handled at higher levels of command authority. I agree that good leaders should protect and stick up for their followers, which does require a leader to have certain argumentative traits, but not all good leaders need to argue to achieve this goal. As mentioned previously, tact is very important to have as a leader, those leaders that utilize a tactful approach to certain situations have the ability to potentially avoid or reduce the potential for argument all together.
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