You are the in-charge of a small department and have three (03) subordinates- Tom, Dick and Harry. The key to the success of your department is to keep these employees as motivated as possible. Here is a brief profile of each of these subordinates. Tom is the type of employee who is hard to figure out. His absenteeism record is much higher than average. He greatly enjoys his family (a wife and three small children) and thinks they should be centered to his life. The best way to describe Tom is to say that he is a kind of a throwback to the hippie generation and believes deeply in the values of that culture. As a result, the things that the company can offer him really inspire him very little. He feels that the job is simply a means of financing his family’s basic needs and little else. Overall, Tom does an adequate job and is very conscientious, but all attempts to get him to do more have failed. He has charm and is friendly, but he is just not gung-ho for the company. He is pretty much allowed to do his own things as long as he meets the minimal standards of performance. Dick is in many respects opposite from Tom. Like Tom, he is a likable guy, but unlike Tom, Dick responds well to the company’s rules and compensation schemes and has a high degree of personal loyalty to the company. The problem with Dick is that he will not do very much independently. He does well with what is to him, but he is not very creative or even dependable when he is on his own. He also is a relatively shy person who is not very assertive when dealing with people out￾side the department. This hurts his performance to some degree because he cannot immediately sell himself or the department to other departments in the company or to the top management. Harry, on the other hand, is a very assertive person. He will work for more money. He really works hard for the company but expects the company also to work for him. In this present job, he feels no worries about working a 60-hour week, if the money is there. Even though he has a family and is supporting his elderly father, he once quit a job cold when his employer did not give him a raise on the premise that he was already making too much. A manager at his last place of employment indicated that, although Harry did do an excellent job for the company, his personality was so intense that they were glad to get rid of him. His former boss noted that Harry just seemed to be pushing all the time. If it was not for more money, it was for better fringe benefits. How do you explain the personalities of Tom, Dick and Harry according to the ‘Big Five’ personality model?

Understanding Business
12th Edition
ISBN:9781259929434
Author:William Nickels
Publisher:William Nickels
Chapter1: Taking Risks And Making Profits Within The Dynamic Business Environment
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You are the in-charge of a small department and have three (03) subordinates- Tom, Dick and Harry. The key to the success of your department is to keep these employees as motivated as possible. Here is a brief profile of each of these subordinates. Tom is the type of employee who is hard to figure out. His absenteeism record is much higher than average. He greatly enjoys his family (a wife and three small children) and thinks they should be centered to his life. The best way to describe Tom is to say that he is a kind of a throwback to the hippie generation and believes deeply in the values of that culture. As a result, the things that the company can offer him really inspire him very little. He feels that the job is simply a means of financing his family’s basic needs and little else. Overall, Tom does an adequate job and is very conscientious, but all attempts to get him to do more have failed. He has charm and is friendly, but he is just not gung-ho for the company. He is pretty much allowed to do his own things as long as he meets the minimal standards of performance. Dick is in many respects opposite from Tom. Like Tom, he is a likable guy, but unlike Tom, Dick responds well to the company’s rules and compensation schemes and has a high degree of personal loyalty to the company. The problem with Dick is that he will not do very much independently. He does well with what is to him, but he is not very creative or even dependable when he is on his own. He also is a relatively shy person who is not very assertive when dealing with people out￾side the department. This hurts his performance to some degree because he cannot immediately sell himself or the department to other departments in the company or to the top management.

Harry, on the other hand, is a very assertive person. He will work for more money. He really works hard for the company but expects the company also to work for him. In this present job, he feels no worries about working a 60-hour week, if the money is there. Even though he has a family and is supporting his elderly father, he once quit a job cold when his employer did not give him a raise on the premise that he was already making too much. A manager at his last place of employment indicated that, although Harry did do an excellent job for the company, his personality was so intense that they were glad to get rid of him. His former boss noted that Harry just seemed to be pushing all the time. If it was not for more money, it was for better fringe benefits.

How do you explain the personalities of Tom, Dick and Harry according to the ‘Big Five’ personality model?

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