Blog Post 1

Personality and Behavior can be so similar yet so different in many ways. Your personality is a trait that remains stable throughout your life, and behaviors are our way of expressing our trait in context. So depending on how our personality is, it has the potential to impact the way we interact and react to certain stimuli. Both inventory/assessments reveal how an individual may act in an environment but doesn't necessarily reveal their core traits. Both models aim to place individuals in universal categories; these categories are defined by the traits an individual may carry.  

In the Bolton/Bolton inventory, results are based on the perceptions on how you think others perceive you. Depending on your levels of assertiveness and responsiveness will determine where you are placed on the graph. This self-awareness can influence others and how you may approach certain situations. I've noticed that my trait is pretty on point with what Bolton/Bolton came up with. The benefits on knowing who you are can be useful in future interactions that you may encounter. Having this knowledge can help improve day to day interactions with a certain co-worker or even your significant other. “It’s useful to determine your own influencing style so that you are more aware of yourself when going into certain situations and likewise, it’s useful to try to predict the preferred style(s) of the person/people that you are aiming to influence so that you can adopt the best approach to get your message across." By honing these set of skills can even get you to manipulate others to act the way you want them to. But too much manipulation can set an individual into double backup. 

Given that there are no real ways to determine if these assessments are fully reliable, we can either agree to disagree on which spectrum suits us the best. In another article by Sharon Penn, she categorize the types of organizational behaviors into Extroverts, Agreeable, Conscientious, Cautious, Self-Conscious, and Adventurous. It allows us to gain “insight into how well the individuals themselves may fit into the organizational structure” which can benefit the employee in a more comfortable environment. I personally agree with Bolton/Bolton’s to an extent. I believe that traits are something that we cannot change and are with us our entire life. 

Reference:

"Effective Influencing – Bolton and Bolton Personality Types." Highheelstothetopcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

"How Personality Styles Influence Coaching Advice." How Personality Styles Influence Coaching Advice. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.