Difficulties Of Rene Descartes Cogito

Difficulties Of Rene Descartes Cogito The most important contribution of Renà © Descartes in the history of Philosophy is his cogito. In the same way, however, the cogito has also been the most critical problem of his philosophy. This essay will focus more on the difficulties of the cogito. But first, on the side of the cogito: one importance of the cogito is that it is the byproduct of the Method, which is another contribution of Descartes not only in modern philosophy, but also in the field of science. The origination of the cogito from the Methodic Doubt is quite anticipated: all prior knowledge and truths must be erased, unless they are indubitable. In other words, all knowledge and opinions are subjected to examination, whether they can survive the test of doubt. Descartes, having found the fact (or act) of his doubting indubitable, hence maintains the fact that his existence enables his doubting (or thinking) as a clear and distinct idea, and thus the conclusion: Cogito, ergo sum: I think, therefore I am. We understand therefore that the cogito is a product of deduction or inference. However, as I have said, the cogito is quite anticipated. This is because the rules of his Method lay down an algorithm that has a quite predictable result, as if laying down a theore tical step-by-step means to prove something that is already true. The cogito is also considered a product of intuition and not of deduction. However, as far as methods of analysis are concerned, Descartess Method and cogito are valid. Moreover, insofar as the solipsistic argument, the cogito is a rather fair argument. By this, I mean that the cogito is a solipsistic truth, or a belief in the self as only reality or basis of reality. When Descartes has proposed that all knowledge and opinions must be cleared off the mind (or must be brought into doubt), there is still in Descartes the belief that the only thing he can be sure of is that he exists. He cannot deny the fact that he exists, even if the very idea of his being is most accessible via experience (hence, this he must doubt also). Thus if Descartes denies his being in the first place, his cogito will never materialize as a basis for truth. But since Descartes adopts a solipsistic view, he is safe from committing contradiction. To put simply: insofar as the I is concerned (the I, which thinks and doubts), the I exists. Nevertheless, Descartes paradox, which is the cogito itself, is not an absolute oxymoron. By the cogito being a paradox, I mean the self-contradictory problem of the cogito; that is, the problem of which came first: the cogito or the sum. Using the Method of Doubt, the cogito seems to go before the sum, since it is the act of doubting/thinking that came before the conclusion for the act of existence. But in the context of Descartes, it is implied that thinking is actually in the context of being. Now the strength of the cogito argument is that it is a closed argument, relying only on the idea that existence constitutes thinking and thinking reflects existence. It is in these strengths of the cogito, however, that it is also problematic. First is on the solipsistic view. The very problem of the cogito here is the question of reality outside the I. Since Descartes uses himself and only himself in his basis for truth, anything outside himself can be doubtful or false, and thus cannot be a basis for truth. Only the thinking I, thus the human person, can prove and claim ones existence. Thus, the other for the thinking I is doubtful, insofar as the I is concerned. The problem is that Descartes is as if denying the existence of animals, plants and other things, since these things do not and cannot think. Moreover, after proving that he is a thinking thing, the next question that arises is: now how do we establish an edifice of knowledge? Descartes takes emphasis on putting a foundation for knowledge by first using the Method, but forgets how to formulate the next set of algorithm once the Method has been applied. The problem of the solipsistic ar gument of the cogito is that nothing more exists outside the selfs being a thinking thing. It only proves the existence of oneself insofar as the thinking I is concerned, and does not prove the idea and the existence of other things other than the self. Besides, other Is can think of me a mere fiction. In the problem of the solipsistic argument of the cogito, however, the idea of a Perfect Being other than the thinking self exists. Descartes said that since he is cogito (thinking/doubting thing), he is therefore an imperfect being. But since he is imperfect, he has an idea of a perfect thing, which can come only from a Perfect Being, which is God. Nevertheless, nothing more exists outside the thinking self aside from the self itself and God. Now the second weakness of the cogito is in its contradictory problem. Although the cogito (cogito-sum relationship) is a closed argument (like Spinozas freedom-necessity concept); one cannot ignore to question the validity of its argument. In this argument, whether the cogito conditions the sum or the sum conditions the cogito, the idea of existence is still in danger, because it is subject to doubt. The sum (I am) only works for the thinking I, but existence alone cannot prove thinking. Thus what seemed to be a safe closed argument is not free of loopholes at all, because existence in general is not enough to prove thought. Nevertheless, the cogito is concerned for the existence of ones being a res cogitans or thinking thing only. Moreover, that material objects exist because of God is another argument that branched out from the cogito. After concluding that the Supreme Being cannot deceive, Descartes proceeds to concluding that material objects thus also exist. However, this only results to another circular argument: cogito presupposes God, which tells the res cogitans that its ideas come from external objects; but then it is from these external objects that the cogito must doubt first before it realizes that it is a res cogitans, then assume the existence of a Perfect Being. Generally, we find Descartess Method of Doubt and cogito weak. The main premise that we cannot distinguish reality from dream is not even strong enough to be a basis for truth. Although Descartes skepticism is optimistic at finding a certain knowledge that we can know of, still it is rather destructive of the foundation of knowledge that is the objective of his skepticism in the first place. The problem is that Descartes proposes arguments for why everything can be subjected to doubt, such as the dream argument, the deceiving God argument, and the evil demon argument. It is difficult to follow Descartess advice because it is more difficult to prove a negation than proving otherwise (in the case of Descartes proving the negation of knowledge to prove the opposite), since if we convince ourselves with these arguments of Descartes, then we must act and think as if we are experiencing illusions and hallucinations all the time. This is of course difficult for us. In fact one example where we can prove Descartes could probably be right all along that an evil demon is deceiving us (e.g., dwhen something defies the laws of physics) is when we experience a Criss Angel trick. Perhaps we can say that the main problem of Descartess philosophy is both its extreme rationalist and non-rationalist approach. Descratess philosophy is rationalist because it proclaims reason as the only valid criterion for certain knowledge and thus truth. It is non-rationalist, however, in the sense that it somehow forgets other valid functions of the human mind or reason: that is reason as the faculty of mans sentient soul, can, aside from thinking and doubting, imagine, sense and feel.

Individual Differences

http://www. flatworldknowledge. com/pub/1. 0/organizational-behavior/34685#web-34687 Why Individual Differences Are Important: * Individual differences have a direct effect on behavior * People who perceive things differently behave differently * People with different attitudes respond differently to directives * People with different personalities interact differently with bosses, coworkers, subordinates, and customers * Individual differences help explain: Why some people embrace change and others are fearful of it * Why some employees will be productive only if they are closely supervised, while others will be productive if they are not * Why some workers learn new tasks more effectively than others Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle * Different people are attracted to different careers and organizations as a function of their own: * abilities * interests * personalities * Organizations select employees on the basis of the needs the organization has * skills and abilities individual attributes such as values and personality * Attrition occurs when: * individuals discover they do not like being part of the organization and elect to resign, or * the organization determines an individual is not succeeding and elects to terminate * Each phase of the ASA cycle is significantly influenced by the individual differences of each person The Basis for Understanding Work Behavior: * To understand individual differences a manager must: 1. observe and recognize the differences and . study relationships between variables that influence behavior Individual Differences Influencing Work Behavior: 1. Hereditary and Diversity Factors 2. Personality 3. Ability and Skills 4. Perception 5. Attitudes Diversity Factors Primary Dimensions (stable) * Age * Ethnicity * Gender * Physical attributes * Race * Sexual / affectional orientation Secondary Dimensions (changeable) * Educational background * Marital status * Religious beliefs * Health * Work experience Abilities and Skil ls Ability – a person’s talent to perform a mental or physical task * Skill – a learned talent that a person has acquired to perform a task KEY ABILITIES: 1. Mental Ability 2. Emotional Intelligence 3. Tacit Knowledge Attitudes * Are determinates of behavior because they are linked with perception, personality, feelings, and motivation * Attitude – a mental state of readiness * learned and organized through experience * exerting a specific response to people, objects, and situations with which it is related Attitudes: Implications for the Manager . Attitudes are learned 2. Attitudes define one’s predispositions toward given aspects of the world 3. Attitudes provide the emotional basis of one’s interpersonal relations and identification with others 4. Attitudes are organized and are close to the core of personality The Three (3) Components of Attitude: 1. Cognition (Beliefs and Values) – My supervisor is unfair. 2. Affect (Feelings and emotions) – I don’t like my supervisor. 3. Behavior (Intended behavior) – I’ve submitted a formal request to transfer. Cognition * What individuals know about themselves and their environment * Implies a conscious process of acquiring knowledge * Evaluative beliefs – favorable or unfavorable impressions that a person holds toward an object or person Affect * The emotional component of an attitude * Often learned from * parents * teachers * peer group members * The part of an attitude that is associated with â€Å"feeling† a certain way about a person, group, or situation Cognitive Dissonance * A discrepancy between attitudes and behaviors A mental state of anxiety * Occurs when there is a conflict among an individual’s various cognitions after a decision has been made Personality * A relatively stable set of feelings and behaviors that have been significantly formed by genetic and environmental factors * The relationship between behavior and personality is one of the most complex matters that managers have to understand * Set of characteristics that underlie a relatively stable p attern of behavior in response to ideas, objects, or people in the environment * Some Major Forces influencing Personality 1. Cultural forces 2. Social class/group membership forces 3. Hereditary forces 4. Family relationship forces PERSONALITY AND BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS The Big Five Personality Dimensions 1. Extroversion 2. Agreeableness 3. Conscientiousness 4. Emotional Stability 5. Openness to Experience How to Identify the Big Five Personality Traits * Extraversion * An extravert is talkative, comfortable, and confident in interpersonal relationships; an introvert is more private, withdrawn and reserved. * Agreeableness An agreeable person is trusting, courteous and helpful, getting along well with others; a disagreeable person is self-serving, skeptical and tough, creating discomfort for others. * Conscientiousness * A conscientious person is dependable, organized, and focused on getting things done; a person who lacks conscientiousness is careless, impulsive, and not achievement oriented. * Emotional Stability * A person who is emotionally stable is secu re, calm, steady, and self-confident; a person lacking emotional stability is excitable, anxious, nervous, and tense. Openness to Experience * A person open to experience is broad-minded, imaginative, and open to new ideas; a person who lacks openness is narrow-minded, has few interests, and resists change. * Authoritarianism * the degree to which a person defers to authority and accepts status differences. * Machiavellianism * the degree to which someone uses power manipulatively. * Locus of control * the extent to which one believes that what happens is within one’s control. * Self-monitoring * the degree to which someone is able to adjust behavior in response to xternal factors. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Basic Components * Self-awareness: basis for all other components, being aware of what you are feeling * Self-management: control disruptive or harmful emotions and balance one’s moods so they do not cloud thinking * Social awareness: understand others and practic e empathy * Relationship awareness: connect to others, build positive relationships, respond to emotions of others, and influence others Locus of Control * Locus of control of individuals – Determines the degree to which they believe their behaviors influence what happens to them * Internals – believe they are masters of their own fate * Externals – believe they are helpless pawns of fate, success is due to luck or ease of task * Tendency to place primary responsibility for one’s success or failure either within oneself (internally) or on outside forces (externally) * Internal locus of control- your actions influence what happens to you * External locus of control- represents pawns of fate Self-Efficacy Feelings of self-efficacy have managerial and organizational implications: * Selection decisions * Training programs * Goal setting and performance Behaviors Influenced by Personality Authoritarianism = belief that power and status differences should exist within the organization * Machiavellianism = tendency to direct much of one’s behavior toward the acquisition of power and the manipulation of other people for personal gain Individual Differences: Values and Personality ————————————————- LEARNING OBJECTIVES . Understand what values are. 2. Describe the link between values and individual behavior. 3. Identify the major personality traits that are relevant to organizational behavior. 4. Explain the link between personality, work behavior, and work attitudes. 5. Explain the potential pitfalls of personality testing. Values Values  refer to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them. Values are established throughout one’s life as a result of the accumulating life experiences and tend to be relatively stable. 138]  The values that are important to people tend to affect the types of decisions they make, how they perceive their environment, and their actual behaviors. Moreover, people are more likely to accept job offers when the company possesses the values people care about. [139]  Value attainment is one reason why people stay in a company, and when an organization does not help them attain their values, they are more likely to decide to leave if they are dissatisfied with the job itself. [140] What are the values people care about? There are many typologies of values. One of the most established surveys to assess individual values is the Rokeach Value Survey. [141]  This survey lists 18 terminal and 18 instrumental values in alphabetical order. Terminal values  refer to end states people desire in life, such as leading a prosperous life and a world at peace. Instrumental values  deal with views on acceptable modes of conduct, such as being honest and ethical, and being ambitious. According to Rokeach, values are arranged in hierarchical fashion. In other words, an accurate way of assessing someone’s values is to ask them to rank the 36 values in order of importance. By comparing these values, people develop a sense of which value can be sacrificed to achieve the other, and the individual priority of each value emerges. Where do values come from? Research indicates that they are shaped early in life and show stability over the course of a lifetime. Early family experiences are important influences over the dominant values. People who were raised in families with low socioeconomic status and those who experienced restrictive parenting often display conformity values when they are adults, while those who were raised by parents who were cold toward their children would likely alue and desire security. [142] Values of a generation also change and evolve in response to the historical context that the generation grows up in. Research comparing the values of different generations resulted in interesting findings. For example, Generation Xers (those born between the mid-1960s and 1980s) are more individualistic and are interested in working toward organi zational goals so long as they coincide with their personal goals. This group, compared to the baby boomers (born between the 1940s and 1960s), is also less likely to see work as central to their life and more likely to desire a quick promotion. 143] Values will affect the choices people make. For example, someone who has a strong stimulation orientation may pursue extreme sports and be drawn to risky business ventures with a high potential for payoff. The values a person holds will affect his or her employment. For example, someone who has an orientation toward strong stimulation may pursue extreme sports and select an occupation that involves fast action and high risk, such as fire fighter, police officer, or emergency medical doctor. Someone who has a drive for achievement may more readily act as an entrepreneur. Moreover, whether individuals will be satisfied at a given job may depend on whether the job provides a way to satisfy their dominant values. Therefore, understanding employees at work requires understanding the value orientations of employees. Personality Personality  encompasses the relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns a person has. Our personality differentiates us from other people, and understanding someone’s personality gives us clues about how that person is likely to act and feel in a variety of situations. In order to effectively manage organizational behavior, an understanding of different employees’ personalities is helpful. Having this knowledge is also useful for placing people in jobs and organizations. If personality is stable, does this mean that it does not change? You probably remember how you have changed and evolved as a result of your own life experiences, attention you received in early childhood, the style of parenting you were exposed to, successes and failures you had in high school, and other life events. In fact, our personality changes over long periods of time. For example, we tend to become more socially dominant, more conscientious (organized and dependable), and more emotionally stable between the ages of 20 and 40, whereas openness to new experiences may begin to decline during this same time. [144]  In other words, even though we treat personality as relatively stable, changes occur. Moreover, even in childhood, our personality shapes who we are and has lasting consequences for us. For example, studies show that part of our career success and job satisfaction later in life can be explained by our childhood personality. 145] Is our behavior in organizations dependent on our personality? To some extent, yes, and to some extent, no. While we will discuss the effects of personality for employee behavior, you must remember that the relationships we describe are modest correlations. For example, having a sociable and outgoing personality may encourage people to seek friends and prefer social situations. This does not mean that their person ality will immediately affect their work behavior. At work, we have a job to do and a role to perform. Therefore, our behavior may be more strongly affected by what is expected of us, as opposed to how we want to behave. When people have a lot of freedom at work, their personality will become a stronger influence over their behavior. [146] Big Five Personality Traits How many personality traits are there? How do we even know? In every language, there are many words describing a person’s personality. In fact, in the English language, more than 15,000 words describing personality have been identified. When researchers analyzed the terms describing personality characteristics, they realized that there were many words that were pointing to each dimension of personality. When these words were grouped, five dimensions seemed to emerge that explain a lot of the variation in our personalities. [147]  Keep in mind that these five are not necessarily the only traits out there. There are other, specific traits that represent dimensions not captured by the Big Five. Still, understanding the main five traits gives us a good start for describing personality. A summary of the Big Five traits is presented in  Figure  3. , â€Å"Big Five Personality Traits†. Openness  is the degree to which a person is curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas. People high in openness seem to thrive in situations that require being flexible and learning new things. They are highly motivated to learn new skills, and they do well in training settings. [148]  They also have a n advantage when they enter into a new organization. Their open-mindedness leads them to seek a lot of information and feedback about how they are doing and to build relationships, which leads to quicker adjustment to the new job. 149]When supported, they tend to be creative. [150]  Open people are highly adaptable to change, and teams that experience unforeseen changes in their tasks do well if they are populated with people high in openness. [151]  Compared to people low in openness, they are also more likely to start their own business. [152] Conscientiousness  refers to the degree to which a person is organized, systematic, punctual, achievement oriented, and dependable. Conscientiousness is the one personality trait that uniformly predicts how high a person’s performance will be, across a variety of occupations and jobs. 153]  In fact, conscientiousness is the trait most desired by recruiters and results in the most success in interviews. [154]  This is not a s urprise, because in addition to their high performance, conscientious people have higher levels of motivation to perform, lower levels of turnover, lower levels of absenteeism, and higher levels of safety performance at work. [155]One’s conscientiousness is related to career success and being satisfied with one’s career over time. [156]  Finally, it seems that conscientiousness is a good trait to have for entrepreneurs. Highly conscientious people are more likely to start their own business compared to those who are not conscientious, and their firms have longer survival rates. [157] Extraversion  is the degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, and sociable, and enjoys being in social situations. One of the established findings is that they tend to be effective in jobs involving sales. [158]  Moreover, they tend to be effective as managers and they demonstrate inspirational leadership behaviors. [159]  Extraverts do well in social situations, and as a result they tend to be effective in job interviews. Part of their success comes from how they prepare for the job interview, as they are likely to use their social network. [160]  Extraverts have an easier time than introverts when adjusting to a new job. They actively seek information and feedback, and build effective relationships, which helps with their adjustment. [161]Interestingly, extraverts are also found to be happier at work, which may be because of the relationships they build with the people around them and their relative ease in adjusting to a new job. 162]  However, they do not necessarily perform well in all jobs, and jobs depriving them of social interaction may be a poor fit. Moreover, they are not necessarily model employees. For example, they tend to have higher levels of absenteeism at work, potentially because they may miss work to hang out with or attend to the needs of their friends. [163] Agreeableness  is the degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm. In other words, people who are high in agreeableness are likeable people who get along with others. Not surprisingly, agreeable people help others at work consistently, and this helping behavior is not dependent on being in a good mood. [164]  They are also less likely to retaliate when other people treat them unfairly. [165]  This may reflect their ability to show empathy and give people the benefit of the doubt. Agreeable people may be a valuable addition to their teams and may be effective leaders because they create a fair environment when they are in leadership positions. [166]  At the other end of the spectrum, people low in agreeableness are less likely to show these positive behaviors. Moreover, people who are not agreeable are shown to quit their jobs unexpectedly, perhaps in response to a conflict they engage with a boss or a peer. [167]  If agreeable people are so nice, does this mean that we should only look for agreeable people when hiring? Some jobs may actually be a better fit for someone with a low level of agreeableness. Think about it: When hiring a lawyer, would you prefer a kind and gentle person, or a pit bull? Also, high agreeableness has a downside: Agreeable people are less likely to engage in constructive and change-oriented communication. 168]  Disagreeing with the status quo may create conflict and agreeable people will likely avoid creating such conflict, missing an opportunity for constructive change. Neuroticism  refers to the degree to which a person is anxious, irritable, aggressive, temperamental, and moody. These people have a tendency to have emotional adjustment problems and experience stress and depression on a habitual basis. Peo ple very high in neuroticism experience a number of problems at work. For example, they are less likely to be someone people go to for advice and friendship. 169]  In other words, they may experience relationship difficulties. They tend to be habitually unhappy in their jobs and report high intentions to leave, but they do not necessarily actually leave their jobs. [170]  Being high in neuroticism seems to be harmful to one’s career, as they have lower levels of career success (measured with income and occupational status achieved in one’s career). Finally, if they achieve managerial jobs, they tend to create an unfair climate at work. [171] Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Aside from the Big Five personality traits, perhaps the most well-known and most often used personality assessment is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Unlike the Big Five, which assesses traits, MBTI measures types. Assessments of the Big Five do not classify people as neurotic or extravert: It is all a matter of degrees. MBTI on the other hand, classifies people as one of 16 types. [172]  In MBTI, people are grouped using four dimensions. Based on how a person is classified on these four dimensions, it is possible to talk about 16 unique personality types, such as ESTJ and ISTP. MBTI was developed in 1943 by a mother–daughter team, Isabel Myers and Katherine Cook Briggs. Its objective at the time was to aid World War II veterans in identifying the occupation that would suit their personalities. Since that time, MBTI has become immensely popular, and according to one estimate, around 2. 5 million people take the test annually. The survey is criticized because it relies on types as opposed to traits, but organizations who use the survey find it very useful for training and team-building purposes. More than eighty of the  Fortune  100 companies used Myers-Briggs tests in some form. One distinguishing characteristic of this test is that it is explicitly designed for learning, not for employee selection purposes. In fact, the Myers & Briggs Foundation has strict guidelines against the use of the test for employee selection. Instead, the test is used to provide mutual understanding within the team and to gain a better understanding of the working styles of team members. [173] Positive and Negative Affectivity You may have noticed that behavior is also a function of moods. When people are in a good mood, they may be more cooperative, smile more, and act friendly. When these same people are in a bad mood, they may have a tendency to be picky, irritable, and less tolerant of different opinions. Yet, some people seem to be in a good mood most of the time, and others seem to be in a bad mood most of the time regardless of what is actually going on in their lives. This distinction is manifested by positive and negative affectivity traits. Positive affective people  experience positive moods more frequently, whereas  negative affective peopleexperience negative moods with greater frequency. Negative affective people focus on the â€Å"glass half empty† and experience more anxiety and nervousness. [174]  Positive affective people tend to be happier at work,[175]  and their happiness spreads to the rest of the work environment. As may be expected, this personality trait sets the tone in the work atmosphere. When a team comprises mostly negative affective people, there tend to be fewer instances of helping and cooperation. Teams dominated by positive affective people experience lower levels of absenteeism. 176]  When people with a lot of power are also high in positive affectivity, the work environment is affected in a positive manner and can lead to greater levels of cooperation and finding mutually agreeable solutions to problems. [177] Self-Monitoring Self-monitoring  refers to the extent to which a person is capable of monitoring his or her actions and appearance in social situations. In other words, people who are social monitors are social chameleons w ho understand what the situation demands and act accordingly, while low social monitors tend to act the way they feel. 178]  High social monitors are sensitive to the types of behaviors the social environment expects from them. Their greater ability to modify their behavior according to the demands of the situation and to manage their impressions effectively is a great advantage for them. [179]  In general, they tend to be more successful in their careers. They are more likely to get cross-company promotions, and even when they stay with one company, they are more likely to advance. [180]  Social monitors also become the â€Å"go to† person in their company and they enjoy central positions in their social networks. 181]  They are rated as higher performers, and emerge as leaders. [182]  While they are effective in influencing other people and get things done by managing their impressions, this personality trait has some challenges that need to be addressed. First, w hen evaluating the performance of other employees, they tend to be less accurate. It seems that while trying to manage their impressions, they may avoid giving accurate feedback to their subordinates to avoid confrontations. [183]  This tendency may create problems for them if they are managers. Second, high social monitors tend to experience higher levels of tress, probably caused by behaving in ways that conflict with their true feelings. In situations that demand positive emotions, they may act happy although they are not feeling happy, which puts an emotional burden on them. Finally, high social monitors tend to be less committed to their companies. They may see their jobs as a stepping-stone for greater things, which may prevent them from forming strong attachments and loyalty to their current employer. [184] Proactive Personality Proactive personality  refers to a person’s inclination to fix what is perceived as wrong, change the status quo, and use initiative to so lve problems. Instead of waiting to be told what to do, proactive people take action to initiate meaningful change and remove the obstacles they face along the way. In general, having a proactive personality has a number of advantages for these people. For example, they tend to be more successful in their job searches. [185]  They are also more successful over the course of their careers, because they use initiative and acquire greater understanding of the politics within the organization. [186]  Proactive people are valuable assets to their companies because they may have higher levels of performance. 187]They adjust to their new jobs quickly because they understand the political environment better and often make friends more quickly. [188]  Proactive people are eager to learn and engage in many developmental activities to improve their skills. [189]  Despite all their potential, under some circumstances a proactive personality may be a liability for an individual or an organization. Imag ine a person who is proactive but is perceived as being too pushy, trying to change things other people are not willing to let go, or using their initiative to make decisions that do not serve a company’s best interests. Research shows that the success of proactive people depends on their understanding of a company’s core values, their ability and skills to perform their jobs, and their ability to assess situational demands correctly. [190] Self-Esteem Self-esteem  is the degree to which a person has overall positive feelings about his or herself. People with high self-esteem view themselves in a positive light, are confident, and respect themselves. On the other hand, people with low self-esteem experience high levels of self-doubt and uestion their self-worth. High self-esteem is related to higher levels of satisfaction with one’s job and higher levels of performance on the job. [191]  People with low self-esteem are attracted to situations in which they will be relatively invisible, such as large companies. [192]Managing employees with low self-esteem may be challenging at times, because negative feedback given with the intention to improve performance may be viewed as a judgment on their worth as an employee. Therefore, effectively managing employees with relatively low self-esteem requires tact and providing lots of positive feedback when discussing performance incidents. Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy  is a belief that one can perform a specific task successfully. Research shows that the belief that we can do something is a good predictor of whether we can actually do it. Self-efficacy is different from other personality traits in that it is job specific. You may have high self-efficacy in being successful academically, but low self-efficacy in relation to your ability to fix your car. At the same time, people have a certain level of generalized self-efficacy and they have the belief that whatever task or hobby they tackle, they are likely to be successful in it. Research shows that self-efficacy at work is related to job performance. [193]  This relationship is probably a result of people with high self-efficacy setting higher goals for themselves and being more committed to these goals, whereas people with low self-efficacy tend to procrastinate. [194]  Academic self-efficacy is a good predictor of your GPA, whether you persist in your studies, or drop out of college. 195] Is there a way of increasing employees’ self-efficacy? Hiring people who are capable of performing their tasks and training people to increase their self-efficacy may be effective. Some people may also respond well to verbal encouragement. By showing that you believe they can be successful and effectively playing the role of a cheerleader, you may be able to increase self-efficacy. G iving people opportunities to test their skills so that they can see what they are capable of doing (or empowering them) is also a good way of increasing self-efficacy. 196] Locus of Control Locus of control deals with the degree to which people feel accountable for their own behaviors. Individuals with high  internal locus of control  believe that they control their own destiny and what happens to them is their own doing, while those with high  external locus of control  feel that things happen to them because of other people, luck, or a powerful being. Internals feel greater control over their own lives and therefore they act in ways that will increase their chances of success. For example, they take the initiative to start mentor-protege relationships. They are more involved with their jobs. They demonstrate higher levels of motivation and have more positive experiences at work. [197]  Interestingly, internal locus is also related to one’s subjective well-being and happiness in life, while being high in external locus is related to a higher rate of depression. [198]  The connection between internal locus of control and health is interesting, but perhaps not surprising. In fact, one study showed that having internal locus of control at the age of ten was related to a number of health outcomes, such as lower obesity and lower blood pressure later in life. [199]  It is possible that internals take more responsibility for their health and adopt healthier habits, while externals may see less of a connection between how they live and their health. Internals thrive in contexts in which they have the ability to influence their own behavior. Successful entrepreneurs tend to have high levels of internal locus of control. [200] Key point: Values and personality traits are two dimensions on which people differ. Values are stable life goals. When seeking jobs, employees are more likely to accept a job that provides opportunities for value attainment, and they are more likely to remain in situations that satisfy their values. Personality comprises the stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns people have. The Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) are important traits that seem to be stable and can be generalized to other cultures. Other important traits for work behavior include self-efficacy, self-esteem, social monitoring, proactive personality, positive and negative affectivity, and locus of control. It is important to remember that a person’s behavior depends on the match between the person and the situation. While personality is a strong influence on job attitudes, its relation to job performance is weaker. Some companies use personality testing to screen out candidates. This method has certain limitations, and companies using personality tests

Analysis and interpretation of ”Elephant”

When all hopes and dreams are abandoned from our lives, the only thing we can do is taking advantage of others lives and make it our own. A life well planned can cost us our freedom and our ability to make decisions which are radically different from our previous ones. When desire, lust and romance have been deselected and †the normal life† has taken its place. These obstacles are what William meets and sooner confronts in the short story by Polly Clark called †Elephant†. The story begins in media res, so as soon as the story begins we get engulfed. We are meeting William sitting at his desk surrounded by notes and facts, where his Muse has left him and he has trouble finding inspiration writing biographies of pop singers as Christine, who he finds most adorable and attracted to (l. 46 – 51). The character Christine can be interpreted as Christina Aguilera, who, with her voice and her sexual behaviour, usually is very appealing for average men. William is the typical American man, who has settled down with his wife and currently is trying to start a family. Their marriage is not filled with romance and love as one could expect, but more with expectations and compromises and it furthermore seems like William does not want a baby as much as his wife does. His mind is filled with thoughts of his biographies and how Christine must have wanted him to write about her (l. 71-72 and 76). He easily gets distracted from his thoughts and one could imagine that they are filled with his lost childhood and the things he had never been able to do in life. His flash-back to the moment when his mother gives him the blue elephant (l. 9-66) could easily be interpreted as the childhood his mother tries to give him. However, at first he could not remember the blue elephant from his childhood. It had vanished from his memory. The only thoughts that go through his mind are how he can revenge his lost childhood and regain consciousness of his identity. The narrator tells us at line 21-22: †William would have preferred the film stars (male, golden age of cinema) but those had been claimed by someone quicker of the mark †¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This specific passage shows that William was needed to give up his dream because someone got in his way. By writing about male actors it would have been possible for him to get famous and his life would thereby be complete. Happiness and celebrity goes hand in hand in his mind, but ever since he had to choose another career, his dreams fell apart and he was, in his own eyes, nothing but an ordinary man. That is why he is writing about the female pop singers so in that way he partly can fulfil his dreams through the women. Nevertheless, this solution does not satisfy his desires, since he cannot relate to these women. He can relate to the male actors because of their sex, but the difference between men and women in this context becomes a huge factor for him and that gives him reason to change the stories about the women. Christine gives him trouble because of her pure mind due to her relationship with Christianity (l. 49), and his urge to make her life as miserable as his becomes even stronger. Therefore he synchronizes his life with hers and mixes the blue elephant into her childhood. For him the elephant is a symbol of regret and grief and therefore he tries even harder to make the life of Christine miserable in the eyes of the readers. As he says at line 146-147: †He wanted to give Christine something she had never had, something important of himself. † – the aspects of life he wants to give Christine are defeat and loss because she, to him, never have had a change to experience it in her famous Christian life. But because the negative symbolism of the elephant only exists for him, his made up story about the life of Christine does not become a bad experience for the readers. His attempt to make Christine a bad person is not successful (l. 135-142). That is when he realizes that his profession is not what he wants to do. The name Christine has not been chosen by coincidence and it was solely that choice of name, which gave Christine power over him. The relationship Christine has with God has been transferred to William and through it he is able to confront his obstacles and by typing the untruth about her he learns that, that is not the person he wants to be, and by this realization he becomes complete. Even though he knows that someday he is going to be †vanished from the face of the earth† (l. 148), he feels ready to start living his life again, because he finally has triumphed over his lost childhood and he definitively has found himself. His last falsity gives him the strength to stop telling lies about others, stop living trough others and gives him power to live his own life (l. 142-144). Therefore, the truth is the main theme of this text. As a subcategory comes the blue elephant being a symbol of how important the childhood is for humans. If the blue elephant vanish from the life of a child, pain and regret will come later. Therefore, the story is a form of a aide-memoire in life to parents to teach them how to raise their children. Polly Clark has written this text to tell us how important it is to keep believing in something that helps us maintain our dreams in life pure.

Great Sioux War Battle of the Little Bighorn