Stereotyping
Personality and Stereotyping Theories
Taking a leadership or management role in the workplace is inherently challenging. This is because it falls upon leadership to manage a wide variance of personalities and needs. This is why it's important to develop a complete understanding of the various theories describing workplace behavior. In the case of this discussion, Personality Theory and Stereotyping Theory offer the opportunity for insight into management the specific workplace challenges of Anger Management and Conflict.
Of the topics selected, Personality Theory was selected for its versatility. According to Cherry (2008), this is a theoretical model in which a wide range of lenses can be used to understand individual motivations. Behavioral, psychodynamic, humanist and trait theories can all be used to understand individual personalities and to work within...
Cherry traces personality theory to models proposed by Erickson, Piaget, Freud and Skinner, all in the early 20th century.
Stereotyping Theory would emerge a little later but from a similar school of thought. Writing in 1998, Levy et al. would observe that "over the last two decades, research on social cognition has identified fundamental cognitive processes involved in the formation, use, and maintenance of stereotypes." (p. 1421) As this applies to the topic of our discussion, stereotyping theory suggests that we observe cultural and identity differences in others to draw broader conclusions about behavioral tendencies.
A similar theory for consideration is that of Developmental Intergroup Theory, which posits that we use stereotypes to draw dividing lines between ourselves and others. This is less suitable to the present discussion than…
