Reference no: EM131440304

Discussion Board

Define/describe the 4 personality types of Freud/Fromm. Which of these personality types do you feel best describes your own personality? Describe a productive and unproductive version of your personality type. Do you know someone who is a productive narcissist? What characteristics do you find most beneficial in this type?

Define/describe the 4 personality types of Freud/Fromm.

Freud/Fromm identified the four personality types: erotic, obsessive, narcissistic, and marketing (Northouse, 2013).

A person with an erotic personality is motivated by love and to be loved. They prefer to be liked over being respected. Erotic individuals enjoy getting to know everyone and want everyone to get along in the office to mitigate any potential conflict. Individuals with is personality come across as being needy (Northouse, 2013).

Individuals that posse an obsessive personality tends to a sticker when it comes to rules. They obey and adhere to all rules. These types of individuals do not challenge status quo. This could be perceive as a negative trait. If the individual is self-aware of their organizations' strengths and weakness, the individual should challenge status quo to better the needs of the organization.

Narcissists give me the chills. In my opinion, they are the worst type of individuals to work with and work for. They are motivated by self-love and they are self-centered individuals. I have personally worked for an individual with a narcissistic personality and we clashed big time. I do not believe anything about this particular boss was productive. He always had motive and it was always benefitting him and his career. One good thing I would say is that they are driven.

Individuals with a marketing personality are flexible. "Marketers are good at facilitating and networking, and at using and enjoying the process of collaboration in order to achieve consensus" (Northouse, 2013, p. 326).

In my opinion, I believe the marketing personality describes me the best. Change is constant, and as a leader you have to be flexible and adapt to situations. Being in the military has helped me to be flexible. As I progressed in rank, I started developing teams to accomplish the mission. I have relied on others' strengths to achieve organizational goals by surrounding myself with the right people.

Reference

Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership Theory and Practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN: 9781452203409.

Discussion 1

After reading chapter 13 in our book, Sigmund Freud offered three personality types that people can be described as. These personalities being: erotic, obsessive and narcissistic. People who fall under the erotic personality tend to be people who seek to love and to be loved by others; they would rather be liked and accepted by others then actually be respected and admired. Those with the obsessive personality tend to be the type who have to live up to standards, have to uphold rules set and have to obey a strict ethics; their most important trait is upholding the status quo of their group or organization. The term narcissistic itself can mostly be defined as someone who has an excessive interest in themselves and even in their own physical appearance. However, according to Freud, he stresses that the narcissistic personality is actually not the vain or egotistical description that most people would associate it with. According to him this personality takes pride in (and will go into detail about) the actual accomplishments they have made. Now I mentioned three personalities already but there is also one more personality to discuss about. This other type is mentioned by Erich Fromm and it is the personality type of marketing; this personality type can be characterized as someone who is able to be adaptable. Meaning that these type of people are able to align themselves to the right people and even the right situation. (Northouse, 2013, p. 326-327)

Of the four personalities that I mentioned, I would have to honestly say that I definitely fall under the personality type of obsessive. I uphold and follow rules, regulations and procedures with such strict ethical practices that people know I won't break the rules. Over time I have become better at bending or being somewhat lenient towards some rules to the point that it still falls under as following them but still not breaking the rules. This way I am not seem as a "stick in the mud" about the rules and be seen in a more positive point of view. Having this type personality type can be both productive and unproductive in its own way. Productive because since I make it a habit to make sure I am well informed about all the current rules, regulations and procedures that are needed to be known, all my co-workers or peers know they can come to me for clarification on any information. But it can be unproductive because when they come to me for questions, instead of going to management like they are supposed to, they are interrupting me from actually doing my job that I was officially hired for; that can lead for me to be push back in production and getting frustrated in getting my official work done on time.

And to be honest, yes I have met someone who has a narcissistic personality type. For me personally, it is very hard to handle or be around someone with that personality type; especially when they seem to always brag about the SAME accomplishments they did but never seem to uphold the rewards or skills they achieved from such accomplishments. And they just have to be the center of attention when attention should be put into something more important instead; and I also noticed that they also seem to be so self-centered. But as annoying this type of personality can become (for myself personally, I cannot vouch for everyone else' opinion) I have to state that probably the most important characteristics that this personality has is being able to be self-directed; once they know what needs to be done they have so confident in their own skills to be able to accomplish the tasks needed. And they also have a tendency to have a clear vision of what needs to be done; however, I have noticed that they also seem to not actually take into account of what other people have to say or do with the pursuit of the same vision as well. Their opinion seems to be the only one that matters to them; they are not exactly open to new or better opinions. That's my opinion on the matter.

Reference:

Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice, 6th edition Retrieved from Chapter 13, Pages 326-327. West Michigan University, SAGE Publications, Inc.